Oct 31 Newsletter
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Tomorrow is a Professional Learning Day for staff, therefore there is no school for students. What do staff do on these learning days? Each school has goals for improving teaching and learning. At Ralph McCall we are working on a variety of things, including literacy instruction strategies (with a focus on writing this year), Indigenous learning, and learning about specific supports for inclusive education. Additionally, each teacher at Ralph McCall is encouraged to take part in a couple professional learning courses throughout the school year, which specifically target the personal professional learning goals they set in the fall. As a staff, we continuously work to better understand how to effectively meet the needs of our students and improve our teaching. It is sometimes said that teaching is an ‘Art’. It is creative and responsive. There is no fail-proof formula; there isn’t one way to teach that ensures success for all students, all the time. Often how concepts are presented and taught depends greatly on the students in a specific cohort. Educators try various strategies but certainly don’t always get the success they hope for! What I have noticed, though, is that the staff of this school are incredibly dedicated to reflection, professional learning, and working on becoming the best teachers they can be!
The quote for the week is one we hear all the time around the school - ‘Mistakes are for Learning.’ I don’t know about you, but I figure someday I’ll be a genius!
Upcoming Dates (Please see the Calendar on the Website for more information)
Nov. 1 – NO school – Professional Learning Day for staff
Nov. 3 – Time change; fall back an hour
Nov. 4 – Parent parking loop closed after 8:15 AM.
Nov. 5 – Grade 4 trip to Telus Spark
Nov. 11 – NO school – Remembrance Day
Nov. 12 – School Council and Friends of Ralph McCall meetings
Nov. 14 – Photo retakes and Class photos
Nov. 15 – Crazy hair and/or outfit Day
Remembrance Day:
Schools will be closed on November 11. We always have a time of remembrance on the instructional day before the 11th. This year the ceremony will be held the morning of November 8. The Remembrance assembly is for students and staff only. While we would love to be able to open this event to families and invite you to join us, we can’t, because of the size of our student population and the capacity of the gymnasium.
We are planning for the annual ceremony at Ralph McCall. We would like to honour our veterans in a meaningful way by including pictures of Ralph McCall students’ family members who are serving/served for our country. If you have a family member who is serving/served that you would like to share that with our school, please email the photo to Mrs. New at knew@rockyview.ab.ca no later than November 1st. Please let Mrs. New know your child’s name and class, as well as any other information about your veteran you would like to share (such as the veteran’s name, their relationship to your child, where they served, their rank etc.) If you submitted a photo in previous years, we sent emails on Thursday, Oct 17 requesting permission to reuse the photo and information.
Winter Weather is Coming!
What happens when the weather turns cold and snowy? How will you know if the bus is running, or school is cancelled? You can find the details at these links:
- If your child’s bus is cancelled in the morning but school is open, you may wish to drive your child to school. However, you will also need to pick up your child at the end of the day. The bus will not do the afternoon run once the morning run is cancelled.
- Busses can be very cold even with the heater running full out, and they do sometimes break down. If you are sending your child on the bus on cold mornings, it is important that they are dressed warmly.
What happens when school is open on cold days?
- As parents, you always have the final decision whether it is appropriate for your child to come to school during inclement weather.
- Children will go outside to play if the temperature is above –20 C. If the temperature is below that, recess breaks will be inside. Having said that, it is imperative that students dress warmly on cold days in case of emergency evacuation from the school. Some areas of the school tend to be warmer than others, so dressing in layers is recommended.
Also related to winter weather, we often receive questions around snow removal and icy areas around the school. On wintery days, our Head Building Operator comes in extra early so that he can clear sidewalks and entrances at both of his schools. The rest of the grounds are cleared by a contractor. Rocky View’s goal is to have all parking lots, bus loops, sidewalks and entrances clear within 24 hours of a snowfall that accumulates 2 inches or more, and all parking areas sanded within 48 hours of a snowfall. Though we try to control ice and snow around the school, there are often sections that become slippery throughout the winter season. We encourage everyone to wear appropriate winter footwear for safety in winter conditions.
PBIS
Staff and students alike enjoyed our first assembly of the year as we came together to kick off our school-wide PBIS focus of “Safety” this week. We started the assembly reviewing assembly expectations and singing our School Song, led by our music teacher, Ms. Anderson. Next, we watched several short “Do this, Not that” videos made by some of our grade four leadership students. In the videos we were taught important ways that we can act with safety in mind; within the classroom, within the school, and even on the playground and the playing fields. Great job grade four videographers!
Our theme of Safety at School will further develop the concepts of moving throughout the school in a safe and kind manner, being aware of our bodies and how we move, and the importance of following directions. Staff will teach lessons to helps students develop their understandings and behaviours that go with them. After a couple of weeks of practice, students will each receive a BINGO card with safety images on it. To reinforce the safety concepts, staff will work to acknowledge students that are demonstrating the expectations by checking off the corresponding image on the BINGO card. Let's work hard with our BINGO cards and you might even get a blackout!
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
We have now had our second evacuation drill (fire drill) of the school year, and the staff and students practiced evacuating their classrooms and the school in a calm, orderly manner! Good job everyone!
We are planning to hold a practice lock-down drill within the next week or so and one more evacuation drill before the winter break.
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
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From School Council and Friends of Ralph McCall
Parent Council & Friends Meeting: Thank you to those who joined us to learn more about us at our meeting, as well as discuss what we know about the playground project at our meeting on October 8th. Our next meeting is Tuesday, November 12th in the Learning Commons. Please join us! The zoom link for the meeting is: https://rockyview.zoom.us/j/92409615192 (Passcade: 664278)
Healthy Hunger: If you're interested in participating, simply go to www.healthyhunger.ca and sign up with a parent account. From there you can add your students under their teacher's name and purchase from any fun lunch event of the year. NOTE: fun lunch orders must be submitted by the Sunday prior, in order to be included.
Spirit Wear: Our fall Spirit Wear sale has now wrapped up and the orders have been processed! Stay tuned to find out when the items will be delivered.
Playground Fundraising: We will be creating a Playground Fundraising Sub-committee as part of Friends of Ralph McCall Society at next month's meetings, members will still be part of Friends, but this will allow them to meet separately and keep our Tuesday meetings as efficient as possible. If you're interested in joining, please email friendsofralphmccall@gmail.com