​Dear Coventry Hills Families;​​

October has been busy with month as our students have been working with Chantal Chagnon, our Indigenous Artist in Residence.  Each class had an opportunity to work with Chantal for three sessions. During each session, she shared Indigenous traditional cultural practices such as the medicine wheel teachings, drumming, storytelling and singing.  She demonstrated how oral practices of Indigenous cultures continue to be a lived experience today in the sharing of traditional stories that have existed for centuries.  Storytelling is a key component to share knowledge about our understanding of the world around us.  To culminate her time with us, Chantal led a whole school assembly where she shared stories and songs and the students actively participated by echoing back the verses of the songs they learned during their time with her. We would like to extend our thanks to School Council and CHEFS for sponsoring and paying for this learning experience and the support of our whole school residency. Ask your child about what they learned during their time with Miss Chantal. This is a part of our work in our commitment to Truth and Reconciliation through Education by connecting with Indigenous Communities.

Photo Retakes are on Wednesday, October 25^th.  If your child is needing a retake, their time will be scheduled at some point during the day. We are looking for a few volunteers who have their police clearance to be runners for the photographer to go to classrooms to pick up and supervise students as they wait for their picture to be taken. If you available to support us for part of the day from 9:00 a.m. to approximately 2:30 p.m.  Please email Mrs. Baker at jkbaker@cbe.ab.ca by Tuesday, October 25^th and she will confirm with parents.  We are looking for 3-4 adults to support us throughout the day.

Indoor shoes

Parents please ensure that your child has a pair of non-marking indoor running shoes that are left at school so that your child can actively participate in gym. We are seeing an increase of crocs shoes being worn at a school and they are not always the best for students who are running, playing and climbing on our playground at recess and lunch times.  Unfortunately, we have been experiencing a number of croc charms that have gone missing off of students' shoes. As outdoor shoes are placed in the hallways in unsupervised areas it is difficult for teachers to “police" who owns the charms as they are mass produced and anyone can have similar charms. If you child is choosing to wear crocs to school, they can leave their charms at home as well as we are taking an additional step of allowing students to put their crocs in their backpacks as a measure to keep their personal belongings safe. It is our hope that we are all respectful of other people's belongings at all times.

Traffic and HugNGo -  We need you help.

We are experiencing an increase of traffic on the west side of the school on CovePark Drive NE.  We have an adult crossing guard at the crosswalk to help students cross safely and to manage traffic flow.  We ask the following: Respect the u-turn sign, leave the crosswalk clear for students to cross on Cove Park Way so they don't have to go between stopped cars, pull over before letting out your child from the vehicle as people are blocking the street, stay clear of the staff parking lot so staff members can get to their parking stall, and when crossing with children wait and watch for the adult to go to in the cross walk first before crossing in the crosswalk. If using the HugNGo zone at the front of the school, move up in the space ahead instead of stopping at the beginning of the area. This allows for easy traffic flow for cars to pull in and out of the HugNGo zone. Thank you for your support in keeping our students, staff and parents safe.

Sincerely,

Benita Dalton