Blueberry Bulletin

March 22, 2019 Mail Bag 700

1532 Parkland Drive

Stony Plain, AB T7Z 1Y6

Telephone: (780) 963-3625

E-mail: blueberry@psd70.ab.ca

Website:

http://blueberry.psd70.ab.ca/

FB:

https://www.facebook.com/Blueberry

School/

**ALL VISITORS PLEASE REPORT TO OFFICE**

***Please remember to always sign your child out when they leave the school. Students cannot sign themselves out.***

Dates to Remember: Apr 15 - CTL-ALT-DLT - Gr 7-9 Presentation

Mar 22 - Junior High Speech Arts Competition - am Apr 15 - BSC Mtg - 1:30 pm

Mar 23 - Mar 31 - Spring Break - NO SCHOOL Apr 16 - Play Parkland Gr 5 & 6

Apr 1 - Caring Kids Hotdog Day Apr 17 - Jr ATB Banking/Board Meeting

Apr 2 & 3 - Class Pictures - see writeup for class dates Apr 19 - Good Friday - No School

Apr 2 - Play Parkland - Gr 3 & 4 Apr 22 - Easter Monday - No School

Apr 2 - Board Presentation - 2C Class Apr 23 - Play Parkland - Gr 5 & 6

Apr 3 - Jr ATB Banking/Board Meeting Apr 24, 25 & 26 - Visual Arts Celebration

Apr 9 - Play Parkland - Gr 3 & 4 Apr 26 - Gr 4-6 Awards - South Pod 1:55 pm

Apr 10 - Kindergarten Open House - 6 pm Apr 30 - Play Parkland - Gr 5 & 6

Apr 11 - Gr 7 fieldtrip to TWOS May 1 - Jr ATB Banking/Board Meeting

Apr 12 - PD Day - No School

Apr 12 - 15 - Vancouver Sun Run

Message from Administration

Congratulations to our Blueberry Basketball teams (developmental, junior and senior) on their season. A big

shout out to our coaches, students and fans who cheered us on at our games!

We had so much to celebrate during the month of March. Blueberry students had many opportunities to showcase

their skills and talent. Jr. High students participated in the annual speech arts competition, students grades 3-6

sang beautifully at the Choral celebration, Running Room students showed fast feet and all students had the

chance to try out for and compete at the Blueberry’s Got Talent Show. We are so fortunate to see students take

risks and achieve in different ways. We thank our families and our staff for their dedication and hard work in

creating and supporting these opportunities.

Spring has arrived (hopefully)! Please encourage your child to dress appropriately and check to make sure they are

bringing home layers of outerwear that typically come off as the day goes on!

Thank you to all who attended our student/parent/teacher conferences the week of March 18th. If you have any

feedback on our reporting process or report cards, please connect with Sheryl or Michelle by email, phone or drop

in. We very much appreciate your comments and feedback as we continuously try to improve our reporting

process to you. If you were unable to access your child’s report card, please contact your child’s teacher or the

office. Thank you for supporting our efforts to be more environmentally friendly with our paperless report card.

Parkland School Division

Our Sun Run training runs are underway. Parents are welcome to join students and Michelle as we enjoy runs in

the spring weather. Runs are scheduled for Tuesdays and Thursdays, but this may be adjusted, so students are

encouraged to listen to morning announcements. Thank you to our community for slowing down and being mindful

of our runners on Parkland Drive - we really appreciate your courtesy!

We are excited to welcome new families to Blueberry on April 10th from 6-7pm for our Kindergarten Open House.

Families in our area with Kindergarten age children are encouraged to attend to ask questions and hear from our

current Kindergarten team. Look farther in the newsletter for more information.

Thank you for your continued support,

Michelle Visscher Sheryl Bridgeman

Vice Principal of Blueberry School Principal of Blueberry School

Celebrating Blueberry 

Sr. Boys Basketball

Coach Lasuik and Ross would like to thank the Sr. Boys Basketball Team for a season full of tremendous growth, development, pride and enthusiasm. While the boys were not successful securing many victories on the score-board, they certainly did so in the amount of improvement each and every player on the team displayed as the season progressed. The following athletes should hold their head high!

Dawson Dinius, Blake Andersen, Brycen Lowes, Owen Jesse, Ethan Pettigrew, Anson Sanders, Brad Kwasnycia, Carter Klashinsky, Kyle Marron, Matt Johnson

Show Choir “rocks the risers” at Choral Celebration!

Blueberry’s 60 voice elementary choir sizzled on stage at Choral Celebration this week. Show Choir students, made up of grade 3, 4, 5, and 6 students, sang “Someone’s In the Kitchen” at the annual

Parkland Music Festival held at Beulah Alliance Church on Monday, March 18th. Two months of hard work rehearsing at lunchtimes paid off as the choir sang, moved, and grooved to the upbeat folk song complete with kitchen “instruments” for an appreciative audience of over 500 people. Choir members celebrate their hard work with a wrap-up party on Thursday, March 21st at lunch recess. Big thank you to parent volunteers supplying our goodies for the party! Thank you to Mrs. Dawes, Mrs. Newby, and Mrs. Bridgeman for their support at Choral Celebration. Parents and choir members, videos of our rehearsals and performance (including Choral Celebration) can be found on the Show Choir Google classroom. Keep singing! ~ Mrs. King

Parkland School Division

A HUGE Thank You from the Blueberry Staff to our wonderful parents, for the delicious Staff Appreciation Luncheon and all the wonderful gifts!

To the following parents, who either worked the luncheon, cooked,

donated a gift, or did all of these things:

Aimee Hennig, Alyssa Polkemann, Amy Babichuk, Angie Klashinsky, Arleigh

Stockwell, Carly Struik, Carmen Thomas, Chelsey Litzenberger, Cheryl Wiese,

Christin Charrette, Denise Demontigny, Erin Strachan, Harmony Fraser, Heather Bader Kopp,

Heather Sandboe ,Jamie Holinski, Jan Dixon-Vetter, Jennifer Richens, Jody Assigner, Justin

Krasnikoff,Keltie Nelson, Kristin Chessor, Kyla Nielsen (Furrie), Malinda Ferris, Meagan Boisvert,

Miranda Taggart, Nadele Erickson, Nina Ulmer, Sara Phiilps, Shawna Kuhl, Stacy Uhryn,

Stephanie Sabadaska, Suzanne Fellows, Tara Macaulay, Teresa Kelly, Trina Stockill, Carmen

Weber, Cynthia Saruk

Thanks also to the following business who contributed food or gifts for our staff

luncheon: Aspen Grove Nurseries, Basiles Pizza, Bings, Carvel General Store, Cheesecake Café

Chop Shop Physiques,Forest Green Liquor Store,Freson Brothers,Gypsy Chicks

HomeGrown Foods, Interlab Inc, KCs Restaurant, Knighton Mens Fashions, Koch Lincoln Mercury,

Modern Farmhouse, Oil City Cleaners, Original Joes, Peavey Mart, Phoenix Tae Kwon Do, Pretty As

A Picture Photography, Putting Horse Ranch, Shotz Sports Lounge, Sorrentinos Stony Plain

Staples, The Barn Owl, The One 88.1, Tim Hortons, TriLeisure Center, Trius Insurance, Whimsical

Vintage Creations, Yvette (liquor rep), Zender Ford, Movie World, Stony Plain Dodge

If we missed anyone, we apologize and thank you. We appreciate all the hard work that was put

into this event for us and are we very grateful!

The Blueberry School Staff

POWERSCHOOL NEWS - REMINDERS Just a reminder that you need a Powerschool account to re-register for next year. As

well, in order to access your child’s report card in Powerschool, you must have a Powerschool

account.

New Parents - If you don’t have a Powerschool account, please follow the directions on the PSD

website http://www.psd70.ab.ca/PowerSchool.php. You’ll need the Access ID code and Access

password that was sent home at the beginning of the year. If you can’t find that information,

please contact Tracy Davis at the school @ 780-963-3625 and she’ll help you.

All Parents - It is important that we have the most current information on file. Please take

a few minutes to log into your Power School–Parent Portal account

(powerschool.psd70.ab.ca/public) and make any changes necessary under the Family Information

tab. If there are changes to Guardianship/Custody, please contact the school office. You can check

off FOIP, CASL and the Computer Use Agreement and Locker Use Agreement too. Here’s the link

from Parkland School Division’s website, with more information on the Parent Portal. http://

www.psd70.ab.ca/documents/general/PowerSchool.

Parkland School Division

2019-2020 Online Registration/Verification/Bus Registration-Deadline today! 

It’s time to start planning ahead for the next school year. All Kindergarten to Grade 12

registrations for both new and returning students will be conducted online through the

PowerRegistration portal for the 2019-2020 school year. The deadline to verify/register is March

22, 2019. This process includes bus registration for those applying for bus service. This deadline

allows us to determine the eligibility of bus pass applicants, the routing of buses, bus pass

production and data verification before the summer break while schools are still operating.

Returning students should have received an email on February 4, 2019 with further instructions on how to verify

and/or update their existing information. Please check your inbox. The email would be coming from: “PowerSchool

Registration Support” <noreply.psrsupport.com>.

You should have received one email for every returning student in your family. Please complete the

registration/verification process for each one. If you do not receive an email, please check your Spam or Junk

folder. If you have checked and confirm that the email has not been received, please contact the school so we can

double check the email address we have on file and re-send the registration email which contains a unique link for

each student.

● March 22, 2019 at 4:30pm - Registration deadline. Our Registration page has more information.

Please note: The 2018-2019 New Student Registration Form is still open and accepting registrations for the

current school year. The 2018-2019 form cannot be used to register for 2019-2020 - when registering,

please make sure to use the correct form.

Complete information on the registration process can be found on our Registration page.

For more information contact:

Parkland School Division

Phone: 780-963-4010

Email: DivisionOffice@psd70.ab.ca

Parent Information Open House - April 10th 6pm -7 pm

And Welcome to Kindergarten Day - June 7th 8am-3pm

You are invited to a Kindergarten Parent Information Night on April 10th from 6-7 pm, where we will be providing

information about the Kindergarten experience at Blueberry School ~ meeting the teachers, slide presentation,

asking questions and touring the classrooms will be on the agenda.

In addition, we are excited to have you and your child join us for his/her first Kindergarten experience on June 7th

from 8am-3pm. If you’ve registered for Kindergarten, you will receive an e-mail in May to sign up for a one hour

time slot on June 7th. While the children are experiencing Kindergarten with the teachers, parents will be given

more information and a chance to meet other Kinder parents. Then you will have some time to play and interact

with your child in the Kindergarten setting.

We look forward to sharing our love of Kindergarten with you and your child!

Blueberry Kinder Team

Parkland School Division

How to Register for Kindergarten 2019-2020

Fill out the the online 2019-2020 New Student Registration Form. The student's birth certificate and proof of

residence will be required as part of the registration process - please upload these documents into the online

registration form or submit copies to the school.

Important: Be sure to register using the 2019-2020 New Student Registration Form. The New Student

Registration Form 2018-2019 link currently live on the Division’s Registration page is only for students

registering for the balance of the current 2018-2019 school year.

All parents are encouraged to complete the registration process by 4:30pm on March 22, 2019. This deadline

allows us to determine the eligibility of bus pass applicants, the routing of buses and data verification before the

summer break while schools are still operating. Registrations will continue to be accepted after the deadline for

those families who may be moving into the jurisdiction.

For more detailed information on the online registration process, visit PSD’s Registration page.

Good to Know:

● Registration requirements for Kindergarten are the same as those for Grades 1 through 12.

● A child entering Kindergarten must be 5 years old by the last day of February of the school year in which

he or she begins Kindergarten. For example, a child registering for Kindergarten in September 2019 needs

to be 5 years old by February 29, 2020. A child entering Grade 1 must be 6 years old by the last day of

February of the school year in which he or she begins Grade 1. For example, a child registering for Grade 1

in September 2019 needs to be 6 years old by February 29, 2020.

● Kindergarten programs are offered on Monday/Wednesday or Tuesday/Thursday with alternating Fridays.

Please contact your designated school for more information.

Class Pictures - April 2 and 3, 2019 Tuesday, April 2 1A, 1B, 1C, 2A, 2B, 5B, 6A, 6B, 6C, 7A, 7B, 8A, 8B, 8C, 9A, 9B T/TH Kindergarten Wednesday, April 3 2C, 3A, 3B, 4A, 4B, 4/5C (to accommodate Play Parkland on the Tuesday), 5A, MWa Kinder & MWb Kinder Staff Group Picture Grade 9 Farewell Picture

Parkland School Division

Caring Kids News

3rd Annual Caring Kids Used Book Sale - May 7 - 9,

2019

We are currently accepting donations of gently used

books ranging from baby to grade 9. Please clean up

your bookshelves and help support our two charities:

The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and The

Homeless Link in our area.

The next Caring Kids hot dog lunch is on

April 1st. The deadline to order is March

29th. Order online today (see below)!

If you haven’t signed up for hot lunch/hotdog lunches

this year yet, please sign up at

www.blueberry.hotlunches.net school code

BBHL (you have to re-register every year)

You can pay by credit card or Paypal when you place

your order for the month online, or by cheque or

cash to the office after you order online. Or you can

e-transfer to blueberryhotlunch@gmail.com.

(if you need help registering online, please pop

into the office and the ladies will help you!)

Mrs. Newby dnewby@psd70.ab.ca

Student Absences

Reminders:

We ask that parents email their child’s absence to

Blueberry.Absence@psd70.ab.ca . Please include your

child’s full name, homeroom and reason for the absence.

If you do not have access to email please phone the

school (780-963-3625) and leave a message on the

Attendance voicemail. Sometimes parents only e-mail

the teacher, but if for some reason the teacher doesn’t

get time to read the e-mail before attendance is taken,

or there is a sub in their class that day, the office may

not get the message. Please e-mail

Blueberry.Absence@psd70.ab.ca or call 780-963-3625

for all absences.

Bus Cancellations:

If buses are cancelled, please continue to call in or

e-mail your student’s absence. This allows us to confirm

that students are safe and accounted for. You will get a

phone call if you haven’t contacted the school about an

absence on bus cancellation days. Please note that

schools remain open even if buses are cancelled. Thank

you for your assistance and support.

PLAY PARKLAND - SKATES

AND HELMETS NEEDED!

If you have any gently used skates or

helmets that you can donate to the school

for the PlayParkland program, please drop

them off at the school office. We need

extra skates and helmets for students in

Grades 3 - 6.

Tinkerlab Donations

We are currently only accepting the following

items for our tinkerlab:

Toilet paper rolls, fruit pouch lids, plastic milk

jug lids, straws, wooden skewers/dowels.

School Volunteers

If you are planning to volunteer at the school for more than ten hours throughout the school year (this includes

field trips) we ask that you fill out a Volunteer Form that includes a Criminal Record Check. These forms must

be completed each year and an updated Criminal Record Check must be included. This check can be completed

free of charge at the Stony Plain RCMP Detachment. Forms can be picked up at the school office. We appreciate

your help at the school and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Parkland School Division

YEARBOOK Orders

You can now order the current 2018-19 school Yearbook. It is on-line as a “New Item” on Powerschool under

Fees. The yearbook is $20, and will be a few more pages this year! The 18-19 yearbook will be ready next fall

and distributed to students at that time. We also still have a few copies of the 2017-18 yearbook for sale for

$19.00. Please e-mail Wendy Cust if you would still like to purchase last year’s yearbook (wcust@psd70.ab.ca). If you ordered a 17-18 yearbook, it would have been sent home last week.

School Fees

Fees can be paid with a credit card online through the PowerSchool Parent Portal at:

https://powerschool.psd70.ab.ca/public They can’t be paid through the app—only through

the actual website. If you prefer, you return your account statement to the school with

your cheque (made out to PSD70) or cash. Payment plans are also available on this site.

Option fees for Term 3 have also been added to Gr 7-9 student accounts, if they are in an

Option with a fee. Call Wendy Cust @ 780-963-3625 or email wcust@psd70.ab.ca if you

have any questions.

Blueberry School Council News (BSC)

Hello Parents!

A few notices and reminders for everyone.

Thank you to all the parents that donated their time, food or prizes to the recent Staff Appreciation Luncheon. The Staff was so grateful and everyone had a wonderful time.

The recent Mindfulness presentation by Alberta Health Services was excellent. If you were unable to attend, I would most definitely recommend attending one in future. They had lots of tips and exercises on how to practice Mindfulness yourself, and with your children to promote awareness and to decrease stress and frustration.

The next BSC meeting will take place April 15 at 1:30pm. There will be a mini-session on Nutrition for any parents interested so please come join us!

If you want to get involved, or have any suggestions or concerns relating to Parent Council, please join us at a meeting or email blueberryscchair@psd70.ab.ca.

Malinda Ferris BSC Chair

- Get involved in your child's school - Your opinion matters - Let your voice be heard -

Parkland School Division

HOT LUNCH PROGRAM—including Gr. 9 Farewell

Fundraisers & Caring Kids Hotdog Lunches

Spring has arrived!! Hotlunch will be available for April and May. Remember to order Caring kids Hotdog lunch and Grade nine

farewell lunch. April is available to order online until Friday March 29th. www.blueberryhotlunches.net school code BBHL

Once you register for hot lunch, you will get e-mail reminders about this, as well as weekly reminders about

what you ordered for the week.

Thank you again for your support and if you have any questions or concerns please contact Carmen @

blueberryhotlunch@gmail.com. If you have not registered, please use the school code BBHL.

Please remember to pay by the 15th of the month by Paypal, etransfer, or send money into the school marked

HOT LUNCH.

Carmen

Blueberry School Fundraising Committee 

Spring has Sprung and we are getting excited about our next fundraisers

that are coming soon…

Spring Flowers from Growing Smiles will be coming out April 1st. It will be a

perfect time to buy a basket or two of flowers for Mother’s Day. or just

because.

Spell-a-thon forms for K-6 will be out April 15th, so watch out for those.

We will also be looking for volunteers who want to be part of our Casino

Fundraiser June 20th & 21st.

**Don’t forget about our ongoing Fundraisers

* Oliver’s Labels (www.oliverslabels.com/blueberryschool) * Flip Give (www.flipgive.com/f/429820) * Booster Juice Gift Vouchers $5.50 each-to order contact us at

blueberryfundraisingcommittee@gmail.com

Keep connected with us on Facebook @BlueberrySchoolFundraisingCommittee

Amanda Adams - Chairperson

Parkland School Division

From the Literacy Corner: Did you know that April is Poetry Month? One way to celebrate and acknowledge this is to participate in the Poem in Your Pocket Day. You choose the day in April that this works for you and your family and you celebrate it by selecting a poem, carrying it with you, and sharing it with others throughout the day at schools, bookstores, libraries, parks, workplaces, and on social media using the hashtag #pocketpoem. Join us in celebrating Poem in Your Pocket Day this year! Why Poetry?

1. Poetry helps build community. 2. Poetry is music and sounds and rhythm and beats. 3. Poetry opens venues for speaking and listening. 4. Poetry helps people express themselves. 5. Poetry builds resilience in children and adults.

If you would like to look up different poetic forms and examples, please look at the following website: https://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poems/other/ Ali White Collaborative Teaching Partner for Blueberry School  

Parent and Community Information

Parkland School Division

Blueberry School

April

2019

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 *Caring Kids

Hotdog Lunch

2 *Class

Pictures

*Play

Parkland Gr 3

& 4

3 *Class

Pictures

*Jr ATB

Banking Day

4 5 Day 2 6

7

8 9 *Play

Parkland Gr 3

& 4

10 *Kindergarten

Open House -

6 pm

11 *Gr 7 fieldtrip

to TWOS

12

PD Day -

No School *Vancouver Sun

Run

13

14 15 *BSC Mtg - 1:30

pm

*Vancouver Sun

Run

*Gr 7 - 9

Presentation on

Internet Safety

16 *Play

Parkland Gr 5

& 6

17 *Jr ATB

Banking Day

18 19

Good

Friday - No

school

20

21 Easter

Sunday

22

Easter

Monday -

No School

23 *Play

Parkland Gr 5

& 6

24 Visual Arts

25 Visual Arts

26 Day 1

*Gr 4-6 Awards -

1:55 pm

Visual Arts

27

28 29 30 *Play

Parkland Gr 5

& 6

May 1 *Jr ATB

Banking Day

Parkland School Division