SAM Explorer

We hope you all have enjoyed the past couple of long weekends. Short weeks do make for interesting weeks at school and all aspects of life at SAM School have been busy and vibrant. Our Grade 5 students enjoyed a beautiful day at Birch Bay Camp, some of our Division 2 classes have started their swimming lessons, SAM Rehearsals are running strong, our Kindergarten students attended Safety City, and our Student Leadership Club is about to fire back up. Just a reminder that as the weather starts to change it is important to send your children to school with clothing that will allow them to be comfortable outdoors. We use our indoor and outdoor learning spaces daily!

As we head into next week, we also look forward to spending time with all our families at our Parent-Student-Teacher Conferences. These conferences are an important part of the home-school connection that supports each child's learning and growth. If you have not yet booked a time to connect with your child's homeroom teacher, the online booking system continues to be open until Tuesday, October 17th. Once again, our SAM Book Fair will be open next week where students and families can purchase Scholastic Books. Mrs. Leathem does a wonderful job of decorating the library, setting up games with prizes, and making popcorn! We hope to see you all there!

Dawn & Cam

Week of October 16 - 20

• Tues, Oct 17th - Panago Hot Lunch
• Tues, Oct 17th - SAM Chorus Rehearsal (8am - Music Room)
• Tues, Oct 17th - SAM Fundraising Society Meeting 6-7pm
• Tues, Oct 17th - School Council Meeting 7-8pm
• Wed, Oct 18th - Parent Teacher Student Conferences 4-8pm
• Thurs, Oct 19th - Parent Teacher Student Conferences 4-8pm
• Tues, Oct 17 - Thurs, Oct 19th - 'Monster' Book Fair - SAM Library
• Fri, Oct 20th - Edo Japan Hot Lunch

Week of October 23 - 27 - Media Literacy Week

• Tues, Oct 24th - Fire Drill Practice
• Tues, Oct 24th - SAM Chorus Rehearsal (8am - Music Room)
• Wed, Oct 25th - Science Spooktacular Show - gr. 3-5 (@Paul Kane)
• Fri, Oct 27th - Subway/Booster Juice Hot Lunch

To ensure our students, staff, and systems are prepared in the case we need to respond to a potential emergency, we conduct regular fire drill and lockdown practices. All teachers have already taught our students the procedures for both a potential evacuation (i.e. fire drill) and/or a lockdown. On Monday, October 16th at 9:30am, SAM School will be practicing our lockdown procedures. Please note that this is just a practice drill. We will always inform our students, family, and division office staff before we conduct a lockdown practice. It is important to us that people are aware when we are conducting these practices as we do not want to cause any unnecessary concern or stress amongst our students, staff, and community.

Our October AGENDA includes:

• SPECIAL PRESENATION: Grief & Loss (Charlotte Kirchner & Janelle Hobbs)
• TEACHER SPOTLIGHT: Miss Jamie Jukna
• PHOTOGRAPHY UPDATE
• SAM EDUCATION PLAN - Reflections for Moving Forward

The SAM Fundraising Society proudly presents the SAM Family Halloween Dance on Saturday, October 28th from 6:30 - 9:30pm. Due to the overwhelming success of this event last year, it is strongly recommended that families pre-purchase their tickets as we cannot guarantee that there will still be tickets available at the door.

Order forms will be sent home with students shortly. Please fill out the order form and label any money with your child's name and homeroom before sending it back to school.

• Prepaid tickets for a family are $20.
• Entrance at the door for a family is $30.
• Pie a teacher is $5/plate

There will also be door prizes, a costume contest, and a concession available. If you have any questions regarding the purchasing of tickets or this event, please email samfundraising@spschools.org.

As this event is entirely run by our SAM Fundraising Society, they do require enough volunteers to run the event. If you can volunteer, please sign-up by Friday, October 20th so our Fundraising Society knows if they have enough volunteers to run this event.

To volunteer, please click here: Halloween Volunteer Sign-Up

Parent-student-teacher conferences are an important part of the home-school connection that supports each child's learning and growth. Following the first six weeks of school, October is an opportune time to connect about how your child is settling into the learning routines of their class, and co-construct some learning goals for the next few months of school. Progress towards these goals will help to inform the progress reports in January.

Our Parent-Student-Teacher Conferences will be held on:

• Wednesday, October 18th, from 4–8pm
• Thursday, October 19th, from 4–8pm

Families will be able to book a 15-minute conference with their child's homeroom teacher on our website. Registration for interviews closes online on October 17, 2023.

Your 2023-2024 school fees have now been added to our families PowerSchool accounts. Online payment can be made through the PowerSchool Parent Portal found here: Pay SAM Fees. Please note that payments cannot be made in the Power School App. If you do not have an access ID and password for Power School, please contact the school at 780-459-4467.

• Exact cash and cheque payments are also accepted in our school office.
• Cheques should be made payable to St Albert Public Schools.