Don’t forget – Next Wednesday, December 17th is our last school day of 2014! We look forward to seeing all of you back in the New Year on Tuesday, January 6.

Lions Gate Winter Performance and Holiday Craft Fair: Thanks to all who joined us at our Winter Performance! It was a fabulous way to kick off the Holiday Season. Special thanks to to all families who who donated items to this year’s Holiday Market and acted as volunteers – your help ensured the smooth running of the program and contributed to its tremendous success!

Holiday Raffle: The raffle tickets for the three art pieces will be drawn by the students on Monday. Hold on to your tickets and stay tuned for the winning numbers!

Safety Seminar with Vancouver Police Department: ​Heather Montgomery from the Vancouver Police Department will be hosting a safety seminar at the Mole Hill gym on Tuesday, December 16th. The presentation for all kindergarten students will begin at 8:45am. Kindly drop off your child at Mole Hill that morning by 8:40am.​  The presentation for Lower Elementary students will begin at 9:20am. They will begin walking to Mole Hill promptly at 9:05am. Kindly drop off your child at Anchor Point that morning by 8:55am.

Donation Drive for Covenant House: Covenant House Vancouver provides food, shelter, clothing and counseling to an estimated 700 street youth living in Vancouver at any given time, young people for whom there is often no one else. Join us in collecting items to donate to Covenant House, to help bring warmth and joy to homeless youth over the holiday season. We will be collecting gently used clothing, toiletries, housewares and other items to be delivered to Covenant House by the Anchor Point Upper Elementary and Adolescent students. Due to space limitations, only certain items can be accepted as donations. Please see the attachment with the Weekly Memo for a complete list of items accepted. If you would like to contribute, kindly drop off your donations at your child’s school until Friday, December 12th. For more information, please visit www.covenanthousebc.org .

Wine-and-Cheese Art Auction: Evening of February 13th – This event will showcase Upper Elementary and Adolescent artwork. Come and bid on a masterpiece!

Elementary Workshop for Parents:  Evening of March 2nd – Greg MacDonald, Director of Elementary Training at the Montessori Institute of San Diego will be at our school to speak to parents about Montessori education with a focus on the needs of the child at the elementary stage of development.

Workshop Series, Digitizing Ourselves to Death: The Richmond Addiction Services Society is hosting a four-week workshop series on problem video gaming. The first night of the series will be January 13, 2015 shortly after school resumes. Please share this information with parties who might benefit from attending. The four evening of events will be held at the Richmond Public Library Brighouse Branch. Participants are to register directly at www.yourlibrary.ca

Supporting our school through amazon.ca purchases: The bookstore page of this website has a direct link to Amazon.ca. Any purchases that are made on the Amazon.ca site through this link will generate revenue towards scholarships and our students’ enrichment funds. This is true for any purchase (not just books!) so long as the entry is from that page. Please let your friends and family know that they can help support our schools through their Amazon.ca purchases through the link on our site. You can access the bookstore without needing to login to the site with a password.

Dismissal Reminder: Please remember to pick up your child promptly at dismissal. The late fee is $10 for each 15-minute interval that a parent is late for pick-up. Please refer to the Parent Handbook for further information. Thank you in advance for your cooperation!

ANCHOR POINT

Vancouver Art Gallery Outing for Upper El and Adolescent Students: On Monday, December 15th, the Upper El and Adolescent students will be visiting the Vancouver Art Gallery and be given a private guided tour on the exhibition The Forbidden City: Inside the Court of China’s Emperors. Fees for this outing will be covered by the Enrichment Fund. Due to the class size and limitation in numbers, we regret we will not be able to accommodate any parent guests.

End of Year Outing for Adolescents: Wednesday, December 17th: The Anchor Point Adolescent students will participate in a special outing to celebrate the last school day of the year. They will be going out for lunch at a local eatery followed by ice skating at Robson Square Ice Rink. If your child has their own ice skates, please ensure that they bring these, along with a proper helmet. Otherwise, please send $4 for skate rental. Helmets are included in the rental. For sanitary reasons, you may wish to bring your own instead. Please also ensure that your child has brought money for lunch and submit your permission form by Monday, December 15th.

End of Year Party for Lower and Upper Elementary Students: Wednesday, December 17th: Lower and Upper Elementary students will be celebrating the last day of school with a community lunch and party. The students have already planned their menu, and will be shopping and cooking for themselves.  A request has been made to deliver Wednesday’s Hot Lunch on Tuesday.

MOLE HILL

Celebrating Mole Hill: Mole Hill will be hosting a gathering at our campus to celebrate the many wonderful times and memories at 1155 Thurlow Street, on Wednesday, December 17, from 3pm to 3:45 pm. All AM and PM families are invited to join us for hot chocolate before we close our door and move to a new classroom. Please RSVP  our teachers should you wish to attend.

NORTH CREEK

Lip Balm: As the weather gets colder, we recognize that your child may need to wear lip balm and may need to bring it to school. If this is the case for your child, please be sure that your child has lip balm (i.e. Burt’s Bees, Chapstick) versus lip gloss (products that are tinted, with fragrance, and/or shiny). Also, please label the lip balm with your child’s name.

Outerwear: With rain season here, we kindly ask to please be sure that your children have hooded jackets or an article of clothing to cover their heads for our power walks and outdoor time. Thank you!

COMMUNITY NOTICES
Wondering what to do on weekends with your children? Here are some ideas below:

28th Annual Festival of Trees -Thursday, November 20th, 2014 to Sunday, January 4th, 2015:  Four Seasons Hotel and Pacific Centre Mall presents “Festival of Trees”, transforming the lobby of the hotel and and the upper level of the Pacific Center Mall into lush forests of brilliantly decorated trees. Raising funds for BC Children’s Hospital, the event sponsors include local business organizations and individuals. They have the honor of decorating these trees in a unique and exciting fashion.Come and vote for your favorite tree. For more details, please click here.

The Forbidden City, Inside the Court of China’s Emperors: Until January 11^th, the Vancouver Art Gallery will be transformed into the court of China’s Emperors for the landmark exhibition. Selected from the vast collections of Beijing’s Palace Museum, the exhibition showcases nearly 200 precious works from the Forbidden City that have rarely been seen outside of China. Organized in nine key sections, the exhibition leads visitors through the realms of the Imperial Palace. For more details, please visit VAG.

Dwellings – From Seabeds to Cityscapes: This exhibition of young people’s art explores where we live and how we inhabit space shapes our experiences, our culture, and even who we are. Investigate how creatures in different habitats interact with the spaces they inhabit, envision the human body as a dwelling space, imagine habitations for people in the future, and delve into many other creative contemplation on where we dwell. The exhibition will take place at 808 Richards Street until March 25^th, 2015. For more information visit ArtStarts in Schools.

Safety Seminar with Vancouver Police Department: ​Heather Montgomery from the Vancouver Police Department will be hosting a safety seminar at the Mole Hill gym on Tuesday, December 16th. The presentation for all kindergarten students will begin at 8:45am. Kindly drop off your child at Mole Hill that morning by 8:40am.​  The presentation for Lower Elementary students will begin at 9:20am. They will begin walking to Mole Hill promptly at 9:05am. Kindly drop off your child at Anchor Point that morning by 8:55am.

Donation Drive for Covenant House: Covenant House Vancouver provides food, shelter, clothing and counseling to an estimated 700 street youth living in Vancouver at any given time, young people for whom there is often no one else. Join us in collecting items to donate to Covenant House, to help bring warmth and joy to homeless youth over the holiday season. We will be collecting gently used clothing, toiletries, housewares and other items to be delivered to Covenant House by the Anchor Point Upper Elementary and Adolescent students. Due to space limitations, only certain items can be accepted as donations. Please see the attachment with the Weekly Memo for a complete list of items accepted. If you would like to contribute, kindly drop off your donations at your child’s school until Friday, December 12th. For more information, please visit www.covenanthousebc.org .

Lions Gate Winter Party – Wednesday, December 10th, 2014 from 1:00pm to 3:30pm: Our Holiday Market will take place in the Exhibition Hall. We will be sending more details on the event in the upcoming weeks. Due to limited space within the Performance Hall, we are requesting families to fill out the attached Reservation Form sent out with our Weekly Memo and return it to the school by Friday, December 5th.  Please be aware that there is NO SCHOOL for preschool students on this day.

Pizza Lunch: Anchor Point students are invited to participate in a pizza lunch on the day of the Winter Party (December 10th). We will be offering delicious, healthy, nut-free pizzas from Rocky Mountain Flatbread Co, served with some fruits/veggies. We are happy to offer a choice of plain cheese or pepperoni pizza. Pizzas will be delivered to the Roundhouse at12:00pm. To order, please fill out the order form, and return with payment by Monday, December 8th, 2014

Holiday Raffle: We will raffle off three art pieces. Each print is made up of thumbprints from students at their respective schools. Please see the attached document for full details. Raffle tickets can be purchased at all three schools starting on Monday, December 1st. Tickets will be $1 for 1, $5 for 3 and $10 for 8. Proceeds will go towards enrichment activities for the students. Please see the attached document for more details and a sneak peak of the art pieces!

Accepting Donations for the Holiday Market: Our holiday market this year will include arts and crafts, in addition to baked goods and other delicious treats. If you would like to contribute to the market, please drop off donations at your child’s school between December 2nd and December 9th, or directly at the Holiday Market on the morning of December 10th. Please note that all proceeds from the holiday market will go toward enrichment programs and activities.

Supporting our school through amazon.ca purchases: The bookstore page of this website has a direct link to Amazon.ca. Any purchases that are made on the Amazon.ca site through this link will generate revenue towards scholarships and our students’ enrichment funds. This is true for any purchase (not just books!) so long as the entry is from that page. Please let your friends and family know that they can help support our schools through their Amazon.ca purchases through the link on our site. You can access the bookstore without needing to login to the site with a password.

Hot Lunch Program: December Hot Lunches are now available for ordering. Kindly note that orders must be placed at least 24 hours in advance.  Just a reminder that ​hot lunches can be ordered anytime during the month. Please make payments as soon as you have a confirmed order. To order online, please visit https://lionsgate.hotlunch.com/plogin.php. If your child has recently transferred from Mole Hill/North Creek to Anchor Point, please remember to update your profile to ensure that lunch is delivered to the right location. If you have any questions, please contact the Hot Lunch Committee.

Dismissal Reminder: Please remember to pick up your child promptly at dismissal. The late fee is $10 for each 15-minute interval that a parent is late for pick-up. Please refer to the Parent Handbook for further information. Thank you in advance for your cooperation!

ANCHOR POINT

Call for Traditional Recipes: The Anchor Point students will be doing some holiday baking in preparation for our Holiday Craft Market on December 10th. We would love to honour our community’s diverse cultural heritage by asking families to share some favourite family recipes. These do not have to pertain to a particular holiday; rather, these should reflect your family’s cultural traditions. We are asking for recipes for goods that do not require any refrigeration. Due to time constraints, we might not be able to use every recipe submitted for our Holiday Craft Market. Leftover recipes will be used in future classroom baking projects.

MOLE HILL

Arrival and Dismissal Reminder: This is a necessary reminder that it is not only important to be prompt to pick up your child at dismissal, but also very important that your child arrives at school on time everyday. The disruption is not only to the classroom, but also on your child’s holistic development. Thank you for being considerate in this matter.

Sick Children: We kindly ask that you keep your child at home. This helps us ensure that the other children stay well. Thank you so much!

Outerwear: As winter is here, please dress your child warmly to school and label all pieces of clothing, including hats, gloves and scarves. Thank you!

Arrival and Dismissal Reminder: This is a friendly reminder that it is not only important to be prompt to pick up your child at dismissal, but also very important that your child arrives at school on time everyday. The disruption is not only to the classroom, but also on the child’s holistic development.

NORTH CREEK

Lip Balm: As the weather gets colder, we recognize that your child may need to wear lip balm and may need to bring it to school. If this is the case for your child, please be sure that your child has lip balm (i.e. Burt’s Bees, Chapstick) versus lip gloss (products that are tinted, with fragrance, and/or shiny). Also, please label the lip balm with your child’s name.

Outerwear: With rain season here, we kindly ask to please be sure that your children have hooded jackets or an article of clothing to cover their heads for our power walks and outdoor time. Thank you!

COMMUNITY NOTICES
Wondering what to do on weekends with your children? Here are some ideas below:

Make It Vancouver: December 6 from 10am to 7pm Sunday, December 7 from 11am to 5pm at PNE Forum, 2901 E Hastings St. Vancouver’s largest independent art, fashion & craft extravaganza is back! Shop for one-of-a-kind handmade items from over 250 of Canada’s hottest urban artisans, designers & crafters.Make It is devoted to creating positive opportunities for artists, crafters & designers. With food carts, a licensed bar and funky music the vibe at the show is very upbeat and fun! For more detail, visit Make It.

28th Annual Festival of Trees -Thursday, November 20th, 2014 to Sunday, January 4th, 2015:  Four Seasons Hotel and Pacific Centre Mall presents “Festival of Trees”, transforming the lobby of the hotel and and the upper level of the Pacific Center Mall into lush forests of brilliantly decorated trees. Raising funds for BC Children’s Hospital, the event sponsors include local business organizations and individuals. They have the honor of decorating these trees in a unique and exciting fashion.Come and vote for your favorite tree. For more details, please click here.

The Forbidden City, Inside the Court of China’s Emperors: Until January 11^th, the Vancouver Art Gallery will be transformed into the court of China’s Emperors for the landmark exhibition. Selected from the vast collections of Beijing’s Palace Museum, the exhibition showcases nearly 200 precious works from the Forbidden City that have rarely been seen outside of China. Organized in nine key sections, the exhibition leads visitors through the realms of the Imperial Palace. For more details, please visit VAG.

Dwellings – From Seabeds to Cityscapes: This exhibition of young people’s art explores where we live and how we inhabit space shapes our experiences, our culture, and even who we are. Investigate how creatures in different habitats interact with the spaces they inhabit, envision the human body as a dwelling space, imagine habitations for people in the future, and delve into many other creative contemplation on where we dwell. The exhibition will take place at 808 Richards Street until March 25^th, 2015. For more information visit ArtStarts in Schools.