You have to love Calgary weather- from a snowstorm to plus double-digit degrees in a week! Please be mindful that our field remains quite muddy and we encourage students to wear appropriate outdoor shoes/boots to keep their feet dry.
We will host Fashion Wednesday this week in the spirit of Earth Day. On Wednesday students are encouraged to wear ‘earth tones’. We also urge students to dress for an outside journaling activity that will take place Wednesday afternoon during Family Group time.
This is Support Staff Appreciation Week. We are extremely fortunate at CPS to have an amazing group of staff who support students and teachers each day. Our Educational Assistants as well as our EAL assistant work alongside students to support emotional regulation and learning. Our Office Staff ensure students’ safety through attendance and managing day-to-day operations while our Facility Operator and Cleaner ensure our school looks fantastic. Our Library Assistant ensures books are ready for borrowing and our Lunchroom Supervisors monitor students outside and provide supervision to all students who stay for lunch. All support staff contribute to the safe and welcoming environment, that is Citadel Park School. If you see one of these staff this week, be sure to say thank you for the work they do.
Last week I touched on how field trips are selected and the requirement that they be curriculum related which is why some younger students may travel farther distances for an off-site activity than older students. Connection to curriculum is also the reason why some grades of students may attend the same off-site location. For instance, both the grade 5 and grade 2 students are attending Telus Spark this year, however each grade group is participating in a different program offered by the site. While we are fortunate to live in a large urban centre, we are competing for venues and programs against the remaining 160+ elementary schools in the CBE as well as schools in Calgary Catholic and private and charter schools. We do our utmost to book our sites early in the year both so we can secure the venue as well as the bussing required. Unfortunately, due the labour disruptions this year, some bookings were cancelled and it made re-booking challenging.
A second consideration regarding field trips is volunteers. This week is National Volunteer Week and we are extremely grateful to all parents/guardians who offer their time to support our school. There is a requirement established by CBE that we must have a 1:8 or 1:10 ratio of students to adults for off-site activities based on the grade of students attending. Recently, we have struggled to obtain the required number of volunteers for field trips and have been at risk of having to cancel a trip, only avoiding doing so by pulling other school staff in to support which meant reducing supports within the school for the day. While many families responding to the survey said they would like to see more field trips, our limited supply of volunteers (which is also evident in our school council sponsored activities) creates challenges. While attending more field trips in a year may sound enticing, maintaining a base of security cleared volunteers is becoming increasingly difficult and impactful on off-site activities.
Students completed an artist in residence program with Blank Page last week where the bison and its importance in Indigenous ways of being, doing, knowing and belonging was the focus. We are looking forward to working with the CBE to mount our art collection on the fences around the parking lot later this spring.
Popcorn day will take place this Thursday April 23. There is no school for students this Friday April 24 as it is a system professional development day focused on education for reconciliaction. Please see the previous email sent by CPS School Council related to the movie night occurring Thursday evening this week.
Our grade 5 students will be heading to Arbour Lake School this week for student guided tours and a school visit.
