We want and need to hear your voice!  

Participate in our online survey and special meeting at 10am next week to provide feedback. An email was sent on Wednesday all about the survey and special parent meeting. Here is a recap: 

  • Participate in our short, 30–45-minute virtual special parent meeting at 10AM on March 13, 2025, to learn more about school planning, budget and fees. There will be an opportunity to provide feedback at this meeting.   Teams Meeting link 
  • Share your perspectives through an online survey open from March 3rd to March 31st Survey link 

Online Student Learning Conferences  

Student Learning Conferences will occur:   

Grades 1– 4: Thursday, March 20th 4:30-8:00 pm; Friday, March 21st 8:45am-1:00 pm 

Kindergarten (Lynn & Fero): Thursday March 20th 8:45–12:30, 1:00–3:30, 4:30–8:00 pm; March 21st 8:45am-1:00 pm

Kindergarten (Kinsey): Thursday March 20th 8:45–12:30, 1:00–3:30, 4:30–8:00 pm

(No School for any Kindergarten students on Thursday, March 20th).  

Mr. Choate, Mrs. Wright and Mr. Vooys will have some availability online for parents who have concerns in any of our specialized programs. All three teachers will reach out to families who they would like to connect with as well. Please feel free to book with them to discuss any concerns in Discovery, Enrichment, Physical Education or Music classes.  

Conference bookings will open to all parents Saturday, March 15th at 8:00 am through your MyCBE/Powerschool account and will close Thursday March 20th at noon for Grades 1-4 students and will close to kindergarten families Wednesday March 19th at 6 pm.    

Should you need to book or adjust a booking after the closing time, please contact the office at 403-777-6244 and dial 0.     

How to Book a School Conference:  

1. Log-in to MyCBE / PowerSchool     

If you do not have an account, follow the Create a MyCBE Account  instructions (included below).    

2. Click on the My School Conferences icon.    

3. Choose the conference that applies to your child from the drop-down menu.    

4. Choose your child’s teacher.    

5. Click on the time slot that is available and convenient for you. Ensure pop-up windows are allowed.    

6. In the pop-up window, you will choose your child (you have the option to enter the student's name), the name of the parent / guardian is pre-filled, but can also be changed.     

Create a MyCBE/PowerSchool Account    

1. Go to www.cbe.ab.ca/mycbe and click on the “Create Parent Account” link.    

Important: the email that you are using to create your account must be the same one you have provided to the school. If you are unsure, please contact the school office.    

2. Once you have created an account, you will receive a confirmation email.     

3. After your account is confirmed, you can login to the system.    

Music Notes 

Hello West Springs Families, 

I hope you're enjoying the mostly spring-like weather. Here is some choir news, and a few of the learning highlights from the past few weeks: 

Choir-We will resume Grade 3/4 choir on Monday, March 10. We'll meet weekly on Mondays during lunch recess and will perform in late April at the storytelling evenings that the kids are preparing with visiting artist Jeff Stockton. If your child was part of the choir in November/December and they still want to be in choir, that's great, I won't be sending home a second permission slip. If your child wants to be in choir and wasn't part of choir earlier this year, I can give them a permission slip to bring home to you. More details about the performance will be shared with families in April.  

Grade 1/2 choir will also start in the next few weeks, I will send home permission slips with interested students next week.  

Grade 4: Working on perfecting C, F, and Am chords on ukulele while accompanying a variety of play-along songs on YouTube. Learning a bit about Reggae music, Bob Marley, and playing along with "Lively Up Yourself". Learning about the history of Rock n' Roll, by connecting the Blues, Boogie Woogie (fast, lively piano blues), Rock n' Roll (Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode"), The Beatles, and later bands like Queen. Learning that each generation is inspired by the music it listens to, and adds their own flavour to the music they know, which results in changes and/or improvements. 

Grade 3: Over the last month, inspired partly by Black History Month, we've been digging into some of the genres of music invented by Black people in North America. We've learned about jazz, the instruments in a jazz band, and swing feel, and listened to Richard Tee's "Strokin", a jazz song with a particularly exciting piano solo. If you search for "Richard Tee Strokin" on YouTube, it's a concert from 1990 that will show up as one of the first few links; the piano solo starts at about 2:00. I'm pleased that the kids really enjoyed it. Each class listened to another song or two of modern jazz music from different performers, including Vulfpeck, Cory Wong, and Sungazer. This week we started to learn about spirituals, which were written by slaves, and often had coded double meanings, and sang the spiritual "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" and accompanied the song with borduns on the xylophones and metallophones.  

Grade 2: I was impressed with how the Grade 2s sung and played in the sharing assembly a few weeks ago! After the performance, we did a self-assessment on how well each student knew the notes and words in the songs we sang. Over the last few weeks, we've been working on adding xylophone accompaniment to several songs including folk song "Whistle, Daughter, Whistle", and each class helped write a few lines of lyrics to finish the song. We've listened to Tchaikovsky and most classes watched a few dances from The Nutcracker. 

Grade 1: We've been practicing accurately listening to and reading So-Mi melodies using felt staffs and notes and have been learning the rest of the song "Lean on Me", a sweet song about friendship that we started to learn before the Christmas break. We finished listening to Bach's "Concerto for Oboe and Violin" and discussed how the oboe and violin take turns playing the melody, and the other instruments play harmony to make the song feel full. We also looked at how some songs are very simple and only have one section, like "Tick Tock", and other songs like "Lean on Me" have multiple sections that are different from each other musically.  

Kindergarten: We've been learning and practicing the song "Animals (In Our Neighbourhood)", which we'll be performing at the Kindergarten Sharing Assembly next week. We've practiced several different animal sounds and have been playing several music games like "Doggie, Doggie" and "Angry Zookeeper", where the kids move like animals to music and freeze when the music stops. 

Have a wonderful weekend, 

Mr. Peter Vooys 

WSSDA Moms Night Out – March 13th 

Ready to take a trip down memory lane? Join us for the ultimate Moms Night Out at our 90s Trivia Night! 

This event promises a night full of fun, laughter, and nostalgia as we test your knowledge of all things 90s. With exciting trivia, a welcoming atmosphere, and fantastic prizes, it’s the perfect chance to unwind and relive the best decade ever! 

Here’s what’s included in your ticket: 

  • Admission to the 90s Trivia Night 
  • A welcome drink to kick off the evening 
  • Delicious appetizers to keep you fueled up 
  • A night packed with fun, trivia, and raffles featuring amazing prizes like: 
  • Relaxing massages 
  • Free groceries 
  • A professional photo session 
  • And much, much more! 

But hurry—tickets are going fast, and you won’t want to miss out on all the fun! 

Get your tickets today before they’re gone! Home | West Springs West Ridge Fundraising 

Looking forward to seeing you there and reliving the best of the 90s together! 

Your WSSDA Team   

On the Horizon: 

  • March 8 International Women’s Day 
  • March 11, 12 Grade 3 TELUS Spark Fieldtrip (students will attend 1 day only) 
  • March 12 Fun lunch for Monday/Wednesday Kindergarten Students (A & W) 
  • March 13 Celebration of learning Tuesday/Thursday kindergarten students 2:45 pm Floor seating only!
  • March 13 Fun lunch (A & W); Spirit Day will be Inside Out Day (wear your clothes inside out!) 
  • March 13 Learn and Share | School Planning Special parent meeting 10 am Teams Link 
  • March 14 Celebration of learning Monday/Wednesday kindergarten students 12:00 pm Floor seating only!
  • March 14 Holi 
  • March 14 Pi Day 
  • March 15 Conference manager opens to parents at 8:00 am 
  • March 19 Catch up vaccinations (school nurse will have already been in touch with those families who will receive their vaccinations) 
  • March 19 Conference manager closes to kindergarten families at 6:00 pm 
  • March 20 Conference manager closes to Grade 1-4 families at noon 
  • March 20 Spring Equinox 
  • March 20 and 21 Online School Learning Conferences 
  • March 20 No school for kindergarten students 
  • March 21 No school for all students 
  • March 24-28 Spring Break – school is closed 
  • March 31 Classes resume