Principal’s Message:
Today is Pink Shirt Day at school, and while buses did not run, there is definitely a pink wave throughout the building.
This day began in Canada in 2007 when two students stood up against a group of other students by wearing pink shirts to school. Since then, it has become an international movement, with schools and communities around the world participating each year.
At CCS, we believe that creating a safe and caring environment is essential for our student’s academic, spiritual, and personal success. When students feel safe and supported, they are more likely to engage in their learning and develop positive relationships with their peers and teachers. A safe and caring school also helps to promote mental health and spiritual well-being, which are critical components of overall student success. By participating in Pink Shirt Day and promoting kindness and respect, we are working to create a school community that is safe and welcoming for all students.
At the heart of Pink Shirt Day is the belief that loving our neighbor is essential to creating a kind and inclusive community. When we treat others with kindness and respect, we create a loving environment where everyone can feel valued and supported. By participating in Pink Shirt Day, we are not only standing up against bullying, but we are also promoting the values of empathy, compassion, and love for our neighbor. As a school community, we are committed to promoting these values and fostering a culture of kindness and respect that extends beyond Pink Shirt Day and into our everyday interactions with each other.
It’s important to note that conflict is not the same as bullying. Conflict is a normal part of human relationships and can arise when people have different opinions, values, or interests. However, conflict becomes bullying when there is a power imbalance, intention to harm, and repeated negative behavior towards someone. By teaching our students to recognize the difference between conflict and bullying, we can help them develop healthy communication and conflict-resolution skills that will serve them well throughout their lives. As a school community, we are committed to creating a safe and inclusive environment where all students can thrive, free from the harmful effects of bullying, while also understanding that conflict happens, and is an important part of becoming a well-rounded individual.
As a parent, I encourage you to talk to your child about Pink Shirt Day and why it is important. You can remind them that bullying can cause lasting harm and that treating others with kindness and respect is always the right choice.
Thank you for your support in helping us create a place where our students can Flourish in their learning, Delight in God, and be Inspired to serve Him in all we do.
Announcements
Staff Appreciation – February 27-March 3
CCS community! As you know we like to put on Staff Appreciation every year!
This year, we will be treating our amazing staff to breakfast or lunch every day for a week! We will run it from February 27th-March 3rd. We know that our community likes to participate and help out, so we have some open slots to fill for supervising outdoor recess and a sign-up sheet for food items we are needing for our lunch on Wednesday and breakfast on Thursday. For Wednesday’s lunch, please bring your items to the office on Monday or Tuesday. For Thursday’s breakfast, please bring the food items on Tuesday or Wednesday. Please see the link below for the sign-up sheets and further details.
Staff Appreciation Food Item Sign-up Sheet
Staff Appreciation Supervision Sign-up
A big thank you to the public relations committee and school council for organizing this event!
Bus Status App
This is a reminder to all parents about the new Bus Status app that we will now be using to inform parents of bus delays and cancellations. The app is free from the app store and will send you push notifications about the buses that are your favorites. When the app is updated, our website is also updated. This will be how we send all notices and we will not be using PowerSchool to send out calls or text messages. Please see the instructions below.
Please contact us at [email protected] if you have any questions.
Stable Table – Question of the Week
A huge congratulations to the Falk family who were the winners of Mr. Simmons’ “Question of the Week” that was posted in last week’s Chronicle! A prize will go home today (check backpack)! Make sure you answer the question for your chance at a prize!!
Please see below for this week’s question. Please talk amongst your family, and fill in this form for your chance to win next week!!
As we just got off of the Family Day long weekend, it was a fantastic time for my family to spend some time together. Like so many of you, we spent the majority of our time at the hockey rink but also took advantage of sneaking away to Pigeon Lake to check out the giant ice heaves. It was a great time to hang out together, and enjoy creation (not to mention some delicious donuts from Calmar Bakery!!)
What was one thing you did on Family Day?
Preschool Registration
Preschool registration is now OPEN to the general public! You can find all forms and the registration process here.
100th Day Dress Up Day!
Tomorrow, February 23, students are encouraged to dress up as if they were 100 years old. We’ve had some great costumes over the past years and it’s always fun to see how our students age for the day!
Pastor’s Day – February 23
As members of the Christian community, pastors are very important to us here at Covenant.
Each year we have a special day when we welcome our pastors and church leaders to be part
of our Covenant community. This gives us a chance to acknowledge and show our appreciation
for all they do for us. Invitations have been created and one will be sent home with the youngest child in your family so you can invite your pastor, youth pastor, or church leader to join us! We will also be emailing invitations to all of the churches connected to Covenant. On February 23rd, they’ll come and worship with us, be a part of weekly Celebration, and will then be invited to stay after the assembly for a pastor’s brunch.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the office at 780-986-8353.
Student-Led Conferences – February 23
We will be holding Student-Led Conferences in person this year on Thursday, February 23 from 4:30 pm until 7:30 pm in the student’s homeroom. There is no need to make an appointment, simply bring your student(s) to school any time between 4:30 and 7:30 pm and head to their homeroom classroom.
A student-led conference is a meeting with a student and his or her family and teachers during which the student shares his or her portfolio of work and discusses progress with family members. The student facilitates the meeting from start to finish. Student-led conferences can be implemented at all grade levels, K–9. Preparation for a conference creates an authentic purpose for good organizational and communication skills. The structure builds students’ sense of responsibility and accountability for their own learning, and it helps to hone their understanding of what it means to meet learning targets.
CCS Recess Clubs
We are starting to hold recess clubs again at CCS! Please see below for a little description on our current club offerings.
Knitting/Crocheting/Hand-Crafting Club on Friday at lunch recess in the 5/6 classroom with Mrs. Veldkamp. Students in grades 5-9 are welcome to bring their own projects and work on them. If you want to learn a new skill, bring your supplies and join us!
Rubik’s cube club is taking place in the grade 4 classroom on Wednesdays at lunch recess. Students may come with any type of Rubik’s cube to participate.
Pokemon Club on Monday’s at lunch in Mrs. Koopman’s 1K classroom. NO trading allowed and it is required to bring Pokemon cards to play with.
Div I students in LEGOⓇ CLUB are Beauty-Creating with bricks and Community-Building with each other as they work together to craft models that serve others or worship The Master Builder. Please join Mr. Jenkins in his 3J classroom on Wednesdays at lunch!
Bible Club on Wednesday’s at lunch in Mr. Van Huis’s CV3/4! classroom. Run by a few of our grade 3 students who are passionate about connecting our Div I students closer to Jesus.
Spring Program Request
We are now preparing for Beauty and the Beast Jr, which will be performed on March 22-23, 2023 at the MacLab Theatre here in Leduc.
We have started many projects but need some community assistance in preparing for the performance. Please help in the following ways.
Please email Mr. Ward at [email protected] if you have any questions or want to join the Spring drama team!
- Costumes – A few parents are already working on dresses and costumes. We need a few more individuals that would like to design costumes for our cast, including pieces for our feature number, “Be Our Guest.”
- Construction and Painting – We have our Grade 8 parents working on sets, but we could always use more people to create, design, and build!
- Props – We have need for a number of props for the play. There will be a list of a dozen or so items in the Chronicle each week that we are looking for. This list will be updated weekly so please take a minute each week to see if there are items you can help us out with. If you have any of the items listed below that we could use, we’d be grateful for your help.
- Metal funnel
- Small wrench (no bigger than 4 inches)
- 2 old-fashioned faucet taps
- Full-length work apron with lots of pockets
- Long white lady’s gloves
- Lady’s bonnets
- Short stools (approx 18 inches tall)
- Metal milkmaid pails (2)
- 5-arm Candelabra
- Large megaphone
- Gold lace, ribbon, trim, fabric
- Wooden vendor carts with wheels (perhaps a garden/flower cart?)
- 2 large black tablecloths (banquet table size 90”x156”) ***Please note that we are unable to return the tablecloths in their original condition
Please email Nicole Dodds at [email protected] if have questions about items or are able to donate/lend.
Grade 9 Service Projects for His Story My Part
Grade 9 Service Project – Another one of our grade 9s is working on their His Story My Part project. The service learning portion of the project for her is to help integrate immigrants into sports. She has made the poster below to advertise a club that offers help to immigrants to get involved in sports. Thank you for taking the time to look it over and see if you can help out some of our newcomers to Canada.
School Clothing Clearance!
We ordered a few extra school clothing items before Christmas and would like to offer them to our community! If you missed out on ordering earlier, here’s your chance to add to your closet!
Here are the items up for grabs:
Black T-shirt – $20:
- 1 Child Small
- 3 Adult Large
- 1 Adult XL
Black Sweatpants – $35:
- 1 Adult Large
Camo Baseball Cap – $15:
- 2 (one size fits all)
Black Hoodies – $32:
- 3 Child Medium
- 1 Adult XL
Grey T-shirts – $20:
- 4 Child Small
Please contact the office via email at [email protected] or phone call at 780-986-8353 with what you would like to purchase. First come, first serve. The cost for the items will be added to your PowerSchool account.
Celebration
We hold weekly assemblies, which we call Celebration. We alternate between Wednesday and Thursday mornings each month so our kindergarten students are each able to join us every other month. We will hold Celebration on WEDNESDAYSfor the month ofMarch. All parents are welcome to join us each week!
Hot Lunch
We are excited to once again offer a weekly Hot Lunch Day! This year, Hot Lunches will be on Wednesdays.
We are noticing that a number of our families are unintentionally placing more than one order for hot lunch day/student. If you are unsure if you have ordered a hot lunch or not, you can always check your email for a confirmation receipt. You can also check under the Completed Forms tab on your student’s PowerSchool account. All of your completed forms will be listed there and you can view them each by clicking on the small eye icon.
Please see the photo below for where to find this.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding Hot Lunch, you can reach our Hot Lunch Coordinator, Mrs. Hofstra, via email at: [email protected]
Lost & Found
We will post weekly pictures of our lost and found. If you see something that is your child’s, please have them stop by the table and pick it up or let the office know. All items will be displayed tomorrow evening at Student-Led Conferences so parents can grab any items that belong to their household. Any unclaimed items at the end of day on Friday will be donated to a local second-hand store.
Athletics:
Basketball
The season is winding down, playoffs for those teams that qualify will be in the next week or so.
Junior Boys – played their final league game last night in Wetaskiwin. They will wait now to see if they make playoffs next week.
Senior Girls – will be playing in the Edmonton Christian School tournament this weekend. Playoffs will begin for them next week as well.
Senior Boys – will have practice after school today until 5:00 pm. They will also be playing in a tournament at Edmonton Christian School this weekend!
Elementary Badminton
Grade 5 badminton team played in a tournament over the weekend and had a great time playing new teams and improving their badminton skills!
Grade 6 badminton team will play in a tournament at Notre Dame School this weekend. Good luck team!
NFL Flag Football for Junior High Students
We have another new and exciting opportunity for our junior high students! NFL Flag Football will be offered as an extra-curricular sport this year! The season will begin on April 12 and run until May 19. Games will be played on Wednesdays from 4-6 pm at the Turf Training Centre in Nisku. Practice times are still to be determined. For further information or any questions, please contact Mr. Hennink at [email protected]
LSCE News:
Fundraising Opportunities
Although we do a few special fundraising campaigns throughout the year, don’t forget about our ongoing fundraisers that you can take advantage of all year long.
Drop any of your Boston pizza receipts at the office for the school to receive 5% back on the total of your bill.
Purchase CO-OP gift cards from the office in $50, $100, and $500 denominations.
Save the Date
The LSCE has some exciting events happening in the new year so mark your calendars!
Saturday/Sunday, April 22/23, 2023 – 40th Anniversary Homecoming Weekend
Saturday, June 10, 2023 – 3rd Annual CCS Golf Tournament
Social Media
We’re on Instagram and Facebook! Come say hi and stay up-to-date on all the events and fundraising opportunities we have to offer. You can find us on Instagram with the username “fundraising.lsce”.
https://www.facebook.com/covenantchristianschoolfundraisingpage
Calendar:
February:
- 22 – Pink Shirt Day
- 23 – Pastor’s Day
- 23 – Student-Led Conferences
- 23 – 100th Day Dress Up Day
- 27 – March 3 – Staff Appreciation
March:
- 4 – Candy Cup Volleyball Tournament
- 13 – PD Day – No School
- 15 – School Trustee Visit
- 22-23 – Beauty & The Beast Performances
- 27 – April 3 – Spring Break – No School
Community Events:
Please click on the image below to learn more about community events in our area! Also found under our Parents menu on the website.
Odds & Ends:
Sign In/Out Form:
In an effort to reduce the amount of shared touched surfaces, we will be using a QR code that you will need to scan with your phone for signing in and out of the school. You can also use this link if you are in your vehicle and need to sign out a student but can’t scan the code. This means that students/parents/visitors can scan the QR code when entering or leaving the office/school to sign in or sign out on their own phone/device.
Parents will also be able to sign their kids out from their vehicle in the parking lot when they arrive to pick them up for appts. etc. please use the link above if you can’t scan the QR code. We do ask that parents pull into a spot (not bus lane) where you can contact the office to let them know you have arrived and we can make eye contact with you
from the staff/office door. Students must also stop by the office before leaving the school. At that point, once a connection is made, we are able to send students out to you.
Facebook Page:
Check out our Facebook page for more highlights of happenings at CCS by clicking here.