River Heights Elementary School

It's hard to believe that we have already journeyed through the month of September, but the heavy snow to end the month made it evident that winter is not too far away. The good news is that our students really seemed to enjoy playing in our first snowfall of the year!

We would like to take this opportunity to share with you, the school's Guide to Student Assessment, Achievement, and Learning. Please take some time to visit the River Heights website ("For Families" tab) or click either link to familiarize yourself more with the RH Student Assessment Plan. The more we can communicate and work together collectively to support student learning, the more successful your children will be.

Announcing our third Book Club title:

Kids These Days by Dr. Jody Carrington

"If you own a kid, work with a kid, or love a kid, you will find something inspiring in these pages."

Click here to view the book trailer.

A book club pack of 8 copies has kindly been built for us by the Medicine Hat Public Library. The kit will be kept in the River Heights office. Please feel free to drop by to sign out a copy for yourself!

Our book club meeting date for this title will be Tues., Nov. 26th @ 7:30 pm at Laura Undershute's home. Please RSVP to Laura Gale or Laura Undershute so that we may prepare snacks and share the address with you. Please connect if you have any questions!

Literacy is one of our school goals at River Heights and our research has told us that every minute a child spends enjoying a book with an adult reader has a significant impact on literacy learning. With this in mind, we are excited to share a new opportunity for literacy experiences for our students.

We have a small team of kind-hearted volunteers who will come to our school once per week each as reading partners. Teachers will match students up with our volunteers for short reading sessions, individually or in small groups. Our students will choose the books to be read to them (or that they would like to read with or to the volunteer)!

We are proud to once again participate in this effort for our local Food Bank!

Last year River Heights raised 1094 lbs of food!
This year our goal is 1200 lbs and $200!

We will officially begin collecting food and cash donations the day following Thanksgiving (though we are happy accept either earlier!). The timing of this initiative is a lovely connection to talking with our children about gratitude and paying forward when we can.

We are grateful for the Food Bank's support of our daily Breakfast Club program and for providing healthy, delicious options for students through the Brown Bag Lunch program.

We will have bins/boxes in the hallway near the office for non-perishable food donations. We will have a container for cash donations in the office. Thank you for your support!

Our donation drive will finish on Nov. 4th at 2:30 when the CHAT truck arrives!

Food Bank wishlist items:
Canned tuna / chicken ................Rice

Readymade soups .......................Pancake Mix

Canned fruit .................................Syrup

Peanut butter ...............................Cereal

Jam ..............................................Feminine Hygiene Products

Pasta ............................................Dish Soap

Pasta sauce .................................Laundry Soap

Canned Chili/Stew/Pasta ............Body Wash / Soap

We will have our annual Halloween parade on Oct. 31 in the gym at 2:30. Families are welcome to attend our Halloween parade and are welcome to dress up, too!

If your child would like to wear a costume to school please keep the following in mind:

• Grades 1 - 6 students, please save your costume until lunch time. You will be able to get your costume on at lunch recess.
• Our parade will include our entire school (some of our youngest little ELP learners are three years old!). If your costume is gruesome or extra scary, please save it for the evening rather than wearing it at school.
• Weapon accessories/toys are not ever allowed at school, including on Halloween.

Thank you to all who ordered River Heights clothing through our online store! Your order will arrive to Sports Connection and you will receive an email indicating that it's ready for you to pick up at the store.

Though we set prices very close to cost to ensure accessibility to as many families as possible, we are grateful that a percentage of the profits will come back to the school. This money will go towards funding learning resources and experiences for our students this year.

Our online store will re-open again in November (we will set the timing so that orders will be ready before Christmas). If you have any questions, please email Mrs. Gale at laura.gale@sd76.ab.ca.

On September 27th, we remembered Canadian Hero with classroom activities, a school-wide assembly, and the annual Terry Fox Run. Students had a chance to talk about big ideas like perseverance, determination, and a growth mindset. Our students demonstrated such empathy as they learned about Terry Fox and his many challenges. Thank you to the staff and families who supported our students as they reflected upon the legacy of Terry Fox and raised over $700 for Cancer Research.

Please like our school page on Facebook. (Note that there is a school page and a separate parent council group.) We use this page to share information and love to share our celebrations and little glimpses into our days at school together! You'll find us at facebook.com/RiverHeightsES.

We have experienced some technical difficulties with our service provider in keeping the school website updated (especially the calendar). We hope to have this resolved soon! Our website can be found at http://riverheights.mhpsd.ca/.

In order to continually enhance community connections and for safety reasons, we ask that ALL visitors to the school (parent volunteers, guest presenters, service providers, Division Employees, etc.) please report to the office and sign-in when arriving at the school, and sign-out when leaving.

If you are bringing your child into the school late or taking them out early (i.e. medical appointment), we ask that you please report to the office to sign your child in (or out). If you are just dropping your child off (or picking up) at regularly scheduled school times in the morning or at the end of the school day, there is no need to sign in or out.

Your support with these procedures helps us to continually build connections with families, while also ensuring that we know who is in the building should there ever be an emergency situation.

The Lost & Found collection has grown significantly throughout September. If your child is missing a jacket or hoodie please pop in and have a look in our Lost and Found bin, or have your child do so.

Please consider printing your child's name or initials on the tags of any clothing, jackets, hats, shoes, boots, backpack, etc. that they may be putting on and taking off while at school. It sure helps us to find the rightful owners, and hopefully saves parents money.

Oct. 2 - Parent Council Meeting (7:30pm)

Oct. 10 - World Mental Health Day - Wear yellow as we celebrate our bright futures!

Oct. 14 - Thanksgiving Holiday - No school

Oct. 15 - Food Drive officially begins!

Oct. 21 - Federal election (RH gym will be used as a polling station)

Oct. 25 - Staff Development Day - No school for students

Oct. 31 - Halloween parade at 2:30 pm - Families are welcome to attend (& dress up!)

* Nov. 4 - School Picture Retakes

River Heights Elementary School provides an instructional program that enhances the delivery of the Alberta Education Curriculum. We emphasize critical and creative thinking skills within a safe and caring environment. We promote the integration of subject areas using technology as a vehicle. We encourage and facilitate student independence/interdependence.

Our motto describes our shared educational philosophy: "Explore, create, reflect”.

1) Student-Centred Integrated Learning (including the use of meaningfully integrated technology)
Students at River Heights Elementary are encouraged to make connections and build mental bridges between subject areas. We weave subject area concepts and content together rather than allowing math to always remain in isolation from social studies, for example. This integrated approach to learning facilitates a deeper level understanding and a higher level of student engagement as they develop ownership in projects and activities involving more than one curriculum subject. Meaningfully integrated technology serves as a vehicle for many of our integrated activities; technology is seen as a tool for learning rather than an activity.

2) Critical and Creative Thinking Skills
Critical and creative thinking skills are central to our program. Students are immersed in the use of thinking skills that are then used to investigate curriculum topics mandated by the Alberta Education Curriculum.
The application of Edward DeBono's Six Thinking Hats is taught throughout the school as well as additional thinking strategies suitable for particular grade levels. These thinking skills are valuable tools that encourage students to grow in creative and critical thought patterns.

3) Student Independence and Interdependence
We plan for experiences which encourage children to make clear plans, organize ideas and resources, investigate topics, share their learning with others, and reflect on their progress. We challenge students to become more responsible for their learning and to grow in independence. We provide students with opportunities and guidance in working with a wide variety of peers. We know that being able to engage in positive and productive interdependence is an important life skill.

4) Safe and Caring Learning Environment
Students and Staff demonstrate the Tribes Agreements in our interactions with each other and with families.
1. Demonstrate mutual respect.
2. Offer appreciations. Do not give put-downs.
3. Exercise the right to pass; respect the right of others to participate.
4. Demonstrate attentive listening.

River Heights Elementary provides parents with one option to consider as they make a selection best suited to meet the needs of their child and his/her learning style. By making the deliberate choice to attend River Heights Elementary, both parents and children are demonstrating a commitment to the education philosophy and goals of our school.

Thank you to all parents and staff who came out to our first parent council meeting of the

school year. Our next meeting is Wednesday, October 2, 2019 at 7:30pm in the staff room (by

the gym). Grade One teachers will be presenting. We have a different grade share at each

parent council meeting and as parents this is a great platform to meet staff, hear their

learning outcomes and see how they not only meet them but surpass them. We have a really

unique learning model at River Heights and it really shines during these times of sharing. The

school admin team also gives an update to parents and Parent Council shares with parents

budget updates, committee updates, and upcoming events. This is a great way to stay

informed and be involved in your child's education. We have a great group of parents

volunteering their time to help make our school a better place for staff and students.

In the next few weeks we will be sending a letter home to parents regarding our fundraising

options for this school year. Please look for that and support us in whatever way works best

for your family! Fundraising and hot lunch money is what we use to support field trips,

optimal learning environments in the classroom, winter village, spring fling, staff appreciation,

and various other activities in the school.

Note to ALL PARENTS: please sign up for our Parent Council Remind App. If you have the app

search for @rivheipc and if you do not have the text (587) 409-2952 and put @rivheipc in the

message. We will send messages communicating with hot lunch volunteers, calling out for

more volunteers, informing of meetings, etc.

Make sure you check out our Facebook Group: RIVER HEIGHTS SCHOOL PARENT COUNCIL

Also, we want to remind parents to support our hot lunch program which runs every week

during the school year. We have hot lunch every Friday unless there is a PD day or holiday

and then it runs on Thursday. We are super fortunate to have such an amazing hot lunch

program but need your support for it to be a success. Purchase as many as you can for your

children and volunteer as much as you can. Our hot lunch team is Dawn Austin and Karla

Tweten. You can order hot lunch through School Cash Online.

October:

• Fri. Oct. 4 -- Dairy Queen combo
• Fri. Oct. 11 -- Subway
• Fri. Oct. 18 -- Pizza & frozen treats
• Thurs. Oct. 24 -- Hotdogs & ice cream

November:

• Fri. Nov. 1 -- Taco-in-a-Bag
• Fri. Nov. 8 -- Subway
• Fri. Nov. 15 -- Pizza
• Thurs. Nov. 21 -- Hot Cakes
• Fri. Nov. 29 -- Taco Time

Our hot lunch program is the main Parent Council fundraiser for the year. The goal of our hot lunch fundraiser is to provide our school and students with much needed programs and equipment. Please consider supporting our school in this way!

We are always looking for help! Without volunteers this fundraiser would not be a success. Please connect with a Parent Council member or the school office if you are able to volunteer to serve hot lunch!

All ordering is done online. Follow this link to place your orders:

http://www.schoolcashonline.com/

Reminder, all hot lunch orders are due one week before. No late orders can be accepted.

If your child is absent from school on hot lunch day, we are unable to provide refunds or credits because we have to pay for the food upfront. You can call the school if you would like to pick up your child's order and it will be set aside for you.

Registration Tutorial:

Step 1: Go to our website: http://riverheights.mhpsd.ca/

Select FOR PARENTS, then SCHOOL CASH ONLINE and “Get Started Today” and follow the three easy steps to Register and create your profile.

Step 2: After you receive the confirmation email, please click the link that was sent to you.

Step 3: Log in and add each of your children to your household account. Find the correct school and enter your student’s last name and Student ID# to complete the process. If you are registering a new student and need to find your child's School Number, please ask Mrs. McFetridge in the office (403-527-3730) and she will kindly assist you.

Step 4: If you want to receive email notifications when new lunches are added, please ensure the notification box is checked in the “Manage Your Notifications” section found in the My Account tab. If you have any questions during the registration process or while shopping online, please select the SUPPORT option in the top right hand area of the screen.

Step 5: Now that you’ve successfully registered, please select the “Item” tab and view the lunch items available for pre-ordering. You can order by clicking on the item name and select the choices offered on the menu and click add to cart for completion.

Step 6: At check out, a detail list of what’s in your cart will be listed. You can select more items or continue to check out. Select the payment method of your choice and complete the process.You can click on the payment history tab to view order & payment records.

All RH parents and guardians are welcome to attend our meetings and to participate in Parent Council. Please plan to join us when you can; we would love to see you!

• Wed. Oct. 2nd @ 7:30 pm
• Wed. Nov. 6th @ 7:30 pm
• Wed. Dec. 4th @ 7:30 pm
• Wed. Jan. 15th @ 7:30 pm
• Wed. Feb 5th @ 7:30 pm
• Wed. Mar. 4th @ 7:30 pm
• Wed. Apr. 1st @ 7:30 pm
• Wed. May 6th @ 8:00 pm
• Wed. June 3rd @ 8:00 pm

Please join our Parent Council Facebook group! It is a closed group for RH parents and guardians only. Please search for "River Heights School Parent Council" and request to join.

We will use this space to share about Parent Council events and Parent Council fundraisers. If you have questions about the school, please direct them to the office.

Children’s Allied Health (previously CHADS) Behavioural Services would like to share our current programs and services information with you.

We are a family based, early intervention program designed to provide behavioural strategies to children under the age of 8 and support parents to manage behaviours in the home.

Our services include:

· Sleep education for parents of children 18 months and older. We offer a monthly sleep seminar which is held in Medicine Hat and is available to additional Alberta Health Services sites through videoconferencing. Please see the handout below for upcoming dates.

· Children’s programs which are held in Medicine Hat and are facilitated using Play-based therapy and Brief Solution-Focused Therapy. All of our programs are designed to include corresponding parent sessions. These programs include Kids in Control, Kids in the Middle, and Bravehearts. Please see the handout below for program descriptions.

· Parent Consultation Services are offered by our Child and Youth Development Specialists, who are available to consult with parents by telephone, Skype, or in our office regarding behaviour, child development, and parenting topics.

Registration for these services are ongoing and referrals may be received by fax from your organization (see referral form below), or parents are welcome to call us directly to self-refer (403-502-8257).

Email: rvrhgts@sd76.ab.ca
Website: http://riverheights.mhpsd.ca
Location: 301 6th Ave SW Medicine Hat, Alberta T1A 5T6
Phone: (403) 527-3730
Facebook: facebook.com/RiverHeightsES
Twitter: @RiverHeightsES