March 14 Newsletter

It’s spring (almost)! This coming week, on March 20, is spring equinox. This is an important time in many cultures. Next week Elder Saa’kokoto will be visiting to share stories and knowledge from a Blackfoot perspective about the changing seasons with our Grade 3 and 4 students. We also have our last hand drumming day with Chantal next week. Chantal shares traditions and stories from a Cree perspective. We are very grateful for the stories and knowledge these guests share with Ralph McCall students and staff.  

This is a season of many other celebrations too. Several of our students have been observing Ramadan. Other students have entered into a season of Lent. Still other students have shared that they are celebrating Holi. We recently had a Grade 3 cultural day where students shared various aspects of their culture. It is wonderful to see the variety of places we come from. Many students come from families who have lived in Canada for many, many generations. Other students shared about their family’s culture from dozens of countries all over the world. We are indeed a community that is rich in cultural diversity! 

The quote for this week comes from reflecting on our staff’s recent intensive professional learning to improve literacy and numeracy at the school. At Ralph McCall, one of the students’ favourite authors is Robert Munsch. He once said, “Writing is a bit like swimming. You learn writing by doing it and you learn swimming by doing it. Nobody learns how to swim by reading a book about swimming and nobody learns how to write by reading a book about writing. If you want to learn how to write, write a lot and you will get better at it.” So, we (staff and students) are going to keep practicing all kinds of things, not just writing, and set goals to keep getting better! 

Upcoming Dates (Please see the calendar on the website for more information) 

• March 17 – St. Patrick’s Day – Find something green to wear 

• March 21 – Rock Your Socks Day – It’s World Down Syndrome Day so show off those mismatched and brightly coloured socks! 

• March 24 – 27 – Book fair  

• March 26 – 27 – Student-led conferences K-4 

• March 28 – Student-led conferences continue for kindergarten only. No school for kindergarten students. 

• March 31 – Professional Learning Day – NO SCHOOL 

 Alberta Education Assurance Survey 

Every year parents of Grade 4 students have the opportunity to complete the Alberta Education Assurance Survey. We encourage our Grade 4 parents to look for a paper that was sent home with their child with a unique and anonymous code to access the survey. We were only provided with exactly enough codes to give one per child. We do not have extra access codes. You can find the survey at: https://curriculum.learnalberta.ca/curriculum/en/f/comk 

Student-led Conferences 

Student-led conferences are coming up on March 26 and 27 for all students and on March 28 for kindergarten only. These conferences will be different than the fall three-way conference. The time slots will be 50 minutes long and 5-6 families will be able to sign-up per slot in a small open house style model. Students will show you their work, demonstrate their skills, celebrate their progress and set goals for the last months of this school year. You do not need to stay for the full time of your scheduled slot. The teacher will be available in the classroom for you to connect with them during your visit. You will soon receive an email prompting you to sign up through the conference manager (https://mccall.schoolsoft.com ). Booking opens starting on March 19 and closes on March 27.  

During student-led conferences, we also have a book fair happening in the library. Your generous support of the book fair allows the school to purchase books for classrooms and the library. Thank you! 

Parent and Student Volunteers Needed! AMA Patroller Program 

We are trying to bring back AMA patrollers to help with the crosswalk across 1st Ave. To make this program happen, we need help from parents and our Grade 4 students. We are looking for about 20 – 24 students who are able to commit to morning and/or afternoon patrolling and a few parents who are willing to commit to supervising the patrollers. The morning patrollers would need to be at the school at 7:45. They will patrol the crosswalk from 7:50 – 8:00. The afternoon patrollers would slip out of school 5 minutes early at 2:40 (M-Th) and 12:55 (F) to be at the cross walk from 2:45 – 2:55 (M-Th) and 1:00 – 1:10 (F). Training and supplies are provided by AMA. This coming week we will talk with our Grade 4 students to gauge interest in volunteering in this area. Parent volunteers would be supervising to ensure the safety of the patrollers. Parents, if you have younger, school-aged children you may have them stay at the front office under the supervision of school office staff while you assist our Grade 4 patrollers at the crosswalk. Parents who are interested in supporting with AMA patrollers, are asked to contact Elisa Korver at ekorver@rockyview.ab.ca . 

Free Little Library Donations 

Our Free Little Library is empty! Did you know that we have a free library inside the school for students? Sometimes students forget to bring their books on library day. They can still bring home a book to read by getting one from the free library. If you are purging your children’s books and are planning to give them away, please keep us in mind! Any book donations that are relatively current and in good condition can be catalogued and used for our main library. Donated books that are older, perhaps a bit worn, or ones we already have many copies of will be placed in the free little library for students to access. 

PBIS 

• We have now wrapped up our Kindness Campaign (January – March 14) 

• During this focus all staff worked with our students to reinforce the concepts of Kindness! (We are Welcoming, Helpful and Polite). Teachers gave out paper hearts to recognize those that were demonstrating these characteristics, and the hearts are now posted on the wall as a celebratory display of the kindness that is shown daily in our school. We are proud of our students for their efforts and will continue to recognize acts of kindness as we move into our next focus area; Respect. 

• The PBIS committee will be meeting next week to develop our ideas and plans for moving forward with our new Respect Campaign. Keep an eye out for more information in future parent newsletters. 

• Our work with the PBIS framework guides us as staff in our commitment to respond to student behaviour responsively, through prevention, teaching and responding to student need.  Updates will be shared with you as we work together to strengthen our school community with our shared understandings of expectations at Ralph McCall! 

School Emergency Response Program   

Within the next couple of weeks, we will hold another schoolwide evacuation drill (fire drill) and the staff and students will practice evacuating their classrooms and school in a calm, orderly manner!  In addition, it is the time of year to hold a second lock-down drill. We will walk the staff and students through this drill in a calm and matter of fact manner, ensuring that students understand that this is a practice that we need to carry out and not something to be worried about.  

Each year, schools are required to complete fire drills, emergency evacuation drills, and lock down drills.  These are important drills to help us prepare for any type of emergency that may come our way.  Rocky View has provided families with some information about the different types of drills that are covered in our preparedness plans.  You can find more information about them here; "Rocky View Schools Emergency Program: A Guide for Parents and Guardians" https://www.rockyview.ab.ca/about-rvs/emergency-response 

From Parent Council and Friends of Ralph McCall 

Healthy Hunger: Healthy Hunger is available to order for each Friday school is in session. If you're interested in ordering, go to www.healthyhunger.ca and follow the prompts.  Orders must be placed by the Sunday prior to be included. 

April Meeting: Our March Meeting is on April 8 at 6:30 in the Learning Commons, or on Zoom (link will be in next newsletter). All are welcome to attend.  As usual, we have one of our trustees joining us and it's an excellent way to learn about what's going on in our division.  

Read-A-Thon: Our annual Read-a-thon Fundraiser is coming up from April 14th - 28th.  Help your child get excited about reading!  More details to come as we get closer to the date. 

Playground:  Planning continues for acquiring funds for the new playground.  If you or anyone you know is interested in helping out, please reach out to Friends... You can find our email address on the school website.