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Paula Jordan, Principal Erin McAstocker, Vice-Principal

http://rosedale.sd33.bc.ca | Tel: 604-794-7124 | | Fax: 604-794-7872 | http://rosedale.sd33.bc.ca paula_jordan@sd33.bc.ca erin_mcastocker@sd33.bc.ca

December 2017

Principal’s Message

I am always amazed at how quickly the days go by. The season of snowflakes, twinkling lights, hot chocolate and peppermint is upon us.

Over the past few months I have marveled at the members of our PAC. For their dedication, service and overall care for all of our students here at RTCS. We would like to say “thank-you” for the many opportunities that they provide. From the daily breakfast program, book exchange, Portraits with Santa, and fundraising……it all makes an incredible difference to our school community. We are so grateful for this amazing group of parents.

It is hard to believe that December is here and we have wrapped up Term 1! Your children have been making some great strides in their learning. We are very proud of their results, as many of you must have been or will be when you read their report cards. Just a quick reminder that we do need those report card folders returned to the office.

During the month of December, there are a number of fun-filled activities that have been planned: the Annual Turkey Shoot, Canned Food Drive, Elementary Christmas Concert, Middle School Music Performances, Aboriginal Family and Friends Dinner, Middle School Skate, and School Wide Christmas Assembly. In addition to all of this, students and staff are remaining focused on academics. During the week of December 11th, Middle School Interim Reports will go home for those students who are missing work and/or are below 60% in one or more of their classes. Wow! That is a lengthy list with only three weeks remaining until the break. I am hopeful that over the coming weeks you are able to slow down and enjoy the special moments of this season. On behalf of the Staff at Rosedale Traditional Community School, we would like to wish everyone a safe and restful Christmas surrounded by family and friends.

Take care,

Mrs. Paula Jordan, Principal.

Winter

“Oh the weather outside can be frightful!” Please send your child with a jacket and other appropriate warm clothing, as the weather turns colder. We will be outside at recess and lunch on most days and want to ensure that everyone is dressed comfortably.

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Rosedale Traditional Community School Newsletter – December 2017

Yearbook Reminder

December 1 …… End of Term 1 (K-6) …… Gr. 7-9 “Decades” Dance

December 4 …… Start of Term 2 (K-6) …… Canned Food Drive Begins (Dec. 4-15)

December 6 …… Poinsettia & Purdys Fundraiser Pick Up Day (1:30-2:30) in the Multi-Purpose Room

December 8 …… Gr. 7-9 Term 1 Success Assembly …… Gr. K-9 Casual Day for a Cause ($2.00)

December 11-14 …… Gr. 7-9 Interim Report Week

December 13 …… Gr. 7-9 Band Concert (12:45 p.m.)

December 14 …… Aboriginal Family & Friends Christmas Dinner & Craft Night (5:00 – 7:30 p.m.)

December 15 …… Div. 56P Trip (Chilliwack Curling Club) …… K-6 Term 1 Report Cards Issued …… Canned Food Drive Ends

December 18-22 …… Christmas Spirt Week (K-9) …… Turkey Shoot Week (K-9)

December 18 …… Div. 2, 23, & 3 Trip (Petey’s Country Xmas)

December 19 …… Div. K & K1 Trip (Petey’s Country Xmas)

December 20 …… K-6 Christmas Concert (12:45 & 6:30 p.m.)

December 22 …… Casual Friday (K-9) …… Turkey Shoot Finals (K-9 Assembly / a.m.) …… Div. 45, 56C, 56J & 56P Trip (Swimming @ Leisure Centre) …… Gr. 7-9 Skating @ Prospera Centre

December 25 – January 5 …… Christmas Holidays

January 8, 2018 …… School Re-Opens

UPCOMING EVENTS

Just a reminder that there is still time to order your school yearbook early. The cost of the Yearbook is currently $40.00 if you order from the school office and pay before December 22nd. The price will increase to $45.00 after December 22nd. Last year a number of students were unable to purchase a book in June due to any extra copies being sold out.

Scholastic Book Fair

Grade 7-9 Band Concert

Our Grade 7-9 Band Concert will be held on Wednesday, December 13th at 12:45 p.m. in the Multi-Purpose Room. Band students are required to wear their RTCS black polo shirt, black dress pants, and dark shoes. We hope you will be able to join us.

Thank you to the Rosedale students and the community for participating in the Scholastic Book Fair at our school. The winner of the "Family Event Door Prize" was Sophie Green. She received $25.00 worth of merchandise from the fair, and her classroom teacher, Mrs. Maarhuis also received $25.00 in merchandise for their classroom. Thanks to your generous support, we were able to raise over $3,100.00 worth of resources for our school library. Please remember that the Library accepts your scholastic book orders throughout the year, and every order that goes through the Library, supports the entire school population. Once again, thank you for your support.

Elementary Christmas Concert

Our Elementary Christmas Concerts will be held on Wednesday, December 20th, in the gymnasium. The afternoon performance will begin at 12:45 p.m. and the evening performance at 6:30 p.m.

We hope you will be able to join us.

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Rosedale Traditional Community School Newsletter – December 2017

SPIRIT WEEK AT RTCS

Skating – December 22

Interim Reports Interim Reports for Grade 7-9 students will arrive

home during the week of December 11th – 15th. If your student is in Grades 7-9 and is achieving at or under 60%, an Interim Report will arrive in the mail.

CSS Transition Plan

Our Leadership Class has planned a themed Spirit Week for the week of December 18 – 22. All RTCS students (K-9) are encouraged to show their school spirit and participate.

The themes for the week are:

Monday -- Pajama Day Tuesday -- Twin Tuesday Wednesday -- Ugly Sweater Day Thursday -- Formal Day (Grade. 7-9 Soc Hop in Tutorial) Friday -- Casual Day

Elementary Ski Passes

Sasquatch Mountain Resort (previously known as Hemlock Valley Resort) is offering and has provided us with free Lift Tickets for elementary (K-6) children ages 6-12. The tickets are a one day Child Day Ticket to be used at their leisure. Each elementary student will receive a ticket with their first Term Report Card.

Thank you to Sasquatch Mountain Resort for providing our elementary students with this skiing/snowboarding opportunity.

On Friday, December 22nd our Grade 7—9 students will be participating in our annual school skate at Prospera Centre. All Grade 7-9 students will need to bring a lunch from home that day as the school cafeteria will be closed. It is mandatory that all students wear a helmet or bicycle helmet while on the ice. Outside shoes are not allowed on the ice – skates only. Skate rental is available at Prospera Centre for a cost of $4.00 – paid directly to the Prospera skate rental facility. Permission forms will be sent home soon with all Grade 7-9 students. If your child will not be attending that day, we request that you please contact the school office by telephone, or send a note to the school with your son/daughter.

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Rosedale Traditional Community School Newsletter – December 2017

RTCS PAC December News

Reminder……. All Poinsettia and Purdys orders are to be picked up on Wednesday, December 6th from 1:30 --2:30 p.m. in the cafeteria. Please mark this on your calendar and send yourself a reminder.

Thank you to everyone that has supported the PAC through our fundraisers and to everyone that has supported the Breakfast program by giving donations and volunteering your time.

Current Donations: School District #33 - $200.00 Adams Freight Forwarding - $100.00

Thank you for your donations!

The Breakfast Program is in desperate need of Volunteers! Younger siblings are welcome to come along and they are also welcome to have breakfast during your volunteer time. Times would be 7:10 – 8:10 a.m. You pick the days you would be available to volunteer. Any help is greatly appreciated! Check it out: RTCS Breakfast Program on Facebook.

A big “Thank You” to: Mrs. Jordan, Ms. McAstocker, Ms. Ware, Mrs. McKay, and Ms. Denny for all your help! All the ladies and gentlemen that have volunteered with the breakfast program, picking up groceries,

and other errands. To all the individuals, families, and businesses that have donated to the breakfast program for the past

year! Greatly appreciated!

Reconfiguration Information – Information regarding Grade Reconfiguration is now posted on the School District #33 Website: sd33.bc.ca. Up-to-date Information is available and is now listed on the right side of the page for people to be able to access quickly.

“Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!”

RTCS PAC, Kim Karr, PAC President kim_karr@sd33.bc.ca Join us on Facebook: Rosedale Traditional Community School PAC

let's plalet's play andy and learn numberslearn numbersTThursdahursdayy, dec 14, 12 pm - 2 pm, dec 14, 12 pm - 2 pm

Let's Play and Learn Numbers is a fun, play-filled programwith hands on number games and activities that can be

carried out at home. With inexpensive materials andequipment, participants can play, discover and learn for the

love of numbers.

The Raven Gazette Rosedale Traditional Community School

Welcome to the Raven Gazette!

This is the first edition of our newspaper so far. We are proud to finally have it

published after hours of writing, planning, and editing. We hope to inspire , en-

tertain, encourage and inform all of our readers. We want to really get our

readers thinking. Writing has always been a passion of ours, and I hope this in-

spires some of you to write too. Some of the content is not immediately rele-

vant because this is only our first edition, and we are trying to cover October

and November. Thankyou for reading, we hope you enjoy it!

School events (upcoming)

-Career day-November 30, 2017

-Term ends K-6-December 1

-Interim report week 7-9-december 11-15

-Christmas concert-December 13

-last day before Christmas Holidays-December 22

(November 29th, 2017)

The Raven Gazette.

The October/November

Edition.

Co-editors and writers: Emily Haukeland

and Indigo Mielke.

Photographer: Courtney Colley

Add to our team, the newspaper is look-

ing for people to write, photograph, illus-

trate or interview. The day to sign up will

be announced.

The RTCS Fashion Show

I write this piece as an observer. As an observer, I

did not expect the Fashion show to be anything

like it was. I walked in clutching my note-pad,

asking myself how I was going to turn something

boring into an interesting article. I was surprised

to find that I was not bored. Not at all.

A lot of work had clearly gone into this. We are

no doubt in need of thanking the judges, Ms.

Chen, Mr. Bartel, and Ms. Macastocker. Every-

one who participated should be acknowledged for

being courageous enough to go up on stage. We

cant forget about all of the backstage help either.

Congratulations to all of the winners , and I apol-

ogise to all of the students watching that suffer

from coulrophobia, (fear of clowns).

I sat in my chair, waiting for the show to start. I

felt, heard, and saw the energy shift as the music

came roaring on. Excitement and anticipation

flooded the air.

Music has an astounding way of affecting your

brain and your mood. Certain music can even

improve your physical health and help cope with

anxiety or depression. Our brains naturally decide

if a song is happy or sad, but different parts of

our brains react to different moods in songs. After

listening to music, some people can more easily

interpret someone’s facial expression.

The music played at the Fashion show had a

strong beat, which noticeably affected the audi-

ence. The way the music went hand in hand with

the movement of the lights really made it a more

enjoyable experience. The crowd got more in-

volved with the music playing, I am very glad I

got the chance to write about this. Save for some

mature content, the coordinators of the produc-

tion did an exceptional job.

when you forget to study...

Suddenly, as the bus started rolling forward,

I felt panic shoot through my body. I realized

I was having a math test first thing and I for-

got to study the night before, like I was told

to do! I had left my binder in my locker the

previous day, completely neglecting my

study materials. I swallowed nervously,

looked out the window and hoped for the

best.

The bell rang as I sat at my desk, blindly

staring towards the front of the classroom.

Slowly, people started showing up, no doubt

prepared unlike I was. I caught myself chew-

ing my nails, and pulled my hand away.

Once everyone was in their seats, ready to

begin, our teacher kindly greeted us. I waited

for announcements, respectfully listened, and

once that was over, I turned my attention to

the teacher.

First he reminded us what we did last class,

then we went over a few new problems to

refresh our memory, and finally told us that

he was going to re-postpone the test for next

class. Then– postpone the test! I sat up sud-

denly to find my mouth in an ear to ear grin.

We ended up doing another sheet and after

school that day, right before I closed my

locker, I grabbed the handle of my binder

and headed to the stairs. I repeated the same

thing to myself over and over and over.

Remembrance Day and War

I think that often, we underestimate the importance of

remembering. Remembering the soldiers that fought,

and are still fighting, as well as remembering the peo-

ple who suffered because of war. Maybe even lost

their lives. My wish is that we could remember each

and every individual person, and that we could some-

how find a better understanding of what they did for

us.

Most people think of remembrance day as a time to

remember people who fought in the first world war,

the second world war, and the Korean war. But there

are people fighting now. There are Canadians fighting

for other countries as well as our own.

But why does war have to exist? It doesn't . War is

extremely unnecessary. There are too many unneces-

sary deaths. Too many wasted resources. Too much

fear and too much pain. If war makes us lose so much

more that we gain, why does it still happen?

War is often caused by an issue to do with borders, or

an imbalance of land. People who want more territory

will fight to get what they want. Sometimes leaders of

countries need the land from their neighbors and some-

times it is because of nothing but greed.

War can be caused by disagreements to do with reli-

gion. It’s a sad truth that many people cant get along

because their beliefs conflict. Some say that we would

be better off without religion, but all it would take is to

respect each other and appreciate our differences.. isn't

that what we should be taught all along?

Why must we also start wars because of race? Because

of fear? There has always been war, in one form or

another .Perhaps humans are just too competitive. Per-

haps we are so competitive because that’s what it took

to survive in the wild.

It only takes one person to start a war, really. It takes

one group believing one thing to attack another to

drag everyone into the issue. We may fight an internal

war against ourselves, or even a form of war with an-

other individual.

We fight because of differences. Because two people

may not like each other. Because of religion, race, pos-

sessions, land, and fear. My question remains, Why?

Perhaps it is because war teaches us valuable lessons

that we haven't learned because we start wars in the

first place.

We must remember the people who fought for us, the

people who suffered because of war, and the fact that

war doesn't need to happen. We can avoid war if we

can learn to deal with disagreements in a less cata-

strophic way.

The Chilliwack Animal

Safehaven is always

looking for volunteers.

Read more about it on

the next page...

Help us Help them…..

The Chilliwack Animal Safehaven is a shelter

dedicated to helping cats. Even those of you

who don’t like cats, must admit that they have a

right to live. So, because of that. The Safehaven

works hard to save these animals in need.

Like most non-profit shelters, the Chilliwack

Animal Safehaven is in need of your support.

Volunteers to see to the basic needs of the cats

are always appreciated. Any way you can help

us help them makes a difference for the better.

You can donate, volunteer, adopt of sponsor a

cat if you would like to help.

Most of these cats are carelessly left at the door

of the Safehaven as kittens. Some are abandoned

or living as strays. Left to the mercy of harsh

weather, vehicles, and predators. A few of the

cats have been brutally abused or injured and are

in desperate need of a sponsor to cover vet bills.

Thankyou for considering supporting this no-kill

shelter.

Featured teacher of the month-

Mrs. Donaldson

We decided that this month’s featured

teacher should be Mrs. Donaldson be-

cause of her exceptional job helping us

get our newspaper started. Our future fea-

tured teacher will be decided by a student

vote.

We asked Mrs. Donaldson five questions

about her teaching career.

We asked her, “What made you want to

start teaching in the first place?”

She said that she was previously in the

Fashion industry and that “the hours are

long and I didn't like the competitive en-

vironment.” so she returned to school to

get her bachelor of education. She has

loved teaching since then

Next we asked her what her favourite part

about teaching was. Mrs.Donaldson loves

that “everyday is different and there is

always a new challenge.” She also likes

being around people.

The third thing we asked was what the

most challenging part about working at

Rosedale has been. She says she is get-

ting used to a new system and is thor-

oughly annoyed by the train on her com-

mute to work.

We asked, “what are you most looking

forward to this year?” She was hesitant to

answer, but eventually confessed that she

was looking forward to the disco 80’s

dance and was excited to get dressed up

for the event.

Lastly, we asked what the most memora-

ble part of her teaching career has been.

She responded with “seeing students later

when they are in higher grades.”

You never fail,

until you stop

trying.

-Albert Einstein

What's the big rush for Christmas?

The conflict of Christmas intruding on Remembrance Day due to commercialization

has been a huge debate. Do stores profiting from Christmas sales take the focus away

from remembrance day? They must be, for an argument to spread like this.

The issue is targeted at stores and businesses profiting off of selling items for Christ-

mas before November eleventh. Christmas might just be intruding on the importance

of respecting the people who fought for us. its not Christmas itself, but how we seem

to rush towards it.

If you think like someone who has lost a friend in a war when it comes to remem-

brance day, If you can try to understand how they would feel, you can see the frustra-

tion someone must feel, to have lost someone to war, and watch as no one bothers to

care.

It seems disrespectful, to draw attention away from something so important, and profit

off of it. If only to make money, why not wait for the first of December?

The commercialization of Christmas is bad for the purpose of remembrance day, and

for the Meaning of Christmas itself. It is greedy, disrespectful, and irrelevant.

Some stores do agree with this, and don’t put out Christmas items until after Novem-

ber eleventh. I know that we can live in peace with both at the same time, and wear a

poppy amidst the Christmas lights. But we must acknowledge that we sometimes ne-

glect what is also important.

Truth be told, the time we decorate and start celebrating Christmas, doesn't have to in-

trude on remembrance day. The issue is that we let it. Really, they can co-exist in

peace.

What’s the big rush for Christmas?- here

is what other students say…

“we should wait until a week after Remem-

brance day to start getting into the Christmas

spirit because it is too distracting”

“This year there we very few poppies in

stores, but there was Christmas merchandise.

I thought it was kind of sad and disrespect-

ful”

“I think that everyone overreacts about the

whole issue. We need to respect both and let

them be.”