Mustang Memo - May 23, 2025

This week we enjoyed the chance to take class photos and enjoy some hot lunch, yum! A highlight of my week involved having fun with our drama club at lunch. As I listened to our students act out short scenes, I was struck by how lucky we are to have such talented students at DCE. We have strong athletes across many sports, clever strategists involved in D & D and Pokémon Club, future gardeners in propagation club, and crafty artists in crochet club and art club. To top it off, we have high levels of academic excellence as well. What a great school!

Thanks to our parent community for sending us your incredibly talented children. We know that we are lucky to be part of this community.

Helene Hewitt & Jay Robertson

Principal & Assistant Principal

You belong here!

Table of Contents

Week At a Glance

Action

• Preparing for PATs
• Write On School Supplies

Opportunity 

• Counsellor's Corner
• Jump Rope for Heart Ramping Up
• Pancake Day is Coming

Information

• Class Lists
• Parents Make the Difference

WEEK AT A GLANCE

ACTION

Preparing for PATs

It's that time of year where our Grade 6 students show off their learning on the Provincial Achievement Tests. According to the Government of Alberta, the purpose of PATs is to:

• determine if students are learning what they are expected to learn;
• report to Albertans how well students have achieved provincial standards at given points in their schooling; and
• assist schools, school authorities and the province in monitoring and improving student learning.  

These tests are not used to determine report card marks or anything like that, however, as a school we do find the data helpful in determining which topics are most challenging for students so that we can select better resources, instructional strategies and supports. Our teams analyze the data and share with all of our teachers so that each grade level can ensure that they are supporting the learning all the way up to Grade 6. 

How can you support your child?

• Encourage a good night's sleep (put away technology at least an hour before bed!)
• Have a healthy breakfast
• Encourage your child to do their best but not to stress about it! 

OPPORTUNITY

Counsellor's Corner

Here are some fun opportunities for your older children to connect with others outside of school.

Teen Connect

Join us every Saturday 6:30-8:30PM at Millennium Place for a teens only hangout. There will be a fun facilitated activity for the first hour. Followed by an opportunity to chill and connect with your peers. Registration is by month.

https://reconline.strathcona.ca/STRATHCONA/public/booking/CourseTypes/TEENCON

Tween Hangout

Wednesday, June 11 4:00pm–5:00pm

Strathcona County Library event For grades 5 - 8.

Join us for a variety of fun activities and snacks. Registration required (4 spots remaining)

Register for event

Madison Bashaw & Kelley Mitchell

~ DCE school counselors

Jump Rope for Heart is Ramping Up

We are almost ready for our Jump Day taking place this Friday! 

With $2270 already collected, we met our school fundraising goal of $2000 for the Heart and Stroke Foundation.

While our jump day is on May 30, fundraising will stay open until June 15 so that we can get as many funds as possible to this important cause. 

Here is a link to our school fundraising page: https://jumpropeforheart.crowdchange.ca/80517

Pancake Day is Coming

It's almost time for everyone's favourite sticky-fingered treat day! Pancake Day is taking place at the end of this week! This year we decided to switch things up by serving up tasty pancakes to half the school on Thursday and the other half on Friday. We call classes down to eat a tasty pancake (gluten free options available) with butter, syrup or plain. 

What is Pancake Day? It is a day where our staff and our brave parent volunteers cook tasty pancakes for every child in the school. Why do we do it at this time of the year? It is a way of celebrating Canada Day! Who doesn't love a delicious Canada Day pancake breakfast? Since we are away on summer break on Canada Day, we celebrate a bit earlier with Pancake Day at the start of June.

It is a fun DCE tradition! If you'd like to cook pancakes on a one of our new indoor griddles, stop by and help out! We promise to feed you a pancake or two!

Yearbook Ordering

Have you ordered your Davidson Creek Elementary 2024-2025 yearbook yet? Why not preserve your memories for the low cost of $14? 

Yearbooks will arrive next September to the school. If your child has left the school they will be forwarded to the new school with EIPS, or held at the office for pick up.

How do you order? Go to Parent Portal, click on "fees" scroll to the bottom of the screen and click on the yearbook picture, this will add one to your cart, then click on your cart to process payment.  Ordering is open until June 13 at 11:59am.  If you need any assistance, please feel free to reach out to our business manager, Christa Gawron, at 780-467-5557.

INFORMATION

Grade 6 Legacy Project

This year marks a special occasion for our school. Our Grade 6 classes are the first group of students to start in Kindergarten at Davidson Creek and graduate from Grade 6!  To celebrate this milestone, our Grade 6 students will be working with local artist, Marliss Weber, to create a special tree-themed art piece. The finished work will be presented at the Grade 6 Celebration assembly at the end of the year and professionally installed in the library in the fall.

If you would like to learn more about the artist, she has a gallery set up at the Walterdale Playhouse or you can visit her Instagram art page at: Doodly Doo Doodles.

Class Placements

Our teachers are almost finished the daunting task of creating balanced class lists for the upcoming school year. We want to share information about the involved process we follow to establish classes.

When making the draft lists as a grade team, teachers look at all of the students in that grade level and consider the following factors:

• balancing medical/safety needs or students who have more complex programming needs
• balancing academic needs
• balancing behavioural needs
• managing student dynamics - which students are best together or apart (help each other vs. get off task with each other)
• supporting friendship dynamics (helping kids to start the year off with a friend connection where possible)

As you can imagine this is not an easy task! The process does not end there! After the initial draft lists are established the next steps are:

1. All staff review the lists and provide feedback (took place May 2)
2. Administration, counselling team, and music team review lists for unintended problems and make suggestions for adjustments.
3. Teachers rebalance lists according to the feedback
4. Administration review the lists one final time

It is our goal to create balanced classes that provide an excellent educational experience for each child. We appreciate your trust in our professionalism and our desire to do right by all students while balancing the various needs of each family.

As you can see, the process for creating class lists is complex and is for that reason that we do not entertain requests for classroom placements. With over 600 students, it would be impossible to accommodate each person's request while ensuring that classrooms are functional for excellent learning. 

If there is an extenuating circumstance that will have a significant impact on your child or family that you feel we need to consider, you can share that information in writing via email to the principal, Helene Hewitt, by May 30, 2025.

Parents make the difference

Here is this week's article with helpful tips for families:

Questions and Answers

Q: My elementary schooler is suddenly displaying disruptive behavior at home and in school. I’m worried that anxiety about the move up to middle school may be a factor. What strategies can I use to help my child cope and address these behavioral changes?

A: When children are anxious, they tend to act out with the people they feel the closest to—usually their family members and teachers. Changes can be difficult and the move to middle school can seem scary—even if it’s still months away.

Your elementary schooler may have a lot of concerns: “Will I still see my friends? Will I be able to handle the schoolwork?”

As you suspect, these fears can trigger misbehavior. Helping your child get these feelings out in the open is the first step in dealing with them.

Here’s how to help:

• Have a discussion. See if you can get your child to express fears out loud. A low-key approach usually works best. To open up a conversation, you might say, “I bet you’re wondering about who will be in your classes next year.”
• Address concerns. Once your child begins to talk about worries, work with the teacher to address them. Perhaps the teacher can lead a few class discussions about life in middle school. Or, if your child knows someone who is already at the middle school, suggest asking that person about what it’s really like.
• Reinforce rules at home and at school, and remind your child that they must be followed.

Reprinted with permission from the May 2025 issue of Parents make the difference!^®  (Elementary School Edition) newsletter. Copyright © 2025 The Parent Institute^®, a division of PaperClip Media, Inc.