Posted: February 2, 2025

Families of Shortreed,

To all those Shortreed families celebrating this week, Happy Lunar New Year! Chúc mừng năm mới, Saehae bok mani badeusipsio, and Gong hei fat choy!

We hope your children had a chance to get outside and enjoy some of the white stuff for the first time this year. It’s always an exciting time for kids and an even more exciting time for our families how are experiencing their first snowfall in Canada!

Our first session of Club Wednesdays starts this week on Wednesday at 1:15. Check with your child to see which club they chose to be in! Our grade 5 basketball team travels to Simonds/U-Connect Elementary on Tuesday for the 2nd game of the season. Grade 2 basketball happens after school on Monday.

Don’t forget that next Monday, Feb 10 is a Pro-D Day so there is no school for students. PAC Hot Lunch orders are now available and can be ordered through Munchalunch. The first order is due soon.

If you have questions about school status due to weather, please see below in the information settings.

Kindergarten registration for 2025-2026 continues through February. More info here.

As always, we want to acknowledge that we do our important work to ensure every child belongs on the unceded ancestral and traditional lands of the Màthxwi (Matsqui) First Nation. We acknowledge this to honour the land and the people and share our commitment to learning on our journey for Truth and Reconciliation. I recently attended a district wellness event, and it started with a song from an Aboriginal Support Worker. This song brought me back to my days of working in Agassiz and the learning I was able to receive from families of Sts’Ailes First Nation. This song was often sung in my class by a former student of mine and it filled my heart, grounded me, and started the afternoon off in such a positive way. It was another reminder of the importance of drumming and singing to Indigenous Peoples and to all those of us who are positively affected by the singers, drummers, and songs. For so many years, it was banned and discouraged in schools, but because of the strength and resiliency of Indigenous Peoples, it is back and has a powerful presence in schools. The drumming is something that is not just seen and heard but felt deep inside. Thank you to Ms. Elson and our drummers who have worked to make drumming such a positive presence in our school.

On Friday, we had some of our grade 5 students and our ELL team lead the Lion Dance throughout our classrooms. This has been such a wonderful tradition to honour and celebrate Lunar New Year at Shortreed. All students in the school created red envelopes and the Lion came and ate the red envelope hanging from each classroom door.

Our staff were spoiled with a Vietnamese Lunar New Year lunch on Wednesday, thanks to some our Shortreed families and Pho Aldergrove. This has also been a lovely tradition at our school as we embrace Lunar New Year at Shortreed! Thank you to Minh Vu (one of our staff members), our ELL team, and various Shortreed families for their help with food and organization. Chúc mừng năm mới!

Ms. Choi had a chance to teach a few students and classes about the Korean traditions of Lunar New Year. Korean people use lucky bags instead of red envelopes. A few students made paper lucky bags and wrote their names in Korean. Division 11 also had a chance to play some Korean traditional games, “Tuho” & “Jegichagi”. Saehae bok mani badeusipsio (새해 복 많이 받으십시오)!

Our grade 5 basketball team had their first game on Tuesday as they hosted Blacklock Fine Arts Elementary School. This was the first ever game for our Shortreed players and it was the first ever game for Blacklock School as they joined the league this year. Our Eagles played really well, hitting some big shots, making key layups and spreading out the offence with some nice passing to secure their first win of the season. They play Simonds/U-Connect Elementary this week.

The Week Ahead

Monday – Gr. 2 Basketball 2:45-4:00
Tuesday – Gr. 5 Basketball 7:45; Game at Simonds (leaving at 2:25)
Wednesday – Club Wednesday #1 1:15
Thursday – Lockdown Drill 10:00
Friday – Gr. 5 Basketball 7:45

Month at a Glance:

Monday, February 10 – Pro D Day – no school for students
Tuesday, February 11 – Gr. 5 Basketball 7:45am; HOME game vs Parkside 3:00
Wednesday, February 12 – Club Wednesday #2; PAC Hot Lunch – KFC
Friday, February 14 – Gr. 5 Basketball 7:45; Have a Heart Day; Valentine’s Day; PAC Meeting 9:00; Gr. 2 Basketball 2:45
Monday, February 17 – Family Day – schools closed
Tues-Fri, Feb 18-21 – Chang’s Taekwondo teaching classes in PE
Tuesday, February 18 – Gr. 5 Basketball 7:45, game at Nicomekl
Wednesday, February 19 – Club Wednesday #3
Friday, February 21 – Gr. 5 basketball 7:45; Gr. 2 Basketball 2:45
Monday, February 24 – SIC Prep and Design and Assessment Day – no school for students
Tuesday, February 25 – Gr. 5 Basketball 7:45, game at Douglas Park
Wednesday, February 26 – Pink Shirt Day (but don’t stress if you don’t have a pink shirt!); Club Wednesday #4; Gr. 5 Basketball HOME game vs Uplands; PAC Timbit Treat Day
Friday, February 28 – Gr. 5 basketball 7:45, PAC Movie Night; Aboriginal Family Gathering at HD Stafford
Monday, March 3 – Start of Student Inclusive Conferences; Gr. 2 Basketball 2:45
Tuesday, March 4 – Gr. 5 Basketball 7:45; HOME game vs James Hill 3:00
Wednesday, March 5 – Early Dismissal at 12:33 for SIC
Thursday, March 6 – SIC Day – students only attend their conference timeslot (if scheduled on this day)
Friday, March 7 – Gr. 5 Basketball 7:45

PEACEful Schools and Homes

At Shortreed, we have been using some of the PEACEful Schools strategies from the Complex Trauma Resources centre. The PEACE in peaceful stands for the following strategies:

• Predictable routines
• Emotional literacy
• Attended relationships
• Calming activities
• Empowerment

They also have information for families. We know the importance of predictable routines for students and children – they do much better when they know what to expect (for the most part).We shared this info last week with families. This week, we are sharing information on Emotional Literacy:

• • EMOTIONAL LITERACY
    • Implicit Teaching: This is a powerful strategy that involves experiential daily interactions between the caregiver and the child. Often children do not want to be told what to do, but will pick up on HOW adults do things. This can be done by modeling emotion language regularly (i.e. I’m feeling frustrated, do you know what that means? Do you ever feel frustrated?)
    • Explicit Teaching: Directly teaching social and emotional skills. Ask what curriculum the school is using and try to use common language and strategies so there is familiarity.
    • Reflect Feelings/ Empathy – This intervention consists of reflecting back to the child, that their emotions and experiences are understood by the adults in their environment. This is usually a priority intervention and is essential to the development of both attachment and emotion regulation. Provide a safe place to talk about feelings. Reminder: validating how the child is feeling is not the same as condoning the behaviour. If necessary, set aside a designated time and place for sharing.
    • Facilitate self-monitoring opportunities, i.e. 0-10 scale, zones visual, feelings chart/thermometer

If you want the full PEACEeful Homes document as a PDF, click here.

Information and Reminders

• It’s that time of year when we see a rise in illnesses impacting students and staff in our school. We are hearing from families about colds, respiratory illnesses, and stomach bugs circulating in our community. As a reminder to help keep our school community healthy and well, we are sharing this online resource from our community partner Fraser Health. Here you will find information about protecting your child from communicable diseases and managing their illnesses: https://www.fraserhealth.ca/health-topics-a-to-z/school-health/illness-and-immunizations/illness-in-the-classroom
• Extended Absences: due to enrollment pressures in Langley Schools, if a student is absent for 25 or more consecutive days (and not due to medical reasons), they could possibly lose their space in the class and/or in the school. Once they return, they could be placed on a waitlist. If you are planning on having your child be absent for an extended trip, please contact your child’s teacher at least 3 weeks before you leave. 

• Information About School Status During Inclement Weather

  Snow closures and power outages are an annual occurrence in the Langley School District. So, where do you go to get information about the status of schools during periods of inclement weather? If you are able to access the internet via computer or smartphone, current information about Langley schools can be accessed on all school websites or at the district website. Updates are also posted to X (formerly Twitter) @LangleySchools and on the Langley Schools Facebook Page. If you don’t have internet connectivity but your phone is working, call a relative or friend in an area that has not been affected by the storm and ask them to check the district website for you. Local radio stations are also informed of school status in Langley. Tune in to CKWX 1130AM, CKNW 980AM, Country Radio 107.1FM, Pulse 107.7 or CBC 690AM or 88.1FM for updates.

  Please note that Langley District schools are all considered ‘open’ until a decision to close is required. Decisions on school closures are usually made by 6:30am. As always, it is a parent’s decision whether to send their child to school based on safety and individual circumstances. If you feel it is unsafe for you or your child to travel to or attend an open school for any reason, please keep your child home and report an absence to the school.

• Strive for FIVE Days (or Less) – Attendance is crucial to your child’s learning as it helps with academics, social-emotional well-being, and peer connections. We understand children get sick, but please send them to school as many days as possible and strive for FIVE or fewer!

• Attendance/Absence – If your child is going to be absent, arriving late, away or leaving early due to an appointment, please notify the school of your child’s absence by emailing SCEAttendance@sd35.bc.ca or calling 604-856-4167 and state the following information:

  • Student First Name and Last Name
  • Grade
  • Division
  • Length of Absence
  • Reason (illness, late, appointment, vacation)
• If your family needs support for breakfast before school, our breakfast program runs from 8:20-8:35 each day. Students must register and come every school day. You can register here.
• 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.
• West Coast Recess – As we have done over the past few years, every day is an outside day at Shortreed. Unless there is a severe rainstorm (or snowstorm), we will be heading outside. Please make sure your child has a coat to wear outside. We have a good selection of coats in our FREE Coat Exchange near the office, so come by and check them out.
• Please bring inside shoes for your child. This helps to keep our school clean and dry. If you need some help with shoes, check out our FREE Shoe and Boot Exchange at the office.

PAC Info

Munch-a-Lunch SPRING Ordering!!!

• Hot lunch is a fundraiser for the PAC to keep fun things going at the school! Some of our purchase prices on the food have gone up. We have done our best to keep the prices as low as we can!
• Returning Parents: Please sign in to your Munch-a-Lunch account at https://munchalunch.com/login and update your child’s grade and teacher.
• New Families: Please go to this link: https://munchalunch.com/schools/Shortreed and click on the “Register Here” button and follow the instructions. Once your account has been created you can add your child(ren) to your account, you will need to know their teacher and division #.
• Payment Options:
  • Munch-a-Lunch is an online-based payment program. However, if you are only able to pay in cash or cheque, you MUST email us so we can make special arrangements for payment of your orders. Once set up you can send in cash or cheques (cheques for orders over $25.00 only) in an envelope with your child’s full name and division clearly indicated on the outside.
  • Important: You can order all your meals and treats ahead and pay for everything OR Order the food and pay for the food individually. You CANNOT order all meals and treats but pay in increments. What is ordered MUST be paid IN FULL before the cut off.

NOTE: If any of your order is left unpaid after the cut-off date (either online, cash, or cheque) it will be automatically removed.

Some rules: If your child is absent on a hot lunch date you can email us (or let the admin assistant know) to have your child’s lunch sent for pick up at the office (will be available after 12:30) or you can donate your child’s lunch to a child in need. WE ARE NOT ABLE TO TAKE SPECIAL REQUESTS OF WHO A DONATED LUNCH GOES TO. Late orders will not be accepted. Some extras will be available for purchase on the day of hot lunch/treat days, but we cannot guarantee what will be available and cannot hold these items for students.

Community Events and Information

Be sure to check out the Langley School District’s community bulletin board here.

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Social Media Awareness Family Sessions

ERASE will hold FREE virtual social media awareness sessions for parents and caregivers.

https://pages.saferschoolstogether.com/erase-family-session 

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Generation Health is a FREE 10-week healthy lifestyle program for children and their families, delivered through YMCA BC and in partnership with the Childhood Healthy Living Foundation. Program participants will meet virtually or in person to learn about healthy eating, physical activity, goal setting, body image, self-esteem and more!

We have 4 program days to choose from: Starting in February on Tuesdays (In Person at the Tong Louie YMCA) or Wednesdays, Thursdays, or Fridays virtually from 6:30-8:30pm. This program requires prior registration through these details: phone 1-888-650-3141 or send an e-mail to generationhealth@bc.ymca.ca.

Families who join this program receive a complimentary membership to the YMCA.

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FREE for Langley parents and caregivers – Register here.