Transportation Pre-Registration

Bowcroft in the News!!

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German Bilingual Open House

Kinder Karneval

Survey

Thank you for the time to come to our website and take the survey we have created. We have a fellow parent, Wayne, to thank for these fabulous questions. If you have any questions or concerns you are welcome to contact us at any time.

Click here to complete the survey!

Christmas Quilt Raffle

This year BPAC has generously been given a beautiful handmade quilt to raffle off at the school. The quilt (4.5'x5.5') has a gorgeous night sky quilted with batik fabrics on the front and layered with warm flannel on the back. Tickets are 5 dollars each or 3 for 10 dollars. We are asking Bowcroft families to help us sell tickets and raise money for the school. If you are interested in selling or buying tickets please inquire at the office.

Draw Date: December 17, 2015

December News

Does anyone else feel like the last three months have flown by? We have had quite a lot happen to us during them.

We had tremendous success with the Entertainment Book Fundraiser. We raised over $3100. One of our Kindergarten students, Kingslee C. was the top seller and won his class a Crave Cupcake Treat. The other top sellers were Adyson S., Colt M., Nova P. and Emily R.E. They all got a turn in the cash machine and won lots of fun prizes as well as cash!

The Scholastic Book Fair was another great success, netting us over $2,000 in books for the library.

We are currently in the midst of our Poinsettia Fundraiser. We’ve never done this fundraiser before, feedback is always welcome.

Last but not at all least, we are gearing up for our biggest fundraiser of the (every two) year, CASINO!

On to some serious news. This past month many of us received a letter from the CBE informing us of an enrolment issue within the German Program. It indicated that if we do not reach 20 registrations in Kindergarten for the 2016 - 2017 school year by March 31st 2016, the German Bilingual Program will begin the closure process. As you can imagine this has stoked the fire and BPAC is working diligently to maintain the program.

We would like to extend the invitation again to ALL parents to join us at our next BPAC meeting. One of our parents, Wayne Jackson, has taken the initiative to write up proposals and a plan to maximize our effectiveness on maintaining the program. He will be giving us a quick presentation and I encourage you all to come. We are making it a social event and want parents to take the time to talk in a casual setting, get to know each other better and perhaps even get to know the school and the challenges it / we face.

We welcome the opportunity to discuss with you how this enrolment issue could affect the ENTIRE school. Please come and enjoy some snacks and chats; the meeting will be in the school library on Monday, December 7th @ 7pm. Hope to see you there.

German Book Fair

GERMAN BOOK FAIR

BOWCROFT SCHOOL CALGARY

CHRISTMAS CONCERT

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

6:00 – 8:30 PM

German books and CDs

Everything Deutsch, German Educational Products

780. 719 5242 – Susanne Hoffmann

www.everythingdeutsch.com

Payment options:  Cash, SQUARE - Visa, MasterCard, American Express 

A percentage of all sales will be donated to 
AGEC for helping with this book sale.

CBE Survey for Parents, Public, and Students

Your opinion is valuable to the CBE! Please help them to improve public engagement at the CBE by following this LINK and filling in their survey. They will ask you about your satisfaction with past experiences, effective communication and engagement methods, topics that are important to you and how you would like to be consulted on decisions that affect you. Your input will help them to develop a new system-wide approach to public engagement. This new approach will allow them to do a better job of listening to and understanding people’s views on decisions that affect them.

The survey will only take 10-15 minutes, depending on the length of your answers, and all information provided in this survey will be kept confidential and shared in an anonymous way. The survey will be open until Dec. 11, 2015, so be sure to take this opportunity to fill it out.

Making School Mathematics Make Sense

The College of Alberta School Superintendents and the Alberta Regional Professional Development Consortia invite parents, students, teachers, school & system leaders, and community members to participate in the first of a series of sessions featuring Dr. James Tanton on the timely topic: Making School Mathematics Make Sense.

Dr. James Tanton is recognized internationally for his ability to make mathematical ideas, concepts and “FACTS” simple to understand, repeat, practice and apply in solving problems. He stresses the need to teach students to THINK their way through solutions, and then demonstrates using “common sense” approaches.

This presentation will focus specifically on seeing and understanding a way to make the arithmetic we learned in school come alive with meaning. It is very relevant to the mathematics taught from Grades 4 to 12.

For more information, please click here.

November 2015 Minutes

Bowcroft School Council and BPAC Meeting

November 2 2015, 7:00pm

Location: Library

Executive: 
Chairperson - Lia Haus
Co-Chairperson - Tara Neish
Secretary - Teryn Aurini
Treasurer - Tamara Ross
Fundraising Coordinator - 
Casino Coordinator - Barb Rocca
Volunteer Coordinator - Trish Braaten
Key Communicator - Fran Lochbihler

Attendees: Barb, Becky, Chris, Fran, George, Lia, Sonja, Tamara, Tara, Teryn, Trish, Wayne, Matt
Total Attendees: 13

Call to order:  7:11

October Minutes approved by: Trish, Barb seconds

Administration - Matt 
• Barb is back! We’re so happy to get our admin team back together and to get back on track in the office!
• One of our ed assistants (Helen) has resigned from the school and has moved to Invermere. 
• We will be looking to hire a replacement (1 to replace Helen and another .5).
• Our We Scare Hunger food drive was the most successful we’ve ever had! Some of our students went to We Day in accordance with this. Rae Ann got to go as a volunteer, it was an exciting and inspiring day!
• The art room has been cleared out and painted and will be converted to an aboriginal pre-start program (pre-kindergarten). This ties into one of the initiatives the CBE is currently undertaking is to help increase the rate of graduation for first nations students (currently at 12%). 
• Upon completion of the pre-start program these students will join our school community in kindergarten.
• The CBE has given us money towards a teacher, as well as to upgrade the wireless infrastructure and provide coaches for first nation students in high school. 
• We received .6 of a teacher, some schools got more but could not accommodate an increase in staff and requested that they give that bit to another school. We are now getting a .8 teacher (which equates to a Monday-Thursday staffing position). We are going to use this to focus on literacy, and looking at bringing in a teacher to help throughout the school in smaller group and individual settings. 
• We are expecting this teacher to arrive sometime between November 16 and December 1. 
• Tanya in kindergarten has written a proposal for Spark Bikes. A local donor has given us the money for 6 bikes ($4500)!
• She also helped Erna with the Indigo Adopt-a-School program which brought in over 200 new books.

Volunteer Coordinator - Trish 
•  Book fair went really well, we exceeded our goal of $3000 and sold $3848.46 worth of books!
• We got $2531.29 in rewards!
• Trish would like to have another book fair, the week before spring break to coincide with Parent-Teacher conferences. She will contact scholastic tomorrow morning.
• Trish went to the Kids Up Front orientation, it was a great! The big take aways were that they offer three programs; people who can’t use tickets (the most popular), kids count (box seats for Hockey games etc - could we tie this into Hockey Heroes?), and the pay it forward project (teachers nominate students to receive an award, this could tie into ROARS and citizenship). 
• Another thing Trish learned is that the more contacts we have for our organization, the better. Trish is looking for volunteers to assist with the program. The only thing about pickup is that there is a lot of construction right now at the Kids Up Front office and no parking spot. Tamara can help with pick up.

Meeting Closed:  8:03pm

BPAC Meeting

November 2 2015, 8:00pm

Location: Library

Executive: 
Chairperson - Lia Haus
Co-Chairperson - Tara Neish
Secretary - Teryn Aurini
Treasurer - Tamara Ross
Fundraising Coordinator -   
Casino Coordinator - Barb Rocca
Volunteer Coordinator - Trish Braaten
Key Communicator - Fran Lochbihler

Attendees: Barb, Becky, Chris, Fran, George, Lia, Sonja, Tamara, Tara, Teryn, Trish, Wayne, Matt
Total Attendees: 13

Meeting opened: 8:04pm

Treasurer - Tamara 
• We have $95,000 in our accounts.
• We have a few opportunities to go to AGLC training sessions coming up.

AGEC Update - Sonja 
• Thank you to all the volunteers who helped during our Casino!
• AGEC has written a cheque for 16803.95 to BPAC for AGLC approved funds.
• We will be holding a German Book Fair during the bilingual Christmas Concert on Tuesday, December 15th, from 6:00-8:30pm.
• Wednesday November 11th will be the St.Martin’s parade at Edworthy Park at 5:30pm. Bring your lanterns and dress for the weather!
• The European Film Festival will be held from November 12th-15th. AGEC is showing a German movie on the 15th.

Casino Coordinator - Barb  
• Barb has 7 shifts that still need to be filled. Please let her know if you or someone you know can help. You do not need to have your security clearance to volunteer at the casino.
• Can we post the available shifts online? 
• Barb will be including this in the newsletter.

Parent Liaison - Naomi (not in attendance) 
• Naomi would like to act as a bridge for the two parents and to be a contact for parents questions or concerns. She can be reached at: bpacparentliaison@gmail.com

New Business 
• Lia motions that our Christmas fundraiser be Poinsettias, Trish seconds, all in favour motion passed. All the orders will be taken online, with the delivery date being December 9th.
• We also have a beautiful Quilt by Didi to raffle off during the Christmas concerts.
• Lia motions that we sell coffee and cookies in the cafeteria during the concerts, Tara seconds, all in favour motion passed.

Old Business 
• Trish amends the motion to approve the $8965 for the Trickster residency, Barb seconds, all in favour motion passed.

Vote on Funding
• George motions that we approve the 2015/16 wish list to a total of $43,378, including: $4000 for the German Showcase, $1700 for Math resources, $1000 for art supplies, $3600 for Field Trips ($300/class), $3000 for the Library, $1650 for IXL Math Program, $850 for RAZ Kids, $2400 for Teachers Discretionary ($200/teacher), $400 for Principal’s Discretionary, $1000 for Music Program Supports, $1000 for Physical Education Equipment, $8965 for the Trickster Arts Residency, $3000 for in-school Music Performances, $5313 for the Alien In-Line Physical Education Residency and $6000 for one Light Ray Projector, Wayne seconds, all in favour, motion passed.

Meeting Closed at: 8:20pm

Notice Regarding German Bilingual Program

Everyone in the German program received a letter today that let us know that CBE has posted notice that if Bowcroft does not achieve a Kindergarten enrolment of 20 the program will be cut.

Bowcroft has maintained a 20+ enrolment for the past four years, however many students are not registered until after the March deadline that the CBE has given us in the letter.

This is a somewhat alarming letter as it doesn't explain anything. Not what this means to our teachers, or how it will affect the community program... there are a lot of unanswered questions. We as BPAC are here to help provide a platform for parents to affect change within our school. There is still a lot of information to be gathered and Principal Lowe is working on setting up the meetings and getting the answers we need. BPAC and AGEC are both involved in increasing enrolment.

My sincerest wish is that this letter does not anger parents but rather lights a fire to get more involved with our school. The only way we will be able to make a true difference and actually affect change is if we work together as a group to make both programs strong!

It's been noted that parents are already commenting on FB, dialogue is always great! Some of the comments are of a "first the busing issue and now the whole program" type. Valid points, we are feeling like the CBE is not supporting alternative programs and that needs to change. Wayne Jackson, a fabulous parent volunteer who comes to all of our BPAC meetings would like to start a committee to address the transportation issues we face. He would like to start up a car-pooling site for us and find other transportation alternatives to help make sure that our students to can get to our program. He would love for you to come out to our Dec. 7th meeting and speak with him, has has some great ideas!

If you decided to call the # on the letter please post and let us know what you find out. If you have questions or concerns or want to get more involved, please post to our site or contact anyone on BPAC.

You are very welcome to call, text or email me. My contact information is available here.

Lia - BPAC Chair

Poinsettia Fundraiser

This season we are selling beautiful, locally grown Poinsettias to help raise money for programs at Bowcroft.

By purchasing a beautiful Poinsettia this Winter, not only will you be spreading holiday cheer, you will also be supporting an amazing cause!

We hope that you will see something you like on the site and help support our cause. We couldn't do it without you!

To order yours, click HERE. 

The Poinsettias will be available for pick up before and after school at Bowcroft on December 10, 11 and 12. We may even be able to arrange delivery within the NW if you are unable to pick up from the school.

Thank you so much for your support!

BPAC

November News

Hello, my name is Lia Haus and I am your new chairperson on BPAC. I have two children in Bowcroft, one in Gr.4 and the other in Gr. 1. We are all very excited about this school year! There have been a few changes of committee members as well as several new faces coming to our monthly meetings. We'd love the opportunity to share our ideas with you. Details of our monthly meetings and of who and what we are below.

October was a busy month! The flutter of candy wrappers is a sure sign that October is over and it’s time to start planning for winter activities. This year, school council is happy to announce that we will be running a Christmas Poinsettia Fundraiser, you will be receiving the forms soon. We are keeping it simple this Winter as we also have Casino in December. It is our biggest fundraiser and responsible for so many of the wonderful events and supplies we are able to purchase for the school.

We wish to thank all the parents who volunteered at the Scholastic Book Fair last month. The event was well attended by students and parents alike and we were able to raise a fabulous commission for extra library resources.

What is BPAC?
BPAC or Bowcroft Parent Action Club is a group of parents who are involved in planning and providing school resources and opportunities for our students. Besides fundraising, the council has the opportunity to discuss, with the school administration, items and issues that impact the school. Over the years, BPAC council has helped to provide much of the technology found in classrooms, literacy aids, art/sport residencies, playground equipment, school signage and additional resources for gym, music and library.

It is a rewarding experience to be involved in the success of our school and students. Please consider attending a meeting and bringing your unique experiences, insights and energy. Our next meeting is on Monday, December 7. Hope to see you there!

Head Full of Honey - Honig Im Kopf

The Calgary European Film Festival in partnership with AGEC are proud to present:

This year's most popular movie in German theatres features Dieter "Didi" Hallervorden as Amandus, grandfather to 11 year old Tilda. Amandus suffers from Alzheimers and as his condition worsens and his son conciders placing him in a nursing home, Tilda kidnaps him and takes her grandfather on one last adventure to Venice. Heart-warming family movie.
*Screened in German with English subtitles
*Rating in Germany: FSK 6 (age 6 and up)

Sunday, November 15, 5pm
Globe Cinema 617 8 Ave SW
Tickets: www.CalgaryEuropeanFilmFestival.ca

Scholastic Book Fair

St Martin Parade & Bonfire

October 2015 Minutes

Bowcroft School Council and BPAC Meeting

October 5 2015, 7:00pm

Location: Library

Executive: 
Chairperson - Tara Neish
Co-Chairperson - Shian Hunt
Treasurer - Susanne Morris
Fundraising Coordinator - Barb Rocca
Casino Coordinator - Barb Rocca
Volunteer Coordinator - Trish Braaten
Key Communicator - Janis Giroux
Secretary - Teryn Aurini

Attendees: Chris, Fran, George, Lia, Shian, Sonja, Tara, Teryn, Trish, Vicki, Tamara, Naomi, Wayne, Simone, Matt, Cheryl
Total Attendees: 16

Call to oder: 7:05

Minutes approved by: Trish, Fran seconds

Administration - Matt & Cheryl 

• Good evening and happy October!
• Our BBQ was a huge success, but we went over budget by $25 - we spent about $650. We couldn't purchase the sun chips and went for carrot sticks instead! Theincrease in the cost of food last year and this years was astounding. 
• It was a beautiful day and allowed the parents and teachers to connect with each 
• We finished our Terry Fox Run, the kids ran over 3000 km! This tied into our running and reading program which is at capacity. We have 50 participants and 14 on the wait list 
• Hockey Heroes starts tomorrow, we have had 18 kids signed up for it, the kids are tracked through the program right through High School. 
• SLA’s are on track - we have almost finished the two digital components (reading and numeracy) and next week we will start the Grade 3s on the writing tasks - where they write a story. The next will be another math test where they get to show their process.
• Over the next two weeks we are finalizing our staffing and school budget. We will be adjusting or ed assistants time.
• Hoja (an a cappella group) will be performing on October 14th at 10:30 am. Tammi has booked two other presentations for the year.
• There will be no school Monday October 12th or Friday October 30th
• Since our previous meeting in regards to the math resources they have been ordered and have arrived, we are still waiting to hear back on the shirts, Matt will contact his supplier tomorrow.
• The Gym equipment has also arrived.
• The Wish List: we talked about it with the staff on Friday, we had a tiny url (using google forms) 
• We wanted to get everyones input in regards to what is the most 
• 66.7% would like to see the learning commons: a flexible classroom space - where the bookshelves can move around, a bright space, the carpets would be removed.
• As a group we would need to brainstorm - we would like to get a committee together to address this.
• which we could convene at the end of this meeting, and then Matt and Cheryl could walk away with what those interested parties feel
• Classroom monies and field trips are at 100% support from the staff
• We would like to send the same url to you to have your feedback. Would you like that to be just sent to school council or the whole community? One challenge would be putting things into context.
• Is it simple to get the feedback? 
• It comes back in different formats, but to leave it open for a week would be difficult
• Could we add some clarity by categorizing? This is one way we can make it easier to engage people. 
• Shout outs! First to Fran for the amazing job she’s done with the BPAC website!!
• Erna - for the tremendous amount of work she put into the Terry Fox Run.
• Tammy Bonham for bringing in Spark bikes - self-regulation, silent bicycles that are available for students.

Volunteer Coordinator - Trish

• We have filled all the morning shifts for Book fair but we still need help in the afternoons (Oct 19th - 23rd) from 12-4. If you are available and have your volunteer clearance please contact her at: trish.braaten@gmail.com
• Kids Up front has been very successful, Trish has an orientation with them next week. She has a small list, but would like to expand that. We would like hard copies of a sign up letter to go home. 

Meeting Closed: 7:30

BPAC Meeting

October 5 2015, 8:00pm

Location: Library

Executive: 
Chairperson - Tara Neish
Co-Chairperson - Shian Hunt
Treasurer - Susanne Morris
Fundraising Coordinator - Barb Rocca
Casino Coordinator - Barb Rocca
Volunteer Coordinator - Trish Braaten
Key Communicator - Janis Giroux
Secretary - Teryn Aurini

Attendees: Chris, Fran, George, Lia, Shian, Sonja, Tara, Teryn, Trish, Vicki, Tamara, Naomi, Wayne, Simone, Matt, Cheryl
Total Attendees: 16

Meeting opened: 7:35 

Treasurer - Susanne 

• Not in attendance

Fundraising Coordinator - Barb 

• Entertainment Fundraiser is over! Lia put in over 30 hours, and we will need more help next year. We still have 20 books outstanding, we made over $3000 that goes straight into our general account, meaning we do not have the same spending restrictions we do with our casino funds. 

Casino Coordinator - Barb 

• Casino is going well, we have a few spaces left. It’s really fun and the food is excellent. If you know anyone who can come out please let us know. You don't need your security clearance and we welcome all volunteers.

New Business 

• No new Business

Old Business 

• Last year we approved some funds for 2015/16,
• We were unsuccessful in our Grant application for Trixster (the cost is approximately $13,000)
• We found some money left over in some areas from the 2014/15 wish list, we would like to move those funds to the trickster.
• We could put in some money from our fun lunches (about $600).

Secretary  - Teryn

• Fran will communicate with the bottle depot in Montgomery and sign us up as a donee

AGEC Update - Sonja 

• Our casino is at the end of the month, October 28th and 29th - we need more help! Please let us know if you are available, even as a backup by emailing: agec.president@gmail.com . AGEC donates a huge amount of money to Bowcroft in support of the German program, and the Casino is their main fundraiser.
• We will have a cheque for $16803.95 for BPAC very soon!

Vote on Funding 

• Chris motions that we fund the Trixster residency with the remaining money from Classroom and Field trips - from $2965, as well as the $6000 from the Trixters funds earmarked in March to a total of $8965 Lia seconds, all in favour, Chris tables the motion 

Meeting Closed at: 8:12pm

Chair: Teryn nominates Lia for Chair
Co-chair: Trish nominates Tara for Co-chair
Secretary: Fran nominates Teryn for Secretary
Treasurer: Fran nominates Tamara for Treasurer
Key Communicator: Trish nominates Fran for Key Communicator
Fundraising Coordinator: currently vacant
Parent Liaison: Lia nominates Naomi for Parent Liaison

No position is contested so all positions are acclaimed!

AGEC Casino

AGEC is in need of volunteers to take shifts at their Casino Fundraiser on Wednesday October 28 and Thursday October 29. AGEC could raise between $70K and $100K to support German language education in Calgary. You will be provided meals and refreshments, and can be reimbursed for babysitters and taxis. There are day shifts, evening shifts and late shifts available. And of course this will benefit the German program at Bowcroft in the long run! Please click HERE to sign up!

2015/2016 Executive

Chair: Lia Haus

Co-Chair: Tara Neish

Secretary: Teryn Aurini

Treasurer: Tamara Ross

Casino Coordinator: Barb Rocca

Volunteer Coordinator: Trish Braaten

Parent Liaison: Naomi Robinson

Key Communicator: Fran Lochbihler