October 23, 2015

Hello families and friends,

Yesterday, we had a visit from author Marty Chan.  Marty Chan is an author of 11 books from Edmonton who visited our school today. He told us many funny stories about how he gets ideas for his books, including stories about his two cats Max and Buddy that turned into his picture book called "True Story". He also gave us some important advice. "When you write, don't be afraid of the blank page!" Visit his web site to learn more about him.

We have been continuing to work on our literacy skills in the morning, practicing reading to self and to someone, and working on our writing.  Yesterday we also practiced some reading with our grade 3/4 buddies, and made a video recording our reading to put into IRIS.  You can see this at home by logging into IRIS using the same login and password that your child uses to get onto the computers at school.  We also started a Autumn tree art project, which we will be continuing next week in collaboration with a fundraiser that we will be doing.  Information about this will be sent home next week.  Today, we also started working on an art project with Ms. Ellison around the work that we have been doing in social studies about comparing the past and present.  We will be continuing our work in this over the next few weeks.

Thank you to all the families who supported our students by attending the Student-Led Learning Walk.  It is a very meaningful experience for students to not only share their own work with you, but also the work of the other students at our school.   Parents then can truly see the scope of learning that your child will experience during their time at Cranston School.  Thank you again - it was great to see you all!!

A note from Mr. Southworth and Mr. McDougall
This week is the start of our annual, extended Digital Citizenship week at Cranston School.  Starting this week and continuing over the next 4 weeks, Mr. McDougall and Mr. Southworth will be doing lessons with each of the classes around Internet safety, including how to protect your identity on the web, and spotting advertising, as students interact with the digital world.  Time will also be spent on using student devices at school.

On our Digital Citizenship webpage you will find our 'Bring Your Own Device’ (BYOD) letter, school-wide Digital Citizenship plan and classroom Twitter guidelines.  As well, you will find activities and games for kids to play and work through at home.  This is an excellent way for parents to spend quality time with their children while helping to guide them through the digital world.

You will find a link to the Digital Citizenship page at the top of our Cranston School website.  Alternatively, you can also follow this direct link:
http://schools.cbe.ab.ca/b408/VLC/digital-citizenship.html

Cranston Peace Ambassadors will be starting a drive for Jacket Racket beginning Monday, October 26th and running to Friday, November 6th. This is a wonderful opportunity for all students to help other children here in our city, by donating warm outerwear that they no longer need. It is a valuable experience for our students and reinforces Cranston School’s commitment to peace and citizenship education. Please take some time with your children to go through their winter items. It is that time of year when we all realize that hats, mittens, boots, snow pants and coats have been outgrown! Please give them a wash and put them in a plastic bag to be brought to school. If you could list the items and sizes on the outside of the bag, it would help the students with the sorting process! We also accept adult sizes, as many older students need help to stay warm in the winter as well!

Calgary Flames and CBE have partnered up again to offer 'Press Level' seating to families at a discounted price. $36 for a ticket, and $10 from each ticket purchased goes right back to Cranston School. Go to www.calgary.flames/studentnight for more information. Remember to choose Cranston from the drop down menu. Tickets sell out fast, so please order soon!