Mustang Memo - June 13, 2025

A personal highlight for this week was our ongoing Pokémon tournament. It was such a treat to watch our students battle it out at lunch to see who will be the ultimate DCE Pokémon Battle Champion!

We are so impressed with the strategy and sportsmanship being displayed by our Grade 3 competitors. They are getting really good at using strategy and in winning or losing with grace!

Did you know that playing the Pokémon card game requires students to do math? That's right! They have to calculate how many points of damage an attack can do while taking into account weaknesses (damage is doubled - multiplication!) or resistance (damage is halved - division!). They have to use subtraction track their Pokémon's health (I have 110 hit points and that attack took away 60 hit points, how much health does my Pokémon have left?)

They also have to practice reading skills as attacks can have different effects and special cards can allow you to heal your Pokémon, search your deck for different kinds of cards, or use special abilities during play.

Students also have to learn about how to be a good sport. Like in any competition, you will win some games and lose others. How to do both with grace is an important life skill!

We are so proud of all of our students. Congratulations to all of our competitors!

Have a great weekend!

Helene Hewitt & Jay Robertson

Principal & Assistant Principal

You belong here!

Table of Contents

Week At a Glance

Action

• Student Transportation: 2025-26 registration
• Notification Emails from your PowerSchool Parent Portal

Opportunity 

• Counsellor's Corner
• Summer Sizzler is Coming

Information

• Mustang Mention Prize Assembly
• Planning for Success - Meet Next Year's Teacher
• Parents Make the Difference

WEEK AT A GLANCE

ACTION

Student Transportation: 2025-26 registration

Planning to use Student Transportation in the 2025-26 school year? If so, make sure your child is registered so Elk Island Public Schools (EIPS) can plan routes and send your child a bus pass before the first day of school.

All students who indicated needing transportation services through the returning student or new student registration processes are now registered. Those families have also received tentative route schedules and invoices—fees are due June 30, 2025.

For those students who did not indicate needing transportation services during the registration process and want to now register, complete a Busing Setup form through the Transportation Service Desk.

NOTE: Families can pay fees online using the PowerSchool Parent Portal. To pay in-person, visit the EIPS Student Transportation building during its office hours—Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on school days and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on school closure days.

Notification Emails from your PowerSchool Parent Portal

Through the PowerSchool Parent Portal, parents and guardians can subscribe to receive email updates from the school and about their child, as well as the frequency for receiving the updates. These PowerSchool notifications are separate from the emails you receive from the Division and your child’s school sent through SchoolMessenger.

In June, Elk Island Public Schools is updating the domain configuration where these PowerSchool emails come from to support more cost effective and efficient modernization of technology within the Division. As the updates take place, notifications may come from one or the other email address. By June 13, when the update is complete, messages from the PowerSchool Parent Portal will come from only the new email address:

• Current email sender: powerschool@eips.ca
• New email sender: DoNotReply@powerschool.mail.eips.ca

We encourage you to add this new email address to your safe-sender list to avoid missing any updates you’re subscribed to. At any time, if you’d like to update your subscription settings within PowerSchool, simply log in to the Parent Portal and click the “Email Notifications” tab in the left-hand menu.

OPPORTUNITY

Counsellor's Corner

Summer Tutoring Options for Your Child
Looking to support your child's learning this summer? Here are some tutoring options you might consider:

Private Tutoring & Subscription Services:

• Centre for Literacy Services: Offers one-on-one sessions for children struggling with reading. A well-respected resource in Alberta. One on One Support – Centre for Literacy (centre4literacy.com)
• Nessy: An online program that focuses on foundational phonics skills to support reading and spelling (a free trial of their home-based programs is available). Literacy support for dyslexia that follows the Science of Reading | Nessy
• Local Options: Consider services like Kumon, Oxford Learning, and Sylvan Learning for additional support.

Low/No-Cost Options

• IXL: Offers grade-specific lessons tied to the Alberta school curriculum. *Note that a membership is required for full access, but you can access a limited number of exercises per day. IXL | Learn grade 2 English language arts
• My Discover Prep: A free tutoring service supported by libraries, offering 1-to-1 online sessions with university student tutors for grades 4-12. (https://www.mydiscoverprep.com/)

Mental Health Support in Alberta

Accessing mental health interventions poses a challenge for many families. If accessibility has been a barrier for you, you may be interested in exploring a new service being offered here in Alberta called EaseCARE. “EaseCARE Medical is a mental health care provider focused on a holistic team approach offering access to a community of mental health experts ranging from counselors to physicians, to psychiatrists.” 

EaseCARE Medical Services Include:

• Mental Health Assessments: Covered by your Alberta healthcare card
• Complex Care: Psychiatrists available to address more complex mental health needs
• Counseling: Specialized counselors available for various mental health topics (private pay)

Click here to learn more!

Ms. Bashaw and Ms. Mitchell

~ DCE School Counselling Team

Summer Sizzler is Coming!

Do you like food trucks? How about music? 

We have that and much more at our Summer Sizzler on June 20 from 5 to 8 p.m.

Come and connect with all of the DCE families at our popular Summer Sizzler event. You can eat yummy food and also visit the balloon artist, the face painter or dance to the tunes of our DJ! You can also have your picture taken at the photobooth!

What about the Stanley Cup playoffs? What if we go to game 7? 

Don't worry, we've got you covered! We'll turn our Sizzler into a DCE watch party! We'll stream the game on the big screen in the gym and on some outside TVs. Enjoy the game with your Mustang family!

Bring a lawn chair or two and enjoy the evening! 

INFORMATION

Mustang Mention Prize Assembly

On Monday, we have our 2nd annual prize assembly to celebrate all of our students who did a great job of demonstrating our school expectations:

• Be kind
• Be safe
• Be respectful
• Be your best self

Throughout the year, when students won Mustang Mentions their names were automatically entered into our end of the year prize draw! Thanks to the generosity of our parent community and local businesses, we have numerous prizes that we will draw during a short afternoon assembly.

Congrats to all of our Mustangs for being great people!

Planning for Success

We know that transitions can be tricky! The unknown of a new school year can create anxiety for students who worry about who is in their class next year as well as who they have as a teacher. We are firm believers that providing early information and opportunities for connection is helpful to prepare students for the upcoming school year.

On June 16, students in kindergarten to grade 5 will be experience our first ever Meet Your New Teacher event. Students will have a chance to visit their new classroom and meet next year's teacher and classmates. They will all take home a postcard from next year's teacher so that parents will also know who they met that day. Next year's teacher will also be included in the report card. Any new teachers who are joining our team next year, will be there for this meet and greet day!

While this day can be really helpful in supporting students with transition, we also know that it can also invite conversations about switching classrooms. As shared in the Memo on May 9 and May 23 as well as in our May school council meeting, parents were invited to email the principal, Mrs. Hewitt, if there were extenuating circumstances that you wanted us to know while we developed class lists by May 30. As class lists are now finalized, we are not accepting requests for classroom placements or switches from one class to another due to the complexity in creating balanced classes that maximize available supports in the school. 

We hope this experience will support students in the transition to a new school year!

Parents Make the Difference

While transitioning from the school year to the summer months can be fun and exciting, it can also create some anxiety for children and families. Here's a short video giving some tips to parents on making the summer months successful for everyone in the family: