Mark Your Calendars:
· Dec. 2 –5, 2024: Food Bank Drive
· Dec. 2, 2024: School-wide Read-aloud: Theme - generosity
· Dec. 2-5, 2024: Storytelling Residency with Jeff Stockton
· Dec. 3, 2024: Sweets and Meats Fundraiser Pick-up 3:00-4:00pm
· Dec. 5, 2024: Family Storytelling evening 6:00 –7:30pm
· Dec. 11, 2024: Grade 5/ 6 Bow Habitat Field Trip
· Dec. 13, 2024: Fun Lunch order deadline
· Dec. 17, 2024: Santa’s Workshop
· Dec. 18, 2024: Fun Lunch –Little Ceasar’s
· Dec. 18-20, 2024: 8:30 –9:00am Carol Singing in gym
· Dec. 21 – Jan. 5, 2025: Winter Break
· Jan. 6 –10, 2025: Calgary West Football Club Soccer Residency
· Jan. 14, 2025: School Council Meeting 6:30pm in the Learning Commons
Dear Silver Springs School Parents and Guardians,
Silver Springs Food Bank Drive Dec. 2-5: Silver Springs School will be collecting food items for the Calgary Food Bank. Did you know that 1 in 9 Calgarians accessed the Food Bank this past year? That is 141, 271 people! 41% of those were children. To support this need in our greater community, we will be accepting food item donations such as pasta, rice, cereal, oatmeal, flour, peanut butter, crackers, canned beans, chickpeas, lentils, pasta sauce, canned fruit and vegetables, canned soup, and baby formula. No candy, broken or opened packages or expired products, please. Please send them with your child to class and our Peace Ambassador team will be collecting donations throughout the week. Thank you in advance for your generosity.
SAVE THE DATE- Dec. 5th! Family Storytelling Night: As a culmination to our storytelling artist-in-residency with Jeff Stockton, we are holding a special family night on Thursday, December 5 from 6:00-7:30pm. On this evening, we will start off together in the gym listening to Jeff tell us a story and then set us up for a storytelling scavenger hunt. After this, families will be given 15-20 minutes to move throughout the school and gather story elements. Finally, families will take these ideas, curl up together somewhere throughout the school, and create their very own original family story. Families will leave with this story that they can tell over and over again building traditions of oral storytelling.
Stuff-a-Sock Generosity Initiative Dec. 9-13: During the second week of December, we will be collecting items to stuff socks in support of The Mustard Seed. We are asking Grade teams to bring in specific items. Bring what you can. Even one item would be appreciated. Please keep size in mind as these are intended to be stuffed into one sock.
· Kindergarten - tooth brushes and toothpaste
· Grade 1/ 2 - travel sized tissue, chapstick / lip balm,
· Grade 3/ 4 – combs, hand warmers, earplugs
· Grade 5/ 6 – deodorant, travel size shampoo, lotion, body wash
· $5 -$10 Tim Horton or McDonald's gift cards would also be greatly appreciated
During the last week before break, buddy classes will be working together to stuff socks making them ready for donation to those in need this winter.
Scholastic Book Fair: Thank you for supporting our Scholastic Book Fair this past week. Students were so excited to see all the books and items, create wish lists, and go shopping on their own. All proceeds go towards purchasing new books for our library collections and items to support teaching and learning throughout the school.
Spirit Wear Delivery: Thanks to many of our families for placing orders for our school spirit wear. Orders should be delivered to the school during the first week in December and distributed to our families shortly thereafter. We will keep you posted once we have more information.
Lost and Found: There is a lot of lost and found clothing and other items accumulating at school. Parents are welcome to come to school and check out the lost and found. Any items remaining at the start of the Winter Break (December 20) will be donated to charity.
Lunch Supervision, Bus Fees, and Student Supply Fees: These fees have been added to MyCBE parent accounts. The lunch supervision fee is $305/year. The bus fee is $260/year. The student supply fee is $40 (grade 1-6 students) and $20 for Kindergarten students. You can login and pay all or part of your fees. If you need to apply for a fee waiver, it is better to do it sooner rather than later. Here is a link to information on fee waivers https://www.cbe.ab.ca/registration/fees-and-waivers/Pages/Waivers.aspx
Contacting our Front Office: We kindly ask that if you have inquiries about fees and payments, fun lunches (picking up or donating orders when your child is absent), lost and found items, attendance, volunteering, police checks, or notices, that you contact Ms. Khatira Bayram directly in our front office at 403-777-6070 or khbayram@cbe.ab.ca
Return Library Books: As we get ourselves organized for the winter break, we ask that you take a good look around the house and return any library books to school, no later than Monday, December 16th. We would like to have the opportunity to reorganize our bookshelves for the new year and send home any overdue notices.
Sincerely,
Michelle Ryskamp,
Principal, Silver Springs School
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SCHOOL COUNCIL UPDATES
Special Events:
· Santa's Workshop Donation Drive- Are you decluttering in preparation for the holidays?? We would gratefully accept your gently used, new or crafted gift items for Santa's Workshop! We are looking for games, puzzles, toys, jewelry, key chains, books, knick-knacks, non-breakable home decor, ornaments, mugs and other suitable giftware. Wrapping paper, gift bags and tissue paper are also needed. Please NO sharp items like tools or kitchen gear
· If you missed the first round of collection, the donation drive will continue the week of December 9th, so hang on to your treasures. We will also need volunteers to help sort! https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090E4FADAB28A0FF2-53187124-santas#/
· About Santa's Workshop: This tradition is a special one for students. It will be held on Tuesday, December 17. School Council will set up tables in the gym similar to a garage sale. Your child will be given a chance to shop (for free!) for gifts for their immediate family members. We will send more information home with students in a couple weeks. We need a lot of elves/volunteers to make this magical event happen for our students. Sign up to help sort the donations as well as wrap during the workshop here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090E4FADAB28A0FF2-53187124-santas#/ If you have any questions or would like to help with organizing this amazing event, please contact Erin B at sssparentcouncil@gmail.com
Healthy Hunger & Fun Lunches:
· The full list of Fun Lunches for the 2024/2025 year, and the order deadlines, can be found on your Healthy Hunger account. If you don't already have a Healthy Hunger account, you can register at https://healthyhunger.ca/parent-register.
Volunteer Call:
· We need volunteers to assist with Fun Lunches - please sign up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090E4FADAB28A0FF2-51215901-funlunchsnack. These are a fun way to see a snapshot of the school in action and is usually only around 1.5hrs of your time!
· We need Santas Workshop volunteers to make this wonderful event happen!: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090E4FADAB28A0FF2-53187124-santas#/
School Council Communication: Beginning January 2025, your School Council and Parent Association will be sending emails and communication out to parents via their own newsletter. To ensure you don’t miss out on information on school fundraisers, events and other activities, please add you email to our list here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfmgHooW3c5LPJxpfP7aFDbBVVQScFJatbHToWR7_sMH6mbnw/viewform
Thank you for your support! For any questions about the above, or your School Council and Parent Association in general - please email sssparentcouncil@gmail.com
Celeste Howard and Erin Olesen (School Council Chair and Vice Chair)