Hello Louis Families

This past week was an abbreviated but busy one at Louis Riel with athletics, fieldtrips, classroom and outdoor learning, and an amazing opportunity to engage in community building. The annual Terry Fox run took place on Thursday and every student at Louis enjoyed the chance to get outside and participate. The morning kindy class even got to run in their own mini-event since the rest of the school was running in the afternoon and they would have missed the chance to get out and show their support for cancer research in the name of Terry Fox.

Immediately after lunch all students went to their homerooms for a virtual assembly. Mr. Olsen shared the plan for the run, explained the route, students took in some inspiration, and the tone was set for this year’s Terry Fox run. Students headed outside to stage by grade level and Mr. Olsen sent them off on the run by their grade in waves as teachers and staff moved to their course marshalling locations or laced up their running and walking shoes to join the students. Our smaller bisons were paired up with buddies from older grades to keep them on course, keep them safe, and smiling the whole time (although some of our little bisons tired out their older buddies). I’m sure it was quite a sight for our neighbors to see with 800 bison running and walking along the sidewalks and across the parks in the community. There were lots of smiles, fast feet, high fives and tired legs along the length of the 1km loop.

Homeroom teachers will still be collecting Toonies for Terry if you’d still like to send them in with your student this week.

Click the photo under resources to view full size. This photo was shot from a drone once students were done running.

Child and Youth Well-Being: A Webinar Series for Parents and Guardians    

The Calgary Board of Education invites all parents and guardians to join us in an online series focusing on child and youth well-being. These sessions will be hosted in partnership with experts from Alberta Health Services and will explore topics such as vaping, brain development, mental health, and sexual health. 

Click here to learn more:  Child and Youth Well-Being: A Webinar Series for Parents and Guardians 

CBE educators believe that parents and guardians can inspire their kids to make healthy lifestyle choices and increase protective factors – in order to do so, they need the right tools and information. Well-being is a precondition for learning. As our understanding of student well-being continues to evolve, it is important for those that support children and youth to stay up to date on the same information so everyone can support student success. The intention of the series is to advance student well-being by raising family and caregiver’s understanding of a variety of health-related topics.

Thank you for your time and consideration to join us. 

Demographic Verification Form

This is a reminder and request to please complete your demographic verification form online through your MyCBE account.

Fun Lunches at Louis

Fun lunches are a great source of fundraising for the School Council, give parents a day off from packing a lunch, and are exciting for the kids to receive! Fun Lunches are back and the deadlines to the first round of order have already passed. Don’t worry though because we will continue with our regular rotation of Fun Lunches for elementary and junior high students each month. All future junior high fun lunch dates will be the second Wednesday of each month and elementary will be on the third Wednesday of the month.

This week's fun lunch is for our elementary students (grades 1-6) and they will enjoy Boston Pizza on October 18. 

Sign up at www.HealthyHunger.ca. There is also a link on the Louis Riel School website.

It is important to note, that due to health and safety protocols on food storage, the school will not be able to accommodate storing left-over lunches to the next day if your child was absent. Left-over lunches will be donated.

Diagnostic Assessments at Louis Riel

This year, Louis teachers have been engaging students from grades 1 to 9 in diagnostic assessment to identify gaps in students' foundational understanding and application of the skills needed to demonstrate literacy and numeracy. This Friday our teaching teams continued to look at data collected from a variety of diagnostic assessments to help establish literacy, numeracy, and well-being goals that will give shape to our annual School Development Plan. Grade teams and departments identified strategies they will implement to meet student learning goals, and determine how they will measure  progress towards those goals throughout the year.

Spectator Expectations at Louis Riel Athletics Events

Last year our division shared common expectations for spectators at athletic events. This year Louis Riel will be maintaining these spectator expectations and conditional attendance policies for spectators to support a positive environment for our student athletes. Please keep in mind that our main goal is to maintain a safe and fun environment for students.

• The players are kids.
• The coaches are volunteers.
• The referees are human.

Thank you for supporting our students and our spectator expectations.

Lost and Found at Louis Riel

Please remind your student(s) to walk by and locate any lost or misplaced clothing and lunch container items and take them home. If your student regularly loses items at school, please also consider sewing nametags on their clothing items.

Volunteers Support Our Program

Volunteers are often required to meet supervision ratio requirements for off-campus field experiences. Without parent volunteers to help meet the required supervision ratio, off-campus activities and field experiences cannot proceed. Please volunteer for some off campus activities and field experiences this year to support your student and their class.

Interested in volunteering this year? Please fill out the following form: CBE Annual Volunteer Registration Form

Digital Citizenship at Louis Riel

We are an Away for the Day school. Student brains need a break from mobile devices, and they all benefit from opportunities to engage in other ways of communicating, creating and exploring. Part of our work is to promote safety, lessen cyberbullying, and to foster and sustain focus on learning. How our Away for the Day policy supports this is simple:

• Cell phones/personal electronic devices are powered off and go into lockers as you enter
• cell phones/devices do not come out until you’re exiting after the final bell at 2:50 pm
• cell phones may only be used for learning tasks during the school day with teacher permission

Upcoming Events

October 17 – Grade 6 to Fish Creek
October 18 – Grade 7 GATE to Vertigo Theatre
October 19 – Grade 7 Outdoor Ed Hike to Grassi Lake
October 20 – No School – PD Day
October 25 – Grade 7.1 Zoo Trip
October 25 – Grade 9 to Theatre: Calgary
October 25 – Grade 8 Outdoor Ed Kayaking Trip
October 26 – Grade 5 Mad Science: Kitchen Chemistry Visit