Dear DG Families,
Science Fair
Our school science fair will be on February 27 from 9:10 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. Family and friends are invited to come. Students will be taking a break for snack and recess between 10:30 and 11:00. Students from grade 4 to grade 7 will present a science experiment that they have created. Several students will be selected to present their projects at the district fair in the following week.
Jump Rope for Heart
Jump Rope for Heart is an educational opportunity for students and a fundraiser for the Heart and Stroke Foundation. Students will learn about heart healthy choices at our kick off assembly on Fri. Feb. 21st. Students will also be bringing home donation envelopes on that day if they wish to fundraise. Envelopes are due back to school on Fri. Mar. 6th. In physical education with Ms. Leveque classes have been learning various skipping tricks and sequences to prepare for the Jump Rope for Heart event day on Friday March 6th. The event will be all day in the gym with multiple classes present, rotating through stations and sharing their skipping skills with peers.
This year is the 29th consecutive year that Devon Gardens has participated in Jump Rope for Heart. We have raised nearly $97,000 for the Heart and Stroke Foundation in that time! Way to go DG!
Pink Shirt Day – Wednesday, February 26, 2020
While every day is “anti–bullying day” at Devon Gardens (regardless of what colour shirt anyone is wearing),on Wednesday, February 26th, everyone is invited to participate in “Pink Shirt Day”.
For many people this day has come to symbolize anti–bullying in general, but did you know that “Pink Shirt Day” actually began as a response to an instance of homophobic bullying?
In 2007, at Central Kings Rural High School in Cambridge, Nova Scotia, a Grade 9 student was bullied and harassed when he wore a pink polo shirt to school. Two Grade 12 students decided to take a stand against homophobic bullying. They bought 50 pink shirts, and organized a “sea of pink” to spread a message of acceptance.
Please note, it is not necessary to purchase a special pink shirt to participate in Pink Shirt Day. Students are encouraged to proudly wear the shirt colour of their choice.
Parent Teacher Interviews
You may have noticed that we have added another parent teacher interview date this school year. It will be on Wednesday, March 4th with our students being dismissed at noon. Rather than have 2 early dismissal days in second term for student led conferences, we have split the 2 days to provide 1 day for student led conferences and an additional day for parent teacher interviews.
This additional time differs from the Fall parent teacher interview time in that it is driven by parent and/or teacher request to follow up on previous conversations. You will get notice from your child’s teacher should he/she wish to connect with you during this upcoming early dismissal day. As always, should you not be able to come on that day, alternate arrangements can be made and this includes a meeting at a different time/date or a phone conversation at a mutually agreed upon time.
Reporting Student Absences
If your child will be absent from school, please remember to call our office at 604-581-6185 to let us know. In your message, please also let us know the reason of your child’s absence. If your child is away due to illness, please also let us know your child’s symptoms; particularly in the case of communicable diseases such as respiratory infections, strep throat, chickenpox,stomach flu, etc…
Our school and classrooms are cleaned daily. However, we do realize that children like to “share” with others, even germs. As such, we monitor attendance closely. When we know that students have come down with chickenpox, the flu, etc… . (or when we notice a spike in student absences due to illness), this is reported to our custodial department and additional cleaning sanitizing procedures are followed. We really appreciate your assistance with this by reporting your child’s symptoms when they are away due to illness.
February’s Focus
This month, we are focusing on the importance of respectful greetings. At Devon Gardens, we do this by looking at each other, smiling and exchanging greetings such “hello”, “bonjour”, “goodbye”, etc…
Dragon Tickets
One of the ways we encourage and recognize positive student behaviour is through Dragon Tickets. Staff have been giving students they catch doing kind and nice things a Dragon Ticket. On Fridays, we randomly draw 10 tickets to recognize and thank our students for being great role models.
Battery Recycling – until the end of February
The ECO Team at Devon Gardens is collecting single use batteries to recycle. If you have single use batteries to recycle, please bring them into your child’s class or to the office. Our ECO Team teacher leaders this year are Mme Santos, M Lawler, and Ms. Chan. Thank you for their leadership and time in helping us reduce waste at our landfills.
So far, we have collected 3 full boxes of batteries to recycle! Way to go ECO Team!
BC Green Games Submission
This year, our school will have 2 submission to the BC Green Games. Please read about Ms. Chan’s class and their battery recycling initiative and vote to like it!
https://www.bcgreengames.ca/project/battery-recycling-project3445
We will be sharing with you the ECO Team’s submission when it is ready.
Thank you to all of our students for doing their part to help our Earth. As well, thank you to Ms. Chan, Mme Santos, and M Lawler for being the teacher sponsors.
Talent Showcase
DG’s got talent! As such, we are pleased to be having a talent show for our grades 4-7 students to audition and share their talent with the school.
Community Events
Community schools will be offering spring break camps. Please see the attached for information.
Save the Date
We have added several dates to our calendars.
Class and School Panorama Picture date April 7th in the morning
Spring Band concert date Friday, May 22nd at 2:00 p.m.
Tuesday, February 25th – Homework club 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. Grades 4-7
Tuesday, February 25th – Grade 7 Boys’ Basketball Hellings at DG
Tuesday, February 25th – Grade 6 Boys’ Basketball DG at Gray
Wednesday, February 26th – Battle of the Badges Field Trip
Wednesday, February 26th – Pink Shirt Day
Thursday, February 27th – Science Fair
Thursday, February 27th – Grade 7 Girls’ Basketball DG at Hellings
Thursday, February 27th – Community Schools Lego Program 3:15 – 4:45 p.m.
Friday, February 28th – Non Instructional Day School is Closed
Tuesday, March 3 – Homework club Grades 4-7 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. in the library
Tuesday, March 3 – Grade 7 boys’ basketball DG at Gray
Tuesday, March 3 – Grade 6 boys’ basketball Gibson at DG
Wednesday, March 4 – Early dismissal at noon
Thursday, March 5 – Div 3 and 12 Field Trip
Thursday, March 5 – Science Fair at Scottsdale Mall 4:00p.m.
Thursday, March 5 – Community Schools LEGO program 3:15 – 4:45 p.m.
Friday, March 6 – Jump Rope for Heart
Friday, March 6 – Popcorn sales at recess