Good afternoon, Colonel Irvine School Community, 

下午好! 学文学校社区, 

We are excited to welcome new and returning students and staff to the building this week. As always, the first days of school bring lots of smiles and energy, this year was no different. We are confident that the students were most excited to see each other.  

This is the first of the weekly emails you will receive from us as an admin team. Our emails will share with you what is happening around the whole school. This year, our teachers will be sending out the Monthly Learning Snapshot (MSL) to parents. This will help you stay informed of what your child is learning.  Students can also log into their D2L to check for announcements and homework. Teachers will send out their first MLS next Friday. 

During this past week, we were setting expectations, putting school and classroom procedures in place, building relationships in homeroom classes, and briefly meeting all their teachers and administrators. We discussed with students the CBE Student Code of Conduct and Progressive Discipline Policy. We also reviewed the Continuum of Behaviors (Conflict/Rude/Mean/Aggressive and Bullying) and what to do and how to seek help if they are experiencing or observing any of these. We reminded all our students about the away for the day policy regarding personal mobile devices.  We want to build a safe, caring environment for our school community. This is something we will continue to work on with students throughout the year using respect: Respect for self, respect for others and respect for the environment.  

We also had our first practice fire drill today. The students did an excellent job in exiting the building quickly and quietly. They also went to their evacuation site in case of an emergency as part of our firedrill and lockdown procedures. 

Students will receive a forms package in homeroom. Please review these forms and sign and return the ones that need signing. These are to be returned to the homeroom teacher.  

In homeroom, students receive their full timetables on Thursday. We still have new students registering for school and continue to balance classes. We have about 600 students in grades 7-9 and tried our best to ensure that every student had their top 2 choices in option classes at some point in the year. Their current paper schedule only shows first trimester option classes. We are aware that some parents/guardians have emailed requesting class changes. As mentioned previously, we cannot accommodate changes as we have too many students unless there are extenuating circumstances. We will be handing out new timetables on Monday as we had to balance our class sizes.  

For our Literacy Block, we are asking each student to bring a duotang to school. This will be used to keep all of their literacy materials organized in one place. Having everything together will support their learning, help them reflect on their progress, and allow both students and teachers to monitor their success more effectively. Our first Literacy block is Friday, September 12. 

Finally, if your child will be away at any point in the year, the best way to tell us is to call and leave a message or leave a message on the school email. We are very busy near the end of each school day, so please try your best to give us notice ahead of time.  (colonelirvine@cbe.ab.ca). 

Today’s informational items (below) are longer than usual as there is a lot of information to share at the start of the year. Please scroll through the bolded and underlined headings for information that applies to you.  

We appreciate your time in reading this. We look forward to connecting with you at our in-person “Meet the Teacher” night on Wednesday, September 10 from 6:00 - 7:30 pm. 

Thank you, 

Ms. Ko & Mr. Ferguson 

For your consideration: 

Important Dates: 

Monday, September 1 – Labour Day holiday: no school 

Friday, September 5 – Welcome Back BBQ for students 

Wednesday, September 10– In person Meet the Teacher 6:30-8pm 

Tuesday September 16– School Council Meeting 6:30pm 

Thursday September 18 – Terry Fox Run 

Thursday September 25 – Orange Shirt Day 

Monday September 29 - Non-Instructional Day – No school for students 

Tuesday September 30 – No school - National Day for Truth and Reconciliation 

Weekly Lunch Specials – 

Monday – Italian Meatball Sub $5 

Tuesday – Teriyaki Chicken w/Rice $5 

Wednesday – Beef Mac & Cheese Bake $5 

Thursday – Assorted Pizza - $5  

The cafeteria offers a variety of food everyday, each week we will highlight the daily specials. Please send students with small bills/coins for the cafeteria, we only accept cash and have trouble providing change for large bills. 

This year we will be charging 10 cents for utensils without a food purchase.  

Monthly Learning Snapshots from teachers 

• Our Monthly Learning Snapshots (MLS) are teacher learning updates that will illustrate the learning experiences for the month. The first one will be sent out next Friday, September 12^th.  

 Student Entry Doors – It is recommended that:  

• Grade 5’s and 6’s use the entrance by the cafeteria on the north side of the school off of Holmwood Ave NW. 
• Grade 7, 8 and 9 either use the main entrance by the northwest corner of the school or the entrance by the Learning Commons by south west corner of the school. 

 Designated Lunch Spaces 

• Each grade will have a designated space to eat for each lunch. It is split between the Cafeteria, Hallways, and the Main Gym. On certain days, particularly on colder weather days, homeroom classrooms and other spaces in the school may also be utilized.  
• Students are given about 20 minutes to eat before they need to go outside for the balance of the lunch break or they attend a club or activity that is being offered by a teacher. When outside, students are asked to remain on school property unless they are heading over to the stores to buy food or go home.  
• Students should only go to the stores if they intend to buy food. We ask that students do not linger at the strip mall as there are many businesses running and we want to be respectful neighbors. 
• We ask that all students clean up after themselves whether they are inside or outside when eating lunch. Together we can create a clean, safe environment. 

 Athletics 

We are very excited for another year of fun-filled extra-curricular activities. Starting immediately, we will have Cross-Country Running, Boys/Girls Soccer, and Jr./Sr. Boys/Girls Basketball. Tryouts will happen in the first 2-3 weeks of school. Specific tryout dates for each team will be posted on our P.E. bulletin board and will be in the morning announcements daily. If your child is interested in trying out for any teams this year, please make sure to fill out and return the Annual Authorization for Athletic Tryout Form before attending the first tryout for each sport. Thank you and we look forward to working with our student-athletes this year. 

Soccer 

September - November 

  Cross Country 

September - October 

No try-outs, everyone can join 

 Basketball 

September - December 

 Wrestling 

October - February 

No try-outs, everyone can join. 

 Volleyball 

January - March 

 Badminton 
April - May 

 Track & Field 

May - June 

 Parking Reminders: 

• Please do NOT use the bus lane in front of the school to drop students off or pick them up. Buses can arrive anywhere between 8:00-8:25am and parents parked in the bus lane often create an unsafe environment for students and other traffic, especially in the morning.  
• If we see you doing this, we will ask you to move. 
• Please help us make sure that students (or parents!) are using the marked cross walks by the school. Please DO NOT jaywalk across the street – this is both unsafe and illegal. 
• Do not park or drive into our school’s parking lot. We want to keep our students safe. 

Lock Bicycle in Courtyard to Prevent Theft 

• We encourage students to use the bike rack in our courtyard.  Unfortunately, we had a couple of bikes stolen several years ago from out front when bikes were locked on the front rails of the school.  

School Supplies  

Grade 5/6 supplies are provided by the school. 

For Grade 7-9 students please make sure your student arrives prepared for learning with the following supplies:   

-binder(s)  

-pens  

-pencil  

-eraser  

-pencil case  

-ruler  

-highlighter  

-whiteboard mark (personal use)  

-lined and graph paper  

-Hilroy (or similar) 40-page notebook  

-one duotang  

-binder dividers (minimum 6)  

-regular calculator (Grade 7) or buy the scientific one and it can be used at gr 8 and 9 too  

-scientific calculator (Grade 8 and 9)  

-math geometry set (Grade 7 and 8)  

Optional:  

-pencil crayons/markers If you are unable to provide these items for your student(s), please reach out to Ms. Elkhatib Student Success Centre Learning Leader at naelkhatib@cbe.ab.ca before the start of the year and we will have a backpack ready for them.