Welcome to

Thank you to all the students and parents for supporting our Read - A - Thon! The

students raised $7 454.10. This money has been used to support our Winter Fun Day at

Muskoseepi Park and for the Nighthawk Day for grades 4 - 8.

When you visit the school this month, make sure you check out the emoji’s in the

gathering area! Each of our students has a special emoji with compliments written just for

them. This project celebrates each of our wonderful students!

Have a great month!

Mrs. Janice Barrett,

Vice Principal

D ER EK T A YL OR P U B L I C S C H OO L 7321-104A Street

Grande Prairie, Alberta

T8W 0E9

Phone: 780 - 357 - 9174

Website: www.gppsd.ab.ca/school/derektaylor

D E R E K TAY L O R

P U B L I C S C H O O L F e b r u a r y 2 7 , 2 0 1 8

Volume 2, Issue 7

DEREK TAYLOR PUBLIC S CHOOL

Grade 5 and 6 Basketball

Grade 5 Girls

Grade 6 Boys

Grade 5 Boys

Each of our grade 5 and 6 basketball teams had a great tournament this past weekend. They showed great teamwork, had positive attitudes and they all played their best! Junior high basketball pictures will be in the March Classroom Connection!

Grade 6 Boys

DEREK TAYLOR PUBLIC S CHOOL

Family Fun Night Thank you Parent Council for hosting a very successful Game Night at school. There was a great turnout with lots of activity both in the gym and upstairs in the gathering area. What a great activity for families during a long stretch of cold weather!

PUF preschool students and parents enjoyed a valentine's movie night this month. Students participated in a variety of activities including creating their money and movie tickets, purchasing their treats, moving through an obstacle course and then snuggling with their parents during the movie with their teddy bears and blankets!

Mrs. Heath’s Pre-school

Three of Derek Taylor students benefited from the Tri-District Charity. This charity raises money each year to aid students in a way specific to their needs. Since 1999, the event has benefited more than 200 kids.

Mrs. Radench’s Pre-school

In February Pre-K 1 embraced the spirit of friendship in play. New friends were made this month with preschool peers and older peers. Jason from grade 7 has become a leader during play centre modelling sharing, taking turns and modelling play language.

Kindergarten

This month we have been learning about the letters Oo, Qq, Gg, and Ss. We have also been exploring all of the different things that make each and every one of us unique!

1H, 2A & 2N

The grade one and two students celebrated 100 days of school this year on February 16th. The grade one students dressed up as if they were 100 years old and had a visit from Zero the Hero. They spent the day working through a variety of centers. The grade twos began the day with a sausage and pancake breakfast. They built 100 piece puzzles and made hats. The grade one and two students also wrote over 100 reasons why they love being at Derek Taylor!

3D

This month in 3L Science, we built and tested a variety of structures from various materials. We tested strength, stability, and different designs. The students enjoyed the "hands on" centers to test their knowledge, theories, as well as, learn about famous structures around the world!

As part of our Building and Design unit in Science, Students in 3D creatively built rollercoasters incorporating at least three thrill elements. Three successful attempts meant the rollercoaster was safe for the fair!

3L

4S

This week we have been learning about inferring. Students are using clues and their prior knowledge to make conclusions. Today they were working in groups, each group was

given a pair of shoes that they were to use to infer something about the owners. They were then given a picture of the person that might wear them, to now infer further about

the person’s life, job etc. Their last clue was a piece of text, describing a part of the person’s life. They were then asked to infer the person’s character. The students worked

well together to try to bring their own prior knowledge together with the clues to come up with a conclusion together on what their items represented, and why they believed that.

Grade 4s are watching a video to introduce them to the new Social Studies unit. We will be moving on to learning about the history of Alberta and the making of our province. The video is called Canada: The Story of Us. This is a series we will be watching part of throughout our unit.

4/5C

5/6D

Miss Chelsey St. Amour joined our class on February 5 and she will be with us for nine weeks learning to be a teacher. This month students have been working together to learn collaboration skills like cooperation, conflict resolution and consensus.

6C

Grade 6 celebrated their learning about Ancient Athens with a Greek day. They wrote their names in Greek, had a mock Olympics in gym, made Olympic torches and most stu-dents dressed in togas for the day! This was such a great day for the grade 6 students!

700

As an introduction to the four quadrants of the Cartesian plane 701 is plotting fruit on a graph. First they ordered various fruits from untasty to tasty and then they ordered the fruits from easiest to eat to most difficult. They discovered that a Cartesian plane is a clear way to communicate both ideas at the same time!

The 700 class has been celebrating the Winter Olympics by spending much time outside doing activities such as Cross Country Skiing and

Snowshoeing.

701

800

In grade 8 we are reading the novel The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. In the novel there are two rival gangs, the Socs and the Greasers. Each group had a place they called their own. The grade eights had to use three-dimensional materials to design the perfect hangout for themselves and their friends.

ISC-B Students were engaged in new learning strategies for math activities. They were enjoying working in the classroom and throughout the school with several unique tools.

We have been continuing to observe and grow plants in our Tower Garden. While struggling to get some seeds started, students have been excited to see what they can get growing. Beans, cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes are all doing well. Students are learning to monitor pH and add appropriate nutrients so that the seedlings are successful. Students have been excited to try the plants, and have been hand pollinating flowers to ensure they fruit!

ISC-J

No Canteen No Canteen No Canteen

DEREK TAYLOR PUBLIC S CHOOL

Winter Fun Day: K - 3

The kindergarten to grade 3 students spent a fabulous active day in the snow at Muskoseepi Park. Snowshoeing, tobogganing, hot chocolate, skating on the pond—it was a great way to have fun with all this snow! Thank you to all the parents who came out to make this day possible. We had about 35 volunteers!

DEREK TAYLOR PUBLIC SCHOOL

Cheques need to be made out to

Trisha Duby.