Aspen Grove Elementary School
9720 - 63 Ave,
Grande Prairie, AB.
T8W 1K3.
Tel. 538-3009/Fax. 532-5159
“Striving for excellence in education and nurturing responsible, caring citizens”
Welcome to the 2015-2016 School Year!
Dear Parents/Guardians:
Welcome back to past Aspen Grove students and their families, and a special welcome to those new to our school. I look forward to meeting all of our new students and seeing them enjoy their first days back at school, and the entire 2015-2016 school year. School start up is always an extremely busy time of year, but we are all looking forward to a great year! We have a wonderful, caring staff, supportive parents, and very good students. Together, we are “Always Learning; Learning ALL WAYS”.
ADMINISTRATION:My name is Mike Humbke, and I am excited and looking forward to my second year asthe Principal of Aspen Grove. We had an excellent 2014-2015 school year and are looking forward to building on our successes.We are happy to have Jae LeClerc returning and continuing as our Vice Principal. She brings a wealth of experience in literacy, instruction, and intervention strategies.Our wonderful Administrative Assistant, Kim Verbecky, is with us again this year and she is an excellent support for our entire school community.
You will learn that as an admin team, we love to have fun with students and it is important to us to know our students well. We do have many new students attending this year, and we look forward to getting to know more families.
STAFF:
From a staff perspective, we are welcoming a few new faces, and a few returning to Aspen Grove. For teaching staff we welcome:
Mrs. Heather Coutts (ECS am)Ms. Emily DesBarres (Gr. 1)
Mrs. Maron Roberts (Gr. 4)
Mrs. Janice Jones (Gr. 5) / Mrs. Heather Young (Learning Support)
Mrs. Crystal Rycroft (Learning Support)
Mrs. Jessica Smith (Reading Recovery)
For support staff, we have many faces returning to us, but some will be new to us this year. Our full support staff include:
Krista McLeod (Pre-K)Gemma Noble (Pre-K)
Amanda Rode (ECS am/pm)
Jodie Skaley (Pre-K)
Lana Smith (ECS full days)
Shauna Benn (ECS)
Mrs. Scharbach/Mrs. Addison (Libracy Technicians) / Laura Ketchum (1)
Amy Batt (2)
Deanne Ballantyne (3/1)
Joyce Wilson (3)
Carol Fritzke (4)
Isabelle deVries (4)
Mr. Joseph Tagarino (Head Caretaker);
Mr. Junrettes Peralta (Custodian)
As you can see, we have a large support staff this year as we work to further meet the variety of programming needs required by students. It is exciting to plan and work as a team to support our students for this year.
CLASSLISTS:One of the differences for our school this year will be the addition of our Grade 5 students and teachers. As a result of our district growth and restructuring schools, our school will now be a Pre-K to Grade 5school. We are looking forward to our new class arrangement and planning forward.
We had all class lists printed and posted around the school for the first day of school. These lists will remain outside the classrooms and visible on bulletin boards and walls to help guide familiesand help everyone get settled for the first couple of days. We are hoping this will ease confusion and allow children to feel comfortable from the start.
PLC Fridays/Staff Meeting Days:The Grande Prairie Public School District is committed to the continuous improvement of student achievement and learning opportunity for every child in each school. Embarking on the PLC journey is a change from the status quo, as it requires a high degree of collaboration and demands teachers work together on all areas of teaching and learning. Teachers and administrators work together in grade level or subject specific teams that pursue common goals such as curriculum focus, common assessment and plans for responding to students who are not learning to the best of their ability.
This year, we will have several PLC Fridays. On these days, students will be dismissed at 11:30am. Please check our school calendar in the student agenda and/or school website for a complete list of these dates. In addition, our school staff meetings will be held on one of these PLC Fridays each month.
SCHOOLFEES: Our school fees for this year is $50 for ECS and $80 for Grades 1-5. Please make arrangements to pay these fees as soon as possible at the school office. We are set up to accept debit, credit cards, cheques, and cash. If you have questions or concerns, please ask and we will help in any way we can.
AGENDABOOKS:Grades 1-5 students will receive their agenda booklets during the first week of school. This is a great tool to communicate with parents and teachers. Please look forward to using this agenda throughout the year.
COMMUNICATION:Partnerships have always been the foundation of public education and this remains true today. We strive to be active communicators and want to share the exciting and excellent things happening at our school.
Aspen Grove School website is:
Aspen Grove School twitter feed is: @AspenGroveGPPSD
Aspen Grove School Facebook is:
Parking/SafetyWe want to remind parents that our staff parking lot is not a drop off zone and ask that you NOT drive/park in our staff parking lot, as this puts the safety of children at risk. Parents may drop children off by stopping on the south side of the bus lane, or by parking away from the school, along the sidewalk running the length of 63rd Avenue. We aresoon to have some of our Grade 5 students trained asAMA school patrollers to handle our crosswalks, and hope to have them in place as soon as possible. All of this will impacts our school and we are working to ensure the safety of all of our students. Thank you for your assistance in keeping the crosswalks clear of vehicles. We NEED our parking lot and our bus lane to be safe zones for our entire school community – your help is greatly appreciated.
Aspen Grove Mission Statement
Striving for excellence in education and nurturing responsible, caring citizens.
Aspen Grove School Vision:
At Aspen Grove School we value and envision:
We envision a school…
Where staff and students…
are challenged to excel in all areas
are willing to take risks in a supportive and encouraging setting
foster a love of, and a positive attitude towards, learning
are encouraged to commit to being the best that they can be
That is a safe and caring environment where…
physical and emotional well-being are promoted
cultural diversity is respected
individual and collective achievements are recognized, honoured and celebrated
interactions between people, both verbal and nonverbal, are respectful, positive and appropriate
Where student learning is purposeful, inclusive and is…
based on innovative implementation of the curriculum
designed to meet the diverse learning needs of students
assessed through timely methods which are intent on informing and improving student performances through ongoing feedback and reflective teaching practices
Where students are prepared with the knowledge, skills and attitudes, which will provide them with the abilities to…
make informed choices
be self-sufficient and adaptable
become active, positive and confident citizens who are able to apply competencies learned in school to a wide variety of educational and social situations in their communities and in the world
Where staff will collaborate as a true professional learning community where they will be fully engaged in and supportive of…
innovative best practices
common professional terminology
a commitment to student learning
decisions based on information derived from collective inquiry
an environment of mutual respect, tolerance, and support
an atmosphere of collegiality dedicated to building self-assurance
Important Dates:
Tuesday, September 1stFirst Day of School
Monday, September 7thLabour Day (No School)
Friday, September 11thPLC Learning Friday: 11:30am Dismissal
Monday, September 14thFirst day for canteen service for students
Tuesday, September 15th“Positively Me” Parent Night 7:00 – 8:30pm
Thursday, September 17thMeet the Teacher Pizza Night
Friday, September 18thPLC Learning Friday: 11:30am Dismissal
Saturday, September 19thTerry Fox District Fun Run @ Muskoseepi Park (am)
Monday, September 21st Annual General Meeting for School Council @ 6:30pm
Wed/Thurs, Sept. 23rd/24thSchool Picture Days
Friday, September 25thPLC Learning Friday: 11:30am Dismissal
Please be sure to join us for our first general School Council Meeting which will take place on Monday, September 21st at 6:30 pm. This is an opportunity for you to learn more about the involvement of parents in School Council and learn more about Aspen Grove School.
I wish everyone all the best and a great start to the school year. We have an outstanding team at Aspen Grove School and together, with our wonderful families, we will work to make this year the best one yet! By working together, we can ensure that all students have the opportunity to learn, grow and be successful in school and in life.As Pat Riley once said, “great teamwork is the only way to reach our ultimate moments...and fulfill our lives”.
Have a fantastic 2015-2016 school year!
Sincerely,
Mike Humbke – Principal