Principal’s Message

With only 3 more weeks of school, Christmas will be upon us very soon and we are looking
forward to all of the activities that will be happening at Forest Green! We have had a great
start to the year, with a lot of new initiatives that are really propelling our school forward as a
21st century leader in Education. Although improving school is something that is continuous
and ongoing, none of this can happen without developing strong relationships with our stu-
dents and school community. We hope to see many parents come out during our Christmas
concerts and caroling days! Thanks for your continuous participation in our school environ-
ment.

Report cards have just come home, and you may have noticed a change in the formatting.
This is to ensure that our reporting is clear and concise, not only for parents, but also stu-
dents. Changing this format also provides easy information for the following teacher so that
they have a better understanding of where the child is at in their development.
November 2010 Newsletter

As winter has come, and the roads have become more icy, let’s all slow down and ensure the
safety of our students. Also, please ensure that we are not blocking any driveways of our
Forest Green School

neighbours. We want to ensure that we are all taking care of and are thoughtful of our Forest
Green community.

On November 15th, our staff had a fantastic Professional Development day and had the op-
portunity to also learn with and from some Forest Green parents. Thanks so much to Corrie
Erdman and Becky Corbett for joining us on this day. Your thoughts and input are so valu-
able to our learning community!

As we only have a short time before the end of school, this will be the last newsletter of the
2010 year.

On behalf of the staff, have a fantastic break and we look forward to seeing you partake in
our Christmas activities and connecting in the new year!

Sincerely,
George Couros
Principal, Forest Green School/Connections for Learning
http://forestgreenschool.ca

http://forestgreenschool.ca
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KEY DATES FOR December

December 7 - All Forest Green students going to see ―The Grinch Who Stole
Christmas‖ at Horizon Stage

December 10—Kindergarten and Grade 1 Christmas Concert (1:30-3PM)

December 15— Grade 2-3 Choir and Handbell Concert (7-8 PM)

December 16—Grade 4-6 Christmas Concert (7-8PM)

December 17—Last day of school before Christmas Break! Have a safe holiday!

Christmas Caroling at Forest Green

Want to get into the Christmas Spirit? Come join our entire school for Christmas Caroling! Parents are wel-
come to partake (please sign in at the office first!). This is a great opportunity for us to continuously build
community within our school!

The times and dates are below:

Monday, December 13 9:00 – 9:30 AM

Tuesday, December 14 9:00 – 9:30 AM
Wednesday, December 15 1:00 – 1:30 PM
Thursday, December 16 1:00 – 1:30 PM
Friday, December 17 9:00 – 9:30 AM

What HAPPENED at Forest Green!

Forest Green School
5210 - 45 Street November 10— Grade 5 students led an as- If you have questions about
sembly to honour Remembrance Day. weather cancellations or route
Stony Plain, AB
delays, schedules or any other
T7Z 1R5 Thanks to all students and staff for making
bussing concern, check out
this a beautiful tribute to those who have the Parkland Transportation
Phone: 780-963-7366 served our country. web site @
Fax: 780-963-0341 November 15—Staff PD Day attended by www.parklandtransport.ca/
Forest Green and CFL staff, along with par-
ents and Deputy Superintendent, Kelly Wil-
kins. Great day of collaboration and learning
from our staff and community!

http://forestgreenschool.ca
Page 3 Forest Green School

How our staff is getting better! Forest Green School Professional Development
(October)
 Mrs. Holland attended a Non-Violent Crisis Certification recertification program to update her skills in this
area.
 Forest Green and CFL led a staff development session based on effective use of technology to improve
learning while also increasing Critical Thinking opportunities in the classroom. Thanks to the parents and
Superintendent Kelly Wilkins for joining us.
 Mrs. Cameron and Ms. Mahan continued to do their work with Balanced Literacy led by our very own Mrs.
Wandio.
 Mr. Usiskin continued to work with staff in their class to embed Critical Thinking and the effective use of
technology into classroom practice.
 Mrs. Shmyr led our EAs in a technology inservice.
 Mr. Couros attended Alberta Technology Leaders in Education conference in Red Deer, Alberta. This was
a great opportunity to discuss the innovative practices being created by our staff and
students at Forest Green!

Internet Safety & Security for Parents - A Parent Information Session

This informal session is designed to give parents a better understanding of how to effectively deal with their child
and the influence of the internet within the family. Cst. Barbara Roy, RCMP, Stony Plain, will provide parents with
the basic knowledge of the internet, identify the types of threats children can be exposed to, and give parents help-
ful tools and tips to actively approach this increasing choice of communication among our children.

This issue has been identified by our school councils as an important, emerging issue for parents, teachers, and our
school community, and everyone is invited to attend. There will be an opportunity for questions and sharing follow-
ing the session.

Monday, January 10, 2011

7:00 p.m.
Blueberry School
Range Rd. 20 & Parkland Drive
Stony Plain, Alberta
This is a free session and refreshments will be served.

To ensure enough chairs and refreshments, please RSVP to Leighann at

klwolkowski@gmail.com by January 5, 2011.

This session is part of a series of parent sessions being offered throughout the year in cooperation with the Council
of School Councils, Parkland School Division.

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Yes, the report card is changing.

You should have received your child’s report card yesterday. Our teachers prepared these reports to provide
you with an accurate picture of what your child can do relative to the Alberta Education grade level curricu-
lum outcomes.

How has it changed?

Instead of just paragraph-style comments, we felt that the point-form format under the headings of
STRENGTHS, PROGRESSING WELL and GOALS, REQUIRING GROWTH provides more straightforward
information for you. So, either your child is progressing well in an area, or they will need more time and
practice in a skill. In many cases, the teachers have also suggested strategies that your child or you at home
can do to help progress.

Though we still use descriptors (Work meets standard of excellence, Work meets acceptable standard, Work
meets minimal acceptable standard, and Work does not yet meet acceptable standard) for the CORE SUB-
JECTS of Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies and Physical Education, we would hope that the best
information is gathered from the Strengths and Goals outcomes and the general comments.

Thank you for your support as we continually work to make our report card clear, concise and infor-
mative!

This report card is only one piece of our reporting system designed to provide you with meaningful and ongo-
ing communication regarding your child’s learning. In order to supply you with a full picture of your child’s
progress and growth, we also strive to provide frequent home-school communications through agendas,
emails, phone calls, and parent-teacher-child conferences. As you may know, we are also looking forward to
including e-portfolios to provide even more evidence of your child’s accomplishments and growth over time.
We are excited about this new endeavour, and we will keep you informed along the way.

Announcements:
The Kindergarten and Grade 1 Christmas Concert is on December 10th at 1:30. Come and enjoy the Christmas spirit with us! Please
be in the gym by 1:20 so we can start promptly at 1:30. Merry Christmas!

Attention all Performing Artists

The St. Albert Rotary Music Festival entry deadline is Jan. 22, 2011. If you sing, play an instrument, recite poetry or
dance, visit www.st-albertmusicfestival.com for entry details. Audience members are most welcome to attend perform-
ances free of charge at our venues which include the Arden Theatre. The Festival runs April 6-16, 2011. Participate in
this community event now in its 34nd year, nurturing young talent in an educational environment.

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Our Emergency Response Plan

We wanted to just give you some information on our emergency response plan.

When a school is confronted with an emergency situation, we want to be prepared. Our school conducts drills through-
out the year to rehearse emergency procedures. These drills are precautionary actions designed to prepare students
and staff to act quickly. A child’s fear during a real emergency can be minimized if they have had opportunity to practice
and discuss procedures with their teachers.

On-Alert: This is an early warning system. Often, life continues as usual inside the school, but doors may be locked in
anticipation of an emergency.

Evacuation: Otherwise known as a Fire Drill, requires everyone to exit the building as soon as possible. Usually eve-
ryone congregates outside of the school, but in a more serious emergency, we may evacuate to an alternate location.

Lock-down: This is used in response to acts or threats of violence, including any such activities in the vicinity of the
school. All outside doors are locked, and everyone gets behind locked doors inside as well.

Shelter-in-Place: This is used for environmental dangers such as an outdoor gas leak or a tornado. All doors and win-
dows are sealed and air systems are shut down, and everyone is kept in the safest areas of the school.

Emergency Dismissal: Under some circumstances, it may be determined that it is best to dismiss students to their
homes earlier than normal. Every attempt is made to contact parents or emergency contacts, and pick-up time and
place are communicated. All children are supervised and kept safe until pick-up.

As you can see, we have a plan. Schools are often the safest places in our communities in the face of emer-
gencies. But we need your help:

 Keep all phone numbers up-to-date at our office.

 Phone in absences. If we have to contact you, it would slow down an emergency call-out system.
 Sign in to the visitor book at the office if here for more than a few minutes.
 As a regular parent volunteer, review procedures with the teacher you work with so you are aware of what to do
in an emergency.

Let’s do everything to work together to keep our students safe!

Notes from the Office

 Please do your best to ensure that you do any communication you need to with your child
before the school day. As the school phone is a business phone, we encourage our stu-
dents to only use it in the case of an emergency. We appreciate your help with this.
 School fees were due September 30, 2010. If you have not yet paid your school fees, please
see Mrs. Buchaski to make arrangements as soon as possible.

We have a wonderful resource called TLC and they have provided us with some great information on
topics such as anxiety, ADHD, eating disorders, social skills, Tourette Syndrome and stress. If you
are interested in learning more please see Mrs. Kari in the office.

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Forest Green School Blogs

Forest Green Main Blog —http://forestgreenschool.ca

Connections for Learning—http://cfl.forestgreenschool.ca

Forest Green Kindergarten News—http://

kindergarten.forestgreenschool.ca/

French—http://french.forestgreenschool.ca

Grade 1 News—http://grade1.forestgreenschool.ca

Grade 2 Miss Heward—http://grade2a.forestgreenschool.ca

Grade 2 Ms. Hobbins - http://grade2b.forestgreenschool.ca

Grade 3 News! - http://grade3.forestgreenschool.ca

Grade 3/4 News—http://grade34.forestgreenschool.ca

Grade 4 News—http://grade4.forestgreenschool.ca

Grade 5 News—http://grade5.forestgreenschool.ca

Grade 6 News—http://grade6.forestgreenschool.ca

Music—http://music.forestgreenschool.ca

SNAP Program—http://snap.forestgreenschool.ca

The EYALT Programhttp://eyalt.forestgreenschool.ca

Buzz About Books—http://bwandio.forestgreenschool.ca

http://forestgreenschool.ca
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From Forest Green School Council

‘Wishing you and your family a joyous celebration this holiday season.’

A helpful list of community events to help get you and your family into the holiday spirit:

How The Grinch Stole Christmas – Horizon Stage. Tickets $10.00 available at the school. December 10 at
7:00pm, & 11 at 2:00pm and 7:00pm

Crockadoodle – pottery painting in Spruce Grove. www.crockadoodle.com or (780) 960- 5151. Pottery in
your PJ’s for children (pre-registration) Friday nights at 6:00pm - $25.00. Or drop in.

Skating at Glen Hall Arena (5300 - 52nd Street) – Public Skating: Sunday 4:00 - 5:00 pm; Monday/
Wednesday 4:00 - 5:00 pm; Friday 7:00 - 8:00 pm.

Outdoor Skating – John Paul II; Forest Green; Meridian Heights; Centennial Memorial; Dog Rump

Live Nativity – December 22 & 23. Show times 6:00, 6:30, 7:00, 7:30. At Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-
Day Saints – Spruce Grove (400 McLeod Ave) Note: pageant is held outside, so dress for the weather. No
cost, refreshments.

Candy Cane Lane – Edmonton - 148 st. From 92 to 100 ave. December 11 – Jan 2, nightly from 5:00 to
midnight. Walk, sleigh ride, or drive. Cost: food bank donation

Tri-Leisure – Toonie Swim. December 18, 6:00 – 9:00pm

Santa Claus Parade – Dec 5 10:00am Edmonton. Downtown pedways from Commerce Place to Manulife
Place and through Edmonton City Centre Mall.

FINAL farmer’s market of the season - Dec. 18th, Spruce Grove Grain Elevator
Luminaria – (lights and apple cider, a capella singers, magical snow sprites.) Devonian Botanic Gar-
den. December 11 & 12. Adults $10.00, children $5.00.

Family Fest - Rotary Park, Stony Plain, New Years Eve - hot chocolate, skating and more.
www.stonyplain.com

Fun at home - Crafts - using items found around your house. Crafts for elementary aged children. http://
www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/

http://forestgreenschool.ca