Posted: December 4, 2022

Families of Shortreed,

What a week that was… complete with snow and our Santa Breakfast! Thank you to everyone who was able to make it out and enjoy some sausages, flapjacks, and a cup of joe! A HUGE thank you to the Shortreed Staff (and community helpers) who stayed late on Thursday and came in very early on Friday to prepare, cook, and distribute 1000s of pancakes and sausages!!!

Our Student Inclusive Conference times are now over (with just a few that needed to be rescheduled due to the snow day). We hope you enjoyed seeing how proud your children were about their learning and getting a little window into how they are doing and what goals they have for term 2.

With the craziness of November/December (illness, staff shortages, etc), we have pushed our Shortreed Spirit Wear orders to January. You can see what will be available by clicking here. Watch for an email in the new year.

A reminder that the Christmas concert date is Tuesday, December 13th. Students (and staff) are asked to wear their nicest clothes to school that day. They will not be going outside for recess or lunch, to keep their clothes looking nice. There will be an afternoon performance for families at 1:00 pm and then again in the evening at 6:30 pm. We encourage people who are not immediate family to attend the afternoon performance so the evening performance will have more space. All students are part of the concert and are expected to be at all performances, including the evening one. Students should arrive back at school at 6:00 pm and go to their classrooms (Divisions 1 & 2 will meet in the library and Div 3 will meet in the MP room). Doors to the gym will open at 6 pm. Performance will be over by 8 pm. If students can’t make it because of sickness or a very good reason, they need to call the school or give a note to their teacher/Mrs. Muller.

Our school will be participating in the Aldergrove Christmas Parade again this year (on Saturday). If you are interested in walking with your child, please watch for an email this week.

We hope you take a few minutes to read about a few of the good things happening at our school and some updates for the weeks ahead.

As always, we, in the Langley School District, are honoured to work, learn, and play on the unceded ancestral lands of the Matsqui, Kwantlen, Katzie, and Semiahmoo First Nations. 

Good Things to Talk About

Breakfast With Santa – Staff stayed late on Thursday and came in early on Friday to be prepared to start serving pancakes, sausages and coffee/juice for our 2022 Santa Breakfast! We had between 650-700 plates served to the Shortreed Community as we gathered to celebrate the holiday season. Students and families also had a chance to have a moment with the big man… Santa! Through cash donations (and non-perishable food items), we raised over $1200 for Sources Food Bank!!! Thank you again to the staff for their incredible efforts and to all those families who were able to attend! Check out the video that the school district created to highlight our annual event.

Bring on the Snow! Some students had a chance to play all day in the snow (snow day) but that didn’t stop them from having a blast in the snow on Thursday and Friday. Students ran, jumped, built, and sledded on our field and playgrounds… with huge smiles on their faces.

Elves Decorating the Shelves – We had some PAC elves secretly decorate our foyer/office area of the school on Wednesday night so students and staff arrived to a lovely holiday vibe on December 1! Thank you so much to these dedicated volunteers for once again helping to make Shortreed a wonderful place to be.

Some Exciting Noises on the Roof – We have had no shortages of noises on the roof this past year… but it was awfully quiet with the snowfall… except for what happened on Thursday! Students heard some noises and then saw a red bag drop down outside their window… and inside was a class elf!!! I am sure these elves will be having some fun in the kindergarten classrooms over the next couple of weeks!

Exploring the Shadows – Mrs. Parsons’ class was practicing the skill of creating art that includes depth and shadows. They created some beautiful winter artwork that is on display near the library. They also had the chance to submit their “Small Numbers” videos to SFU as part of their math projects that embed Indigenous storytelling. Shortreed had 3 groups selected to share their projects digitally with SFU and other schools.

Letters to Santa – Ms. Kaur and Mrs. Datema’s students worked on their writing skills with letters to Santa. Check them out on the boards outside their classroom and/or on our Facebook page.

Tipping the Scales – Mr. D’s class spent some time looking at examples of student writing in the class and then reviewing criteria using the proficiency scales. When students know the criteria, they know the target and also can start to self and peer-assess in their learning.

A Festive Problem – Ms. Johnson’s students were doing some serious math thinking when I popped into the class as they worked on some festive math problems. Similar to intro algebra (except that uses letters), students were given problems that included winter/Christmas shapes that each had different values. They had to substitute the values for the shapes and try to solve the problems.

DINOvember! To wrap up their learning of DINOvember, this past week Mrs. Zelter’s class had a virtual, interactive tour from the Royal Tyrrell Museum and had some fun making some delicious dinosaur footprint cookies!

Noisy Reading? It was a bit louder but also filled with excitement in Mrs. Southcott’s class for their noisy family reading day last week. Parents and family members who were able to come to the school spent some time reading with their child and others to encourage literacy and a love for reading!

Reindeer Pose – Students in Ms. Bedard’s class were getting into the festive spirit last week with some reindeer artwork. Students did a directed drawing of Rudolph and then used pastels to colour him. Check out their work on display near the library. Mrs. North’s class also did some wonderful directed drawing and colouring (pastels and watercolours) of reindeer. Be sure to check them out on Facebook and outside the classroom.

The Week Ahead

PAC Silent Auction goes all week. (see below)
Wednesday – Popcorn Day
Friday – PAC Christmas Activity, Grade Group (Div 1-11) concert rehearsals in the gym
Saturday – Aldergrove Christmas Parade

Month at a Glance

Monday, Dec 12 – Concert rehearsals
Tuesday, Dec 13 – Christmas Concerts!
Wednesday, Dec 14 – PAC Milk and Cookies Day, Pyjama Day
Friday, Dec 16 – Shortreed Carolling Assembly, Red/Green/White Day, Last day before winter break, SIC document sent home
Tuesday, Jan 3 – Schools re-open

Important Updates and Reminders

• Before/After School Care at Shortreed starts Monday, December 5! 
• If your family needs some support for breakfast before school, our breakfast program runs at 8:20 each day. Students must come every day and be on time. Please register online.
• Our school parking lot is closed between 8:15-9:00 and 2:00-2:45 (other than daycare, buses, and vehicles for people with a disability). The church across the street graciously allows us to use their parking lot for pick-up and drop-off so please park there or along 28th Ave. Do not park in the “no parking” (coned) areas along the yellow curbs. No u-turns.

PAC Info

Community Events and Information

Check out all the community events and opportunities on the Langley School District Community Bulletin Board!

PacificSport Fraser Valley is hosting a Winter Break XploreSportZ program at the Langley Events Centre. As we have had much success in the SD35 area working directly with a variety of schools, we wanted to continue to offer opportunities for the kids of SD35. I have attached our promotional poster as well as listing the program information below.

• Location: Langley Events Centre – 7888 200^th Street, Langley, BC V2Y 3J4
• Dates: December 19-22
• Times: 8:30am to 3:00pm
• Ages: 7-12 years old
• Who: Open to anyone fitting the above age category!

Registration Link