Ecole Trafalgar Elementary School 4170 Trafalgar Street, Vancouver, BC, V6L 2M5 Tel: 604-713-5475 Fax: 604-713-5477 Safe Arrival (to report absence/late) 604-713-5479 Principal: Mme Jacquie Lavoie Vice-Principal: Ms. Sarah Kramer Administrative Assistant: Ms. Jennifer Derksen Direction of Instruction: Ms. Ellen Roberts 604-713-4594 VSB Liaison Trustee Mr. Allan Wong, allan.wong@vsb.bc.ca PAC Co-Chairs Gord Lau, Karen Sadler, trafalgar2012@gmail.com Newsletter #11 Friday, February 12, 2016 Dear Parents and Guardians Gong Hey Fat Choy, On Thursday, February 11, Trafalgar celebrated Carnaval. Carnaval is a winter festival celebrated in Quebec City at this time of year. In fact, our Grade 7 French Immersion students, who are presently in Quebec on their exchange trip, had the opportunity to attend Carnaval on February 11 th in Quebec City. At Trafalgar, students attended an assembly and had the opportunity to taste la tire, which is maple syrup on snow. This is what a few students had to say about their tire experience with Patrick Demers who brought his maple syrup to Trafalgar School for our students to taste. It was delicious Eva of Div 9, I liked the idea of Carnaval. It has inspired me to go when I am in Quebec in Grade 7, Ethan, Div 10. A big congratulations to our band students who performed at the assembly under the direction of Mr. Kyle Ledingham, our band teacher. For many members of the band, they have only been playing since October. Wow- how impressive, we are very proud of you. A big bravo to Mme Aimee and Anne-Marie s classes who sang Bonhomme, bonhomme. During this presentation, we had a special visit from bonhomme himself! Also, bravo to Mme Jacquet and Mme Cruickshank s classes who concluded the assembly with a folk dance. They all did a beautiful job presenting. Thank you to Owen, Carsen, Tomaz, Ben and Carter for putting together a Power Point presentation on Carnaval. And to Ben and Carter for working on sound, and Owen, Carsen and Tomaz for doing a great job as MC s. Nice work!
We wish to thank the PAC for funding Patrick s visit and for providing our students with this cultural experience. Sincerely, Jacquie Lavoie, Principal Spring Festival On Thursday, February 18 th, Trafalgar School will be kicking off our Spring Festival with an assembly for all students and staff at 9:30 am. This assembly is being organized and hosted by student council members as well as parents on the Spring Festival organizing committee. We have a special presentation lined up for this assembly. Join us if you can. "Please join us for the Spring Festival on Friday February 19, 2016 from 5:00 to 7:30 pm. The Trafalgar School community will be celebrating the Lunar New Year season with its second Spring Festival. It will be even bigger and better than last year's event, with amusements for kids of all ages; exciting games and activities for the young and stimulating riddles and exhibits for the young-at-heart. In addition to a dancing lion, school-based and community performers will entertain with songs, dance and even a fashion show. Don't let your kids miss out on an amazing cultural experience in the comfort of the Trafalgar gym. Advance tickets go on sale on Wednesday February 10 before and after school at $5 per person and $15 per family. Hope to see you there!" Have Dinner at the Spring Festival! This year, California Rolls, Torched Salmon Sushi, Spring Rolls, and Hot Dogs will be served from the PAC kitchen. Please preorder your spring rolls on the Trafalgar Hot Lunch website, as only limited website, as only limited quantities may be on sale at the event. Hot dogs may be pre-ordered or ordered at the event to be enjoyed with Asian or Western condiments." List of Entertainment 1. Lion dance - students from PW 2. Joshua Wu (Er Hu, traditional Chinese Violin) - the player is the big brother of a Trafalgar student. He has won many gold medals in local musical tournaments. 3. Parents of Trafalgar Students - Choir "Red river Valley" Canadian folk song in Chinese 4. Students of Trafalgar - Choir "Happy New Year" 5/ Vocal solo - Chinese song "the journey to the west" related to the Monkey King, the player was a professional solo singer in China
6/ Group dance by children - "Red Lantern", a local dancing school 7. "Zheng" solo, a 25-stringed plucked instrument in some ways similar to the zither, the player(a teenager) is the neighbor of a Trafalgar student and has good performance experience. 8. Fashion show - parents of Trafalgar students Student Council Our student council is hard at work, planning several initiatives and events around the school. For example, some members of the student council are preparing for our Spring Festival assembly. Others are working on a tech policy for Trafalgar and others on another assembly for Pink Day. Raising school spirit is another initiative of our student council. Student council members are therefore presently running a Guess How Many Candy Hearts contest. Students are invited to guess how many candy hearts there are in a jar. The winner will be announced on Monday and will be the recipient of the jar. Mascot Contest Student Council has launched Trafalgar s mascot campaign. All students are invited to design and submit their idea for a mascot, as Trafalgar is without. The deadline for submission is Thursday, February 18. Students will then be invited to vote for their favorite mascot on Friday, February 19 th. The most voted for mascot will be announced on Monday, February 22 nd. Professional Development At our Professional Development day on Tuesday, February 9, several staff members participated in a workshop on Self-Regulation with two presenters from the VSB Learning Services department. As social-emotional development is one of our school goals this year, staff are committed to implementing a program entitled, Zones of Regulation into the classrooms. According to the Zones creators, it has become generally recognized that our students who have self-regulation challenges, appear to benefit both from some common approaches and from increasing their understanding of their learning needs. The program helps students learn about: Sensory integration and regulation, helping them learn to manage sensory input from the environment so they can process and respond is ways in which they are expected to function. Emotional self-understanding and emotional self-regulation. Executive functioning and cognitive control of behaviours Development of self-awareness
Pink Day Wednesday, February 24 th, is Anti-Bullying or Pink Shirt Day. This is a day when people wear a pink shirt to symbolize a stand against bullying. The original event was organized by two high school students in Nova Scotia, who in 2007 bought and distributed 50 pink shirts after a male grade nine student was bullied for wearing a pink shirt during the first day of school. At Trafalgar, all students are invited to wear a Pink Shirt on Wednesday, February 24 th in honour of this day. Student Council members will be holding an assembly that day at 11:00 am and will be organizing activities for the students prior to the day. Parents are welcome to attend the assembly and come dressed in pink. They will also be selling Stop Bullying rubber bracelets for $2.00 each starting on Monday, February 22 nd after school. 2016-2017 School Calendar Draft School Calendar for next school year and for 2017-18 & 2018/19 The proposed draft calendar for the 2016-17 school year has now been posted on the VSB website. There is also a proposed draft calendar for the 2017-18 and 2018-19 school years. These can be viewed at https://www.vsb.bc.ca/calendars-events. Should parents wish to provide any feedback, they are welcome to do so by emailing calendar@vsb.bc.ca before February 26th. The final school calendar(s) will be approved and published before the end of March. Grease at PW Prince of Wales Secondary will be presenting the play Grease. They will be selling tickets one week prior to opening (Feb 15th to 19th) in the foyer at lunch at PW. The show is: Wed (Feb 24th) Thurs (25) Friday (26) @ 7:30pm. PW will also be selling tickets at the door, 30 minutes prior to show time, every night (Wed, Thurs, Friday) 7 pm. Free Kick Spring Soccer League kicks off on Sunday Mornings from April 24th to June 19th. Boys and girls ages 5-12 will enjoy a fun skill warm-up, small sided World Cup games and a friendly festive atmosphere with country flags and music at Jericho Turf. Free Kick is also hosting a Munchkin Saturday Soccer Play program for 4-7 years olds. During the week, players have the opportunity to train like a pro to learn Dynamic
Ball Skills & Games with former Canadian Hall of Fame national team player Carrie Serwetnyk. Players can also PLAY anytime they want ALL summer on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Contact details to register are at FreeKickFC.com, info@freekickfc.com and 604-551-7006. IMPORTANT DATES Wednesday, February 17 PAC Meeting, 7:00 pm Mr. Derpak, Principal of PW to attend Wednesday, February 17 Grades 7s back from Quebec Thursday, February 18 Spring Festival assembly- 9:30 am Friday, February 19 Spring Festival- 5:00-7:30 pm (tickets sold in advance) Wednesday, February 24 Pink T-Shirt Day Pink Day assembly 11:00 am