SAM Explorer

It has been wonderful welcoming back all your children to SAM over these past couple of days! As a staff, the first days of school come with so much energy and excitement from getting to be with your children again. We hope these past two days have also gone well for your children. If any questions or concerns that come up for you in these next few weeks, please do not hesitate to reach out to your child's teacher. We are very happy to help you!

As we head into a long weekend, we just want to remind everyone that all students in grades 1-6 will attend school on Tuesday, September 5th, while all our Kindergarten students will join us on Wednesday, September 6th. Additionally, please consider coming to our Welcome Back BBQ where you can meet our incredible staff on Thursday, September 7th from 5:30-6:30pm.

Have a wonderful long weekend!

Dawn & Cam

We have a wonderful staff at SAM that is very excited to welcome all our SAM families back to school. Please join us on Thursday, September 7th from 5:30-6:30pm for our Welcome Back BBQ and Meet the Staff evening. This is a great opportunity to come together at the beginning of the school year to see everyone again (or meet you for the first time), as well as give your children the opportunity to show-off their new classrooms and introduce you to their new teachers. Please feel free to bring your entire families to share in free hotdogs and snacks.

We are excited to announce that SAM School is offering all our students exciting opportunities this year to explore three new focus areas at SAM including Drama, Outdoor Education, and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts & Math). Next week your child will start their first rotation with our lead teachers, Ms. Jukna (Drama), Mr. Beauchamp (Outdoor Education), and STEAM (Mrs. Dreger). Over the course of this year, your child will have one rotating period each week where they will get to explore, play, and learn in these areas in very experiential ways. Our lead teachers will be providing families with more information in the upcoming weeks; however, until then please take some time to read some brief overviews.

DRAMA

At SAM School, we pride ourselves on providing high quality Arts education and experiences to our students. To complement our incredible music program, we are excited to offer Drama as a learning opportunity to our students this year. Through Drama, students will develop communication skills, build their creativity, develop empathy, and learn to work collaboratively. Learning experiencing in Drama support and extend curricular outcomes in Language Arts, Wellness, and Social Studies. Let's unleash your full potential (both on and off stage) in Drama!

OUTDOOR EDUCATION

At SAM School, a connection to the land and people are important concepts to hands-on student learning. SAM school proudly presents Outdoor Education where students will participate in seasonal activities such as snowshoeing, bouldering, forestry awareness, and basic understandings of outdoor safety skills. Learning experiences in Outdoor Education support and extend curricular outcomes in Physical Education and Wellness. Take your learning to new heights in Outdoor Education.

Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts & Math (STEAM)

STEAM learning is an innovative approach to incorporating Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics concepts. This approach helps students to develop skills needed to solve complex problems and think creatively. Students will engage in active, hands-on learning experiences that allow them to explore and understand the world around them. They will work collaboratively, think critically, and develop their creativity and problem-solving skills. By providing students with opportunities to explore and experiment with various building materials, robots, and coding technology, STEAM learning helps to foster a sense of curiosity and innovation. Students who participate in STEAM learning are more likely to develop a growth mindset, as well as develop skills and tenacity to adapt to a rapidly changing world.

We are excited to invite any interested Grades 3, 4, 5, and 6 students to sign up for the SAM Running Club on Friday, September 8th in the library at 12:02pm. Mr. Beauchamp will be sharing some important information about the Running Club practice and meet schedule for this season.

It is important to us at SAM that all our students get time to be outside, be social, and be active! As such, it is really important that students come prepared everyday for the weather on that day. This includes appropriate clothing and footwear for sun, rain, wind, and snow! It is our intention to be outside for all recesses throughout the day as much as possible.

Our amazing SAM Fundraising Society is once again organizing a Hot Lunch program for our SAM students this year. All proceeds made from Hot Lunch go to support many wonderful opportunities for our SAM students. Last year, our SAM Fundraising Society donated $20,000 to purchase equipment to help start-up our STEAM Lab. This year, our Fundraising Team is providing swim lessons at Fountain Park Pool for all our students from K-6 this year! Consider signing up for our Hot Lunch Healthy Hunger program to support SAM School!

HOT LUNCH ORDER DEADLINES

Orders for hot lunch close five days prior to the lunch date. For Friday hot lunches, orders close Sunday at midnight. For Tuesday pizza days, orders close Thursday at midnight.

ABSENCES ON HOT LUNCH DAYS

If you have placed an order for hot lunch and your child is absent on the day of that lunch please contact the front office by phone BEFORE 10:00AM and specify if you will be:

1. Picking up the order(s) from the front office after 12:30pm.
2. Sending the order home with a sibling or friend.
3. Donating the order.

Please contact samfundraising@spschools.org with any questions or concerns.

Reminder that our first SAM School Council will take place on Tuesday, September 19th at 6pm. As this meeting with serve as our Annual General Meeting, the agenda will include:

• School Council elections
• Decisions regarding School Council model of governance
• Review of roles and responsibilities of school councils
• Reviewing our School Council purpose statement
• Discussing various ways School Council can collect the voices of the community.
• Meet our School Support Team.

This is a great meeting to come to if you're interested in taking part in many conversations regarding our school community.

AMH Education Services, Edmonton Zone, is proud to offer free addiction and mental health virtual programming for parents and caregivers of children and youth, as well as sessions for all adults.

Please feel free to share this information with friends, family, parents, caregivers, educators, community members, and professionals who would like to learn more about addiction and mental health topics.

If you want to learn more about how to support a child or youth, or if you want additional strategies for supporting your own wellness, you are welcome to register for these sessions. See the attached newsletter for more information on topics, dates, times, and registration.