The SAM Explorer

It has been a busy few weeks since Spring Break and we are excited to share some of the wonderful moments and achievements of our SAM students:

🐾 Student Leadership Club's Visit to Ferne's Acres: Our Student Leadership Club recently had the cool opportunity to volunteer at Ferne's Acres, where they dedicated their time to caring for the animals. This visit not only brought joy to our students and the animals alike but also instilled valuable lessons on responsibility, compassion, and the importance of community service. Congratulations to our students who raised $450 for Ferne's Acres Animal Sanctuary.

🏆 Celebrating Success at the APEGA Science Olympics: We are incredibly proud to congratulate our ACE students for their outstanding accomplishments at the APEGA Science Olympics! These students showed how they can think like an engineer at the Science Olympics this past Sunday. Students designed raccoon proof garbage cans that included 2 simple machines and a lot of creativity. We are so proud of their perseverance and problem solving skills! Their innovative solutions, teamwork, and determination shone through, embodying the excellence and spirit of SAM School. Well done to all participants and mentors for achieving this remarkable feat.

🤸‍♂️ Fun in Physical Education - Mission Impossible: The past few weeks in Physical Education have been filled with excitement and laughter, thanks to the engaging "Mission Impossible" activities. Our students demonstrated teamwork, strategic thinking, and physical dexterity, all while having a blast. It's been a lot of fun to witness their enthusiasm and engagement in this annual activity.

📣 Invitation for Parent Feedback on Classroom Placement: As we look toward the next year, we would like to invite our families to share information with us that would be important to consider for their child's classroom placement for next year. Please take some time to fill out our parent survey that is linked in this newsletter so we can use this information to help inform our decision.

We wish you all a wonderful weekend!

Dawn & Cam

Week of April 15 - April 19

• Tues, April 16th - SAM School Council Meeting 6-7pm
• Tues, April 16th - SAM Fundraising Society Meeting 7-8pm
• Wed, April 17th - SAM Chorus and SAM Songsters (Music Room at 12:02pm)
• Wed, April 17th - Spring Concert (SAM Songsters & Chorus) - Gym 1:15 - 2pm
• Wed, April 17th - Spring Concert (SAM Songsters & Chorus) - Gym 4:30 - 5:15pm
• Thurs, April 18th - Grade 2s at Wilderness School
• Fri, April 19th - Subway/Booster Juice Hot Lunch

Week of April 22 - April 26

• Mon, April 22nd - NO SCHOOL (Division PD Day)
• Tues, March 19th - Panago Hot Lunch
• Fri, April 26 - SAM Spirit Assembly (10:30am SAM Gym)
  
• Fri, April 26 - Dairy Queen Hot Lunch

Our SAM Songsters and SAM Chorus choirs had a very musical week! Both choirs sang in the St. Albert Rotary Music Festival and were awarded gold certificates for their incredible performances. They also had the opportunity to learn some singing techniques from the adjudicator, Dr. Joy Berg, during a short workshop session. Our choirs are excited to end their season with a choir concert at SAM on April 17th.

We are beginning the process of determining student placements for next year’s classes. Our primary goal is to determine class placements that best support each student’s learning strengths and needs as members of a class learning community. Several (sometimes competing) factors are weighed in determining these placements, including:

Class Placement Factors for Consideration

• Literacy learning strengths and needs
  
• Numeracy learning strengths and needs
  
• Social-emotional learning strengths and needs
  
• Peer connections
  
• Other learning supports

In order to inform our class placement decisions, we invite you to share your input about the factors included above. Feel free to respond to all or some of the questions below—whichever factors you feel would be important for us to know about. The input you share, complemented by what our team knows about how your child succeeds at school, will help inform our decisions. Due to the complexity of these factors and the ways they interact with each other, we cannot grant requests for specific classes or teachers, nor can we guarantee any particular placement.

If you have more than one child who attends SAM, please complete a separate form for each child. This form will be accepting responses until Tuesday, June 4th. For the opportunity to share important information regarding your child's classroom placement for the 2024/25 school year, please click here.

If your child is bringing Cup of Noodles to school, please also send a thermos of hot water that they can use for their noodles. Unfortunately, our hot water dispenser is no longer working and our wonderful Admin Assistants in the office are not able to keep up to the number of student requests asking for hot water at lunch. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

Once again, families can order a SAM Yearbook for the 20232024 school year. The cost of the yearbook is $24.75 (+ GST) and can be ordered through SMART Photography until July 15th. All yearbooks will be delivered to SAM School in the fall and then distributed to students. Students who move onto our division junior high schools will have their yearbooks delivered to those schools.

To order your yearbook, visit SMART Photography and use the online code: SAM_23-24_YB.

Order deadline is July 15, 2024.

Welcome to our Spring Plant fundraiser! Interested in getting your garden started for the beginning of spring or buying a special plant for mom? Place your order for our Spring Plant Sale by Thursday, April 25th and pick-up your plants on Thursday, May 9th at SAM School. All proceeds from this fundraiser will go to support swimming lessons for SAM students next year.

Click here to order: SAM Spring Plant Sale

Our next School Council meeting will be on Tuesday, April 16th at 6pm in the SAM Library. Our agenda will include a presentation on SAM's Work in Equity and Decentering: Working Towards Ensuring School is Safe for All Students and Families, including a conversation regarding our Celebrating SAM Families Event on Thursday, May 23rd.

If you are not able to attend the meeting in-person, we are also inviting families to join us online using this Google Meet link.

If you have any questions regarding the SAM School Council, please feel free to reach out to our School Council Chair, Linda Marchand, at SC-chair.SAM@spschools.org.

The Hillgrove School Council is hosting a parent workshop on Thursday, April 25th from 6:30-8pm that is now open to any other families within St. Albert.

To register for this free event, please register here: Registration - How to Start Empowering

FIT + Fierce is an award winning program designed for girls. It is interactive, engaging and focuses on the empowerment and development of girls to become strong in mind and body. Workshops are comprised of three components: Mind Wellness, Fitness, and Nutrition.

For more information about upcoming workshops, visit the Fit + Fierce website.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common mental health conditions diagnosed in children. Come to these Lunch & Learn sessions and learn about the signs and symptoms of ADHD, ways that ADHD impacts achievement, self-worth, and relationships in children and youth, and strategies to support success.

Part 1: Thursday, April 18, 2024

Time: 12:00 – 1:00 pm

For caregivers of children grades K-12, for adults only.

Click here to register.

Part 2: Thursday, April 25, 2024

Time: 12:00 – 1:00 pm

For caregivers of children grades K-12, for adults only.

Click here to register