Christmas at DWA!

Journeys Dynamic. Worldly. Accomplished. In This Issue… November/December 2018 Remembrance Day…...…2-3 Calgary Public Library………….4-5 DWA Out and About.....…...6-7 Safe and Caring Initiatives.…...8-9 DWA Gives Back….....10-11 Christmas at DWA……...12-13 Celebrating More Than 25 Years of inspiring Excellence 2 Remembrance Day It was the 10th anniversary of the Field of McKnight Boulevard, Nichola Goddard Crosses project, and also the 10th year School, and Riley Park, that can help to Delta West Academy students have been remind us of the sacrifices of soldiers. connected with the project. After the students helped raise the col- DWA students spent a beautiful afternoon ours by singing “O Canada”, they con- paying our respects to the fallen soldiers cluded the ceremony with “God Save the of Southern Alberta by placing poppies Queen” followed by a trip to a local legion on the almost 3400 crosses along Memo- for breakfast. Here the students got to sit rial Drive as we have done each year. with veteran members of Canada’s mili- It is a great privilege for our school, and tary or Calgary First Responders, includ- an amazing opportunity for our students ing a member of the military who had to learn about the ultimate sacrifice these been a captain of the Air Force during the men and women paid for our freedom. Cold War and he regaled them with sto- Our students and fantastic parent volun- ries of his plane flying low to buzz Rus- teers helped us make quick work of the sian submarines hiding under the Arctic rows upon rows of crosses. ice. The Calgary Stampede’s official his- torian also spoke at the breakfast about We also had the great honour of attend- the state of Calgary after WWI and how ing a sunrise ceremony for the raising of the Stampede tried to help rally the the colours. The simple, but moving, cer- town’s spirits. emony began with a brief speech about how the city of Calgary remembers their The entire school assembled in the gym veterans beyond the 11 days of remem- on November 9th to honour the memory brance in November. The speaker point- of those who have lost their lives to fight ed out for our freedom. several Calgary Mrs. Morrison and Mrs. Forrester landmarks, including Calgary Public Library The LA 7 class had the chance to attend “When are we coming back to stay and the opening day celebrations of Calga- explore?” asked Aria. ry’s New Central Library in east village, As our enthusiasm for this building was as well as take a private tour! This world only whetted and our expectations were class building is an architectural marvel. surpassed, we will be going back again The 240,000-sq-ft building has five lev- soon! els and contains roughly 600,000 items, an on-site café, study spaces, a perfor- mance hall, Indigenous Placemaking, an The Grade 5/6 Class had their own li- interfaith room, and much, much more. brary experience when they completed As soon as you walk in you are an in-class workshop: Info Investigators. awestruck by the beauty of the architec- This workshop helped them learn to ture and the use of wood and natural navigate the Calgary Public Library web- light. site for resources that will prove useful The children’s area with all of the inter- in any research assignments! active toys and exhibits drew their inter- est, but not as much as the teen area Mrs. Morrison with video games, typewriters, giant chess, and a makers lab where they could drop in for a variety of free work- shops. The only complaint I heard was that we weren’t staying longer. “Wow! This is the most awesome building ever,” said Alex. 5 DWA students love to get out into the community and our students gain so much from the experiences they receive on our various field trips throughout the year! The Grade 7 Science class attended an combined. The students learned about all day field trip to the Agrium Western sustainability in ag- Events Center at the Calgary Stampede riculture. for the Journey 2050 program. Why 2050? This is the year where our “The farming game world population is projected to hit 9 bil- was everyone’s fa- lion people. In order to feed this in- vourite” – Harjot crease of 2 billion people, we will need to produce 60% more food than we Mrs. Forrester have produced in the last 500 years 6 DWA Out and About The ECS students extended their learning of Space by visiting Telus Spark. We had a special opportunity to enter the Dome theatre, where the night sky is projected in front of us on a concave screen. The Dome has such sophisticated technology that it truly feels like you are in space among all of the planets and stars. The class enjoyed feeling like they were astronauts in space for a morning! Students learned stories about the constellations, practiced naming the planets in order, and learned more facts about the sun and moon. After our program, there was ample opportunity for hands on learning as we explored the rest of the science center, such as the Earth and Sky exhibit. The students spent the entire half day inter- acting at Telus Spark. On December 5th the ECS class went on a field trip to Ingle- wood Bird Sanctuary to extend our learning of Winter. On our field trip, students had the opportunity to interact with real animal artifacts such as fur pelts, skulls, feathers, and footprint moldings. Everyone learned about beavers, Cana- da geese and ground squirrels by acting out their daily winter habits! After the classroom portion of the program, we went on a nature walk through the sanctuary. Students played detective and looked for clues about nearby animals. We found coyote tracks, a woodpecker hole, a magpie nest, and saw many birds flying above. The guided outdoor experience was an excellent method for authentically exploring the winter season. Ms. Towill 7 8 Safe and Caring Initiatives Elementary students in Grades 3-6 partici- The Calgary Fire Department also visited pated in a personal safety seminar with DWA, along with our very own Nyrmin— local organization Safe 4 Life, learning Calgary’s Junior Fire Chief, to help us very important skills to empower and build learn about some new initiatives to keep confidence in youth. us safe. Through an in-class workshop students The students had the opportunity to learn learned Safe 4 Life’s ABCD’s. about the most common causes of house • Be Aware of their surroundings and fires, smoke detectors and timelines for avoid risky situations; testing them, and the importance of know- • Have predetermined Boundaries and ing two ways to exit every room in your know their limits; house. • Listen to their gut, and if they have a Ask your child what they took away from Chilly Willy vibe, chances are they the presentation! It’s always a good idea need to avoid the situation; to have a safety plan in place which is • Develop a safety plan and know where why we work with the Calgary Police and they can go or who they can seek out Fire Department to ensure we are pre- should they need help. pared at DWA should there ever be an During our second session, students put emergency. their skills and strategies to the test. They were provided an opportunity to practice their new self-defense skills in a safe and Ms. Dennis and Mrs. Forrester simulated environment. Ask your child to demonstrate some of their new skills! A big thank you to the DWA Foundation for supporting this opportunity for our students. DWA Gives Back To support the Calgary Food Bank, per student, allowing them to earn an DWA students brought in non- extra Very Important Dragon privilege. perishable goods. Student Advisory The Grade 7 class came in second. Council members were in charge of In total, 743 food items were collected! organizing and counting the goods Excellent work, Dragons! brought in per grade. The Grade 2 students brought in the most food items Every year at Christmas, DWA works choice with a $2 donation to our Adopt with various charities to help remind – A-Family. the students that although receiving gifts, like their Secret Santa presents, is great, that this season is also about In total we gifted the family with: giving! As is tradition, DWA was paired • 528 Diapers with a needy family to help bring them • A life Size Piano an amazing Christmas! • New Pajamas To help support this family of 5, stu- • New Microwave dents were asked to bring in gift cards for Toys R Us, Walmart, and Winners. • New Kitchen Mixer The CALM class students then went • A combined $2043 in additional gift shopping with the Toys R Us gift cards! cards to spend on basic needs Students and staff also participated in • Toys for each of the children includ- the charity free–uniform day which al- ing guitars, race cars, books, and lowed them to wear an outfit of their toy cars! 11 Christmas at DWA! The whole school came together for our 26th Annual Christmas Tea, “Peace on Christmas Tea is a full community effort Earth: Christmas with the Superheroes!” at DWA with every student and teacher helping to make it a fun and memorable Ms. Forsch wrote an incredible play that experience! showcased each student and brought to life our performing arts and music pro- grams.

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