Dear Families,
Thank you for all the support and patience you have provided your children and our school staff during our unique school opening this fall. The students have collectively had a very successful first term at c’usqunela! We are really looking forward to meeting with families next Thursday and Friday to celebrate these successes and plan for further growth in term two.
Below is a list of various December events that we will be participating in as a school. This time of the year is a great opportunity to help children to really focus upon kindness and generosity. With this in mind, we have developed a number of opportunities for students to give back to others within the school, their family, and the local community. The various events are listed below.
Festive Winter Wear Day – Monday December 2nd.
Our student leadership team is inviting students to start December off in style by wearing any festive winter wear they have this coming Monday December 2nd. Students are welcome to wear any ugly sweater, Santa hats, toques, or other winter themed wear this Monday.
PAC Winter Fair – December 5th from 4:30 – 8:30!
Next Thursday December 5th our school is hosting a Winter Market from 4:30-8:30pm in the school gym. There will be over 45 vendors and a food truck! Please make a point of sharing with friends and family about our very first PAC Winter Market. We will have photos with Elsa, leadership students as Elves, and many other highlights. We hope to see many families out for this first big school event!
Student Inclusive Conferences (December 5th & 6th )
Next week, classroom teachers will be conferencing with students and parents to celebrate success and review progress. These conferences will provide a great opportunity for discussion and include the development of student learning goals. Report cards from these conferences will be sent home one week after the conferences are complete. There is an early dismissal THIS coming Thursday at 11:30am, and no school for students on Friday, except for individual conference times.
“Coins for Kids” coin drive in support the Maple Ridge Christmas Hamper
The Maple Ridge Christmas Hamper Society provides hampers for over 500 Maple Ridge families to enjoy a better Christmas. They transform the empty barns down by Planet Ice into a Christmas Wonderland of toys and hampers for families. We are going to have a school coin drive to raise money to support this worthy charity that is located only a ten minute walk from our school. This “kids helping other kids” message is a powerful one for students and the cash donations are more valuable to the society than toy donations because they can purchase a much greater number of items at wholesale pricing. Our school coin drive will run between December 4th -11th and further details will be sent in future school updates. Consider encouraging your child(ren) to do something at home to “earn” their donations.
As part of this initiative, our school has the opportunity to personally deliver our donations down to the Christmas Hamper Society on December 12th so our students will get to tour the facility and to personally see how their donations make a difference.
This year, as part of the hampers given to kids, The Hamper Society is also including children’s pajamas. If any families would like to make a more personalized donation of some new children’s pajamas this will be gratefully accepted by the Christmas Hamper Society as well. Your child is welcome to deliver this item with on the day of their tour or they can be placed under our school tree to be delivered.
December’s Kindness Challenge. Focus and intention highlight
To encourage our students to become kind and thoughtful community members we are inviting them to participate in our Fourteen Days of kindness challenge. Beginning December 2nd there will be a daily kindness challenge that students can do at school or home. It is a great opportunity to highlight how small and/or bigger actions can truly make a difference for others in their family and community. We will be launching this challenge at our Monday morning assembly and will be sending home the calendar of kindness challenges next week so you can support at home.
Fine Arts Programming and our Virtual Concert
In the past few weeks we have been working with students in fine arts classes to present either a dramatic reading, song, or instrument. This year, we have transformed the room next to our library, into a sound studio where students’ are collectively creating a recording to be made into an album to share with our CQE families and community. We will provide a link of this performance for students and parents to enjoy at home after we have shared as a school on December 18th.
In time, we plan to have students participate in “live” performance experiences at assemblies and other school shows. After only a few weeks in our wonderful new school however, we are not yet at a point, where we can confidently produce a concert or performance that would be a great experience for kids. As we gain greater experience (and confidence) with our staging, lighting, and audio/visual systems we will be able to create “live” performances for the students.
Pajama Theme Day – December 18th
To make the last week before the Winter Break a little special we are inviting all students to dress in their pajamas. During the day we will have various activities planned such as listening to the school album they created in the sound stage and receiving a milk and cookies treat from the PAC.