Halloween, Fundraising, Mural Wall.....

Oct. 21-25   

Halloween info:   

Next week is Halloween and we all know the kiddos are getting very excited, here is a little info about how Belfast will celebrate this day. 

The 411 on Halloween:  

• Costumes are welcome all day
• All students will be participating in #spookybelfastyday in the afternoon
• #belfastyhouses will participate in creating a spooky S.T.E.A.M. challenge
• The costume parade which is a Belfast tradition will begin at 2:45 PM 
• Parents are welcome to join us in the main foyer 

Costumes & other highlights 

Students are welcome to wear a costume all day.  Please keep in mind that we are a K-6 community and any costume that might be frightening to a kindergarten student will not be appropriate for our school.  Please note: students should not bring props that are weapons to school.  We will be keeping with our school’s food policy and are reminding everyone that students cannot bring treats to share.  Please review the live link to learn more about Belfast School’s Food Policy. 

Fundraising UPDATES: 

A few fundraisers have occurred since the beginning of the school year a HUGE thank you to our Belfast Community for your support!  

• Terry Fox: $332.70 
• All donations went towards the Terry Fox foundation 
• Welcome Dance: $640  
• All donations are going to offset transportation costs for a school wide Field Trip in Spring time
• Clothing Drive  6501 LB 
• All funds that were raised will go to offset the cost for Outdoor School for our GR 5 & 6 students

The Mural WALL:  

Many remarks have been said throughout our halls the past few days about the removal of the Belfast Garden Mural….. We wanted communicate the various reasons why the decision was made.  The art piece had begun to fall off the wall, the art piece was more than 10 years old and we needed a space to showcase student current art pieces.

Next month the entire student body will be working on a collaborative art piece.  Students will come up with ideas about “Let the artist in me fly fee….” They will be exploring what this quote means to them and will come up with a symbol or a drawing to represent their ideas.  We are so excited to see what we know will be a unique and amazing piece of art.  

Important Dates:

• Oct 28: Outdoor school meeting 5:30 PM & Parent Council meeting 6:30 PM
• Oct 31: Halloween parade will begin at 2:45 PM 
• Nov 1: PD Day NO school for students 
• Nov 8: Remembrance Day Assembly at 10:00 AM 
• Gr. 3-6 performances of 1000 Cranes

Math night, Belfast Garden & fees ect

Oct. 15-18  

Clothing Drive Update! 

Wow oh wow our amazing Belfast community has yet again come together we are approximately 30% to their goal!  Soooooo, please spread the word that we NEED more donations! 

Reminder Donations can include:

• ANY ‘SOFT Item (clothing, Linens, towels ect) 
• ALL types of Footwear
• Books, DVD’s
• Household Items (cups/plates/pans ect) 
• Toys/stuffy ect 

We want to try to help as many Grade 5&6 students as much as possible and now we can! The Kidney Foundation has provided us with a date extension till Wednesday, Oct 23!!

Parent Math Night . . . Educating as a Community

Are you totally intimidated by even the mention of the word mathematics? When your kids come home with math and ask for your help does that terrify you? Or, maybe you just want to learn more about how your children are learning math? Well, then this is the night for you. 

Math night 411:

• When: October 24th from 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM
• Where: Belfast School in the Learning Commons
• What: Learn some great math games to play at home to support your child's number sense

Please come and join us for a night of math games that will help both you and your child. The evening’s events will be geared to PARENTS ONLY, however, babysitting will be provided.  The evening will begin with us all looking at some big ideas around learning mathematics and then we will break off into grade groups to learn some games specific to your child's grade.  

Hope to see you there!!

Belfast Garden

Our Belfast garden recently had a massive makeover late August, our kindergarten and grade 3-4 teams have put this to great use! Yesterday this ‘buddy group’ paired up and planted bulbs, which will sprout in early Spring.  We are so thankful to our Belfast Parent Council who help fund this project.  Mid-Spring once the warmer temperatures arrive all the other homerooms will also take part in planting.  We are very excited to see what this amazing space will grow for them.   

PowerSchool & Fee

We have discovered that the new fee management system is not allowing for spaces or special characters in USERNAME ONLY. If you have a space and/or character in your username fees are not visible; you will need to change it.  Note: CBE’s preferred method for payment of fees is online.      

 Please perform the following steps in order to change usernames:

• Log into the PowerSchool portal 
• On the lower left hand side, please go to account preferences, click on this option
• From the next screen, please click on the pencil icon to edit the username
• Any spaces and special characters need to be removed for this to work for next login attempt
• Please be sure to save the changes and then log out of PowerSchool for this to take effect
• When you log in next, it should work to view and pay fees as needed

Important Dates:

• Oct 15-23: Extension DATE for the Clothing Drive 
• Oct 21: Artist in Residence 
• Oct 24: Picture Retakes & Math Evening 6:30 PM-7:30 PM
• Oct 28: Outdoor school meeting (mandatory for those that missed) 5:30 PM & Parent Council meeting 6:30 PM

Before & after school supervison, High School Engagement & Clothing drive

Oct. 7-10

Reminder: NO SCHOOL Friday, Oct 11 & Monday, Oct 14 

Swimming another successful field trip! 

All division 2 students attended swimming lessons this week at the Village Square.  We want to thank all of our amazing volunteers that make this field trip such a success!  In addition, big thanks to the staff at VSL for all their coordinating and commitment to teach swimming as we view this as a vital life skill.  Reminder: Division 1 students will attend swimming in the Spring.  

Outdoor School info 

Mandatory Parent Meeting:

For those that missed the first meeting you must attend the upcoming mandatory Parent meeting for Outdoor school being held on Monday, October 28 @ 5:30 PM.   All Grade 5 & 6 Students have the opportunity to attend Camp Chief Hector Tuesday, Nov. 12 - Friday, Nov 15.  

Clothing Drive:

Grade 5 & 6 students are hosting a Clothing Drive starting: Tuesday, Oct 15 thru to Monday Oct. 21.  Accepted items include: all ‘soft items’, old clothes, linens and knick knacks all YOU need to do is pack them up in either boxes/bags and drop them off in the front foyer at Belfast! 

411 ON Clothing Drive

·         Goal to collect 9000lb = $1350.00!!

·         When:  Tuesday, Oct. 15 -  Monday, Oct. 21

·         What: ALL “Soft items” 

·         Where: Drop off front foyer

·         WHY: ALL money raised going to offset the cost for Outdoor School & the Kidney Foundation 

·         Please NOTE: NO Furniture, Electronics OR Large Appliances accepted 

Before & After School Supervision 

A reminder that supervision on our playground and patrols begin at 8:15 AM. Students should arrive after 8:15 AM to receive support to cross the street safely and be under staff supervision on the school yard.  Additionally, students are often arriving late to school, causing a disruption to classroom routines and instruction when they arrive.  Your help to support your child to come to school on time is greatly appreciated.

After school, the school provides supervision at the crosswalk with our patrols for 15 minutes.  There is no supervision on the playground. Students are expected to go home after school or get picked up promptly at 3:15 PM.  If students want to stay and play at the playground, we ask that a parent or caregiver be present to supervise their student(s).  This request is to ensure everyone feels safe and cared for after school hours.

High School Engagement

Even though Belfast students are from Kinder-Grade 6 the issues that are being discussed and decided will eventually impact them.  Here is your opportunity to get involved, share your ideas and help the CBE balance enrolment in high schools 

Have your say on:

• Changing designated schools boundaries
• Adjusting size and location of programs
• Changing the grades offered at an individual school
• Implementation of changes (starting Sept. 2020)
• Please visit cbe.ab.ca/highschoolengagement to review information and possibly sign up for a In-Person session 
• OR become involved online through visiting & complete the Online Engagement

Important Dates:

• Oct 11 & 14: NO school 
• Oct 15-21: Clothing Drive donations accepted in foyer from 8:00 AM - 3:00 PM 
• Oct 21: Artist in Residence 
• Oct 24: Picture Retakes 
• Oct 28: Outdoor School meeting 5:30 PM & Parent Council meeting 6:30 PM

Swimming, Orange shirt day & fundraising

Sept 30 – Oct 4

Swimming Grade 3-6 

Belfast School participates in this school wide Swimming Lessons field trip to the Village Square Leisure Center.  Next week our Division 2 students will be participating in them please note Div.1 students are scheduled in the Spring.

The lessons schedule is as follows: 

Monday Oct 7 - Thursday Oct 10 

·         9:00 - 9:45  - - Room 11 

·         9:50 - 10:35 - - Rooms 10 & 8 

·         10:40 -  11:25  - - Rooms 1 & 4

Things to know about swimming:

·         Students will need to bring swimming suit & towel  

·         Students are encouraged to wear comfortable clothing for ease of removal at the pool

·         Students are encouraged to bring bigger lunches, extra snacks & water this week 

·         Swim fees have been posted please check your Powerschool account Payment online is CBE’s preferred method 

Clothing drive to support Outdoor School

Are you getting ready for a "fall clean up?" IF NOT here is your chance! Grade 5 & 6 students are hosting a Clothing Drive from Tuesday, Oct 15 Mon to 21.  Accepted items include: old clothes, linens and knick knacks all YOU need to do is pack them up in either boxes/bags and drop them off in the front foyer at Belfast! 

 All collected items are going to help fundraise for Camp Chief Hector PLUS this initiative supports the Kidney Foundation!  Everyone has clutter that they could get rid so please tell your family, friends & neighbors!  We look forward to your donations!!  

411 ON Clothing Drive

·         Goal to collect 9000lb = $1350.00!!

·         When:  Oct 15 - 21

·         What: “Soft items” please refer to this live link for specific details 

·         Where: Drop off front foyer 

·         WHY: ALL money raised going toward Outdoor School & the Kidney Foundation

·         NOTE: NO Furniture, Electronics OR Large Appliances accepted 

Student Fee information 

All Fees are posted through Powerschool and payable online which is CBE’s preferred method.  If you require fee assistance please refer to Fee Waiver Application.  Please note: fees will be posted throughout the year as field trips are booked for your student’s classroom.  

Orange Shirt Day & How Every Child Matters  

Orange Shirt Day is an event that started in 2013. It was designed to educate people and promote awareness about the Indian residential school system and the impact this system had on Indigenous communities for more than a century in Canada, and still does today.  It is held annually on September 30 in Canadian communities with student and staff being encouraged to wear an orange shirt to school that day.  

All staff and many students wore Orange Shirts, all classrooms were read a story and many hosted conversations about what Orange Shirt day signified.  Each student created a unique feather in which some wrote their wishes about How Every Child Matters. All feathers have been transformed into a breathtaking display on the bulletin board across from Room 6.  If you are in the school, we invite you to see how amazing this display is and please read some of the wishes that our remarkable Belfasty students wrote for others. 

Important Dates: 

·         Oct 7 - 10: Swimming for Gr 3- 6 students ONLY 

·         Oct 7: Vaccinations for Gr 6 (afternoon) 

·         Oct 11: NO school 

·         Oct 14: Thanksgiving School Closed

·         Oct 15-21: Clothing Drive ALL donations accepted in foyer from 8:00 AM - 3:00 PM