Posted: October 27, 2024
Families of Shortreed,
We hope your kids had a good long weekend. On Friday, our staff members were invested in their professional learning, attending conferences and webinars to further their skills and knowledge as educators.
This week will be a busy week for our school, with Halloween and Diwali happening near the end of the week. On Thursday, we encourage our students to wear their Halloween costumes; families are invited to cheer on the kids in our Halloween Parade. You can watch the parade along the south, east, and north sides of the school outside the classroom (if we have heavy rain, we will email you with a new route). On Friday, we encourage our students to wear pyjamas (for PJ Day) or attire that helps celebrate and honour Diwali.
A few reminders about Halloween:
- We have a Halloween Costume exchange set up near the office. If you need a costume, please check our selection before you buy one. If you have gently used costumes, we would love to have them so others can use them and enjoy Halloween this year.
- If your child’s costume includes a full mask and/or weapons (sword, bow and arrow, etc.), they can wear this for the parade but not at other times as it can get in the way of learning and scare other children. (There are exceptions to the Mask guideline, so please email Mr. Wejr if you have questions.) Replica guns are not permitted.
- Please avoid any costumes that encourage violence and/or can scare younger children (ex. scary clowns, costumes that feature blood, etc). We want to make sure this is fun for all students.
- A culture is NOT a costume. Any costumes that imitate/emphasize cultural regalia and/or stereotypes are insensitive and offensive to the diverse backgrounds represented at our school and will not be permitted.
- We do have some students who are afraid of clowns. Please keep this in mind when choosing a costume.
- If you have any questions about whether or not a costume is appropriate for school, please ask your child’s teacher and/or email Mr. Wejr (cwejr@sd35.bc.ca).
- Thank you, in advance, to our PAC volunteers for setting up and putting on the Haunted Gym Halloween display! See below for more info on this as well as the pumpkin carving contest.
Last week, our kindergarten classes travelled to the Pumpkin Patch for some festive fun! Students had a chance to tour the Eagle Acres farm, go on a hay ride, see some animals, and pick their own pumpkins!
On Thursday, we had performer David Laine wow our students with his impressive skills in vocal percussion and beatboxing. We apologize for this causing some beatboxing attempts at the dinner table! 😉
Our school continues to develop a partnership with Jackman Manor. This year, Mrs. Parsons’ class was the first class to visit and connect with the residents. They read fall books, did word searches, and coloured some fall-themed artwork. The students’ and seniors’ smiles filled all our buckets! Stay tuned for more connection opportunities for Division 1 and other classes this year.
Our Shortreed Merch orders are happening right now. Families can order Spirit Wear through the School Cash Online account and see the options here. Orders close next weekend, and we hope all the merch will be in by mid-December.
Thank you to the Langley Schools grounds crew, who have started adding drainage to the portion of our playground that becomes a pond during the winter and spring. They should complete this work by next week.
As always, we want to acknowledge that we do our important work to ensure every child belongs on the unceded ancestral territories of the Màthxwi (Matsqui) First Nation. We acknowledge this to honour the land and the people and share our commitment to learning in our journey for Truth and Reconciliation. This learning is incredibly important for Canadian citizens as we move forward. Hearing some of the negative comments leading up to the election saddened me as these comments were due to a lack of understanding of the historical impact of over 150 years of oppressive laws and attitudes. I know that the generation of students going through our school are learning so much more about sides of history that we, as parents, never learned when we were in school. It is only through learning the truth that we can truly start to understand the history and build relationships with Indigenous Peoples in Canada. Through this, along with other teachings, we can continue to work to ensure that every child walks through our doors and feels like they belong at Shortreed.
The Week Ahead
Thursday – Haunted (not Spooky) Gym (9:00-12:00); Halloween Parade 1:30
Friday – Celebrating Diwali; PJ Day
Sunday – Shortreed Merch orders due (through school cash online)
Shortreed Calendar: Did you know Shortreed has a digital calendar to view and subscribe to? Once you subscribe, you will get all our school events right to the calendar on your phone and/or devices at home. Click here for more info.
Langley Schools calendar that includes Pro-D Days, etc,
Month at a Glance
Wednesday, November 6 – Gr. 5 Rem Day Field Trip 10-12; PAC Hot Lunch – pizza
Thursday, November 7 – Remembrance Day Assembly 11:00; Photo Retakes after lunch
Friday, November 8 – Design & Assessment Day – no school for students; Nat’l Indigenous Veterans Day
Monday, November 11 – Remembrance Day – schools closed
Tuesday, November 12 – PAC Meeting 7pm
Friday, November 15 – Fire Drill 9:30; PAC Movie Night!
Wednesday, November 20 – PAC Popcorn Day
Friday, November 22 – PAC Dollar Sale 1-6
Wednesday, November 27 – SIC Day – students only attend their conference timeslot
Thursday, November 28 – SIC Afternoon – early dismissal at 12:33
Saturday, November 30 – Shortreed Winter Market
Information and Reminders
- It is a long-standing tradition for schools to support our veterans and the efforts of the Royal Canadian Legion. Once again this year, our school will be receiving a poppy for every student and distributing them to classes. We will continue to collect funds this year in support of the Legion’s Poppy Campaign but kindly ask students and their families to donate online via School Cash Online: https://sd35.schoolcashonline.com/. Please do not send cash or cheques with your child to school. If you need assistance accessing School Cash Online, please contact the school office.We appreciate your generosity. As always, our school is committed to educating our community about the meaning of the poppy and Remembrance Day.
- 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.
- 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
Haunted Gym – There are three weeks until our amazing non-spooky Haunted Gym can be decorated! We are looking for volunteers. Please sign up if you can.
PUMPKIN CARVING CONTEST – For the pumpkin patch area we are running our PUMPKIN CARVING CONTEST again!! All pumpkins will be entered and we will choose a few by random draw to win a special prize.Community Events and Information
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