SAM Explorer

Wow! What an incredible couple of weeks! There has been so much going on at SAM to celebrate. Throughout this week, we shared in many activities and lessons to honor Truth and Reconciliation week, as well as our upcoming National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. As a symbol of our commitment to repairing the relationships and trust that has been broken with our Indigenous communities, our school participated in the raising of the Métis flag. You will notice that at SAM School, and throughout all schools within the division, the Métis flag will now fly beside our Canadian flag as way to honor and recognize the importance of reconciliation. Thank you so much to Liam Loewen who gave an inspiring speech at the flag raising ceremony this week.

We wish you all a wonderful weekend and hope you all are able to take some time with your loved ones to honor the importance of Truth & Reconciliation within our community.

Dawn & Cam

"We are raising the Métis flag to honour, recognize and work toward reconciliation with the Métis people who live with us. St.Albert is a Métis community and we should raise the flag for the group of people who lived here first.

We are raising the Treaty 6 flag to remind us to be grateful for the land that we live on and all the things we get from it. As SAM School says in our land acknowledgement, Treaty 6 is a meeting place and travelling route for many groups of people. Raising a flag brings people together with a symbol that we respect and honour. We respect the Métis people and the Treaty 6 land.

What reconciliation is to me is working toward repairing relationships and trust with people that we have broken it with. We broke our relationship with the Indigenous people, so we must repair it and make it right with them.

Flying the Métis and Treaty 6 flags are just as important as flying the Canadian Flag because we fly the Canadian flag to show respect to Canada and we respect Indigenous people so, we should fly both flags.

Flags are symbols that bring people together to celebrate the group of people, the land, countries and more. They are also raised to make people aware of what we value and respect. Today, we show that respect for Metis people and the people of Treaty 6."

- Liam Loewan, Grade 5 SAM Student

Week of October 2 - 6

• Mon, Oct. 2nd - NO SCHOOL - In Lieu of National Day for Truth & Reconciliation
• Tues, Oct. 3rd - Birch Bay Grade 5 Camp
• Wed, Oct. 4th - Early Dismissal - No Kindergarten - Cupcake Day!
• Thurs, Oct. 5th - World Teacher's Day
• Thurs, Oct. 5th - SAM Chorus 8:00am - 8:45am
• Fri, Oct. 6th - The Lunch Lady Hot Lunch

Week of October 9 - 13

• Mon, Oct. 9th - NO SCHOOL - Thanksgiving Day
• Tues, Oct. 10th - NO SCHOOL - Professional Development Day
• Thurs, Oct. 12th - SAM Chorus 8:00am - 8:45am
• Fri, Oct. 13th - McDonald's Hot Lunch

Our SAM Chorus is off to a great start this week, with over 50 singers in Grades 4-6! The Chorus will regularly rehearse on Tuesday mornings in the music room from 8:00 - 8:45 am. If your child missed the registration and would like to join, please email Mrs. Moran at alana.moran@spschools.org to register.

*Please note that because of Grade 5 Camp on Tuesday, October 3rd and the PD Day on Tuesday, October 10th, we will rehearse on Thursday mornings for the next two weeks instead.

We have many excited singers in our younger grades who are asking about our junior choir. Our SAM Songsters choir for students in Grades 2 and 3 will begin in January, and will rehearse once per week during lunch recess. Stay tuned for details in the New Year!

This month our Teacher Spotlight is on Miss Jukna. Miss J grew up in St. Albert and attended SAM School from kindergarten to grade 6! She spent most of her childhood in drama and performing with St. Albert Children's Theatre. These days she spends her free time rock climbing, playing board games with her family, and hanging out at home with her 2 cats and her dog! Miss Jukna is currently teaching a Grade 5 homeroom, French as a Second Language (FSL) to our Div 2 students, as well as Drama to our K-6 students.

We also want to send out a HUGE congratulations to Miss Jukna for successfully completing her ACMG Climbing Gym Instructor certification (which is recognized by the International Federation of Mountain Guide Associations). This is a BIG DEAL! Firstly, this is a very comprehensive training program that required Miss Jukna to complete a variety of theoretical and practical components demonstrating high levels of knowledge and skill in wall climbing, safety, and first aid. Secondly, this fulfills our division requirements for SAM to be able to proceed with re-opening our climbing wall without the assistance of an external certified instructor! We are so excited to have this wall climbing opportunity available to our students again and would like to thank Miss Jukna for the incredible personal investment of time and energy that she put into this!

To hear more about the exciting opportunities that Miss Jukna is leading at SAM this year, please come to our School Council meeting on Tuesday, October 17th at 7pm.

A big thank you to all the students who ran the Terry Fox run and all the families from the community who made donations to the Terry Fox Foundation to support cancer research. Together, the SAM community raised over $2500! Truly amazing and inspiring! Thank you to Mr. Parker for his work setting up this annual event.

Congratulations to all our cross-country running students. Our team of dedicated students had an amazing season and represented SAM well at our Division Cross-Country Running event! A big thank you goes out to Mr. Beauchamp, Mrs. Classen, Mr. Parker, and Mrs. Shuttleworth for all their time organizing, running, taking pictures, and making these opportunities possible for our students.

Thank you to all our students and families who cam out to support our first SAM Loves to Read event. We had so much fun listening to our guest authors, Kathy Kelley and Richard Bird. There were also so many AMAZING books donated by our families at our Used Book Fair. There were so many books that we will look to host another opportunity later in the school year where students can purchase some very affordable used books in great condition. Thank you again to all our families who made generous book donations!

Once again, our amazing librarian, Mrs. Leathem, will be hosting a Book Fair the week of Parent-Teacher-Student Conferences. Our 'Monster' Book Fair will be running the week of Monday, October 16th to Thursday, October 19th. During the school day, our Book Fair will be open to students according to the following schedule:

• K - 2 students: Tuesday, October 17th - Lunch Recess
• Grades 3 - 4 students: Wednesday, October 18th - Lunch Recess
• Grades 5 - 6 students: Thursday, October 19th - Lunch Recess

Parents can send money with their children if they like; however, our Book Fair will also be open on the evenings of October 18th and 19th from 4-8pm during our Parent-Teacher-Student Conferences. There will be the usual door prizes, a golden ticket ($25 for books), 'Guess the Amount" games, as well as a Teacher Wish List where you can purchase books for your children's homeroom classroom.

Parent-Student-Teacher conferences are just around the bend and we are hoping that all families will be able to spend some time connecting with their child's homeroom teacher. SAM will be hosting conferences on two evenings, Wednesday, October 18th from 4-8pm and Thursday, October 19th from 4-8pm. To book your Parent-Student-Teacher conference time, please visit our website. The booking system will go live on Sunday, October 1st at noon.

Thank you to all the familiar and new faces who came out to our first School Council meeting of the year. Thank you very much to Linda Marchand who is our School Council Chair for the 2023-2024 school year. All meetings are open to any parents or guardians who are interested in learning more about SAM School and would like to participate in conversations about the learning and activities that takes place at SAM School.

Click here to view the meeting minutes from the September School Council AGM.

You can reach out to your School Council Chair by emailing sc-chair.sam@spschools.org.

Our SAM Fundraising team needs your help! There are many low commitment ways that you can help out with the fundraising at SAM School. A few hours of your time goes a long way in putting on some incredible events for our school community, as well as fundraising money to support student learning.

Upcoming events that we are looking for volunteers for include: Cupcake days, Halloween Dance, Basket Raffle - Building the Baskets, Basket Raffle Ticket Sales, and Hot Lunch. If you are interested in volunteering, please click here to view our current volunteer opportunities.

If you have any questions about volunteering, please contact Sean Cheyney, the Volunteer Coordinator of SAM Fundraising using at samfundraising@spschools.org.

Click here to review the meeting minutes from the September SAM Fundraising Society meeting.

It has been an exciting couple of weeks at SAM! Here are a few photos highlights of the past two weeks together.

The St. Albert Public Library offers extra reading support for FREE through their Reading Buddies program. This program is for students who are in grades 2-4, and they are now accepting applications for their upcoming session.

Reading Buddies pairs children who could benefit from a little support and guidance with their reading with a trained teen Reading Buddy volunteer. The goal is to help the young buddy improve their confidence and develop a positive attitude toward reading.

We are offering two in-person program options: Tuesdays, Oct 10 - Nov 21, 4:00-5:00 pm or Wednesdays, Oct 11 - Nov 22, 6:30-7:30 pm. There will be no program on Oct 31 or Nov 1.

The application form can be found under the School Age Programs tab on our website.

These online sessions are intended to provide parents, caregivers, teachers, and community members with introductory information regarding mental health challenges that can affect children and youth. On Wednesday, October 18th at 6pm, we will be offering a 90-minute evening session on Keeping Scattered Kids on Track: Supporting children and adolescents with ADHD where we will discuss common signs and symptoms of ADHD as well as basic strategies for supporting success.

For more information on this session, please click here.

Click here to read the Caregiver Education Team Newsletter.