Dear Simon Fraser Families: 

Next week is a short week as we head into a fall break. Thursday is a professional learning day for the system grounded in our collective work to improve our knowledge of Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Being and how to embed these in our learning opportunities. This day is called Maatoomsii’Pookaiks (Children First) in which our focus at Simon Fraser will be to continue to identify places across the curriculum where Indigenous values, cultures, and languages can be valued and explored.  

Important Dates 

• Tuesday November 7 - Band Camp Parent Meeting 7 pm 
• Wednesday November 8 – Fun Lunch Pizza Lunch 
• Wednesday November 8 – Remembrance Day Assemblies (see below) 
• Thursday November 9 – Professional Learning Day No School 
• Break Friday November 10 – Tuesday November 14 
• Wednesday November 15 - First Day of Classes  

Remembrance Day Assembly – November 8 

All students will be provided with a poppy for our assembly. We are requesting that families consider sending in a small donation to support the veteran’s fund. We will be holding two Remembrance Day Assemblies this year, and we would like to invite families to join us. If you plan to attend, please come during the times your child will attend. These student-led assemblies will take place in the main gym at the times below: 

• First Assembly Grades 6 & 7 at 9:55 
• Second Assembly Grades 5, 8 & 9 at 10:55 

Basketball Playoffs – Important Supervision Update 

We have had an amazing basketball season, and we are now heading into the playoffs. The week after next our teams will be off to other schools to play in the finals. It is especially important that parents understand that schools will not let students in as spectators if they are not accompanied by their guardian. If many students show up with a single parent supervisor for the group, students will be denied entry to the game. Simon Fraser Administration will be at playoff games also. 

CBE Consent Form 

In your CBE/PowerSchool Account on SchoolEngage there are CBE Consent Forms which allow your child's name and photo to be in the yearbook. If you leave this blank, we take this as a no.  If you are unable to find your forms you can send an email to Ms. Casagranda (accasagranda@cbe.ab.ca) giving consent, and we can update it at our end.  

Digital Citizenship at Simon Fraser 

With the implementation of our “Away for the Day” cell phone policy and the intentional teaching and learning of exectutive functioing skills through a whole school approach, we have seen measurable differences in the self-regulation in learning of our students, and significant decreases in behaviors not in alignment with our student code of conduct. As families and teachers, we play crucial roles in continuing to guide our students in learning skills related to technology use. Children and young adults are observing and learning how to navigate difficult online interactions regarding online privacy and what's OK or not OK to share, how we communicate with others, how we search for and make sense of information and news, and overall, how we participate in our interconnected world. Our students at Simon Fraser in the OurSchool survey indicated that 58% of students from 5-9 disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement “I take care of myself by making sure I do not have too much screen time.”  Our Digital Citizenship plan is now on our school website, and we hope families will take a moment to review this plan and consider ways to support your children to reach our school goals!  We have included a Family Media Plan for families to use as a resource.

• Family Media Plan - See Resources
• Simon Fraser Digital Citizenship Plan 

Have a wonderful weekend as a family! We look forward to welcoming your children back for a three day week of learning next week.

Laureen