Rider's Digest
January 23 - Weekly Newsletter for Landing Trail School
Welcome to our weekly newsletter, designed to keep
parents informed with a convenient week-at-a-glance overview.
Find all the links to school-related resources at the end of this newsletter.
"Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success."
– Henry Ford
Principal's Message
Dear Landing Trail Families,
As we move through the end of January, it continues to be a joy to watch our students step into leadership in meaningful and creative ways across the school.
This week, several Grade 3 students demonstrated wonderful initiative by recording short news reports highlighting upcoming events at Landing Trail. You may have noticed earlier this week a Grade 3 news segment promoting Anything But a Backpack Day, an initiative led by our Grade 4 Leadership students. It has been exciting to see our LT Riders take on leadership in different ways, leading monthly assemblies in Grade 4, delivering daily announcements in Grade 2, and sharing school highlights through student-led news reporting in Grade 3.
Alongside this, we are seeing many positive cross-grade connections taking place throughout the school, from reading buddies to shared projects and learning experiences. These moments help build confidence, foster relationships, and foster a strong sense of belonging among students of all ages.
As a few reminders for the coming days:
- January 26: No PreK Classes
- January 29: Anything But a Backpack Day
- January 30: PD Day (No Classes)
- February 3: PLACE (Session 3 Ends)
- February 5-6: Teacher's Convention (No Classes)
You will also find continued reflections in this week’s newsletter that support student well-being, self-regulation, and healthy habits. The Did You Know and Unplugged sections offer brief insights on technology use and the social-emotional strategies we use daily with students, including those grounded in TCIS. These snippets help bridge the learning students at school with the skills they are developing beyond the classroom.
Thank you, as always, for your continued partnership and support. We look forward to another positive week of learning and connection at Landing Trail School.
With gratitude,
Louise Loh, Principal
Vice Principal's Message
This past week, there were many opportunities to connect with students and families about social-emotional learning. At Landing Trail, we have been working hard to focus on repair and social-emotional strategies when students experience conflict with peers, and to help students build more tools for their toolbox when challenging moments occur. We really appreciate your support with these conversations and look forward to continuing this work with students for their growth and success!
Grandfather Teaching
The Grade 4 Leadership students led the assembly and introduced the Grandfather teaching for the month, Humility the Wolf. The wolf bows its head in the presence of others and is known for sharing with the pack. They shared that Humility means not speaking of your own self-importance, sharing with others, and encouraging and lifting up others. Students have been doing a great job earning rider rewards for the jar by demonstrating their understanding of the values in action and showing responsibility at school. We are almost up to the blue line and will soon earn a reward! Great work, LT!
Logos
- Shrove Tuesday: February 17th @ 10:45 am
- Logos Parent Meeting: February 26th @ 3:15 pm
- Logos Hot Dog Fundraiser on March 17th
- Easter Chapel: April 2nd @ 10:30
Safety Patrol
Just a reminder, as the weather cools off near the end of next week, if the temperature drops below -25 C with a wind chill, Safety Patrol will be cancelled
This Week's Unplugged Thought
Kids don’t need all screens gone; they need adults who notice when it’s time for a break.
Why This Matters
Recognizing early signs of overwhelm helps prevent bigger emotional reactions later.
Sturgeon Public Schools is proud to be the first division in Alberta to partner with Unplugged Canada, a parent-led movement that encourages families to delay giving children personal smartphones until at least the age of 14. Waiting can have a profoundly positive impact on children’s mental health, relationships, and overall well-being.
Did You Know?
Why Adult Responses Matter
Research shows that how adults respond during emotionally charged moments significantly impacts how students learn to manage their emotions. Calm, predictable, and supportive responses help students feel safe and supported, enabling learning to occur. When students feel understood, they are more open to reflecting, learning, and repairing relationships.
Morning Announcements
Did you know that grade 2 students have been doing all our morning announcements since last year? Tune in every morning at 8:35 am if you'd like to watch!
*Students with ATIA (FOIP) permissions lead announcements.
Reporting Absences
Attendance plays a critical role in your child's education. When your child is absent and you have not contacted the school to inform us, effort will be made to contact you to ensure that your child is safe at home. Please report your child's absence by calling or emailing the school.
There are three ways to report your child's absence:
- Online - Use this link to report your child's absence.
- Telephone - Call 780-923-2898 and leave a voice message.
- Please include the following information:
- Your child’s full name & class or teacher
- When your child will be absent or late
- The reason for the absence or late
- When your child is expected to return to school
- Email - ltrail@sturgeon.ab.ca to report your child absent.
- Please include the following information in the email:
- Your child’s full name & class or teacher
- When your child will be absent or late
- The reason for the absence or late
- When your child is expected to return to school
Hot Lunch Information
Ordering deadline for February/March is due on January 29th @ noon.
Thank you for your understanding and continued support!
Please follow instructions bellow to make an account for the 25/26 school year.
- Go to landingtrail.hotlunches.net
- Click on "Click Here to Register"
- Enter Access Code: LTHL
- Complete the rest of the registration form including your email address to ensure you receive reminder emails about hot lunch order deadlines, and vour child's hot lunch order for the upcoming week.
- Click the "Register Now" button at the bottom.
- Follow the instructions to add each child in your family who attends Landing Trail School. Once your child(ren) are registered, click on "Orders."
- Proceed to order hot lunch for your children.
Orders open monthly and will be primarily completed online, if you would like to submit a paper copy please print the attached form and send it back to the school by the given date.
PayPal option:
We accept hot lunch online order payments through PayPal (www.paypal.com)
You can either pay with a credit card as a PayPal guest (Visa, Mastercard or Amex), or set up your own PayPal account.
Cash option:
Cash can be sent in to your child’s teacher or dropped at the office, please use exact cash as no change will be given. If choosing to order online but pay by cash complete the order online but do not check out via PayPal at the end. Please be sure to label any cash sent into the school.
Please Note: Should you experience any issues with your PayPal account, you must contact PayPal
directly to solve the issue.
Once hot lunches have been ordered no refunds will be given under any circumstance. No late orders or payments will be accepted past 12:00 pm on September 26th, any unpaid orders will be automatically deleted from the system after 6 hours left unpaid and an email will be sent to the email on your account.
If your child is not at school on hot lunch day you can arrange to pick up in the office after hot lunch service has closed for the day at 12:30 pm, please make arrangements for pick up with the office by 10:00 am or you can choose to donate the lunch to a student in need. If no arrangement for pick up is made, and the lunch goes to the classroom, your child’s lunch will be donated.
Due to timing of classes, we can not accommodate Hot Lunch for Pre-K.
Please be sure to double check all kindergarten days as no refunds will be given for wrong Friday orders.
** ALL MEALS ARE PEANUT AWARE - DAIRY AND GLUTEN AWARE ITEMS WILL BE LABELED ON ORDER PAGE AS AVAILABLE**
- January 26: No PreK Classes
- January 29: Anything But a Backpack Day
- January 30: PD Day (No Classes)
- February 3: PLACE (Session 3 Ends)
- February 5-6: Teacher's Convention (No Classes)
- February 9: NEW Student Registration Opens
- February 10: February Assembly (Everyone welcome) & School Council/PIA Meeting @ 3:15 pm
- February 16: Family Day (No Classes)
- February 17: SPS Student Re-enrollment Open
- February 24: Kindergarten PD Day (No Kindergarten Classes)
- February 25: Pink Shirt Day
- February 25: No PreK Classes
💡 Reminders
Parking Reminders
This is a friendly reminder that there are designated non-parking areas in front of the school. We kindly ask that you do not stop or park in these spaces during drop-off and pick-up times.
Please note that peace officers do monitor these areas regularly and may issue tickets if vehicles are parked in violation.
We appreciate your cooperation in helping keep our school entrances safe and accessible for all students.
Parent Zone
PowerSchool App
You will require a District Code to access your child's profile on the PS App.
District Code: JDQX
Find the PS App for Google here.
Find the PS App for Apple here.
Looking for more information on Outcomes-Based Reporting? Click this link to find out more.
Grade 1 Immunizations
Dear Grade 1 Families,
Please review your Grade 1 student’s immunization records and visit https://myhealth.alberta.ca/topic/immunization/pages/recommended-vaccines.aspx for more information on recommended vaccines. If your child has missed one or more vaccines, or if you have any questions or concerns contact your school nurse at 780-342-2661 as soon as possible to get your child caught up. If you miss an appointment, or if your child hasn’t been immunized yet, it’s never too late to catch up.
Thank you!
School Council & PIA
Did you know that parent volunteers run our Hot Lunch program? A huge thank you to parents who give up hours of planning, organizing and delivering hot lunches to our students and staff almost every Friday. If you're looking for other ways to volunteer for PIA Events/Hot Lunch in the 2024/2025 school year, please get in touch with our PIA at landingtrailpia@gmail.com.
Logos Steering Committee
NEXT MEETING: February 26 @ 3:15 pm (Landing Trail School)
If you are interested in helping with planning or volunteering, please e-mail: logoscommittee@gmail.com
Literacy & Numeracy Testing
*Sent via Email on January 5, 2026
This year, Kindergarten-Grade 3 students in Sturgeon Public Schools will complete both the provincial literacy and provincial numeracy assessments. Grade 4 students will complete the provincial numeracy screeners.
Grade 1-4 students are assessed in September 2025, January 2026 and May 2026.
Kindergarten students will be assessed in January 2026.
These assessments help guide teaching and are part of the support already in place to ensure that all students develop strong literacy and numeracy skills. This information helps classroom teachers support students as they develop critical learning skills in these areas. Please refer to the following document from Alberta Education for more details. Guardian Q&A.
If you have any questions or do not want your child to participate in these assessments, please contact me at 780-923-2898 or by email by January 12, 2026.
Testing will be completed by February 4, 2026.
Optional Smudging
We are so encouraged by the positive response to our smudging opportunity! With such strong interest from students, we will now be dividing into two groups to accommodate the large numbers. We began on Monday, September 22nd. Students will have the opportunity to participate in optional smudging at the end of the day (around 2:45 pm) on Mondays and Wednesdays.
Smudging is a traditional Indigenous practice that uses the smoke of sacred medicines (such as sage, cedar, sweetgrass, or tobacco) for purification and reflection. Participation is always voluntary: families may choose to have their children participate, observe respectfully, or not take part at all.
This practice supports our commitment to Truth and Reconciliation, helping students grow in respect, understanding, and a strong sense of belonging.
Parental permission is required for a child to participate (Click this link to give consent).
Please note that OSC is operated by an independent contractor and leases space in the school building.
Get your LANDING TRAIL SPIRIT WEAR! The online store is open with a great variety of clothing and accessories to be purchased.
Register at the following website and start shopping NOW!
https://landingtrailschool.entripyshops.com/
- Shoppers will be able to place orders year-round.
- There is no cut-off for orders. Entripy will process all orders that it receives in a timely fashion.
- Each time an order is placed, you will input a shipping address. Entripy will ship the order to the address that you have specified.
- Entripy accepts credit and debit payments using Visa and MasterCard.
- Note: All sales are final
- NO Sizing Kit is available.
