Tuesday 27 September 2016

Professional Day on Wednesday September 28th - No School

There will be no school in session for Dr. A.R. Lord Elementary students on Wednesday September 28th.  Staff will be participating in a Professional Day and upgrading skills related to the new school curriculum. Professional days provide teachers ongoing development: 
  • to foster effective, learner-centered, high quality educational programs in a rapidly changing environment 
  • to encourage the personal growth of individual staff members 
  • to plan for continuous school and organizational growth 
  • to implement new curricula developed by the Ministry of Education

Monday 26 September 2016

Toonie for Terry & Terry Fox Run


A.R. Lord students have been participating in a "Toonie for Terry" campaign and Thursday September 29th is the National Terry Fox School Run Day. This year's run will be held at Plateau Park and several near-by elementary schools will be attending. A.R. Lord Families are encouraged to join in!

Date: Sept 29th Thursday
Time: 9:15 am Depart from the School
Place: Hastings - Empire Field

Saturday 24 September 2016

Families Come out for Meet the Teacher

Families came out for "Meet the Teacher Night" last week and heard from Ms. Car, school principal, the Parent Advisory Council (PAC) and had a chance to meet the wonderful Dr. A.R. Lord Elementary Teachers. Students participated in a school Passport Activity Hunt and learned some interesting facts about their teachers. Parents and teachers were invited afterwards to share an apple with the teachers and socialize with other families within the school community.
Office: Ms. Liu - Secretary, Ms. Car -Prinicipal                Library: Ms. McCandless -Librarian/Resource Teacher
Rm 109: Ms. Burke - Resource Teacher                          Rm 205: Ms. O'Neill - Div. 1 Gr 6/7
Rm 203: Ms. Skucas - Div. 2 Gr 5/6                                 Rm 201: Ms. Shore & Ms. Wise -Div. 3 Gr 3/4
Rm 108: Ms. Watson & Ms. Mitchell -Div. 4 Gr 2/3          Rm 110: Ms. Phongmany -Div. 5 Gr 1/2
Rm 206: Ms. Bains & Ms. Mitchell - Div 6 Gr. 1               Rm 202: Ms. Young - Div. 7 Gr. K
Rm 107: Ms. Young-Eng - Fine Arts

Support Workers: Vernonica, Preeya and Lloyd       Supervision Aids: Maria and Bice
Engineers: Leo and Allan                                          Aboriginal Support Worker: Megan McCarthy
Counsellor: (To be announced)                                 Templeton Community Schools Youth & Family Worker: Kirsty Babcock

Friday 23 September 2016

Puzzle of the Week!

eg. 3X3 Easy - Use numbers 1,2,3
Math and Literacy Puzzles will be posted  in the downstairs hallway and are a fun challenge for all students. Encourage your child to grab a form and give it a try as there are different level puzzles for different grade levels. (Parents - no helping with the answers!)
The current contest  is a Ken Ken math puzzle and runs until September 30th! 

Ken Ken Rules:
1. The numbers you use in the puzzle depend on the size of the grid.
2. You may not repeat numbers in any row or column.
3. The darkly-outlined groups of squares have a number and a math operation (add, subtract, multiply or divide) in them.  The numbers in the group must combine to give the target number by using the math operation given.

Thursday 22 September 2016

School Days School Days!


Schedule:

8:55am Warning Bell
9:00am School Starts
10:35-10:55am Recess
12:10-12:57pm Lunch
3:00pm School Ends

Reminder: Please ensure that your child is on time to be settled for opening activities at the start of the day. Note that staff supervision of the school grounds starts at 8:40am before school and from 3:00-3:20pm after school.

Wednesday 21 September 2016

Compost Social at the School Garden Saturday Sept 24th

Did you know A.R. Lord has two dedicated areas for school learning gardens?  These green spaces are community gardens and give students an opportunity to learn about environmental stewardship, growing food, science and nature through classroom lessons. 

Come and connect with other parents, kids and neighbours over some cheese, crackers, wine and layered compost!

This Saturday, September 24, we will meet at the Dr. A.R.Lord garden from 2:30 - 4 or 4:30 pm and give our compost some nice brown and green layers to get it going.

We could use your help or just your cheerful company while we work. If you want to help and have garden gloves and/or pruners, please bring them. We will have some available but not enough for all.
Kids are welcome (to play or help)!       Hope to see you on Saturday.

Tuesday 20 September 2016

Choir starts This Week

"Choir will be starting this week on Friday, September 23rd at recess in the Music Room. All students in grades 1-7 welcome.  We will be preparing for Remembrance Day and for the Christmas Concert. Choir meets each Friday at recess. We hope to see you there!"

- Ms. Young-Eng and Ms. Watson

Reading Bingo for Literacy!

R-E-A-D-O is like Bingo, but for reading. Everytime a student reads something according to the squares, they write the title and date in the square on the forms that were sent home with students.       The goal is to add some fun and encourage reading for students in a wide variety of forms.   
Rules:
* This game is open all year, until the library closes in June 2017.
*When the student fills up the whole board, they can bring it to Librarian, Ms. McCandless and trade it in for a prize.
*Each thing read counts as only one square. 
Read 4 Poems              Read a Book with a Female Lead           Read to a friend or Sibling
Read a Magazine               Read a non-fiction book                  Read someone a bedtime Story  
              Read a store Flyer         Read a book about a special event or holiday 
*Grandmas, Grandpas, Aunties, Uncles, Godparents, Babysitters, Family Friends, Moms, Dads, Cousins....all count as adults to share reading with.
*Keep the READO form in a safe place (eg. agenda pocket) or in a special spot at home. If the child loses the form, they will have to start all over again! (yay more reading!)
Happy Reading!

Sunday 18 September 2016

School Assembly, Activities and Clubs

A school wide assembly was held last tuesday in the Gym. Teachers and support staff were introduced to students. 

Highlights from the assembly included some upcoming activities for students. The Student Spirit Squad will be lead by Ms. Bains and Ms. Phongmany and will include student representatives from each class who will organize and plan some student activities.  Past events from previous years included a Food Bank drive, Crazy Hair and Dress-up Day etc.  

Teacher-Librarian, Ms. McCandless will be hiding "tickets" tucked into library books which when found, can be claimed for a small prize. A new bingo-like game called Reado is also being offered and forms were sent home last week. Ms  McCandless has also invited any students interested to sign up for library monitors.  

Ms. Young will be offering Environmental Club again this year.  Ms. Burke and Ms. O'Neil have already started Cross Country for Grade 1-7 and the sign up sheet is located outside of Ms. O'Neil's classroom.  

Saturday 17 September 2016

Meet the Teacher: Tuesday Sept 20th Evening

Welcoming all A.R. Lord Families to attend the Meet the Teacher Event. This is a great chance to meet all the school teachers and principal and hear from the Parent Advisory Council executive. Kids will participate in a fun activity and parents and families will have some social time to enjoy an apple, coffee, tea, or an apple cider to reconnect! 

Tuesday September 20th 6:00pm-7:00pm at A.R. Lord Gymnasium

Thursday 15 September 2016

Ultimate Frisbee updates

Dear A.R. Lord Families,

If you have a child in grades 4, 5, 6, or 7 at the school, and they would like to play ultimate Frisbee this year… awesome! If you would like be to be ‘kept in the loop’ about clinics, teams, practices, and other events, please send an email to: kmccandless@vsb.bc.ca …and request to be added to the Frisbee email list. This will hopefully be an efficient way of communicating various opportunities this school year, and will ideally also reduce paperwork! If and when I do have to send out paperwork that requires signatures, I will also send an email reminder.

Looking forward to another great season (April/May/June 2017)!
Enthusiastically,  Ms. Kasey McCandless
Thank you!

Wednesday 14 September 2016

Calling All Parents! Community Grants

The PAC is looking for someone to spearhead applying for a Community Small Grant that would center around our great little school and neighbourhood. 

The Community Fund for Canada’s 150th is supporting Neighbourhood Small Grants this fall by funding projects that build vibrant and healthy communities, encourage participation in community activities to mark Canada’s 150th , and inspire a deeper understanding about the people, places and events that shape our communities and our country. Small grants of up to $500 are available for residents to develop projects that meet the needs of the community. Projects must take place between mid Oct 2016- mid Jan 2017.
We are looking for one or two people with ideas and some energy to develop an idea and help with planning. There are people on the PAC who can aid in the grant application which is due Sept 28. Some ideas are:
  •         Pumpkin patch
  •          Big community piñata making and smash down party
  •         Recycle swap meet (exchange gently used winter gear, skiis, skates, cleats etc.)
  •          Chilli cook off
  •          Bocce party at the school field
  •          Christmas carolling/karaoke/food drive
  •         Spring bike event

Please contact Julie Beer: jabeer@shaw.ca or Kimberly Richmond: kimberly.irving@shaw.ca to get detailed info on the grant application. 

Monday 12 September 2016

Thursday Sept 15, 2016 VSB Meeting: Schools Considered for Potential Closure


A joint meeting of the Planning & Facilities and Education & Student Services Committee (Committee II/III) will be held in the large gym of Tupper Secondary School, 419 East 24th Ave. on Thursday, September 15, 2016 at 5:00 pm. 

The key item on the agenda will be the presentation of an in-depth administrative report on schools considered for potential closure by School Trustees: S. Robinson and D. Nelson.  Join the numerous A.R. Lord families and supporters who are planning on attending the meeting.
https://www.vsb.bc.ca/calendars-events/joint-committee-iiiii-planning-facilities-education-student-services 

Sunday 11 September 2016

PAC Supports Yoga Program


Starting on Monday September 12th, students at A.R. Lord Elementary school will be doing the Yoga It Up!  Program as part of their physical education curriculum.  According to the Yoga it Up! website: https://www.yogaitup.ca/home.html

"The aim of the school program is to meet Prescribed Learning Outcomes for Physical Education, as well as Health and Career Education, with a specific focus on healthy living and healthy relationships.   This is a Social Emotional Learning based program that focuses on mindfulness and movement through yoga that is complementary to District goals and the Mindup program." 

This program will run for 5 sessions.  Be sure to send your child in appropriate attire to stretch, move and bend! 
This program offering has been subsidized by the Parent Advisory Council. 

Friday 9 September 2016

Welcome Back

Welcome to all our students at A.R. Lord Elementary school. The excitement of first week back is behind us and we look forward to a great year ahead! Keep your eyes posted on the Parent Advisory Council social media blog, Facebook, or twitter to stay informed on school events, activities, and information about our vibrant school community and neighbourhood! We welcome articles and contributions from all! contact us at arlordpac@gmail.com

Blog: http://arlordpac.blogspot.ca/
Facebook: drarlordpac on Facebook
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrARLordPAC

Wednesday 7 September 2016

Media Release: Small School Model

Vancouver, B.C. – Imagine the ideal school — one where every child knows and looks out for each other, teachers offer unique learning opportunities, children play and learn in expansive outdoor green spaces, convenient out-of-school care is provided at an adjacent community centre, and parents are actively involved in the life of the school. Now, imagine closing that school. The ideal school described above is Dr. A.R. Lord Elementary School — the epitome of a flourishing small school — yet it is on the Vancouver School Board’s list for potential closure. 
“The very fact that A.R. Lord is small provides invaluable benefits to our children and their learning,” says parent Lisa Patterson. “There’s a sense of connectedness and community that just can’t be replicated in a large school.”
Numerous studies in both Canada and the United States indicate small schools provide demonstrable benefits in the form of educational success, positive social and interpersonal behaviour, increased extracurricular participation and community engagement. The benefits are particularly pronounced for children who experience learning or health challenges.
Anita Coueffin’s grandson, Ryan, attends A.R. Lord. He has autism and is excelling in the small school setting. “It has been a very long, arduous process to get Ryan comfortable and feeling good about coming to school,” says Coueffin. “When Ryan is stressed out, his autistic tics become very overwhelming to him and also to his classmates. Because our school is small, Ryan feels very safe and he knows that everyone in the school understands his autism. If Ryan were moved to a large school it would be absolutely detrimental to his well-being.”
One of the reasons Sarah MacKinnon chose to send her child, Eila, to A.R. Lord is because she has life-threatening tree nut allergies. “I know that everyone in the school is aware of Eila’s food allergies and are on the lookout to keep her safe. I would not have the same sense of security in a larger school,” says MacKinnon. Her son also has food allergies and is due to start kindergarten at A.R. Lord in 2017.
Many other children at A.R. Lord who have anxiety, or other conditions or challenges are able to attend school regularly and thrive because, as research has proven, in small schools the relationships between students, parents and teachers are strong, trusting and ongoing. This enhances learning, increases parental involvement (a critical factor in student success) and improves satisfaction for all.
“If schools are closed based on a formula of cost-per-student, smaller schools will have trouble competing with larger schools,” says Patterson. “The formula needs to value learning outcomes, social cohesion and healthy communities. If it does, smaller schools like A.R. Lord will come out on top.”
Even the Vancouver School Board’s website indicates the optimum size for an elementary school is between 200 and 400 students. At current growth rates in the student population, A.R. Lord will be at its full capacity of 200 students in less than three years.

Sunday 4 September 2016

Small School Celebration: Save A.R. Lord Event: Wednesday Sept 7th

The Save A.R. Lord organizing committee is planning a family event on Wednesday September 7th from 5:30-7:30pm at Hastings Community Centre (Room 9 and Park Area)
  • Join in and bring your own picnic
  • Children's Letter Writing campaign
  • Children's Scavenger Hunt (5:30pm)
  • Information Session to update parents on the Save A.R. Lord initiative and accomplishments over the summer(6:30pm)
  • Meet with MLA Shane Simpson
SMALL SCHOOL CELEBRATION