The Week Ahead: November 30 - December 4, 2015

Monday, November 30
11:40 - 12:28 Grade 5 Pop Choir Club

Tuesday, December 1
11:40 - 12:28 Bells
11:40 - 12:28 Grade 3 Choir (Rms. 8, 19 & 26)
11:40 - 12:28 Grade 5 Drama Club
2:50 - 3:40 Grade 5 Guitar Lessons (returning students only)
2:45 - 4:45 Gr. 4-5 Calgary After School Program

Wednesday, December 2
11:40 - 12:28 Grade 4 Pop Choir Club
1:00 Grade 2 Spanish Assembly

Thursday, December 3
Dryland Training, Rms. 8, 20 & 26
11:40 - 12:28 Bells
11:40 - 12:28 Grade 3 Choir (Rms. 9, 20 &28)
2:45 - 4:45 Gr. 4-5 Calgary After School Program

Friday, December 4
Non Instruction Day - No School

Community Education Service Programs

The Community Education Service (CES) provides parents/caregivers and other community members with opportunities to access free, evidence-informed education sessions and resource materials to address child, youth, and family health and mental health needs. This service is provided to families by the Alberta Heath Services.  The educational sessions they offer include a wide variety of topics relevant to families with children of different ages. 

New program information will be posted weekly on the Westgate website at http://schools.cbe.ab.ca/b140/parents.htm.

The Week Ahead: November 23 - 27, 2015

Monday, November 23
Grade 4 & 5 Drama - Rms. 14, 15 & 16

Tuesday, November 24
Grade 1 French, Rms. 1 & 2 Leighton Art Centre
Grade 1 Spanish, Rms. 22 & 32A Telus Spark
Grade 4 & 5 Drama - Rms. 14, 15 & 16
11:40 - 12:28 Bells
11:40 - 12:28 Grade 3 Choir (Rms. 8, 19 & 26)
11:40 - 12:28 Grade 5 Drama Club
2:50 - 3:40 Grade 5 Guitar Lessons (returning students only)
2:45 - 4:45 Gr. 4-5 Calgary After School Program

Wednesday, November 25
Grade 1, Rms. 30, 33A & 33B Leighton Art Centre
Grade 4 & 5 Drama - Rms. 14, 16 & 17
11:40 - 12:28 Grade 4/5 Pop Choir Club

Thursday, November 26
Grade 1 Spanish, Rms. 23 & 32B Telus Spark
Grade 5 Spanish U of C Field Trip
Grade 4 & 5 Drama, Rms. 13, 15 & 16
Grade 5 French - Wavemaker Presentation
11:40 - 12:28 Bells
11:40 - 12:28 Grade 3 Choir (Rms. 9, 20 &28)
2:45 - 4:45 Gr. 4-5 Calgary After School Program
7:00 School Council Meeting

Friday, November 27
11:40 - 12:28 Grade 5 Pop Choir Club - Rescheduled

Calgary After School Program

The Calgary After School Program is a free program currently being offered to boys and girls grades 4 - 5.  They enjoy a healthy snack, make new friends, explore creativity and achieve their daily physical activity.

Beginning in January, the program will be open to grade 3 - 5 students. Registration is ongoing, students who are not currently participating are welcome to register.  Forms and information are available on the Westgate website at http://schools.cbe.ab.ca/b140/forms.htm.

Making School Mathematics Make Sense

The College of Alberta School Superintendents and the Alberta Regional Professional Development Consortia invite parents, students, teachers, school & system leaders, and community members to participate in the first of a series of sessions featuring Dr. James Tanton on the timely topic: Making School Mathematics Make Sense

Where | St Leo's Elementary School (gymnasium), 6220 Lakeview Drive S.W.
When | Thursday, November 19, 2015 from 7:00 to 8:15 p.m.
There is no admission charge

Dr. James Tanton is recognized internationally for his ability to make mathematical ideas, concepts and "FACTS" simple to understand, repeat, practice and apply in solving problems. He stresses the need to teach students to THINK their way through solutions, and then demonstrates using "common sense" approaches.

This presentation will focus specifically on seeing and understanding a way to make the arithmetic we learned in school come alive with meaning.

It is very relevant to the mathematics taught from Grades 4 to 12.

National Jersey Day

On Thursday, November 19th Westgate School will participate in National Jersey Day.  Show your love and support for sport by wearing a jersey, team or club uniform to school.

National Child Day

There is an opportunity coming up on Sunday, November 22nd for Westgate students ages 6 - 12  and their families. Support National Child Day by attending a free event hosted by Community and Neighbourhood Services.

To register in advance, please call Angel Jackson at 403.476.7163 or email angel.jackson@calgary.ca.

For more information please see:  National Child Day

Get Involved in Improving Public Engagement at the CBE

Attend in-person on November 18, November 24 and December 3rd.  An online survey is coming soon.

For more information please see:  http://www.cbe.ab.ca/get-involved/public-engagement/Pages/Public-Engagement-Framework.aspx

The Week Ahead: November 16 - 20, 2015

Monday, November 16
Grade 4 & 5 Drama - Rms. 12, 13 & 18

Tuesday, November 17
Grade 4 & 5 Drama - Rms. 12, 17 & 18
11:40 - 12:28 Bells
11:40 - 12:28 Grade 3 Choir (Rms. 8, 19 & 26)
11:40 - 12:28 Grade 5 Drama Club
2:50 - 3:40 Grade 5 Guitar Lessons (returning students only)
2:45 - 4:45 Gr. 4-5 Calgary After School Program

Wednesday, November 18
Grade 4 & 5 Drama - Rms. 14, 16 & 17
11:40 - 12:28 Grade 4/5 Pop Choir Club
3:00 - 6:00 Book Fair
3:00 - 6:00 Parent Teacher Conferences (Sr. Diego/Mr. Rathje and Mme Jessica/Mme Amanda Only)

Thursday, November 19
Jersey Day - Wear a jersey, team or club uniform
8:15 - 7:00 Book Fair
Grade 4 & 5 Drama, Rms. 13, 15 & 16
11:40 - 12:28 Bells
11:40 - 12:28 Grade 3 Choir (Rms. 9, 20 &28)
2:45 - 4:45 Gr. 4-5 Calgary After School Program
3:00 - 7:00 Parent Teacher Conferences

Friday, November 20
8:00 - Noon Parent Teacher Conferences - No School

Remembrance Day Assembly

A Remembrance Day Assembly will be held tomorrow, November 10th, for Westgate students only. Each student will receive a poppy to wear at the assembly. Donations to the Poppy Fund will be collected at the school if you wish to send money with your child.  There is no school on Remembrance Day, Wednesday, November 11th.

Parent Teacher Conferences

On Thursday, November 19th, and Friday, November 20th, 2015, we will hold our second round of Parent Teacher Conferences. The purpose of these conferences is to discuss student progress and next steps in learning. In this round of conferences we ask parents and guardians to bring their student(s) with them to the conference so that students may share two pieces of work.

You may recall that last year we held two sharing nights, one in November and one in May. We believe that we can accomplish the goals of the November sharing night by having students share their work at Parent Teacher Conferences. As a result, we will not hold the November Sharing Night. The May sharing night will take place because there is a significant gap in time between it and our March parent-teacher conferences. Students will have made much progress in that period of time and they will be able to share this with parents and celebrate successes.

The on-line booking system will open on Thursday, November 12th at 6:00am. A link to the Conference Manager is located under Quicklinks on the main page of our website.

We look forward to seeing you in a couple of weeks!

Book Fair

Our Library will be holding a fundraising book fair during Parent/Teacher Conferences, November 18th - 20th, 2015.

Book Fair Hours
November 18th: 3:00 - 6:00pm
November 19th: 8:15 - 7:00pm
November 20th: 8:00 - Noon

If you would like to volunteer to help at the Book Fair call Brenda at 403-777-8420 Ext 2 or email blbielert@cbe.ab.ca.

In order to avoid long line ups, cash or cheque is preferred as our debit machine is very slow.

Lost and Found

Lost and Found items are currently displayed on tables in the front entrance. Items will remain on display during Parent Teacher Conferences. Please remember to check for your child’s lost items by noon on Friday, November 20th. Unclaimed items will be sent to charity after the completion of conferences.

From the Administration - Traffic and parking around Westgate

We would like to take this opportunity to remind our school community to be very careful when driving and parking near Westgate School.

We need your help to provide a safe place for our students to walk onto the playground or into the building.

• Please observe all posted signs. 
• Dropping students off in any parking lot is prohibited.  
• It is illegal to block crosswalks and driveways or park within 5 metres of a corner. 
• Please take an extra few minutes to find a safe place to park on the side streets.  

The school is considering a number of strategies to help manage traffic around the school.  I will sit on a City of Calgary committee to look at traffic calming solutions along 8th Avenue SW.  This process may lead us to consider implementing an AMA School Safety Patrol or a Kiss and Ride type of morning drop-off.  We will keep you informed as we learn more about the viability and value of these options.

In consultation with the Calgary Police Service we have decided to assist drivers with identification of potential danger areas by placing fluorescent yellow traffic cones at either end of the three crosswalks near Westgate.  We will also use cones at other key locations such as corners to remind drivers of the presence of pedestrians.  Please leave the cones on the road. We will remove them at the end of the school day.

We will try this until the winter break, and at that point determine if we will continue the practice into the new year.

Thank you for your cooperation!

- Mr. Fehr