October 11

Important Dates

Oct. 14-No School.  Thanksgiving Holiday.

Oct. 17-Earthquake Drill (District Wide)

Oct. 21-24-Early Dismissal all week for Formative Conferences.  (Dismissal will be at 1:23pm during those days)

Oct. 25-No School.  Pro-D Day

Oct. 29-Cross Country Meet at Rotary Bowl

Oct. 31-Halloween (see message below about costumes at school)

Nov. 1, 15, 22, 29 – Swim to Survive for Grade 3’s at Beban Pool. (***Grade 3’s bring swim wear and towel on these dates)

Nov. 7 – Remembrance Day Assembly at school. 10:30am.

Nov. 8 -No School. Pro D Day for Staff

Nov. 11-No School. Remembrance Day Holiday

Formative Conference Week (Oct. 21-24)

In case you missed the email that was sent out by our secretary, Kelly Taylor, this week.  If you haven’t signed up yet for a conference with your child’s teacher, please do so.  Kelly emailed all the parents and caregivers:

We have Formative Assessment Conferences (previously known as Parent/Teacher Interviews) the week of October 21-24. 

Please click on the following link to book an appointment for each of your children. A separate link for students in Ms. Rosengren & Ms. Volk’s classrooms will be sent out. 

https://outlook.office365.com/owa/calendar/BookingsGabriolaElementary@sd68.bc.ca/bookings/

Reminder that students will be dismissed one hour early, at 1:23pm, Monday to Thursday that week to allow time for teachers to meet with all of you.

Earthquake Drill

On Oct. 17, we will participate in an Earthquake Drill along with all the other schools in the district. Here is some information about that safety practice:

The Great British Columbia ShakeOut, organized by the British Columbia Earthquake Alliance (BCEA), is an annual opportunity for individuals, communities, schools, and organizations to practice essential earthquake safety measures such as “Drop, Cover, and Hold On.”

Our Earthquake Drill lasts for approximately 2 minutes and ends with us all mustering on the back field.  Please remind your child(ren) that during a safety practice drill, the expected behaviours are: calm and cooperative.  A drill is not the time for horseplay nor chatting with peers.

For more information about The Great Shakeout, visit ShakeoutBC.ca

Halloween Costumes at GES

On October 31st, students are encouraged to wear a Halloween costume.  We will have a “costume parade” in the gym for everyone to fully see and appreciate each others costumes.  It is usually followed by a fun Halloween dance in the gym.

Each class will celebrate Halloween in their own way, according to what the classroom teacher and class decide upon.  Some may do Halloween themed activities, some may watch a Halloween themed movie, some might have a class party.  Every class does things differently.

What we must unite on however is guidelines around costumes.  At school, when it comes to Halloween costumes, please respect the following otherwise your child may be asked to remove their costume or parts of it.

-Costumes cannot be gory depicting blood, mutilation or weapons.

-Any accompanying fake weapons like swords, guns, axes knives etc…MUST be left at home.

-Masks are permitted, however, they are only to be worn DURING class time (at the teacher’s discretion) and during the Halloween Parade in the gym.  For safety reasons, masks should NOT be worn during recess, nor when arriving at school or dismissal.

Halloween Candy

Leading up to and following Halloween, all candy should be kept at home and not brought to school.  At school we are always telling students to choose healthy items to eat for their learning day.  Candy goes against that.  Also, Halloween candy often contains nuts which are not permitted in our school given allergies that some students have.  Keep the candy at home please!

FSA’s

FSA stands stands for Foundation Skills Assessment.  It is a province-wide Language Arts and Math assessment, provided by the Ministry of Education, for all Grade 4’s and Grade 7’s in BC.  This year, the window in which to begin and finish the FSA is Oct. 03 until Nov. 08.  Each FSA consists of a booklet with reading passages, writing prompts and math questions.  There is also an online portion that consists of approximately 30 math questions and 30 reading questions.

It takes around 1-2 weeks for a grade to complete their FSA.  They do so in the library with help and support from myself, Mr. McCreath our Inclusion Support Teacher and often an EA as well.  They are then assessed for comprehension, clarity of writing and problem solving and the results returned to the students to bring home for parents/guardians to see.

Breakfast Cafe

Our Breakfast Cafe is now open starting on Monday.  The cafe is in our Multi Purpose Room and opens at 8:20.  The usual fare is toasted bagels with either butter or cream cheese, cereal and milk and fruit.  It is free and all students are welcome to enjoy.

Hot Lunch

Thank you to PHC for providing delicious and healthy lunch for our students on Wednesdays. There is a sign up and the cost for each lunch is $4 per student.  Here is the link for the Hot Lunch sign-up.

https://forms.monday.com/forms/3da8c0b4085e5077c227a61c9439c4c8?r=use1

Pics of the Week

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