Posted: October 20, 2024
Families of Shortreed,
We hope you were able to stay dry this past weekend (and didn’t have to worry about any water damage!).
A reminder that there is a Provincial Pro-D Day on Friday, so there is no school for students.
We have an updated total for our Terry Fox Run fundraiser. Our goal was to break $1000… and we crushed this goal with a total of over $2100! Thank you so much to everyone who brought in money and/or donated online!
Congratulations to our six Shortreed athletes who represented our Eagles at the 2024 Langley School District Cross-Country Championships this past week! Ryu finished second place out of all the grade 5 boys in the entire district (by only half a stride!!!) and will win the district silver medal. Sam had a solid run and finished 23rd. For the grade 4 girls, Raiya sprinted at the finish to get herself into that top ten with an impressive 9th-place finish. For grade 4 boys, Adam gave it all he had to place an outstanding 4th place (only a stride behind the bronze medal). Isaac and Connor also had fantastic runs, finishing 12th and 13th overall. Seeing all these finalists run with all they had filled all our hearts with pride as they represented our school so well. Congrats to our finalists!
We participated in the Great BC Shakeout Earthquake Drill last week. This is also a good time to reflect on your family’s level of preparation. Click here for some links and resources about ensuring your family and home are prepared.
Halloween activities have been happening in many of our classrooms, so be sure to check out our social media for some pictures. With Halloween just around the corner, a few reminders:
- 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).
- We will have our annual Halloween Parade on October 31. Families are welcome to come out and watch at about 1:30pm (more details to come).
- 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.
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. I am just finishing up Jesse Wente’s book “Unreconciled”. In the final chapter, he writes about how reconciliation means “repairing” a relationship. The problem with this is that there is an assumption that a positive relationship once existed (which is more of a colonial way of thinking). He nudges Canadians to work to build trust and form new relationships with Indigenous Peoples that have not existed in the past. It is a lens that I never considered, but I will think about this going forward as we continue to learn more about the truth and work to build trusting relationships with Màthxwi First Nation and ALL the Indigenous families (Métis, First Nation, and Inuit) in our school and beyond.
The Week Ahead
Wednesday, October 23 – PAC Treat Day Cob’s Bread; Fire Drill 1:30
Thursday, October 24 – Informal Learning Updates sent home; Cultural Assembly – David Lane 1:00
Friday, October 25 – Provincial Pro-D Day – no school for students
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
Thursday, October 31 – PAC Spooky Gym; Halloween Parade 1:30 (families invited to watch)
Friday, November 1 – PJ Day!
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
Information and Reminders
- All toys should stay at home. We are seeing an increase in volume of toys being brought to school and these cause problems as they can get lost or stolen or create distractions. Thank you for your help with this.
- 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
Multi-Sport and More Pro-D Day Program October 25th Grades 1-4
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