G.W. Skene School Newsletter February 2014

G.W. Skene School
6226 Penbrooke Drive SE, Calgary, AB T2A 6M7 t | 403-777-8150 f | 403-777-8159 e | [email protected]
http://schools.cbe.ab.ca/b351
Newsletter | February 2014
Braun’s Bits
Dear Parents and Families
It was lovely to meet with a group of 7 parents and 6 children at our School Council meeting
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on January 23 . We discussed a number of important items:
Administration
Don Braun
Principal
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Brandy Yee
Assistant Principal
Nedra Niles Leahul
Office Administrator
Table of Contents
 Message from The
Principal
 School News
 CBE News
 Community News
 Calendar
Reminder
If your child is absent or
late, please call the school
by 8:45 AM at 403-7778150 & Press “1”
This line is open 24 hours a
day – 7 days a week.
Thank you.

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Icy Conditions – The heavy snow in December, combined with warm temperatures has
made our grounds very icy. We encourage everyone to take special care on the ice.
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Grade 6 Outdoor School – From May 6 to May 9 we plan to take our Grade 6 students
to Outdoor School and Camp Chief Hector. Through the YMCA, we have a subsidy
program making this event affordable for everyone. Please watch for an information
notice in your child’s agenda.
Provincial Achievement Tests – We discussed the schedule for the tests in May and
June, as well as the future direction of government testing. If you would like to discuss
these tests, please come to our next School Council meeting.
Dance Residency – At no cost to parents, we will be holding a dance residency where
teachers from Pulse Studios will provide tasteful, high quality classes for all students.
You can check out Pulse Studios at http://www.pulsestudios.ca. You will have the chance
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to see what your children learned at our Spring Concert on Thursday April 17 at 6:30.
Please mark the day in your calendars.
Calendars – We announced that Ernest Morrow School will switch to a modified calendar
for the 2015/2016 School Year. We will provide more information on the modified
calendar and seek parent opinion on our own calendar at G.W. Skene.
At G.W. Skene, we are working to develop ways to communicate with you that fit your
lifestyle and needs.
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Please note that G.W. Skene now has an official Facebook page. Like the page and you
will receive regular updates in school events. https://www.facebook.com/gwskene
Our school survey indicated that many people prefer a later time for School Council
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meetings. Our next meeting will be on Thursday February 20 at 6:30 PM. Please join
us!
We would like to send our school newsletter out by email. If you are not sure we have a
correct email address on file, please complete the attachment at the bottom of this page.
We will continue to provide paper copies for those who need one.
Please feel free to contact me at any time to discuss any of the information above.
Kind Regards,
Principal Braun
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Child’s Name_____________________________________________________
Parent’s Name_____________________ Email Address___________________
G.W. Skene School | Newsletter
February 2014
Grade 4 Classrooms
We are back to school and doing some great learning in the new year! In Science, we have
begun a new topic of study, wheels and levers. All three classes have been busy exploring
simple machines and dissecting how they work. In Math, Ms. Salmon’s class has been
using money to continue their exploration of place value and to help them understand
decimals. Ms. Callaghan’s and Mr. Froehler’s classes have been exploring their
understanding of multiplication, as well as their strategies for thinking about multiplication
problems. In Social Studies, we are welcoming a guest artist to help us explore Alberta’s
geography through art! In Language Arts, students have focused on adding description and
detail to their writing. A great start to the year Grade 4’s!
Grade 5 Classrooms
Knock knock! Whose there? February! Whoa, its February already??? This month we
are continuing to work on developing our reading skills using the Daily 3 Reading to self,
Reading to someone, and word work! In Math, we are working with fractions and relating
that understanding to decimals. Science activities revolve around Electricity and
Magnetism or Classroom Chemistry. In Social Studies, we are continuing to develop an
understanding of the physical regions of Canada. In Language Arts, we are working on
persuasive and story writing.
Grade 6 Classrooms
In Math, Ms. Jankovic’s Room 2 and Mrs. Nevelos’ Room 3 students are investigating
integers and how they are used in sports such as golf (scorekeeping) and football (counting
yardage). We are also working on word problems involving positive and negative numbers.
In Social Studies, Ms. Jankovic’s class is looking at the history of democracy and
democratic process as it happens in Canada. Mrs. Nevelos’ class has started their study of
ancient Greece by evaluating information from a variety of maps. In Writing, Room 3 has
finished their first story and has moved onto writing paragraphs. Room 2 is looking at
different text structures for non-fiction. In Science, Room 2 is learning about basic
conditions that allow flight to happen while Room 3 is finishing an inquiry into aerodynamics
in the Winter Olympic sports.
Fine Arts
Tra la la! Students will be learning rhythms and notes to be able to play and write rhythms
and songs on the xylophone and rhythmic clappers. Drama activities will revolve around
developing expression and creativity through readers’ theatre.
Skeneship
We have been very pleased with how the students have responded to our Skeneship
initiative. Every week, we have evidence of the numerous times students have been
caught doing something helpful. Each Friday we draw the names of those students and
the lucky winners get a fancy pencil and a choice of a book to call their own. Our lucky
draw winners from December 5th, 2013 until January 24, 2014 were:
Grade 4:
Grade 5:
Grade 6:
Karsten O.
Minh N.
Jaden T.
Bacheira K.
Isaac S.
Benjamin D.
Autri D.
Monte C.
Tasier N.
Leona B.
Gage W.
Bob P.
Loan Chau L.
Minh L.
Minh L.
Brandon T.
Jodie D.M.
Mou D.
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G.W. Skene School | Newsletter
February 2014
Office Reminders
Late / Absent Line
If your child is absent or late, please call the school by 8:45 AM at 403-777-8150 & Press
“1”. This line is open 24 hours a day – 7 days a week. Thank you.
Early Dismissal Fridays
Every Friday is an Early Dismissal. Students are dismissed at 11:58 AM. If you are picking
your child(ren) up please be on time. Students tend to get worried and anxious when
parents are repeatedly late at pick up time. Thank you.
Inform / Trips Within Walking Distance
The CBE values the educational benefit of off-site activities and we want to ensure students
have opportunities to go out into the community around their school with their teachers to
complement their classroom learning. To allow this to happen more easily, we have
simplified our process for trips that are within walking distance of the school. This change
does not include restricted activities such as swimming.
As parents, you will no longer need to fill out a consent form for your child to go on a class
trip that is walking distance from the school, e.g. to a local park. Instead, your school will
send a letter outlining local sites and what potential risks may be at the start of each school
year. Teachers will be expected to let you know when they plan to include a trip to a local
site. We believe that this change will allow teachers to more easily take advantage of
places close to the school such as parks or libraries.
If you have any concerns please speak with your child’s teacher.
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G.W. Skene School | Newsletter
February 2014
System-wide technology outage scheduled for Feb. 15-17
The Calgary Board of Education will have a system-wide technology
outage over the Family Day long weekend (Feb. 15-17) while our
Information Technology (IT) Services works with internet and
telecommunication service providers on enhancements.
During this time there will be no access to any CBE computer system
or application, including: internal and external websites, network
drives/folders, CBE email, student Gmail, and CBE applications such
as SIRS and D2L.
Staff, students and parents are encouraged to make alternative
arrangements to complete work or activities that would require CBE
computer systems.
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G.W. Skene School | Newsletter
February 2014
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G.W. Skene School | Newsletter
February 2014
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G.W. Skene | February 2014
SUN
MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SAT
1
2
3
4
5
6
Awards Assembly @
2:15 PM
9
10
11
12
Grade 5/6 Fieldtrip
16
8
14
15
Early Dismissal
11:55 AM
13
No School
No School
Teachers’ Convention Teachers’ Convention
17
18
19
No School
Family Day
23
7
20
School Council
Meeting 2 6:30 PM
24
25
26
21
Early Dismissal
11:55 AM
27
28
Early Dismissal
11:55 AM
22
G.W. Skene | March 2014
SUN
MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SAT
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
14
15
21
22
28
29
Early Dismissal
11:55 AM
9
10
11
12
13
Early Dismissal
11:55 AM
16
17
23
18
24
No School
Spring Break
30
No School
Spring Break
31
STUDENTS
RETURN
25
19
20
Early Dismissal
No School
11:55 AM
Parent/Teacher Evening
4:00 PM – 7:30 PM
Parent/Teacher-Day
9:00 AM – 12:30 PM
26
No School
Spring Break
27
No School
Spring Break
No School
Spring Break

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