Carnaval is here — a signature celebration of French culture in Canada! It’s not too late for families to sign up to volunteer, and your support helps ensure a rich and meaningful cultural experience for our students. Thank you to those who have already volunteered.

Due to weather conditions, we have had to adjust some activities this week, as building ice castles is not possible. If you had signed up to volunteer on Tuesday, we would be grateful if you would consider volunteering instead for our Sports Day on Friday.

Tracing its roots back to the habitants of New France, who gathered to celebrate before Lent, the Carnaval de Québec has grown into the largest winter festival in the Western Hemisphere. This ten-day event is anchored by the beloved Bonhomme Carnaval — a seven-foot-tall snowman who officially receives the keys to the city each year to lead the festivities.

Below are some updates for the upcoming week.

Upcoming Dates and Events

  • Feb 2 - 6           Carnaval (See # 1 below)
  • Feb 3                  Trickster Theatre Production Second Showing (See #2 below)
  • Feb 4                  Winter Walk Day (See #9 below)
  • Feb 5                  Elboya Open House (See #3 below)
  • Feb 12 -13      Teacher Staff Convention – No school
  • Feb 16               Family Day – No school
  • Feb 26               Fun Lunch - Healthy Hunger – OPA!
  • Feb 27               Non-Instructional Day – No School
  • Mar 10               Parent Council Hybrid Meeting 7PM for all

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 1.   Carnaval 

Carnaval d’hiver 2026 is here!  This will be 5 days packed full of fun and exciting French-Canadian traditions, fun for all! The week schedule is as follows, and we are grateful for all of the volunteers who have come forward. The success of this week would not happen without your help. 

  • Monday Feb. 2 –  Activity day
  • Tuesday Feb. 3 – Banner competition (Castle building – postponed due to a Weather delay)
  • Evening: Trickster Showing (6 PM- 7 PM online – see #2 below)
  • Wednesday Feb. 4 – la Tire/ Sugar Shack
  • Thursday Feb. 5 – Folklofolie  
  • Friday Feb. 6 – Sports day (10 -11:30)

Castle building blocks that are ready to be shared will need to be kept in your freezer for  just a little bit longer.  If you have been collecting milk jugs, it would be a great time to fill them with water with the kids and have them freeze outside or in your freezer over the weekend. You make these by spraying the inside of 2 L cardboard milk containers with PAM spray before filling them with colored water. We cannot use any ice blocks that come in plastic containers as they are too difficult and awkward to cut.

DO NOT put toys, glitter, food, beads, etc. in the blocks; we want to protect our environment and the animals in our school yard.

For now, we are hoping to host this event with an improvement in our snow conditions. Snow is the glue for the ice blocks, and our resident expert, Doug Dunlop, has indicated that conditions are not appropriate for these builds. We will continue to monitor, and a timely message will be shared when we are able to host this event. Stay tuned.

2.   Trickster | Feb. 3 6 pm – 7 pm

If you could not attend our Winter Celebration in December or you would like to have a second view of our Trickster Theatre production, we are going to host an online event for the evening of February 3, 2026. We will present our video online beginning at 6:00 PM (There is no in person presentation). The first portion will be the two videos of our AM and PM Kindergarten classes and then the whole show to follow as was done in November.

Here is the link for the event:

Microsoft Teams meeting

Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/22606058091010?p=RF957s8z8F0CKlsbsD

Meeting ID: 226 060 580 910 10

Passcode: vm23pK9B

This opportunity is being provided in response to folks indicating that they could not make the event in December.

3.   Elboya’s Open House | Feb. 5 at 6 pm

William Reid families are welcome to attend this information session about Elboya School.  For more information, please visit our website: https://elboya.cbe.ab.ca/open-house.  Looking forward to meeting incoming families.

Mme Avdicos
Principal, Elboya School

4.   Inform | Kindergarten Registration 2026-27

Current Kindergarten students who are enrolled at WRS will be automatically enrolled into grade 1 for next year except for any students who live outside of the school boundaries. You do not need to attend the Open House as well.

New students to CBE must be registered through School Engage. New Kindergarten registrations for the next school year (2026-27) close on Thursday, Feb. 10, at noon.  A reminder that registration does not guarantee entry as we are a lottery school, and registration is not first-come, first-served. Children can be registered for kindergarten if they turn five years old on or before Dec. 31. 2026.  Please find more information on the  Registration page.

5.   William Reid 2025-2026 Yearbook

Order your 2025-2026 Yearbook now! The yearbook is a valuable keepsake which captures memories and key moments throughout the school year. The book contains 32 color pages and features a custom cover created by one of our students – more details to come for this year’s cover contest in February!

Our Yearbook ID code is 14464826

6.   School Council | Next Council meeting, February 10, 2026

We would like to thank Danisha Bhaloo-Shivji for stepping into the role of School Council Chair. Danisha is bringing Board experience to our team. We would also like to thank Tiffany Ward for her supports through the transition, particularly chairing our meeting on Tuesday.

We have several open volunteer roles on William Reid School Council and the William Reid School Fundraising Society (WRSFS) — we’d love your help!

  • Fundraising Society President — Help lead the Fundraising Society by leading meetings, supporting fundraising initiatives and ensuring compliance. Holds signing authority.
  • Naturalization Lead — Coordinate a few annual garden clean‑ups and organize the summer watering schedule for the school’s naturalization and garden areas.
  • Jacket Racket Coordinator — Support Calgary families by organizing the school-wide collection of jackets and other winter items; minimal time commitment with meaningful impact. Parents, please mark children's clothing with your family name...

These roles are not overly time consuming but are crucial to the organization and success of Parent Council. Please contact wrchair@gmail.com with your interest.

7.   Healthy Hunger Special Lunch Volunteers

Our next Healthy Hunger fun lunch day is on February 26, 2026 – Opa – Deerfoot Meadows. The Saturday prior is the last day to get your orders in! Order here: https://healthyhunger.ca/

Thank you to all the Volunteers that have signed up to help organize and distribute food!

If you’d like to volunteer for fun lunch food distribution days, sign up here:

Healthy Hunger Volunteer Sign Up

8.   Do you have few hours to spare mid‑day?

We are looking for a person to help fill occasional vacancies over the lunch hours. Being a Casual Paid Lunchroom Supervisor at William Reid is very rewarding—you’ll connect with students and community, get some fresh air walking to the school, and enjoy a short break from home. And yes, it even comes with a bit of extra income.

Worried about commitment? Prefer to work only at William Reid? No problem - this is a very flexible casual position.  If you, a parent, a grandparent, or neighbor is interested, please contact Mr. Jay at the office: 403-777-6940.

9.   Winter Walk | February 4, 2026

February 4 is winter walk day! Get outside and enjoy some fresh air while taking a walk around Calgary. It is important to stay active outdoors during the winter. Bundle up and get out there!

 10.  Soft Entry | Support for transition to school

At William Reid, we offer a soft entrance start time to support student success and smooth transitions into learning. Families may drop off students beginning at 7:50 a.m., giving children time to settle in, get organized, and be seated and ready to learn by 8:02 a.m.

This structure helps maximize learning time and reduces disruptions for students and classrooms. When students arrive late, students do not experience the calm of knowing what is going to happen for the rest of their day.  Late arrivals can also interrupt the flow of learning for the student, the class, and the teacher.

We recognize that attendance concerns can reflect other challenges families may be facing, and we are always here to support. Thank you for your partnership in helping your child—and all our students—thrive.

Ongoing Fundraising Links

We have several ongoing ways that parents can contribute to our school financially throughout the year.

If you return your empty bottles to the Depot mentioned above and let them know that you would like your refund to be donated to the William Reid, the funds will come directly to the school. 

 

“Learning another language is not only learning different words for the same things but learning another way to think about things.”
Flora Lewis