**Please check the Meeting Schedules (in the sidebar) and the calendar at the bottom for information regarding this week's meetings and events. Laptops are not required unless requested. Thank you for leaving them in your classrooms.
***Please bookmark the Mindset link so you can access it easily.
~from the ES BBE
Newsletters (core and encore) will be sent home this Friday by 4:00 pm via instructional leads on behalf of the grade level. Please use the templates provided (core and encore). All School important dates can be found at the end of the Parent Update or in the sidebar of the Mindset => Schedules => ES Event Calendar.
Instructional Leads, please point parents to MAP scores on Veracross (Gr. 3, 4, & 5), the upcoming SLJRC on June 14th and the 11:20 am dismissal on June 18 (all grades).
If you need support embedding your newsletter, organizing your core or encore site pages, or setting up composer to send the newsletter, please check the step by step guide. If you are still struggling, check in with Nate and his team. Please give both Krista and Leigh editing access and let them know when your newsletter is published Thursday, May 30, by 10 am latest, so they can review it before team leads send it home Friday, May 31, 2019. Please upload and publish your email and photo slideshow on Weebly no later than 12 noon on Friday so Tracey can check formatting.
A Look Ahead
May
31 - MAP scores posted on Veracross 31*- June Newsletters |
June
04- Class Placement Drafts Completed 04- Kindergarten to Grade 1 Transition 07- ES ASA Session 3 Ends 07- ES Cookie Jar Contest 11- EC EOTC to Tarzan Park 11- All Student Comments and Indicators for S2 completed and uploaded to Veracross (5:00 pm) 12- ES Sports Fun Day 12- EC Fun Day 13- Leaving Students Pizza Party (11:50 am- ES Cafeteria) 14- Student Learning Journey Reflection Conferences 17- Grade 5 Bridge Walk (8:40 am) 17- ES Grade K-5 End of Year Assembly (8:45 am) 18- Last Day of School- Half Day- Dismissal 11:20 am 18- Semester 2 Reports Go Live (4:00 pm) 19- Faculty PD Day- Last Day for Teachers |
~from the Principal
Today is Graduation Day for our seniors. The graduation walk is scheduled to begin at 3:00 pm with the elementary school being the first part of the walk. Please see the maps below for the route. To help the celebration maintain excitement, please spread yourselves out along the route. Children are invited to make inspirational posters for our graduates and encouraged to cheer as they pass. Thank you for supporting our graduating class. Each and every one of us plays a role in the growth and development of our children. The young adults who graduate today are a product of the hard work and dedication of every teacher who has had the privilege to teach them. Congratulations to our graduates and to you for your role in helping them achieve this milestone.
~from Krista, Leigh, and Tracey
Buses will be provided on Friday, June 7, to transport you to and from the Zavits home. The bus service is free. If you plan to take one of the buses to and/or from the party you must RSVP using this form by noon Thursday, June 6.
Buses to the Zavits home will depart from AISB at:
- 4:15 pm
- 4:45 pm
- 7:30 pm
- 8:00 pm
- 8:30 pm
~from the ASA Coordinator (Mr. Gareth Lloyd)
It is time to start planning the ASA's you would like to host next year. If you plan to host an ASA in the fall session, beginning September, please click the link to complete the Autumn/Fall ASA Application before the deadline of June 14. The Fall ASA runs from September 2nd until December 6th. If this is the first time you are applying to run an ASA please read and understand the guidelines below so you know the requirements.
All ASAs:
- Must not run on a Tuesday between 3:45 and 5:30 because ES Faculty Meetings are on Tuesday.
- Must be able to host a minimum of 15 students per activity.
- Must give a detailed explanation of what the activity will consist of.
- Must be specific on what grades are accepted into the activity.
- Must be designed to meet students' needs and ASA goals.
- Must indicate accurate budget requirements (please see Gareth to learn more).
Mindfulness
~Thoughts on learning from Hilary
My journey into mindfulness started here at school when Gabor Fazekas was asked to come and speak at a full faculty meeting. After a short introduction, he led us all through a practice of breathing and relaxation. I decided straight away that I wanted to learn more, and I signed up for his 8 week MBSR (Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction) course. I ended up doing the course twice, because although I got a lot from attending his sessions, I did not follow through with regular practice at other times in my life.
Then, Nora Flemming sent an email about a phone app called Headspace. This was a life changer for me, as I was then able to practice every day by using using the app and listening to the lovely friendly voice of Andy Puddicombe (watch his Ted Talk here). Last April I took part in a training workshop forPaws B, which is run by MiSP (Mindfulness in Schools Project). If you are getting interested in teaching mindfulness, I thoroughly recommend this course. You leave with all of the materials necessary to teach the class and develop a deep understanding of why it is so important for our students. I have been to two MiSP conferences, which were both truly inspiring.
The statistics coming out of the U.K. are very concerning.
- 1 in 4 children show some evidence of poor mental health (Young Minds Trust 2017)
- 50% of those with lifetime mental illness experience symptoms by the age of 14 (public Health England 2016)
- Between 2011 and 2014 there was a 68% increase in self harm incidence of girls aged 13 - 16 years old (British Medical Journal 2017)
- Also 79% of teachers have reported experiencing work related anxiety, 86% have suffered sleeplessness, & 73% reported low energy levels.
~from the Innovation Team (Nate, Paul, and Vlad)
Every once in a while a new service or platform comes to my attention (much later than the younger generations that use it, of course) that is the current buzz. That current buzz, for the moment, is a platform called Twitch.
Twitch is a livestreaming platform with over 15 million daily users and up to 2 million live broadcasts occurring at any time. From gamers livestreaming their gameplay to others simply performing mundane tasks (e.g. doing their homework), Twitch is a platform that provides a massive breadth of possible content generated by its users.
Is Twitch a safe platform? What kind of content will users be exposed to? Is it possible some of that content will be harmful? This FAQ and parental guide can begin to answer those burning questions about this platform, one that can raise a lot of privacy and security questions. Awareness is key!
Have an article, website, tool worth sharing? Send it to Krista and share it with your colleagues here.
The Marshall Memo
Nature offers Serious Benefits to Our Physical and Mental Health, Research Suggests [Cutter, M., May 10, 2019, Retrieved from CBC News]
Educate Outside: Inspire brilliance, teach outside- Outdoor learning resources for teachers
Mapy.cz -This app is really good for hiking trails and finding things in the forest around school. I was able to take my kids to a hidden cave nearby on our forest walk today because the app shows where it is.
iNaturalist- identify plants and animals and store the information for future reference.
~from the ES Librarian
The countdown begins. What a great year we had in the library; classes (MA through Grade 5), collaborative projects, and a record high circulation with over 47,000 books being checked out this academic year! Thanks to all of you for your support by encouraging and modeling a love of reading!
IMPORTANT ES LIBRARY DATES
- Friday May 24 - Last day for students and parents to check out books
- Friday May 31 - All books checked out by students and parents due back in the ES Library
- Monday May 27 - Friday June 7 - No book checkout for students or parents
- Tuesday June 11 - Monday June 17 - Summer book checkout begins for students and parents.
- Friday June 14 - All books checked out by faculty and staff due back in the ES library
MA & Kinder - Have your parents come down on Friday June 14 during SLJRC (perhaps a station?) to check out books.