Posted: February 24, 2025

Families of Shortreed,

We hope you have had a good weekend and enjoyed the tiny bit of sunshine and warm weather on Sunday! Thank you for supporting us in looking after the kids today so our staff could connect and collaborate about our Action Plan goals and prepare for Student Inclusive Conferences.

If you have not had a chance to sign up for conferences, please go to https://shortreed.schoolappointments.com/ to sign up for one with your child’s teacher. A reminder of the importance of these conferences: they are your child’s report card, and the students are often very excited to share their learning, progress, and goals with you.

February is Black History Month, and many of our students have been learning about prominent Black Canadians in their classes and/or the library. It is a time to celebrate and honour the strength, determination, and overall success that has occurred in Canada and beyond.

This week is Diversity and Respect Week in Langley Schools, and Pink Shirt Day falls on Wednesday. We will continue to honour the beautiful diversity in our school and community through stories and teachings. Our mantra is You Belong Here, and we want to make sure every child and staff member feels this while at school! (please note: if your child does not have a pink shirt for Wednesday, that is OK! You can still be kind without a pink shirt.)

Grade 5 basketball has two games this week: they travel to Douglas Park on Tuesday and host Uplands on Wednesday. Come out and cheer on the Eagles in their home game at 3:00 on Wednesday! They have practices on Tuesday and Friday morning. There is no grade 2 practice this week.

We have another PAC Movie Night on Friday, and we will show Sing 2! Doors open at 6, and the show starts at 6:30. See below for more info.

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. On Sunday, I had the opportunity to attend a concert in Abbotsford with a band that is one of my all-time faves. Their music brings me back to an exciting time in my late teens and twenties – a time full of new connections, opportunities, and growth. While this was an incredibly exciting time for me, through my learning of Truth and Reconciliation, I also have learned to understand and acknowledge the privileges that I had that allowed me to get opportunities that others did not have. Acknowledging this privilege does not mean that I did not work hard and am not deserving of the achievements I had; it does mean that my path had fewer barriers and hurdles than others had… including Indigenous students, classmates, friends, and teammates I grew up with in Hope. Among many privileges, a key one is that my parents were able to attend the school in the community in which they lived. They were not forced to attend school away from their families, where they were not allowed to speak their language, or a school where they lived in fear of neglect and abuse. My parents had a positive experience at school and a chance to attend university. Their experiences created opportunities for me; my school experience was positive, and I had the chance to go off to UVIC. Growing up, I had NO idea that some of the parents of teammates and classmates were forced to attend residential schools and were dealing with the awful traumas of this. I didn’t realize the ongoing racism my teammates and classmates experienced in sports and school (and beyond). On my learning journey, I am working to understand the generational impacts of residential schools and racism in our country’s history, and I am trying to look through a less biased lens – a lens which I can be grateful for the opportunities in my life while also acknowledging the privilege I have had and continue to have in my life.   

Friday was International Mother Language Day. Our fantastic ELL team worked with students and staff to create videos of them speaking their “mother language” (some staff shared another language they speak). The video was shown to a number of classes on Friday, and some will watch this week (also as part of Diversity and Respect Week). The best part was seeing the kids from the video in the halls or classrooms beaming with pride when we mentioned the video. Please check your emails for a link to the private video. Thank you to Ms. Choi and our ELL team for leading this!

Our students had a chance to learn from Instructors Ethan and Dylan from Chang’s Taekwondo in Aldergrove. Our students had this free opportunity for 2 classes with the instructors as they learned some fundamental martial arts skills. Taekwondo was definitely a hit last week… especially kicking the pads!

Our Eagles Gr. 5 Basketball team travelled to Nicomekl last week for their 4th game of the season. The Eagles led the entire game but came up one basket short as the Cougars hit 5 big shots in the last shift of the game to win 40-38. The coaches have been so proud of how hard these kids have worked and, although they deserved the win, they continue to show awesome development (and this is the KEY to grade 5 basketball)!

For Black History Month, Mrs. Kirk has been sharing some stories of inspiring Black Canadians. This will continue this week. Be sure to check out her bulletin board in the hallway at the top of the ramp.

Club Wednesdays continued this past week with the 3rd session. We sure love hearing the as kids head to their clubs and the enthusiasm to share with their parents/caregivers what they did that day. Our final Club Wednesday of Term 2 is this week.

The Week Ahead

Diversity and Respect Week this week
Monday – Design and Assessment Day
Tuesday – Gr. 5 basketball 7:45; AWAY Game at Douglas Park 3:00
Wednesday – Pink Shirt Day; PAC Treat Day – Timbits; Club Wednesdays – last session 1:15; Gr. 5 Basketball hosts Uplands
Friday – Gr. 5 basketball 7:45; PAC Movie Night; Aboriginal Family Gathering at HD Stafford

Month at a Glance:

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
Monday, March 10 – Jump Rope for Heart starts
Tuesday, March 11 – EQ Drill
Wednesday, March 12 – PAC Treat Day (Cobs)
Thursday, March 13 – Assembly – Quinn Beasley 1:00pm
Friday, March 14 – Last day for SIC, last day before Spring Break

PEACEful Schools and Homes

At Shortreed, we have been using some of the PEACEful Schools strategies from the Complex Trauma Resources Centre. Although the teaching is focused on supporting children who have experienced trauma, it is helpful for ALL children. The PEACE in peaceful stands for the following strategies:

• Predictable routines
• Emotional literacy
• Attuned 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 also know that students need to understand their emotions and have attuned relationships. We shared this info with families over the last month. This week, we are sharing information on Calming Activities:

CALMING ACTIVITIES

• Mindfulness activities. Incorporate these in your daily routine. Remember: it is better to model and encourage the child to join in than it is to TELL the child. Most of the time, children need an adult to help co-regulate.
• Drumming. This intervention consists of allowing the child to make rhythms using hands, feet, or percussive instruments. The focus here is on creating opportunities for patterned, repetitive, and rhythmic stimulation. Younger and/or developmentally challenged children may respond best to copying or clapping games. More sophisticated drumming can be added as the child’s developmental/functional abilities improve. Drumming (rhythmic or chaotic) can be both therapeutic and cathartic.
• Sound Generator: This can be used both during the day and at night. The child’s hours of sleep provide an ideal opportunity to be providing pattern, repetitive, and rhythmic stimulation for many hours at a time, so this is often a mandatory intervention with highly aroused children. A principle that we have followed is that sounds such as waves, rain, and wind will provide patterned, repetitive, rhythmic stimulation deep in the brain. We must be careful that the sounds we use for intervention are not activating to the brain by being random or too stimulating – e.g. a forest sounds tape that includes random bird noises may be too alarming for some children.
• Create a Cozy Corner or Calm Zone in the house (this can be used to calm anxious energy).
  • Tools: soft lighting, and comfort items such as: soothing furniture, cushions, bean bag chair, weighted blanket, stuffed animals, squishy balls, headphones, calming music, calming scents
  • Techniques: shoulder squeeze, hug, burrito blanket wrap, deep breathing, etc.
• “Body check” or “self check”. Directly teach the child what “body clues” might come up when feeling anxious or stressed. Teach the child to “self-check”, for example, instead of saying, “stop being loud” or “stop wiggling”; the caregiver can say, “Can you check yourself please”. This allows the child to develop the crucial life skill of selfmonitoring.
• Click here to read the full PEACEeful Homes document as a PDF.

Information and Reminders

• 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

PAC is hosting a movie & pizza night on Friday, Feb. 28! Watch “Sing 2” in the school gym.

Doors: 6 pm | Movie starts: 6:30 pm
Everyone is welcome!

CONCESSION: PAC will be selling fresh popcorn, drinks, treats & more! Sales are cash only.

Pizza pre-orders will be ready at 6:10 p.m.

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RAFFLE!
PAC will be raffling a DVD of Sing 2!
Raffle tickets can be purchased in-person for $1/ ticket at concession.

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MOVIE NIGHT RULES:

• All children MUST BE ACTIVELY SUPERVISED
• All children must be accompanied by an adult (16+)
• ALL SCHOOL RULES APPLY – this is a school event
• NO outside food

FUN FAIR 2025!
This year it will be on May 23rd 330 to 730pm.
Who wants to help plan?
Who can help the day of?
We need the following positions:

• Games coordinator ( organizing the games and supplies that go with them)
• Face painting coordinator ( includes organizing the teen helpers)
• Signs coordinator
• Tickets/will call/prizes coordinator
• Volunteers coordinator

Let Aly know if you are able to help out with these or if you have some suggestions to help out or add to the fun fair. Email shortreedpac@gmail.com
Once we have a group of volunteers, we will have a fun fair meeting and get to work.

Community Events and Information

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

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