Principal: Mr. Raymond Cable Assistant Principal: Mr. Justin Klaassen

Acting Assistant Principal: Mr.Robert Froland

325 West Haven Drive, Leduc, Alberta T9E 1B6 Phone (780) 986—5991 Fax (780) 986—5661

NOVEMBER2019 Newsletter

Happy Halloween! Here are a couple of jokes that were shared with me that the kids have enjoyed over the last week. Q. Why didn’t the skeleton go to the dance? A. Because he had no”body” to dance with. Q. Why didn’t the skeleton go to work? A. His heart wasn’t in it. At West Haven, we try to look after each other like we are family. We make each other smile, laugh, and help out. There can be challenging times at school, but we try to take a step back, try to see things from another perspective, empathize, and then use gentle words to solve our problems. Some challenging times happen for those outside of the school and require a different approach, so we build our capacity for helping out. This year’s Socktober sock drive was highly successful. Mr. Henderson and his CREW raised money and collected thousands of socks for those in need. Thank you to his team of community minded students and all those who contributed to help out those in need. CREW’s contributions kept going by collecting multiple tables covered in food dona-tions. These donations came in from students and staff alike. I know that our local food bank appreciates every can and box donated as it goes directly back into our community. I also want to draw your attention to a couple of clothing drives which will be happen-ing at the school. CREW will once again be doing a coat exchange so that students can all have coats in good shape and that fit them. Our school’s Fundraising Society will be collecting donations of used clothes and other specific home articles that fami-lies no longer need. These will be bagged and sent to a local charity. We then receive money back by the pound, which will in turn be used to support kids in our school. Truly, great things are happening at West Haven!

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Library/Learning Commons News

Thank you to all students, parents and staff for helping make our fall Book Fair a huge suc-cess. With all our sales, we have been able to purchase a wonderful selection of new books for our Learning Commons.

Sheila Ankerstein Library Clerk

Hot Lunch - Reminder If you have not already checked out how to order hot lunch items online, please go to:

westhaven.hotlunches.net Enter our school access code: whps19-20

The program then guides you through entering your information. Our hot lunch is pre-ordered and pre-paid, with strict deadlines and no ex-ceptions.

The monthly orders always open on the first of the month and close at midnight on the 15th.

BAKE SALES

November 6th (6L) November 20th (KSAM)

November 27th (KSPM—afternoon sale) Items sell for $.50 each and students are limited to purchasing 1 item in the morning with the opportunity to buy more at lunchtime if there are any remaining items.

Milk Program

Milk cards are $18.00 for 20 cards and can be purchased

online or at the office.

Reminders:

Grade 1 - 9 School Hours: 8:35 am - 3:15 pm

Entry Bell: 8:30am

Classes Start: 8:40am

Recess (Gr. 1 to 6): 10:15 am - 10:30 am

Jr. High: 10:15 am - 10:25

Lunch Dismissal: 12:00 pm

Classes Resume: 12:45 pm

Recess (Gr. 1 to 6): 2:00 pm - 2:15

Jr. High: 2:00 pm - 2:10

Dismissal: 3:15 pm

*Supervisors are outside at 8:15 am

ECS School Hours:

AM Class - 8:30am - 11:23am

PM Class - 12:22 pm - 3:15 pm

Student Absences

For the safety of our students, it is extremely important to notify the school if your child will be late or absent. If the school is not notified, we are obligated to phone your home or office, or, if needed, your emergency contacts to confirm the absence. For your convenience, you may leave a message con-cerning absences outside of school hours on the voicemail system from 4:00 pm to 8:00 am, or you can send an e-mail to shelley.hawkins@blackgold.ca and/or sandy.musteca@blackgold.ca

Visitors to our School

All parents and visitors must check in at the office when visiting our school. A visitor pass is required if you are going any further than the office.

Early Dismissal (1st Wednesday of each month)

October 2nd , 2019 @ 2:30 pm November 6th , 2019 @ 2:30 pm

***No kindergarten on Early Dismissal days***

Hot Lunch

November 1—Panago November 8 –Press’d/Booster Juice

November 15—Boston Pizza November 22—Extreme Pita

November 29—Waldorf

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Report Cards for Term 1

Report Cards for Term 1 will be emailed home on Friday, November 29, 2019.

Thank you to those who were able to attend our Parent Teacher Conferences

on October 23rd and 24th. If you have any further questions or concerns that you would like to talk to the teacher

about, please contact the teacher by email.

Christmas Concerts - Save the Dates! (and please make note of the time change to 7:00pm on the 12th)

Students will very soon begin preparing for the con-cert of the season! Each class will perform two

shows on their day; a dress rehearsal (open to the public) in the afternoon, and a final evening show. More information will be sent home mid-November in regards to costumes and practices.

December 10th: 1:00 pm & 6:00 pm Kindergarten, Grade 1 and Grade 2

December 12th: 1:00 pm & 7:00 pm Grades 3-6, Jr. High Band

School Spirit Days

November 8th—Wear Red to RememberDay

November 15th—Twin/Triplet Day

January 10th—Jersey Day

February 5th—Retro Day

February 18th —Random Acts of Kindness Day

March 6th—Career Day

April 8th—Pink Shirt Day

April 15th—A Day of Encourage-ment

May 1st—Hats on for Mental Health

Our Remembrance day ceremony will be held on November 8th from 1 pm to 2 pm in the large gym. Please join us in our ceremony to pay the respects of those who have and are serving our country.

Remembrance Day Ceremony

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We would like to extend a huge than you to our current WHPSSC & FS mem-

bers for their hard work and dedication to our school and students. Thank you to the parents and staff who volunteer to make our school so amazing!

The Halloween dance was a huge success! Thank you to Judy Donnelly for all of the hard work planning, setting up and running the Halloween Dance.

To our Hot Lunch & Microwave Volunteers, a big thank you for all of your hard work in making these programs a success.

We would also like to thank all of the West Haven families for their donations of food to our Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard. It is much appreciated!

Thank you to all of our West Haven families who generously donated books to our library.

Important Reminder

No classes

Just a reminder that there are no clas-ses for students on the following days: November 11th - Remembrance Day November 12th – Mid-term Break November 13th—PD Day December 6th - PD Day

Various Fees: The various fees that occur at the school can sometimes put a strain on the family pocketbook. We want everyone to participate but we do not want to burden anyone beyond what he/she can handle. If you find it difficult to come up with the necessary added fees, please contact ad-ministration or our school counsellor in confidence. Post dated cheques are accepted or other ar-rangements can be made. Please see the following link for the ‘Application for Waiver of School Fees

http://www.blackgold.ca/parents/forms/

WHPS is pleased to announce the addition of Cindy Christou to our team. Mrs. Cristou is the new counsellor at West Haven, and comes to us from New Sarepta Elementary, bringing with her a wealth of experience.

WHPS

Update

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The Wolverines Jr. High soccer team won the league championship this year! Congratulations on a fantastic season of going undefeated!

Mr. Hendrickson

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2019- 2020 SCHOOL FEES:

Kindergarten: $80.00

Division Technology Fee: Grade 1 - 3 $10.00

Division Technology Fee: Grade 4 - 6 $20.00

Replacement Agenda: $7.50

Recorders (Grade 4 only) $7.50

Method of Payment: School fees were due September 30th, 2019. We are now asking that all fees are paid on-line. Payment can be made on your child’s PowerSchool account. If you have any questions please con-tact the office. Division Technology Fee

The BGRD technology access fee will cover a variety of new software tools for students. The first such tool is assistive technology software, this will help students by reading text on the screen from websites they visit and documents they create, listening to your work read back to you helps catch writing errors and having text read from other content helps with understanding. The program also provides word prediction for struggling writers, standard and visual dictionaries, highlighting and organization tools and speech to text abilities. A second new software application will be a self assessment tool that uses machine learning to provide writing feedback for the student to help improve spelling, grammar, sentence structure and provide suggestions for improvement. Lastly we will be providing creative publishing and charting tool to enable students to increase creativity and capability beyond a standard document or drawing.

Another use of the technology fee is for internet access. Our internet costs are increasing and a new contract by Alberta Infrastructure is greatly increasing the cost to school divisions. The funds will help manage that access, provide increased bandwidth for BYOED and improve protection for students accessing the internet.

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West Haven Public School Fundraising

Society and School Council Updates Hello Parents! Just a few reminders about our upcoming events and fundraisers moving into our fall/winter months. We are still looking for volunteers to fill a couple of posi-tions.

Class Reps for the following classes: KBPM, 1A

Please contact the office if you are interested in volunteer-ing for any of these positions. We are also actively looking for volunteers for all our programs. If you are interested in helping out with hot lunch, microwave lunch, lice check or our upcoming casino, please stop at the office and obtain a volunteer sign up sheet. We will be starting our annual Clothing Drive soon and ac-cepting clothing donations in support of those who are in need. Please SAVE extra jackets, mittens or any of cloth-ing items that you may have for this upcoming fundraiser. The Christmas Raffle will be starting in December. Tickets will be sold throughout the month and at the Christmas Concerts. If you or your company can donate a prize to this fundraiser please contact the Fundraising Society at the email listed below. Our Casino is being held December 23

rd & 24

th at the

Camrose Resort Casino. We are still in need of more vol-unteers to help at this event. The hours are shortened due to the holiday season, so we will be done at 6pm on Dec 24

th. If you are interested, please see the office

or email the Fundraising Society at the below email for details. The next School Council and Fundraising meetings will be held Thursday, December 5

th at 6:30pm in the learning

commons. This holiday season meeting will be a Potluck so please come and join us. Everyone is invited! Please contact the Fundraising Society at whpsfs@gmail.com or by obtaining contact information from the office for any questions, concerns or sugges-tions.

Charlene Little, Secretary, WHPSFS & WHPSSC

Wristband Challenge In partnership with the City of Leduc and the Leduc Recreation Center (LRC), we are once again participating in the “Wristband Challenge.” After students visit the LRC they can bring their wristbands to the office to enter a monthly draw for an LRC pass. Make sure that the student name is written on the wristband.

Please keep sick children at home

With flu season just around the corner, it is important that we work together to stay healthy.

Wash with soap and water regularly and stay home if you are ill.

Inclement Weather

Sooner or later, our nice weather will be coming to an end, so let’s be pre-pared! Ensure your child has a toque, mittens or gloves, snow boots, snow pants, and a warm winter jacket, and that they are labelled with your child’s name. The administration will decide on “In” days at recess and lunchtime should such a decision be required. When the temperature reaches –20, including wind chill, students are expected to remain indoors for their own safety. Students should always be dressed appropriately for the weather.

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CREW NEWS CREW NEWS The month of October was a busy one for West Haven Public School’s CREW team! Forty-one members of our team attend-ed the WE Day Alberta event at Rogers Place to learn more about what it means to be a leader who can inspire meaningful change. The atmosphere of world-class speakers, entertainers, and 16000+ student leaders in one building was absolutely electrifying. The event definitely inspired our team to look at even greater ways in which they can personally make a positive impact on the lives of others. Now besides leadership development, the CREW team was working hard rallying the love and generosity of our school com-munity. Through participation in October’s We Scare Hunger Food Drive and Socktober, our CREW members encouraged West Haven Public School staff and students to donate non-perishable food items and new socks to a couple charity events. Through our food drive efforts, our school was able to donate a staggering 787lbs of food to the Leduc Food bank. This total far surpassed our previous donation totals. In addition, given that socks are the least donated item to those in need, an enormous thank you goes out to everyone for making our sock drive such a positive and memorable event! Roughly --- pairs of socks were donated over the course of eight days! The donated socks collected through-out “Socktober” are/were distributed among several charitable agencies in and around the Leduc ar-ea including:

Leduc Family and Social Services

WIN House

The Bissell Centre, and

Islamic Family & Social Services

Come November, the community service oriented actions of our CREW team will again be in full swing. In addition to Wear Red for Remembrance Day on November 8th and the fun of Twin & Triplet

Day on November 15th; the CREW team will be working hard on their next project, Warm Up Wolverines: Winter Wear Swap. This event is a school-based event focusing on the free ex-change of winter outerwear happening on November 22nd…which just happens to follow World Kind-

ness Day. With the weather soon to change, having a well-fitted jacket and some warm outerwear is definitely important. With the Warm Up Wolverines: Winter Wear Swap we are hoping to get everyone who wants one, a well fitted jacket and/or outerwear for free – this includes both kids and adults!

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CREW NEWS Con’t CREW NEWS Con’t Now you might be asking yourself, “What’s a Coat or Winter Wear Swap?” Well if you happen to have clean, extra jackets or winter outerwear that no longer fits or isn’t worn any longer – kids and/or adults tend to grow over the year – and they are in good condition (ie. no holes, good zippers/buttons, no stains) you simply send these items in to the school for collection.

We will be collecting both adult and youth sized winter wear for our swap during the week of November 18th through 22nd. Families are encouraged to send in any donated items to their child’s classroom teacher.

On November 22nd, families will be invited to come to the school to “go shopping” so as to collect a jacket(s) or outerwear that fits them at no cost.

This event is a great way to save some money, save some closet space, and more importantly en-sure that everyone gets what they need to stay warm before the temperatures really drop. At the conclusion of the event, any leftover jackets or outerwear will be boxed up and donated to charity – so it is a win-win-win for the Wolverine family plus the community as a whole. Please feel free to contact the school @ (780) 986-5991 or Mr. Henderson at tre-vor.henderson@blackgold.ca should you have any questions about this month’s events, or any CREW activities in general.

Thank you. Mr. Henderson and the CREW team!

Thank you to the Leduc Co-op for making a donation towards the Kindergarten pumpkin carving party!

Phone Messages – End of Day

We are receiving a num-ber of phone calls from parents asking us to relay information at the end of the school day. The sec-retaries are extremely busy in the school office and must be able to re-spond to emergency mes-sages on a timely basis. Whenever possible, we ask that you relay the necessary information to your child in the morning and note it in his/her agenda. Thank you for your cooperation.

West Haven Public School is excited to begin ski club season! This year, grades 4 - 9 are invited to come out to ride and glide at Rabbit Hill on the following nights:

December 16th (Monday), 2019

January 15th (Wed) and 29th (Wed), 2020 February 21th (Fri), 2020

March 6th (Fri) and 18th (Wed), 2020 On these nights, we will be travelling by bus and leaving the school at 3:30PM to return at 9:00PM. The transportation cost will be $2 a trip. On a student’s first trip to the hill, they will be required to complete a lesson, after which they will have the option of completing a lesson on each following trip. For those students wishing to access the terrain park, an access sticker will be required (obtained via lesson or terrain park assessment).

For our junior high school students, the season will wrap up with an optional two day trip to Mar-mot Basin on March 26/27, 2020. It is requested that those wishing to participate in the trip at-tend at least 2 Rabbit Hill ski nights. A permission form inclusive to all ski dates as well as individual night fee payment will be available online in late November. The form must be completed and fees paid four school days prior to the excursion if a student wishes to attend a Rabbit Hill Ski Night. A payment schedule has been included for your reference. I look forward to many fun wintery eve-nings with the students of West Ha-ven! If you have any questions or con-cerns, please feel free to contact me via email at justin.klaassen@blackgold.ca or at the school phone number - 780-986-5991.

WHPS SKI CLUB

WEST HAVEN PUBLIC SCHOOL

An Evening of Christmas Cheer with Our Wolverine Family

Wednesday December 4th, 2019

West Haven Public School will be offering a school movie night!

All proceeds will go towards the Grade 9 Farewell trip/Celebration in June.

We thank you for supporting them in their fundraising goals.

Doors Open at 5:00pm

Donations will be accepted at the door for the grade nine-year end

trip and celebration; we thank you for supporting these great kids!

Concession (Cash Only)

Cookie to decorate $2.00

Popcorn $1.00 for half a brown bag

Water $1.00

Hot Chocolate $1.00

Movie Starts 6:00pm

A pillow and small blanket can be brought, please no mats or foamies.

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December 9th - 13th Once again this year, our grade 7W class is coordinating a “Five Days of Giving” cam-paign. This activity is designed to provide leadership skills for our students while sup-porting our local community. Each day from December 9th to December 13th has been designated as a different theme. All of our students are encouraged to bring NEW items based on the daily theme that will be donated to a local charity. These items are displayed throughout the week in our Foyer before being sent to either Leduc Santa’s Helpers or the Leduc Food Bank to benefit our community. Listed below are the daily donation themes: Monday, December 9th: “Mini Me Monday” babies and children (Ideas: diapers, sleepers, baby food, formula, other baby related items) Tuesday, December 10th: “Teen Tuesday” (Ideas: pajamas & socks, hoodies, sweat shirts and pants, books, gloves & toques, toi-letry travel packs, male/female wallets, make up kits, curling irons, blow dryers, elec-tric shavers, alarm clocks, watches, lego kits, board games, models, puzzles, iTunes or other gift cards, art/drawing kits, crafts, etc Wednesday, December 11th: “Winter Warmth Wednesday” (Includes: pajamas, hats, scarves, mitts, slippers, blankets, sweaters etc.) Thursday, December 12th: “Feeling Fresh Thursday” (Includes: toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo, conditioners etc, Friday, December 13th: “Food Friday” (Includes: Christmas treats, all other food, soups, snacks etc.) We encourage families and students to be creative and participate in as many of the days as they wish. We thank you for your support in this endeavor.

Black Gold School Division-wide emergency alert test to take place November 18

Black Gold School Division will be testing its emergency alert notifications using our student infor-mation system contacts on Monday, November 18, 2019 at 10:30 a.m.

The test is meant to help identify any gaps in the system and to bring awareness to our emergency notification process.

During an emergency, our FIRST PRIORITY is to protect students and staff. Next, once it is safe and we are able, we will do everything in our power to keep those in affected areas informed through our emergency notification system.

Parents/Guardians will receive test alerts on their cell phone, phone and email. The Division will also be testing its community hotline, web and social media alerts. The types of emergency alerts being tested are:

School Messenger In an emergency, SchoolMessenger will contact all phone numbers and email addresses families have provided, using communication classified as “emergency”.

If you have opted-in for text messaging, we will also contact you using that method. It is important to note after an emergency is resolved, further notifications could be classified as “general”. Therefore, if you have not selected a contact method for general noti-fications, you may not receive those updates.

Web Alerts Test alerts will appear on the Division website (blackgold.ca) or your child’s individual school’s website.

Community Hotline Test alerts will be recorded to the community hotline. During an emergency parents may contact the community hotline and receive updates as information becomes available by phoning: 780.979.0980.

In an actual emergency, do NOT contact the school or your child’s cellphone. Phone sys-tems need to remain available for handling the actual emergency. Overloading the system may prevent the school from communicating with first responders. Calling your child’s cell phone during an emergency may be putting them at higher risk by disclosing their location or drawing attention to them during a lock-down.

Division Social Media Accounts Test alerts will appear on the Division’s social media channels. Depending on the emergency, the Division may use its Facebook and Twitter social media channels, as a secondary broadcast method, to send communication out to families and to reach a larger audience. Follow us on:

Facebook – @BlackGoldSchoolDivision

Twitter – @BlackGldSchools

What will the test alerts look and sound like?

When the test takes place, Black Gold School Division contacts will hear/read messages that state:

“This is a TEST of the Black Gold School Division emergency notification system. This is ONLY a TEST. If this had been an actual emergency or threat, you would now hear/read instructions that would help guide you to protect yourself and your family. For further information on our Hour Zero Emergency Response Program go to blackgold.ca. This is ONLY a TEST, no action is required.”

or

“This is a TEST of the BGSD emergency notification system, no action is required. For information on our Hour Zero Emergency Response Program go to blackgold.ca.”

What if I don’t receive the notifications?

To ensure you receive alerts, your contact information must be kept up-to-date in PowerSchool. Please contact your school with any changes to your contact information.

In order to receive SMS (text) messages, you must have opted-in for text messaging in your SchoolMessenger preferences.

Viewing Your School Messenger Preferences

From your PowerSchool Parent Portal, click on “SchoolMessenger” at the bottom of the left-hand menu. Using the top menu tab, select “My Message Preferences” to view your preferences.

Daylight Savings Time Ends - Sunday, November 3rd, 2019

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 Day 4

2

3

4 Day 5

Microwave Day

5

Day 1

Picture Retake Day

6

Day 2

Bake Sale—6L

Early Dismissal

No ECS Classes

7

Day 3 8

Day 4

Press’d/Booster Juice

Wear Red To Remember

Remembrance Day Ceremony 1:00pm

9

10

11

Remembrance Day—No School

12

Midterm Break—No

School

13

PD Day—No School

Citadel Club

14

Day 5 15

Day 1

Boston Pizza

Twin/Triplet Day

Metis Discovery Day—

Grade 4s & Jr. High

16

17

18 Day 2

Warm Up Wol-verines: Winter Coat Exchange—

November 18—22 Microwave Day

19 Day 3

20 Day 4

Bake Sale—KSAM

21 Day 5

22

Day 1

Extreme Pita

23

24 25 Day 2

Grade 6

Immunizations

Microwave Day

26

Day 3

Term 1 Ends

27

Day 4

Term 2 Ends

Bake Sale—KSPM (afternoon sale)

28 Day 5

29 Day 1

General Assembly

Panda Hut

30

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1

2 (Day 2)

Microwave Day

3 (Day 3)

4 (Day 4)

Early Dismissal 2:30

No ECS Classes

School Movie Night

5 (Day 5)

Hot Dog Day

SC & FS Meetings @ 6:30 pm

Kickoff to the 12 Days of Xmas

6

PD Day—No School

7

8

9 (Day 1)

Microwave Day

5 Days of Giving Campaign

Dec 9—13 Mini Me Monday

10 (Day 2)

Christmas

Concert K-2

Teen Tuesday

11 (Day 3)

Bake Sale 4M

Citadel Club

Winter Warmth Wednesday

12 (Day 4)

Christmas

Concert Gr 3—6 & JH Band

Feeling Fresh Thursday

13 (Day 5)

Dairy Queen

Food Friday

14

15 16 (Day 1)

Microwave Day

Ski Club

17 (Day 2)

18 (Day 3)

Bake Sale 4L

19 (Day 4)

20 (Day 5)

Boston Pizza

PJ & Stuffie Day

21

Christmas Vacation Begins.

Classes resume on January 7th.

22

23

24

25

26

27

28/29/ 30/31

Christmas Vacation