February 5, 2022
Dear UA Parents,
I was very excited this morning as I turned on the TV just after 6:00 am to see if I would be able to watch any of the opening ceremonies for the Olympics. My timing was perfect as I was able to see the Olympic flame get lit. Regardless of all the politics that are surrounding these games on so many levels, I am always happy to cheer on our Canadian athletes who have worked so hard for this one shot at an event that only happens every four years. I hope we have the chance to cheer on some amazing performances and hear about some of the great Canadian stories of how our athletes earned their opportunity to represent Canada at these games. The timing of the opening ceremonies was great as it came at the end of the week that we celebrated Lunar New Year at UA.
Our second annual PAX Read-A-Thon was in full swing for our Grade 1-8’s this week. There was a Scholastic Book Fair (thank you Mr. Leclair) that students participated in, literacy activities in the classrooms, and a whole pile of reading at home! At this point, the Read-a-Thon has raised over $8,000 for our new Tinkerspace, and our students have read nearly 900 hours for fun since Friday. As a result of all the hard work our students have put in, the Middle School Lion Leaders put their heads together to suggest a celebratory Home Clothes Day on February 11. They thought it would be fun if ALL UA students came to school as either their favourite author, a character from a book, or in their best comfy reading clothes. Finally a good use for reading socks! The Read-a-Thon is open until midnight on Sunday, so keep up the great work!
Once again, thank you to our families for continuing to take the Daily Health Check before sending students to school, because of your efforts we continue to keep the number of cases low. I am pleased to hear that a number of our 5 to 12-year-olds have started to receive invitations to receive their second dose. This will really help moving forward as we have seen the majority of illnesses in the last few weeks at the Junior and Lower Middle School level. Our Upper Middle and Senior students for the most part have remained healthy since school returned in 2022. Please see a new graphic about what to do if you are sick attached to the newsletter.
Next week we are pleased to have Safer Schools Together presenting to parents on Tuesday, February 8 at 6:30 (more info below). The presentation will be focused on Social Media Awareness, Digital Citizenship, and Cyberbullying, which is a topic that I am sure all parents will find valuable. Additionally, the ISABC Pro-D Day on February 18 has now been made available to parents to participate in. I encourage you to look at the sessions and consider joining in if you are interested in learning about Mental Health topics alongside the UA staff. Lots of great parent education opportunities in the next couple of weeks.
I am going to do my best impressions of an Olympic Athlete this weekend and get out for the first time this season and do some skiing. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.
Yours in education,
Mr. Slinger
