École Laura Secord Elementary Newsletter

Thursday, May 3rd The Big One at Two

Monday, May 7th Kindie Vision Re-Screen

Tuesday, May 8th Group/class photos

Tuesday, May 8th Quebec Exchange Parent Meeting

Wednesday, May 9th VPD Pedestrian Safety Event

Thursday, May 10th Welcome to Kindergarten

Wednesday, May 16th Kindie & Gr 6 Immunizations

Friday, May 18th School Closure Day - Students do

not attend school this day

Monday, May 21st Victoria Day - Students do not

attend school this day

Wednesday, May 23rd Saleema Noon, Parents’ Night

Thursday, May 24th Hot Lunch

Friday, May 25th Tiny Islands Jazzology Performance

Fri – Sun, May 25th – 27th Track & Field Championships

Tues-Thurs, May 29-31 Saleema Noon Student Presentations

Dates to Remember in May

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :

A good tie-in to the

Vancouver Police Pedestrian

Safety Event on May 9th…

See Page 4…

Safety Corner 1

Dates to Remember 1

Welcome to Kindergarten 1

Good Bye & Hello 1

No School Reminder 1

Summer Camp Info 2

Emergency Preparedness 3

Wolf Appreciation Month 3

Van Coastal Health Visits 3

Picture Day 3

Earth Day Art 3

Get to Know Us 3

Safety Awareness Corner 4

Learn about Fentanyl 4

Vancouver-Quebec Exchange 4

Sports Days 4

VPD Pedestrian Safety Event 4

Tiny Islands: Jazzology 5

2018-2019 School Fees 5

Newly Planted Flower Beds 5

Reporting Student Absences 5

Track & Field 6

Student Placements 6

The WE Team Update 6

Thank You Volunteers 7

Saleema Noon 7

Bike to School Week 7

Hot Lunch 7

PAC Meeting 7

Family Festival 8

SPUD Fundraiser 8

Mabel’s Labels 8

Helpful Quick Links 8

Principal: Janis Myers

Vice Principal: Brad Toews

Volume VIII, May 2018

Reminder….

NO SCHOOL FOR

STUDENTS ON:

Friday, May 18th

(School Closure Day) &

Monday, May 21st

(Victoria Day)

S A F E T Y C O R N E R

On Thursday, May 10th all new kindergarten registrants who have been accepted to Laura

Secord are invited to their first event! The Welcome to Kindergarten Program brings

together families, school, and community agencies to support children as they enter

kindergarten. The goal is to share strategies and resources that make early learning

through play a priority in the home and support children in a successful transition to school.

If your child will be entering the English program, your session is 9:15-10:30

Early French Immersion students, your session is 11:00-12:15

Both sessions are in the big gym and parents, please attend with your child.

The “Learning Through Play “ WTK videos offer families lots of ideas to use WTK

resources, have fun and make play a priority in every home.

Talk Read Sing Play every day!

Report Absences: 604-713-5159, ext 74

Welcome to Kindergarten

Good Bye and Hello!

It is with mixed emotions that we say farewell to our wonderful Susan Pazdzior,

Office Administrative Assistant extraordinaire! Susan has spent the last 3 years

greeting children, providing first aid, fielding calls, opening iPad buckets, writing

newsletters and so many other things, and that is all in addition to her regular

duties of accounting, student registration, spreadsheets and all the other general

day to day office stuff. She will be sorely missed.

On behalf of the students, staff and families of Laura Secord we thank you for all

that you have done and wish you the best at your new school.

Jennifer Derksen will be joining our office team on May 7th as a temporary OAA

while Susan’s position is being posted. Welcome Jennifer, I am sure you will find

the Secord community to be an amazing and welcoming one.

On a personal note, I have truly

enjoyed my time here at Secord. It

is a school in which I felt welcome

from day one, and the goodbyes

are tough. I don’t want to say

goodbye, so instead a bientôt!

Until we meet again,

Susan

Secord News Page 2

Summer Camp Info…

Looking for a little something for your student in the summer? We have a limited

number of brochures for VSB’s summer school here in the office, or check them out

online.

Sometimes with all our recent snow

and rain, it’s hard to think about

summer but yup, it’s time to start

thinking about summer camps.

I’ll start to feature various camps you

may consider. This month’s is the

Royal Soccer Club.

Or, if Visual Arts are more your thing you can register online.

Page 3 Secord News

Without a doubt students and

parents know our staff at Laura

Secord. But do you know us

as well as you think you do?

Each month we’ll tell you a

new tidbit about a staff

member. You may be

surprised ☺

BIG ONE at TWO

All VSB schools participate in two earthquake drills each year; one in the fall and the

Big One @ Two drill which is scheduled for Thursday, May 3rd. At 2:00pm we will

play an earthquake tape over the PA system and all students will drop and cover for

60 seconds after the sounds of the shaking stop. Classes will then head to the field

and our staff will proceed with the planned preparations. This year, we will be holding

a partial earth quake drill and the students will return to class about 2:20pm in order

for the staff to proceed with an emergency student reunification drill.

EMERGENCY REUNIFICATION DRILL

This year we invited approximately 20 interested parents/guardians to come to the

school around 2:30pm to participate in a mock student-parent Emergency

Reunification drill. We expect this to be a chaotic high energy learning

experience…and it will be far from perfect, but it will allow us to learn and improve

together! The drill will end at just before 3:00PM and regular dismissal will proceed

after that. The VSB uses the same Reunification process as most other school

districts across BC. It involves parents reporting to a Check-In desk, showing personal

identification (ID), and our staff confirming the person picking-up a student is listed

with the school as an Emergency Contact of the student.

Emergency Preparedness

This month we say a heartfelt

congratulations to our

engaged staff who plan to tie

the knot this summer. All the

best to the following teachers

and their significant others:

Jillian Haworth, Div F08

Francois Grenier, Div F06

Chelsea Fidgett, Resource

Class/Group Photo Day

On Tuesday May 8th LifeTouch will

be returning to take our class photos.

Remember to wear your picture duds!

May is WOLF Appreciation Month TeT

On Friday, May 25th, show your appreciation of the

Wolves! Wear Yellow and get a point for your own

House.

Vancouver Coastal Health Visits This month we will be having Vancouver Coastal Health units stop by on two dates,

for two reasons.

On Monday May 7th any Kindergarten students who were not previously tested will

have their vision screened.

And on Wednesday May 16th Kindergarten and Grade 6s will have their

immunization clinic.

Mrs Kassam’s Grade 1

class celebrated Earth

Day by documenting

with they will do to help

the Earth. What’s

really cool about this

project is all the

“earths” on display are

coffee filters the

students dyed.

How innovative Div 26!

Page 4 Secord News

The grade 7 French Immersion students are excited to host their Quebec

exchange partners in late May. They are looking forward to reconnecting with their

twins in person after meeting them in early February in Quebec City. This portion

of the exchange is in English in order to prepare the Quebec students to have a

genuine experience with the families, the school and the culture of Vancouver and

British Columbia.

Our students are enthusiastic and eager to show their school and their city to their

twin. They are also looking forward to spending one week doing fun cultural and

sports activities in beautiful Vancouver.

Thank you to the CSFEP for providing the framework and bursary to allow these

kinds of valuable exchanges to take place. The students will experience

friendships that they would not have been able to make otherwise and create

special memories that they will never forget.

And on that note, there will be a meeting for all Quebec exchange parents at the

Small Gym at the school on Tuesday May 8th, at 6:00 pm.

Due to the short timeline, it's understood if everyone can't make it, but is strongly

encouraged, especially for families who have never hosted Quebec twins before.

The meeting will be to review hosting itinerary, expectations and paperwork. We

will also be discussing a potential surplus in the account and asking for direction

from the parents.

On Wednesday May 9th, the

Vancouver Police will host a

pedestrian safety event.

Another good reminder to all, a

few biking safety tips beforehand:

1. Always wear a helmet

2. Use reflectors, lights and

horn/bell

3. Use hand signals

4. Ride near the curb

5. Learn how to ride

6. Ride single file

7. Obey traffic signs

8. Don’t ride double

9. Get home before dark

10. Know your bike route

Awareness without action is worthless.

Vancouver-Quebec 2018 Exchange

VPD Pedestrian Safety Event

On Wednesday, May 9th, the Vancouver Police Department, in conjunction with the

Transit Police, ICBC, volunteers and many community sponsors, will be attending

Laura Secord to host a Pedestrian Safety Event. They will be here when the students

begin arriving to school and will be targeting the children, and the drivers. Bling will

include stickers, colouring books and possibly a Mascot walking about for the children,

and discussions and handouts for parents.

Despite numerous requests, warnings and tickets, our traffic and parking infractions

continue unabated. Expect a stepped up enforcement program to address these

issues.

Our children are worth it.

Learn about Fentanyl Forum

In collaboration with VCH

and VPD, our district is hosting our

third Fentanyl Forum at John

Oliver Secondary on May 9. All are

invited, no registration needed.

Come be a part of a Q & A session

following tips for talking with your

kids and friends!

Sports Days are Coming

Heads up everyone… Sports Days are coming!

As we always do, we’ll have two separate Sports Days and both will be on

Secord’s grounds.

Intermediates will host theirs on Friday, June 22nd and Primaries will have theirs

on Wednesday afternoon, June 27th.

Stay tuned for more info in

your June newsletter!

Page 5

Secord News

Tiny Islands: Jazzology!

We’ve been lucky enough to have

performances monthly and May’s is

some fabulous music!

There’s no more exciting way to

introduce kids to a variety of musical

instruments than through the upbeat,

can’t-sit-still jazz of the 1920s and

‘30s.

Hailing from a musical family, Tim

Sars, veteran leader of Vancouver’s

inimitable Carnival Band, has over a

decade of experience entertaining

and engaging kids and their families

with fun, spirited and participatory

music.

To Report if your child is

absent or late – Please call

(604) 713-5159 ext 74 prior to

8:30 am.

The PAC has helped the school to purchase all the plants that have been planted

in the front garden beds. Please take care of the plants and let them grow. Many of

the plants are food for pollinators and the flowers will feed the insects, butterflies

and birds once their flowers bloom.

Vegetable seeds & tomato plants have been planted in the courtyard bed and our

students' beautiful story stones have been placed. Please keep out of the courtyard

bed so our vegetables have a chance to grow.

All the staff and students of Laura Secord would like to thank all the parents who

helped us with the planning, prepping, fundraising (plant sale), planting, supporting

(WE Walk for Water), landscaping, etc for Earth Day. Without you, we couldn’t

have done it! A special thank you from Mmes Megan and Durant.

Once again, thank you parents for such a successful Earth Day!

Newly Planted Flower Beds

When Tim teams up with brother Nathan and two more are added rounding out a

quartet, they become the group called Tiny Islands.

In their new show, Tiny Islands engages kids of all ages with irresistible tunes by

jazz greats like Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway and Fats Waller.

2018-2019 General School Fees

The 2017-18 School Fees notice sent home in May of last year stated that this

school year would be the final year that school supplies would be purchased for a

set fee by the school district and that starting in September 2018, parents would

need to purchase items on their own.

Please note that the general school supplies fee will still be charged for the

upcoming 2018-19 school year.

The Vancouver School Board will continue its service of purchasing basic school

supplies in bulk at wholesale prices and passing the cost savings on to families.

The School Supply Fee for 2018-2019 will remain at $25.00 per student.

This fee covers basic consumable school supplies used for students’ personal use

such as paper, writing tools, glue sticks, erasers, exercise books and art supplies.

Supplies are provided for the full year.

Secord News

Page 6

BC Elementary Track & Field Championships

The WE Team Update

On the weekend of May 25th – 27th Mr. Phil Green and our team of Secord coaches

will be taking many of our Track & Field stars to Minoru Park for the 50th Annual BC

Elementary Track & Field Championships. Come and cheer on your child: go

Secord!!

For a schedule of the Track & Field Mini Meets, please see the school calendar.

The WE team has a couple of updates this month 😊

On April 25th (Earth Day), most classes participated in WE Walk for Water. Students

walked 5 km to Trout Lake and around the trail to raise money and awareness for

global water issues and take steps to make a difference for communities living

without safe drinking water. We raised a grand total of $833.65, which is enough to

provide water to 33 families for life! Great job everyone!

Our May event (date to be determined) will be WE Read Together. Find the book

that inspires you to change the world! We’ll be advocates for literacy with our book

drive and/or reading with a buddy. Stay tuned for more information.

Student Placements

At the end of the school year, we begin the process of planning for the next

school year. In considering classroom placements, our school based team takes

into consideration each child’s social, emotional and academic needs with the

goal to meet the needs of all students at Laura Secord in order to maximize their

growth as learners and to create balanced and effective learning environments.

The school based team works very hard to make the best possible educational

placement for your child, taking into account individual learning styles, classroom

interactions between classmates, specific learning needs, all the while remaining

within provincially set class size and composition regulations.

If you feel that you have important supplemental information pertaining to your

child’s specific learning needs that would assist us in placing your child, please

put this in writing to Mrs. Myers, prior to June 1st. Please note that our staffing

and organization will not be confirmed until September so please include

information relevant to your child’s educational setting as opposed to requesting

a particular teacher; no letters will be considered if names of staff members

are used in outlining requests.

The school organization may change depending on the number of students who

actually arrive to school in September. As such, classes are tentative and may

change during the first month of school. Please understand that the placement of

students into a combined class does not in any way reflect their academic ability;

with the number of students currently enrolled at Laura Secord for next year,

there will likely be many combined classes. We appreciate your support in this

complex, multi-level process of arranging educationally sound and balanced

classes.

And finally, if your child will be returning to school late in September (after

September 4th), it is critical that you submit a “late return notice” to the office prior

to June 22nd so we know that your child(ren) will indeed be returning to Secord

School.

Page 7

Secord News

PAC Page: What’s New with Your PAC

We wanted to thank you all you for helping make the French Book Fair a grand

success! This event cannot happen without our parent volunteers so kudos to all of

you who put in the time! It's been a couple of years since our last French Fair, and

we know that the kids, teachers, and librarian were very happy with the selection of

books that they haven't had access to for a while.

The total sales from the fair came to $3930.35, which allowed every French teacher

to collect $100 worth of books for their classroom, and $1000 for our

library! Because the amount sold at the fair was even to what was taken, there were

no leftover funds to add to the Scholastic school credits. Not to worry though, the

English Book Fair made a lot of credits that were added to the account in the fall.

So, thank you again for all your help and hope to see you at the next one!

Hot Lunch

Hot lunch this month is on

Thursday May 24th and it’s

pizza!

Please email

secordPAC@gmail.com if you

can volunteer for that day.

PAC Meeting

There are no PAC

meetings in May. See you

next month!

Saleema Noon Parent Night

The PAC is excited to bring back Sexual Health Educator, Saleema Noon, to offer age-

appropriate Sexual Health Presentations to our children. There will be a parent

presentation on Wednesday, May 23rd 6:30 – 8:30pm in the small gym. Childcare will

be provided so come to find out what it’s all about….

Sex talk, No sweat. For parents and children

The Saleema Noon sessions will be over the course of three days: May 29, 30 and 31.

During these open and informational sessions, children and parents alike will come to

terms with sexual health, and understand how it fits into their world at this stage of their

lives.

Children learn how their bodies change, and what those changes mean. Parents will

discover how to easily overcome embarrassment when talking about sexual health,

learn words and concepts that are easy to use, and leave well equipped to clearly

answer the myriad of questions all children are sure to ask.

The workshops are light hearted, but deliver straight and current facts on how parents

and children can work together to promote good decisions for a lifetime.

Thank you French Book Fair Volunteers!!!

Bike to School Week: May 28th to June 1st

During Bike to School Week - May 28 - June 1 we are looking for parent volunteers

to help with walking school buses and bike trains from various location around the

school, travelling with the kids TO SCHOOL ONLY.

What are Bike Trains and Walking School Buses? They are organized walks and

bike rides to school, where parent volunteers meet with children at designated “bus

stops”, and walk or ride to school as a group. This group activity creates a safe

environment to get to school actively, while building community and an enthusiasm for

active travel.

Can’t make the Bike Trains or Walking School Buses? Please consider doing a

park and walk with your children. Students will be collecting house points for the most

active classroom, and walking even just a few blocks counts towards their house total.

Park and Walk locations: Trout Lake North East Parking Lot, Safeway Parking Lot/On-

street parking on East 11th Avenue, On-street Parking at 5th and Lakewood

Let us know if you are interested in helping out in the mornings of Bike to School

Week (May 28-June1)

Page 8

Laura Secord Elementary 2500 Lakewood Dr Vancouver, BC V5N 4V1

Phone 604-713-4996

We’re on the Web!

http://secord.vsb.bc.ca

Editor: Susan Pazdzior

Director of

Instruction:

Pedro da Silva

Official School

Trustee:

Estrellita Gonzalez

PAC Chair:

Richard Abgrail

District Parent

Representative:

Sarah McKinnon

Secord News

PAC is on Twitter!

@SecordPAC

1st Annual Secord Family Festival

Friday June 1st, 4:30 – 8:30 pm: Save the date!

Celebrate the diverse and vibrant Secord community with live music,

entertainment, hands-on arts & craft activities, carnival games and AMAZING food

and drink.

We are looking for donations to our Silent Auction.

As a fundraiser for our school, we will be running a Silent Auction. If you own a

business, or know of a business that you think may be willing to contribute, we

would love to hear from you. We are looking for products and/or services from local

businesses, un-opened gifts, and gift certificates from stores or restaurants.

You can click here to list businesses that you have or plan to approach. This way

others will not approach the same business twice. Please also find a draft request

letter that can be used to formally request donations.

Please feel free to drop off donations in the office until May 25th. Make sure that

you have included: the business donating, value of item or service and your name

and contact info.

Any question, please feel free to contact Pippa @ philippa1@telus.net.

Also, are you spring cleaning? We are collecting gently-used and new books and

small toys that may be forgotten in a drawer to use as carnival prizes at the Family

Festival. Donations will contribute to the excitement of the games (and keep stuff

out of our landfill!).

A few ideas are things like small toys, cars and trucks. Mini figurines, dolls and

stuffies. Bouncy balls, tops, cool pencils, erasers and stickers… loot-bag type of

things. Puzzles, Pokeman cards, games, dvds, video games and books, books,

books! We also need yarn: all types and colours.

Donations Days:

Wednesday, May 2nd, 8:45-9:15 am

Monday, May 7th, 2:45-3:15pm

Or drop off in the Office collection box for the month of May.

Thank you everyone!

Order super durable Mabel’s Labels and Secord makes 20% of all sales! And it’s

easy – you just click on "Support a Fundraiser" when you start your order, scroll

down to find our school name, and carry on.

Mabel’s Labels Fundraiser

PAC Minutes

PAC Events

School Calendar

Vancouver School

Board

SPUD Fundraiser: fundraise with Organics!

When you order organic produce boxes from SPUD, 25% will be donated to

Laura Secord and the produce will be delivered right to your door! This applies to

new and existing customers. Check out SPUD.ca under the tab “fundraising”,

select Laura Secord, place your order and “voila”! Groceries delivered to your

door and 25% donated to our school!