Principal’s Message

With only two months left of school, we know that this is a very busy time of year for
students and schools as we have many wonderful events planned at our school, while
also having Provincial Achievement Exams coming up in the next two months. Stu-
dents and staff are working diligently to ensure that we have a successful transition
into the next school year.

On May 2, 3rd Street Beat will be joining us again to work with the students and do
some hip hop dancing. The kids will have the opportunity to showcase their moves
on Friday, May 6 at 1pm, followed by a performance from the group. We are really
looking forward to hosting this event again and hope you can join us. Please know
that we have busses coming into the school during this time, so all parking regula-
tions still apply. Please ensure that no cars are parked in the middle of the street or in
the bus lanes. We appreciate your cooperation to ensure that our students that do
leave at different times can still get out safely.
Forest Green School
April 2011 Newsletter

Continuing on with parking, please ensure that unless you have a permit or have spo-
ken directly with school administration, that we leave the designated parking areas
open. I know that the parking lot is a really busy place in the morning, which is all
the more reason that we need to proceed with extra caution. The parking lot area has
been a lot safer thanks to the work of the entire Forest Green community. Thanks for
that!

I would like to personally invite all parent volunteers to join us on May 31st, at 10am
at Forest Green School for our annual Volunteer Tea. We really appreciate all of the
wonderful things that our volunteers do and this is just one of the ways we can show
our appreciation. We looking forward to seeing you on this day. To help with our
planning please let Mrs. Buchaski know if you are able to attend.

I wish all of you a fantastic May and hope to see more sunshine coming our way!

Sincerely,
George Couros
Principal, Forest Green School/Connections for Learning

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KEY DATES FOR MAY

May 2-5—3rd Street Beat will be working with students on their “Hip Hop”
Dance routines for the week!

May 6—Students will showcase their dance skills followed by a performance by

3rd Street Beat. (1pm) Please park in designated areas.

May 20—Staff Professional Development Day. No school for students.

Attention Forest Green Volunteers

Plans are underway for this year’s volunteer tea. Please keep
the morning of Tuesday, May 31st open and plan to join us for
coffee, treats and entertainment as we thank you for all of
your time and effort.

Invitations will be going home on May 9th, so please watch

for them and RSVP to Donna at 780-963-7366 by May 19th.
If you have volunteered and your invitation does not make it
home please let us know if you will be able to attend.

What HAPPENED at Forest Green!

April 7—Thanks to all of those that joined us

at the Kindergarten Open House.
Forest Green School If you have questions about
5210 - 45 Street weather cancellations or route
April 21—Thanks to all of the parents that
Stony Plain, AB delays, schedules or any other
joined us to help create the future and vision of
T7Z 1R5 bussing concern, check out
Forest Green through the Education Planning the Parkland Transportation
process! web site @
Phone: 780-963-7366
Fax: 780-963-0341 www.parklandtransport.ca/
April 29 —Forest Green students had
“Pajama” Day and Grade 4 students led the as-
sembly!

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Farwell Mrs. Mills

Forest Green School will be honouring our former music teacher Mrs.
Mills for her many years of dedication and valuable service to our students.
As part of our May Assembly, to be held on May 17th (2-3pm), the students
will be celebrating the wonderful contributions she has made to our school.
Please feel free to join us as we honour a teacher that has made a signifi-
cant difference in the lives of many current and former students of Forest
Green!

Identity Day (2011)

Staff and students are looking forward to another powerful “Identity Day” to be held near the end
of June. As there are many activities happening in June, we have not confirmed
the day yet, but wanted students to start thinking about what their “passion” is
that they would like to share on this day. If you are not sure what Identity Day is
about, there will be more details in the next newsletter.

We are really looking forward to another fantastic Identity Day at Forest Green!

May 4, 2011
On May 4, 2011, Albertans are invited to wear a hat to raise awareness of the
importance of good mental health. Forest Green School will relax their hat rules
and encourage students and teachers to build understanding by wearing hats to
school.

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What our staff is learning

 Mrs. Morrison attended an inservice on working with challenging stu-
dents in Edmonton.
 Mrs. Wandio attended the ―Action on Curriculum‖ roundtable discuss-
ing the future of education, which included students, staff, and parents.
 Mrs. Cameron continued her work in Balanced Literacy.
 Mr. Couros attended a workshop on utilizing data to help build effec-
tive schools, while also working with educators at a ―Digital Learning
Conference.‖
 Mrs. Mckenzie and Mr. Irvine attended a workshop on independent
reading and writing centers in Early Years classes.
 Mr. Irvine and Mrs. Cameron went to an Apple Education seminar fo-
cusing on utilizing personal devices for the inclusive classroom.

SNAP Update
This is the second year of our three year pilot program called SNAP®. SNAP stands
for STOP NOW AND PLAN and is a strategy that helps students regulate angry feel-
ings by getting them to stop, think, and plan positive alternatives before they act impul-
sively. SNAP teaches impulse control skills that students can use in various challeng-
ing situations that they may encounter. The primary goal is to keep students in school
and out of trouble. Some secondary goals include: to teach effective anger manage-
ment skills by using SNAP®, facilitate school success, increase social competence by
connecting boys to positive structured community activities and to teach students posi-
tive peer socialization skills.

The SNAP goals are aligned with Parkland School Division’s standards for Student Citi-
zenship and Social Responsibility in many ways. The division promotes the fostering
of positive character development in students and endorses a set of desirable personal
and interpersonal character traits – including respect, responsibility, honesty, empathy,
fairness, initiative, perseverance, courage and integrity. Also part of preparing students
to be productive and contributing citizens is ensuring that all students have an opportu-
nity to learn, practice and develop such personal and interpersonal character traits.
SNAP is all about helping students develop and practice these traits. Role play is a
key activity in the SNAP sessions and students are coached in applying these behav-
iours on a regular basis. As we continue next year, this program will be implemented
on a broader scale, including a ―SNAP for Girls‖ group.

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Classes for Next Year

At the end of each school year, teachers devote a considerable amount of time and
effort towards the composition of class lists. Many factors are considered in this
process including:
· Creating classes of even size
· Boy – Girl balance
· Even distribution of students with special academic, social and behavioral
needs
· Siblings/family groups
The ultimate goal in all cases is to provide the best possible learning environment
for all of our students.
Should you wish to contribute input regarding the placement of your child, a form is
available for pickup in the Forest Green School office. Please return completed
forms to the office for review by administration. They will then be shared with the
teachers and your input will be taken into account as teachers consider all of the
factors to create the best classroom environment for all of our students. Due to the
complexity of factors involved, we are not always able to fulfill specific re-
quests. Should this happen, we ask for your cooperation in making the assigned
placement work for your child. Please have your form returned to the front office no
later than May 16, 2011.

Notes from the Office

Please do your best to ensure that you
do any communication you need to
with your child before the school
day. As the school phone is a busi-
ness phone, we encourage our stu-
dents to only use it in the case of an
emergency. We appreciate your help
with this.

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Forest Green School Blogs

Forest Green Main Blog —http://forestgreenschool.ca

Connections for Learning—http://cfl.forestgreenschool.ca

Forest Green Kindergarten News—http://

kindergarten.forestgreenschool.ca/

French—http://french.forestgreenschool.ca

Grade 1 News—http://grade1.forestgreenschool.ca

Grade 2 Miss Heward—http://grade2a.forestgreenschool.ca

Grade 2 Ms. Hobbins - http://grade2b.forestgreenschool.ca

Grade 3 News! - http://grade3.forestgreenschool.ca

Grade 3/4 News—http://grade34.forestgreenschool.ca

Grade 4 News—http://grade4.forestgreenschool.ca

Grade 5 News—http://grade5.forestgreenschool.ca

Grade 6 News—http://grade6.forestgreenschool.ca

Music—http://music.forestgreenschool.ca

SNAP Program—http://snap.forestgreenschool.ca

The EYALT Programhttp://eyalt.forestgreenschool.ca

Buzz About Books—http://bwandio.forestgreenschool.ca

http://forestgreenschool.ca