Thunder News Flash – November 21-25

The Progress Report for the first term will be going home on Tuesday, November 22nd.  As you are aware, this school year our Superintendent’s Office has given us the opportunity to experiment with Communicating Student Learning to parents.  We held a parent meeting on November 2nd to discuss these changes, but as the turnout was very low we would like to share with you some important information to assist you as you navigate this new Progress Report:

• The first page of the Progress Report is simply an information page with your child’s name, the names of the teachers involved in your child’s education, as well as some terms and definitions.
• The performance scale that we are using, which is explained on the first page, is different this year for Grades 1-7.  This scale is based on the level of support that your child requires to be successful with the learning in the classroom, so it ranges from “Direct Support” to “Without Support”.  
• We will not be including letter grades in the Progress Reports for Grades 5-7.  If you have received the Progress Report, and have attended the Parent/Teacher Interview but still feel that you need a letter grade for your child in Grades 5-7 to help you better understand their level of performance, a form will be posted on the school’s website the week following the Parent/Teacher Interviews.  Parents can simply print the form, submit it to their child’s teacher, and the teacher will provide letter grades for the Core subject areas of Language Arts, Math, Science and Social Studies the following week.  Please remember letter grades are for students in Grades 5-7 only.

Parent/Teacher Interviews will be taking place on Thursday, November 24th from 1:00 – 8:00pm and there will be no school for students that day. You should have received a sticker in your child’s planner that indicated the specific time of your interview.   Please note these interviews are for the parents and the teachers only.

Mrs. Gaudet will be available to speak to you about your child’s progress in Music from 5:00 – 7:00pm only on November 24th.  If you are unable to come during that time, and would like to speak to Mrs. Gaudet, please feel free to send her an email and set up a meeting that works for both of you.

Ms. Samuel will also be available from 5:00 – 7:00pm to meet with any parents who would like to speak to her about the Math support that she gives to their children.

Please note that there will be no school on Friday, November 25th.  The school will also be closed for a Professional Development Day for the staff on Monday, November 28th, so there is no school for the students.

This Wednesday, November 23rd will be our first Thunderwear Almost Thursday, since there is no school on Thursday, November 24th.  Students are encouraged to wear their Thunderwear to school on November 23rd.  Your child may replace pieces of their school uniform with their Thunderwear.  So, if they have a Thunderwear t-shirt, they may wear this t-shirt instead of their school shirt.  If they have a pair of Thunderwear sweatpants, then they may wear these instead of their school pants.  If your child has multiple pieces of Thunderwear then they may replace multiple parts of their uniform with their Thunderwear.  Please note that this does not mean that your child may wear jeans with a Thunderwear t-shirt.  This is not a dress-down day, but a day to celebrate school spirit by wearing Thunderwear.

It has come to our attention again that things are very chaotic in the parent parking lot, and the drop off/pick up lane before and after school.  Please note that traffic flows in one direction only through the lot – enter the lot through the west gate and drive east through the lot.  If you are using the drop off/pick lane either in the morning or afternoon you may not park your vehicle and get out to meet your child.  Please remain in your vehicle, and watch the traffic as it moves through this lane.  If the car or cars in front of you leave the lane, please pull your vehicle up as far as you can as sometimes the line up of traffic backs up into the regular lot and blocks cars that are trying to leave.  If you pull out of your space in the lane to leave, please be very careful as some parents are driving through looking for a spot in the line of vehicles.  Finally, please respect the fact that there are children present who often do not look as they are running to their parent’s vehicle, so please drive very slowly through the lot and the lane.

All students and their families are welcome to join us at the Abbotsford Regional Hospital for the Hospital Outreach Mass on Sunday, November 27th at 4:00pm.  The Mass takes place in the Chapel on the main floor.  Students in Grades 6 and 7 are invited to be the readers.  If you would like to be a reader, please arrive at 3:45pm.  Mrs. Wakely will be there to help supervise and prepare the volunteers.  We also appreciate lots of young voices to help with the singing!  We hope to see many of you there.

Are you beginning to feel the Christmas spirit as you drive around and see lights up on houses, and decorations on front lawns?  To help you decorate your home for the holidays the Grade 6 class will be selling bags of holly for $5/bag,  December 5th – 7th from 2:30 to 2:45pm.  This is a fundraiser to help raise money for Outdoor Ed. when these students are in Grade 7 next year.  These bags of holly are very popular, and they will have a limited number of bags for sale, so please come early.  

Just a reminder that gift card order forms are due back at the school office tomorrow – Monday, November 21st by 3:00pm.

If you need another order form please click here.

Gift cards are available from a wide variety of grocery stores, department stores, home improvement stores, specialty stores, restaurants, entertainment, travel, spas and gas stations.  For all your shopping needs, it’s a great opportunity for you to save yourself some time during this busy season and easily purchase all your Christmas gift cards while raising money for your school at the same time.  When purchasing gift cards through this program, our school earns between 1%-10% of the value of each card purchased.  Thank you for your support of this fundraiser.