Posted: December 12, 2022

Families of Shortreed,

We are close to putting another year in the books as we move into the final week of 2022 at Shortreed. Looking back, it was definitely a bit of a roller coaster ride as we were able to open back up and offer many exciting opportunities at the school for students and families while also struggling with staff absences and shortages, fatigue, student absences, and the overall health and wellness of the community.  Here’s to hoping that 2023 will help us to take some more positive steps with health and wellness for all of us!

With it being the last week, we also have some exciting events happening at the school! Mrs. Muller has been working tirelessly to get the students ready for the Christmas Concerts happening on Tuesday! A reminder of the message that has been sent out for the past month: 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. The evening 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. On Friday, we will be able to gather in the gym for our first school-wide sing-a-long since 2019! Stay tuned for some other fun things happening at Shortreed this week.

A reminder that our silent auction ends Monday at 8pm! (more info is in the PAC section below).

As always, we want to acknowledge that we, in Langley Schools, do our important work, learning, and playing on the unceded ancestral lands of the Matsqui, Kwantlen, Katzie, and Semiahmoo First Nations. 

We hope you take a few minutes to read up on some of the good things that have been happening in the school along with some updates for the weeks ahead.

Good Things to Talk About

Concerts are Coming! Mrs. Muller worked with the majority of our classes with concert rehearsals in the gym on Friday. These will continue tomorrow with the concerts happening on Tuesday. We are hoping to have some students from ACSS record the afternoon concert so we can send it out to families.

Magical Reindeer Food – Our PAC volunteers spread some more Christmas magic on Friday as they came in to help each student in the school (who was present on Friday) to create their own bag of reindeer food. Students had to choose if they wanted the reindeer to fly fast or high and then select the appropriate magic dust to sprinkle on the food. Be sure to have your child sprinkle this outside on Christmas Eve!

Elfing Around on Fraser Highway – Our Shortreed elves were out in full force on Saturday night as we participated in the Aldergrove Christmas Parade again this year. We had an awesome turnout of students, families, and staff as we attempted to stay warm and represent our school. A huge thank you to the Macklin family for volunteering to drive and offer their truck/trailer for our float. Thank you to Mrs. Macklin, Mrs. Datema. and Mrs. Tarasoff for their help with decorating too!

Grinch Day! Our 4 kindergarten classes had some fun participating in Grinch Day on Friday. Students came in their grinch or festive gear, participated in Grinch learning activities, and had a chance to watch the movie together in the library.

The Smell of Christmas Baking – Some of our amazing SEA team took some students into the staffroom for a special Christmas Baking opportunity last week. Some delicious and festive shortbread cookies were made… as we consider shifting from Shortreed to Shortbread for the last week of school!

Snowmen at Night – Ms. Cho’s class created some beautiful artwork of snowmen at night using chalk pastels. Students showed their skills in drawing shadows, exploring colours, and showing perspective with these pieces. Check them out across from the library.

We Love Snow! Mrs. Loverock’s class started a story-writing project last week on the topic of all they love about snow. Students started brainstorming as a class and then did this individually. They then reflected on the settings of their story and will continue to develop the stories this week.

Showing Value – Mrs. Gandouin’s class participated in math centres when I popped in last week. Students practiced and learned place value (ones, tens, hundreds) through math games, Mathletics, and small group instruction with the teacher.

Winter Scenes – Mrs. Parsons’ class’ recent winter artwork (mountains) was chosen to be showcased at the School Board Office… and the teacher could not stand the idea of a blank bulletin board so Division 1 created another stunning collection of winter artwork. This time, they drew a snowy, night scene that is on display outside of the library.

Fluffy Painting! Students in Mrs. Rowbotham’s class used a mixture of glue and shaving cream to create their own fluffy snowman paintings! Students had to learn how to apply this substance so it created a 3-dimensional aspect of their snowmen. After they finished their snowmen, they added small snowflakes to the background for a lovely winter scene. The students also wrote letters to Santa – check out their letters on social media or outside their classroom.

Oh, Christmas Tree – Mrs. Soares challenged her students to learn to use their rulers and look at angles as they drew some Christmas trees in class. They had to think of the branches of trees and how they looked and then us the rulers to create this… which was not an easy skill for some of the students! Once they got it, they were proud of their work (and not giving up when it seemed hard)

Evergreen Christmas Decor!  Leanne from Elia Flower Farms (also a Shortreed parent) volunteered her time, donated supplies, and came in and worked with Mrs. Johnson and Ms. Gandouin’s classes to make beautiful evergreen Christmas decorations! We truly appreciate Leanne’s time, effort, and donation!

Rocking Out! Last week, Division 6 had the chance to try a new form of physical literacy – rock climbing! They tried so hard and pushed past the fear of going too high.

Fun With Forts – Mrs. Southcott and Ms. Coghill had a fort day last week where they encouraged students to bring in blankets and materials that would help them build forts. Students created and adjusted the forts and then spent time in them learning and playing! These two classes also had some fun creating ice cream cone Christmas trees and gingerbread houses with their buddy classes!

Reindeer Writing – Ms. Bedard’s class worked on their descriptive writing with their paragraphs for trying to find another reindeer to pull the sleigh. Check out their great work across from the library. Earlier in the week, this class learned some basic sewing skills and made their own little Christmas stockings!

Community Christmas Cards – Ms. Mostat’s class took some time to practice their writing skills by penning some letters to Santa and making very cute and thoughtful cards for some Seniors in the community. These cards are part of a connection we have with one of the local care homes.

A Special Thank You – These two grade 5 students gave up their recess and lunch and braved the rain and cold to move all our slushy and slippery snow into piles on Friday. One of them even wore through his shovel as they spent hours out there helping to make our paved areas near the portables and classrooms that much safer. Thank you to the new BC-RK Snow Removal Company!

The Week Ahead

Monday – concert rehearsals all day
Tuesday – concerts at 1:00 and 6:30
Wednesday – PJ Day and PAC Milk/Cookies, PAC Meeting at 9:30.
Friday – Christmas Sing-a-long 1:30, Term 1 Learning Documents sent home, last day of school before the break, Red/Green/White Day

Month at a Glance

Tuesday, Jan 3 – Schools re-open
Tuesday, Jan 24 – Lockdown Drill
Friday, Jan 27 – Crazy Headwear Day

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!