M.C. Knoll School Newsletter Tamara Hall - Principal Lori Betge - Vice-Principal

RESPECT, RESPONSIBILITY AND RECOGNITION OF EXCELLENCE January, 2016

From the Principal’s Pen - Mrs. Hall

January - a new year - a time to begin again - a time to start fresh and resolve to do things differently. This January, let’s resolve to:

Complain less and smile more! Find JOY in each day!

Appreciate what we have and share with those who have less

Understand and accept differences, knowing that we are all more alike than not

Spend more time with your family and less time RUNNING from place to place. Read together. Play board games. Laugh together!

Follow the Seattle Fish Market philosophy - Play!, Make Someone’s Day, Choose Your Attitude and Be Present!

Consider change - though sometimes difficult - as an agent to help us learn and grow - as a way to overcome barriers and challenges - as a way to create new opportunities and adventures!

Speaking of change - we want to wish Mrs. Hanson good luck on the big new change in her life. She has started her maternity leave and is getting ready for a wonderful new addition to her family! We want to welcome Mrs. Barbara Johnson to the Kindergarten class. She is excited to join us and can’t wait to meet everyone. Mrs. Johnson brings much experience and a passion and joy for teaching with her!

We are also very excited to welcome Mary Harelkin Bishop, the author who wrote Tunnels of Time series of books. She will be speaking with our Gr. 6 - 8 students on January 27. Many of our students have read her novels and visited the Moose Jaw tunnels which are the setting for her books.

Wednesday, January 27, is Family Literacy Day - take some time to read, read, read!

Sports News

Intramurals: Intramurals are back for Gr. 5 - 8! They are an excellent way to get exercise, improve skills, and, most importantly,

have fun!

Curling: M.C. Knoll will be sending two teams to represent our school at the YESSA Rock’N’Roll Funspiel on Friday,

January 22. All Grade 8 students have the opportunity to sign up.

Badminton: It’s a new year, and that also means it is badminton season! Boys and girls in Grades 7 and 8 have the

opportunity to try out for any of the categories — boys’ singles, girls’ singles, boys’ doubles, girls’ doubles and

mixed doubles later in January. Sixteen Knights will represent our school at the annual badminton

tournament on Wednesday, February 3. As many as 11 schools will be participating. The tournament will take

place at M.C. Knoll/St. Michael’s/Gloria Hayden gyms. Mr. Schendel and Mr. McDowell will coach the squad. GO,

KNIGHTS! GO!

Archery: Archery will be starting this month for grades 4 to 8. There will be a newsletter coming out with more

information.

Why Questions

Answering ‘why’ questions can be a difficult skill for children to gain. It requires them to predict, infer, problem solve, and draw conclusions. If your child is unable to understand ‘why’ questions, try demonstrating the responses for them to see.

For example, ask your child, “Why do you need to keep your hands off the stove when I’m cooking?” If your child is unable to respond, “because it’s hot or because I could burn myself”, then show your child. You could demonstrate that the stove is hot by feeling the steam as water is heating or touching the outside of the oven as something is baking inside.

Here are some ‘why’ questions that can be demonstrated with your child:

Why do we need to wear winter boots in the snow?

Why do you turn the lights on before going into a dark room?

Why would you stop at a stop sign?

Why do you need to look both ways before crossing the street?

Why do you lock the door when you leave the house?

Upcoming Band Dates:

Friday, March 4 Gr. 7 and 8 Mini Retreat at YRHS from 9:00-3:30

Wednesday, March 16 Gr. 7 Band to Regina to Optimist Band Festival

Thursday, March 17 &

Friday, March 18 Thursday Morning Jazz to Brandon Jazz Festival

Monday, April 18 -

Wednesday, April 20 Band portion of the Yorkton Music Festival

Tuesday, May 3 Gr. 6 Band to Regina for Workshop

Monday, May 16 &

Tuesday, May 17 Gr. 8 Band to Moose Jaw Band Festival

Wednesday, June 1 Spring Concert at 7:00 p.m. at Anne Portnuff Theatre

Family Literacy Day - Wednesday, January 27

Please take a picture of your family reading together, and then email or

send the picture to school. We’d love to post the photos to help

celebrate Family Literacy Day!

The following website has some activities and games you can use with

your children to promote a love of reading!

http://www.readwritethink.org/search/?resource_type=72

We will send out more reading ideas and activities in the near future. Stay posted!

Thank you!

We hope you enjoyed our Christmas Concert. We again want to thank all the students and staff for all of the work they did. The songs were lovely, the artwork was inspirational, and the audience was superb! Ms. Stewart, Miss Wagner, Miss Corson did a fabulous job of organizing and planning with the help of Mrs. Rodgerson and Mrs. Hanson. As usual, Mrs. Jarvis and Mrs. Michalchuk did a wonderful job along with their Gr. 8 backstage crew, and the homeroom teachers produced some great songs. Mr. McDowell did a super job of getting us sound and music. Much appreciation goes out to all!

Thanks to your generous ticket purchases for our gingerbread houses, we raised over $500.00 to go to our We Act club. A HUGE thank you must go out to Ethan Kirby and his mom for MAKING the gingerbread houses. They were amazing!

It takes many hands and many hours to make even a simple show come alive. Thank you to all!

January’s Literacy Focus is Questioning

Asking questions help students clarify meaning, deepen understanding of books they are reading and extend understanding. Good readers ask questions before, during and after reading, as it helps them understand what they're reading; readers read with a purpose. Readers “hold” their thinking (retain what she or he is thinking) while reading, so reading comprehension is deepened when readers make a personal connection with the text, and questioning facilitates this. When students question before they read, they activate their prior knowledge, and they may make predictions. Rather than reading

and taking information from a text, the questioning strategy encourages students to ask questions of the author and the text.

Questions for Before Reading: What clues does the title give? What genre? What do you already know? What can we learn? Have we

read other pieces by this author?

Questions for During Reading: What did you understand from what you just read? Do we need to reread? What images can you

visualize? Do we need to stop and check for an unfamiliar word?

Questions for After Reading: What pre-reading questions were answered? What was the main idea of the article? What conclusions

can be made? What is the overall theme of the article? What cause and effect relationship was revealed? Would you recommend

this article to other readers? Why or Why not? Enjoy asking questions!!!

Upcoming Dates Friday, January 8 - Bake Sale at noon. Grade 5 students will be providing baking. Items will be sold for 50 cents

each.

- Fitness Day - count your steps, use your pedometer, take a movement break. Let’s get physical!

Friday, January 22 - Rainbow/Clash Day - wear as many colours as possible!

Wednesday, January 27 - Family Literacy Day

Friday, January 29 GSSD Staff Inservice—NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS

Saturday, February 13 to

Sunday, February 21 WINTER BREAK—NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS (Classes resume on Monday, February 22, Day 1)

No Homework Holidays!

Some of our families are lucky enough to go on a hot holiday in the cold winter months. In the past, we have put much time and energy into preparing homework for students to take with them or to do before they leave. We have found that for many reasons, this is usually NOT successful. Often, children find they don’t have time to do it, or when they come back, the class has followed a teachable moment and has gone in a different direction. Much of our learning now takes place through discussion, inquiry, and group work, and this can’t be pre-packaged into a homework pile. As a result, we would love for you to have a homework-free holiday! We will help your child catch up when you get back, and the learning will be more relevant and timely. Have your children keep a journal, do some reading, and enjoy your break without homework!