Action Schools BC

Did you know that our school is part of the Actions Schools! BC program?

Action Schools! BC contributes to the overall health and physical literacy of children and youth by integrating daily physical activity, physical education and healthy eating practices into the school community, with a goal of providing a foundation for life-long healthy living.

For lots of great information on this program, visit their website: http://www.actionschoolsbc.ca/

Did you know? Gauss Mathematics Test

Did you know that nine students at Lord wrote the University of Waterloo Gauss Mathematics test this May? This year, 9259 students from B.C. and 78,138 students in total elected to write this test. Of the nine students at Dr. A. R. Lord, two of them received the Certificate of Distinction, which indicates a score in the top 25%. Congratulations to everyone who worked hard to prepare for the test!

Tortoise visits Dr. A. R. Lord

Did you know that we have a neighbourhood tortoise?

Drayga, a Sulcata tortoise, lives just a block away from our school, and came to visit today. The children were excited to meet such a beautiful animal!

She even has her own page on facebook, where you can find more photos of today's visit: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Drayga-Sulcata-Tortoise/124468357584422

New Recycling Program at Lord

Our school chief engineer Leo has started a new and very comprehensive recycling program. Now much more of our recess and lunch time waste will be recycled. Our school recycles a large part of our waste through the VSB, but we now have an additional program facilitated by Leo. Please help make this new program possible by talking to your kids about what can now be recycled. If you are a parent who is in attendance at lunch time you can help show students how to sort their waste into the new yellow bins.

Items that can be recycled at our school: 

Big blue bins in the hallways: paper and flattened cardboard

Small blue bins in lunch room: yogurt containers, juice boxes, plastic cutlery, glass and plastic bottles, aluminum cans

Yellow bins (new): one bin for hard plastics such as sushi takeout containers, styrofoam, juice box straws, fast food foam packages and one bin for soft plastics such as Saran wrap, drinking straw wrappers, Ziploc bags, plastic shopping bags





Small brown bins upstairs in the office: the school is continuing to collect household batteries in the small brown bins in the office.

Please make sure that all recycling is as clean as possible. This means emptying juice boxes into the garbage and making sure Ziploc bags are empty before recycling.

This program needs a lot of support right now from parents and students but in a short time our students will be superstar recyclers!

COMING SOON after Spring Break: watch out for our recycling poster contest!

 Thank you Leo for everything you do for our school!

Did You Know? Reading Recovery

Did you know about the Reading Recovery program at Dr. A. R. Lord, new this year?

Dr. A. R. Lord Elementary School is one of 31 schools which offers Reading Recovery to Grade One students as part of the early intervention model promoted by the Vancouver School Board. For more information please see http://www.vsb.bc.ca/district-news/early-intervention-methods-help-young-readers.

Strong reading and writing skills are essential for success in school and later life. Although most children learn to read in the classroom programs, a few children have great difficulty learning to read and write. Reading Recovery can help!

Reading Recovery is…

• For first graders who struggle with early reading and writing
• Individual 30-minute lessons
• Free (no cost to families)
• Research-based
• Short-term, just 12 to 20 weeks (30 to 50 hours)

What - Reading Recovery is a highly effective short-term intervention of one-to-one tutoring for low-achieving first graders. The intervention is most effective when it is available to all students who need it and is used as a supplement to good classroom teaching.

Who - Reading Recovery serves the lowest-achieving first graders—the students who are not catching on to the complex set of concepts that make reading and writing possible.

How - Individual students receive a half-hour lesson each school day for 12 to 20 weeks with a specially trained Reading Recovery teacher. As soon as students can meet grade-level expectations and demonstrate that they can continue to work independently in the classroom, their lessons are discontinued, and new students begin individual instruction.

Reading Recovery is not…

• Special education
• A replacement for classroom teaching

Reading Recovery works because…

• Highly trained teachers work intensively, with individual children, each school day
• Lessons are planned to build on the knowledge and strengths of each child

Families can help by…

• Being sure your child’s school attendance is as regular as possible
• Listening to your child read books sent home by the Reading Recovery teacher
• Making reading time positive, short, and enjoyable
• Returning books each day so the teacher can send home new books

For more information on Reading Recovery, watch this short video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXxM2JVxJKY

Here is a great resource that describes Reading Recovery in Chinese (Traditional), Vietnamese, and many other languages:  http://www.schools.nsw.edu.au/languagesupport/documents/reading_recov.php

Did You Know? Hastings Community Association

Introducing the Hastings Community Association, the non-profit group that, along with the Park Board, runs our closest neighbour, the Hastings Community Centre. We belong to a fantastic neighbourhood with a long history of community involvement!

Update Your Calendar

Happy New Year everyone! Hope you had a joy-filled and restful holiday.

Did you know that the PAC uses Google calendar? Click here to add hot lunches, Pro-D Days, and other school-related events to your own calendar.

Did You Know?

The PAC has recently given a cheque for $1200 to the school for classroom funds. The money will be used by our teachers at their discretion for our children's classrooms. Every division, including our resource and music programs, will receive funding.

Thank you for making this possible by supporting PAC fundraising efforts.

Did You Know?

Did you know that we have our very own Dr. A. R. Lord PAC facebook page? Go on over to "Like" us and get instant updates whenever there's a new blog post.

https://www.facebook.com/DrARLordPac

Did You Know?

Did you know that Dr. A. R. Lord has an amazing, active Alumni Association by the name of DARLAA?

DARLAA (Dr. A. R. Lord Alumni Association) formed in 2010 and is made up of a number of dedicated, caring Dr. A. R. Lord alumni.  Here are just a few of the things they've been up to:

• bowling night fundraisers
• Pumpkin Patch in the Schoolyard
• Christmas goodie bags for all students
• $500 bursary to a Dr. A. R. Lord alumnus graduating Grade 12
• volunteering at Sports Day
• freezies to all students at Sports Day
• donations to each division for field trips, special events etc.

DARLAA may be found at https://www.facebook.com/DrARLordPac#!/lordalumni

Thanks DARLAA, you rock!

Did You Know?

Did you know that throughout the year your fundraising efforts and participation in school activities have helped fund a number of school items and activities?

• At A. R. Lord we have a strong school community working together to support our students, teachers and staff.
• You have helped supply our school with items like sports equipment, teaching tools and computer lab equipment. You have also helped fund our school mural, playground equipment, artistic performances and sports activities.
• Every little contribution has made a big impact on our school and the quality of our children’s education. Thank you!!!

Did You Know?

Did you know that there are many interesting specimen trees on the property of our school?

We have one Deodar Cedar (Cedrus deodara) to the west of the school, behind the library. Deodars are beautiful trees that are native to the Himalayan foothills of India, Nepal, Tibet, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. You may have seen the ground under this tree covered in yellow powder in the autumn; that's when the male cones release their pollen. Deodars are one of the world's true cedars; our own native Yellow Cedar and Western Redcedar are not. The name "Deodar" derives from a Sanskrit term meaning "wood of the gods".

There are a number of Atlas Cedars (Cedrus atlantica) around our school; one each at the north and south ends of the school as well as two bordering the far western edge of the property.  Atlas Cedars are native to the Atlas mountains of Algeria and Morocco, and are another true cedar. There is an Atlas Cedar planted at the White House in the U.S., where President Jimmy Carter designed and ordered a treehouse to be built for his daughter Amy.

Just north of the playground, there's a group of three small conifers (needle trees) who do something a little strange for conifers: they lose their needles in the fall!  They are Bald Cypress (Taxodium distichum), native to the Gulf Coast of the United States.  They grow very well in damp soil.  If you've ever pulled your children out of the mud in this corner of the schoolyard, you'll know that somebody was thinking when they planted these trees there!

Did You Know?

Did you know that our students get to watch and participate in a variety of special performances and activities throughout the year?

• At A. R. Lord our students will see performances by the Green Thumb Players, DreamRider Theatre and the Parks’ Canada Beaver Tail Theatre to name just a few.
• Students learn about science, friendship, ecology, environmental issues, fitness and a variety of other subjects in a fun and interactive way.
• Performance fees collected at the beginning of the year help to fund the large number of these performances at our wonderful little school.

Did You Know?

Did you know that, in addition to gym time and outdoor runs during class time, Dr. A. R. Lord students are also active during recess and lunch? Except on very rainy days, during all breaks, students at Lord are outside - and active!  Our playground and fields are also well-used by students and parents after school on nice days. Physical activity is an important aspect of lifelong health, so get out and move!

Did You Know?

Did You Know?

• Our students will participate in a number of special sports activities and presentations throughout the school year.


• At A.R. Lord our students have already been visited by the Vancouver Giants and the Canadian Women’s Olympic Soccer Team.

• Our students will also be participating in a number of special sports activities in addition to their regular curricular physical fitness programs.

• All students will be enjoying golf lessons, a comprehensive tennis program and a week of gymnastics.


• Keeping our students active helps them focus and learn and builds the foundation for a healthy future.

Did You Know?

Did you know?   We now have battery recycling available at Dr. A. R. Lord.  Bring all your dead household batteries (NOT car batteries) to school and put them in the small brown bins near the office.  Battery recycling programs in B.C. ensure that no part of the battery ends up in the landfill.

It is not safe to put dead batteries in with your regular garbage.  They can leak toxic chemicals into the earth that end up in our water systems and elsewhere.

Did You Know?

• All students in our school participate in Music and Movement classes
   
• At A.R. Lord we are lucky to have 2 music teachers – Ms. Ewing and Ms. Young-Eng
  
  
   
• Our students learn basic music theory and get to play a variety of musical instruments
   
• Our students learn traditional dances like the Virginia Reel and the Pasodoble along with more contemporary moves like hip-hop and flash mob dances
   

• Music and dance helps our students express themselves positively and connect with others. It benefits language and mathematical skills and their health.