Bison Tales January 20, 2023
Happy Friday Bison Families,
At the end of last school year, the Government of Alberta announced 2022-23 funding for school divisions to continue to address learning disruptions caused by the pandemic for grades 2 to 4 students. Elk Island Public Schools (EIPS) has received $243,788 in learning disruption funding to support students in grades 2 to 4.
The funding will provide targeted programming for specific students identified as requiring additional support in literacy and numeracy. Within EIPS, grades 2 to 4 students participated in the Star Reading Assessment and the Numeracy Assessment Screener to assess students’ literacy and numeracy levels.
Literacy intervention programming will support students through small-group sessions that focus on targeted reading strategies, including, but not limited to, phonemic awareness, phonics instruction, vocabulary development, comprehension strategies and fluency skills. Literacy data will be used to plan structured explicit small-group instruction focused on the areas the teacher has determined as areas of concern.
Numeracy intervention programming will support students through small-group sessions that focus on instruction targeting number sense and basic fact fluency. Fact fluency will include fundamental learning around accuracy, efficiency, flexibility and strategy selection. Student learning profiles will identify areas of need and target instruction.
We are happy to announce that this intervention will begin at Ardrossan on January 31 for our first groups, and then 6 weeks later for our second groups. We will be letting families know via email if your child(ren) qualify closer to their start date. If you have any questions about this, please do not hesitate to contact the school.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone.
Lana Lastiwka and Tandy Atchison
Principal and Assistant Principal
WEEK AT A GLANCE
January 23 - 27, 2023
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Upcoming Dates
- January 30 - Professional Learning Day - School Closed
- January 31 - Kindergarten and Grade 1 French Immersion Information Session - Virtual
- February 1 - New and returning student registration begin
Parent-Teacher Interviews/Demonstration of Learning
On February 6 and February 7 Ardrossan Elementary will host its next round of Parent-Teacher Interviews/Demonstration of Learning.
Book and appointment with this link: Parent-Teacher Interviews/Demonstration of Learning
Our Kindergarten, Grade 1, and Grade 2 classes will be hosting Parent-Teacher Interviews and our Grades 3 to 6 classes and music will be hosting Demonstration of Learning sessions.
PALS students - Ms. Kotyk will have an Open House on Monday, February 6 from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Feel free to stop by at your leisure.
Bookings are open January 20 - January 27 at 3 p.m.
You are also invited to visit our Book Fair and check out the Lost and Found while you are here.
Lockdown Drill
We will be having our first lockdown drill of the school year next Thursday, January 26.
A lockdown is used when there is an imminent security threat or potential threat of violence inside the building. In a lockdown, all students and staff immediately proceed to the nearest lockable area and all interior doors are locked. Lights are turned off, and students and staff remain quiet and hidden from sight as much as possible until the lockdown is lifted. No one is allowed in or out of the building until the lockdown is lifted. For more information about Elk Island Public Schools’ emergency preparedness planning, visit www.eips.ca/parents/emergency-preparedness.
An email will be sent to school families on the day of the drill as a reminder.
Kindergarten and Grade 1 French Immersion Information Session
EIPS is hosting a virtual French Immersion Information Session for parents who are considering registering their child in kindergarten or Grade 1 French Immersion.
Tuesday, January 31
6 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Virtual via Microsoft Teams
Parents must register to receive the meeting link
The event details have been added on all elementary French Immersion school website calendars and will be added as a pinned blog post on your home pages later today. Schools are also welcome to share the Facebook and Twitter posts about the event.
Community Programs and Events
Programs for Children and Youth
Programs for Parents and Caregivers
Ardrossan Spirit Wear
We have a new spirit wear store! Shop for T-Shirts, hoodies and more until January 29, 2023. Orders will be shipped to the school, and we will organize the orders and send t
https://www.promoplace.com/ardrossan/
Fee Survey
It is that time of year where we start planning for school fees for the 2023 - 2024 school year. Please take a moment to respond to our Fee Survey. We will be looking at the results and feedback to help inform our decision making process.
Grief and Loss Workshop
Strathcona County is offering a set of two connected sessions to learn more about grief and loss in a safe, compassionate environment. Sessions are January 17 and 24, 2023.
Returning Student Registration for 2023-24
Elk Island Public Schools (EIPS) will once again conduct an online returning student registration process to confirm student registrations for the 2023-24 school year. Families of all current students—with the exception of graduating Grade 12 students—must complete the process to confirm the school their child plans to attend in the 2023-24 school year or advise the Division of their plans not to return to EIPS. Additionally, students who want to attend a non-designated school need to make that request through the returning student registration process—acceptance is based on available space. The 2023-24 returning student registration takes place Feb. 1-28, 2023.
Access to the Returning Student Registration Form is provided through the PowerSchool Parent Portal. If you don’t have a PowerSchool Parent Portal account, you need to set one up before Feb. 1, 2023.
Create a PowerSchool Parent Portal account
For more information, contact the school office at 780-922-2066.
Kindergarten Registration Starts Soon!
Is your child turning five on or before Dec. 31, 2023? If so, it’s almost time to register for kindergarten.
Kindergarten registration opens for the 2023-24 school year on Feb. 1, 2023.
To help families prepare, Elk Island Public Schools has put together an online EIPS Kindergarten Tool kit to make the transition as smooth as possible. The kit includes information on registration, important dates, programming options, what to expect, eligibility, how to find your designated school, transportation and more.
Additional information regarding Ardrossan Elementary's kindergarten program is available at Ardrossan Elementary Kindergarten Registration Information.
Alberta Health Services Addiction and Mental Health Newsletter
The January edition of the Alberta Health Services Addiction and Mental Health Newsletter focuses on vaping. Newsletter
Themes include:
- What is a vape?
- Why do young people vape?
- How harmful is vaping?
- Talk to your children about vaping.
Parents Make the Difference
Each month we will include some articles with some great tips and strategies for parents. Here is this week's featured article:
Boost your child’s desire to read with these five strategies
When children like to read, they do it more often—which boosts reading skills and overall school success. To ignite your child’s love of reading:
- Instead of simply checking out books at the library, make an event of it. Select interesting books, then choose a special place to enjoy reading together.
- Help your child discover an appealing book series. Kids often can’t resist picking up the next book in a series.
- Ask a question and encourage your child to find the answer by doing some research online.
- Turn something you just read together into a fun challenge: Ask your child to summarize the story using only three sentences. Can your child use the characters from the story in a new story?
- Read a variety of books together. If your child is used to reading fiction, try reading a biography or how-to book, for example.
Reprinted with permission from the January 2023 issue of Parents make the difference!® (Elementary School Edition) newsletter. Copyright © 2023 The Parent Institute®, a division of PaperClip Media, Inc.