February 2025

Happy February! With the year at the halfway point, I am so pleased with the progress students have made so far this year. It is a pleasure to walk into classrooms to see the work that is being done.

January was a fantastic month! Students came back from the winter break refreshed and ready to learn. On January 22 we welcomed a group of high school international students from Japan to Sifton. They visited classrooms, taught children how to use chopsticks and write their names in Japanese, and did origami! If you are interested in hosting an international student, there is information about this opportunity later in the newsletter. We also had our literacy week in January, with heaps of fun activities! During our January ROAR assembly, students from each house participated in fun-packed activities. We also had three new parents come out to our parent council meeting on January 28. Please be sure to read all the way to the bottom of the newsletter to find out about the amazing things the parent council is involved with.

During the month of February, we are focusing on Inclusivity. On Tuesday students met in their house groups to kick off Inclusive Month by reading a story and discussing it with the house groups. Students will have the chance to share things they have done to include friends at the school. Later on in February we will celebrate Carnival. We will be looking for parent volunteers to help out, so please see details below!

All the best,

Kathleen McLennan

We use our ROAR every day.

We do our best in every way.

We make strong choices.

We respect all voices.

We strive for more.

Here we ROAR!

February 3 Kindergarten/preschool registration opens for 2025-26 school year

February 10 & 11 Skating

February 13-14 Teacher's Convention. (Schools closed)

February 17 Family Day (Schools closed)

February 18 Parent Council Meeting

February 21 Deadline for Grade 3 Art Club Sign up

February 24-28 Carnaval d'hiver

February 26 Pink Shirt Day

March 1 Grade 4 & 5 Basketball tournament

March 7 STAFF MEETING/DIVISION PD/COLLABORATION (No School for Students)

M/W Kindergarten / Maternelle (Mrs. Skoglund & Mme Urkow)

February 21

T/Th Maternelle (Mme Urkow)

February 7

March 21

Don't forget about our school home page that has a complete and up to date list of important dates and information. https://sifton.brsd.ab.ca/

Please note that our second parent-teacher conferences have been scheduled for March 19 and 20 from 4:00 to 7:00 pm.

School start time is at 8:45, and buses arrive at the school at 8:30. We have staff outside for student supervision in the morning starting at 8:25. If it is colder than -20 degrees Celsius including Windchill, students will be brought into the school and will be asked to sit quietly in the hallway until the first bell rings at 8:40. We ask that students are dropped off as close to the bell as possible in the morning.

Buses are cancelled on days when the temperature plus wind chill is -40 degrees Celsius or colder. On these very cold days, we want to get students from the building to the car as quickly as possible. We'll allow students to come in through the front doors when they arrive at school and also remind them to leave through the front doors at the end of the day. We ask that students are dropped off as close to the bell as possible when this happens.

Students who arrive at the school after 8:40 should always enter through the front door regardless of the weather.

During the winter, please make sure your child comes to school prepared for the cold weather with snow pants, a warm jacket, a hat, and mittens. Days that start out cold can warm up unexpectedly, and we want all students to be prepared for outdoor recess.

The 2024-25 yearbooks are now on sale!

The cost of each yearbook is $24.00. We will not be ordering extra yearbooks this year, so make sure to preorder today! Orders will be accepted until March 21. The order form and payment can be found on the school online payment system:

https://www.studentquickpay.com/brsd/

We are in need of parent volunteers to help make our annual Carnaval d'hivier a success. We require parents to help with the pancake breakfast, and la tire(maple syrup on snow). If you can help out please let us know by filling out the google form attached below. Merci!

A reminder that kindergarten to grade 5 students will be skating on February 10 or 11.

If you haven't yet, please sign the online permission form here or by going through PowerSchool to School Fees and Forms.

To participate all students must have an CSA approved ice helmet. Bicycle helmets are not an option. For safety reasons students without helmets will not be allowed on the ice.

The school does have extra skates and helmets that can be borrowed. Please indicated on the permission form if you have your own.

See the schedule below to find when your child's class is attending skating.

Monday, February 10

9:30-10:30 Kindergarten/maternelle

10:30-11:30 1L, 1/2B

11:30-12:30 3B, 3/4K

12:30-1:30 4/5M, 5J

1:30-2:30 2M, 2RA

Tuesday, February 11

9:30-10:30 maternelle

10:30-11:30 3E, 1K

11:30-12:30 5B, 4H

Our Math Ninja Club is now underway! Mrs. McLennan has been busy working with grade 5 students to practice their numeracy skills. As students progress through the different numeracy activities, they are able to "level up" and earn different colored Ninja belts. Congratulations to all participants!

The permission form for the grade 3 Art Club is now open. Please sign into your students online account to fill out the form. Grade 3 Art club will run Wednesdays from February 26 - April 2.

The deadline for registration is February 21.

Kindergarten, maternelle and Preschool registration is now open for the 2025-26 school year.

Children born between January 1 2021 to December 31 2021 are eligible to be registered for PreK.

Children born between January 1 2020 to December 31 2020 are eligible to be registered for Kindergarten/maternelle.

To register your child for September 2025 please click here to get started.

The board has approved the 2025-26 school calendar. Thank you to families, staff, and students who provided feedback. Please find the calendar here.

The International Student Program has recently welcomed 11 students at École Camrose Composite High School and Forestburg School, in Grade 10 from Japan. These students had the opportunity to go into classrooms in BRSD elementary schools. In the classrooms, the Japanese students engaged with local students in four different centers: teaching origami, playing Jenga, practicing with chopsticks and writing their names in Japanese. This supports the goals of the International Student Program to develop global competencies and understanding of different cultures within our own BRSD students and to create excitement about new experiences.

Feedback from a teacher:

Thank you for organizing the Japanese students' visit to our school. The students loved the four activities the international students prepared and shared with us. The international students interacted and asked questions to our students to get to know them. It was a great way to share Japanese cultural activities with our Canadian students.

Sarah Bird-Teacher, École Sifton School

Would you be interested in supporting our program through becoming a host family?

Reach out to the homestay program for more information on how to sign up:

homestay@brsd.ab.ca or call 780-781-0615

The last week of January we celebrated Literacy week at École Sifton School. We had theme days and fun literacy activities all week long!

As part of our Literacy Week activities in January, École Sifton School was proud to welcome 2 members of the Camrose Kodiaks Hockey Team. Players visited classrooms, read hockey stories to students and signed autographs. Thank you to the Camrose Kodiaks organization for helping to support literacy at École Sifton School!

We've had several library books damaged recently from water spills in backpacks. Please help us keep our library books in good reading condition by ensuring your child is using their library bag all the time!

We thank you in your cooperation at helping us keep our library books in good reading condition.

The next parent Council meeting is Tuesday, February 18 at 7:00pm in the Library Learning Commons. All parents/guardians of students attending Sifton are welcome to attend.

Hot Lunch is available to order for students in Grades 1 - 5.

If you have ordered hot lunch and you child is absent, their lunch will be donated unless you contact the school by 12:00pm to make other arrangements. Unfortunately we can not offer refunds for any reason. Thank you for your understanding.

Ordering for March will be open from February 15 to 25. After that no more orders can be submitted for the month.

March Hot Lunch:

March 14 Boston Pizza

March 21 Fatburger

Please place your ordering using our online payment system: https://www.studentquickpay.com/brsd/

Thank you for your support!

A big shoutout to Cassie Dey for stepping up and volunteering as École Sifton’s new Hot Lunch Coordinator! Thanks to her, our Friday tradition will continue strong. Let’s hear it for Cassie!

This year, as part of our Winter Carnaval festivities, Parent Council will help students create an ICE

SCULPUTURE in front of the school for the community to enjoy.

To make this event a success, ALL STUDENTS are asked to bring ONE OR MORE BLOCKS OF ICE to school on Friday, February 28 to add to the sculpture!

HOW TO MAKE YOUR ICE BLOCK

1. Find empty containers in your recycling. See list of acceptable containers below.

2. Fill containers with water. Add a few drops of food coloring if you have some.

3. Place the containers outside in your yard, on your porch or balcony, or in your freezer.

4. Bring your frozen containers to the front of the school the morning of Friday, February 28 before

class.

Please place your containers outside to freeze as soon as possible. Water takes time to freeze and we need the ice blocks to be frozen as hard as possible.

Acceptable Containers Include:

Plastic yogurt, margarine, or sour cream containers

1- or 2-liter milk cartons

Recyclable aluminum baking pans

Frozen water balloons

1- or 2-liter tetra packs

The following containers will NOT be accepted:

4-liter milk jugs with handles

Pop bottles of any size

Glass bottles or containers

Alcohol bottles

Do NOT add glitter, plastic decorations or any non-compostable items to blocks of ice.

Containers, bags and recycling will NOT be returned.

Thank you for your help! Please contact Sifton School at 780-672-2980 with any questions.

Looking for a simple way to identify and keep track of your child's items? Support Parent Council’s

Lovable Labels school fundraiser and stick it to lost belongings! These personalized, vibrant, and durable labels are perfect for everything from jackets and shoes to mittens and water bottles.

Plus, 20% of every order will go DIRECTLY to Sifton School, making it a win-win! Best of all, your labels

will be shipped straight to your home for FREE!

To order and make sure 20% of your purchase supports École Sifton, visit:

www.EcoleSiftonSchool.lovablelabels.ca.

Label your stuff and support Sifton School!

Parent Council has partnered with the Camrose Bottle Deport to make supporting the school easy!

Simply drop off your bottles at the Bottle Depot and request the refund be directed to the Sifton school account. Please donate and invest in the school’s future – one bottle at a time!

If you need to come to the school for any reason, please check in at the office. Anything that needs to be dropped off or picked up can take place there. To avoid disruption to learning, parents should not be going to classrooms or dropping off/picking up from lockers.

Please Remember to complete the School Verification form on SchoolEngage . Here parents can confirm contact numbers and ensure information for students is up to date and accurate.

The PowerSchool Parent portal has 2 convenient ways to keep you informed of your child's progress throughout the school year: the APP and the web browser.

The PowerSchool portal APP is a quick easy way to keep informed on the day-to-day.

The APP does have it's limitations though, and does not offer everything the web browser does.

Please click on the PDF link below to learn more about the PowerSchool Parent Portal web browsers great features, so you can start using it with ease!