school news 2016 gypsd school news.pdf · other students for their efforts in superflex. ... school...

Nikki Gilks, Manager, Communications Services 780-723-4471 ext. 146 | [email protected]

LOBSTICK ZONE

Grand Trunk High School, Evansburg The holiday season is fast approaching and hopefully everyone will have a quiet and enjoyable Christmas break. The junior high basketball season resumes right away after the holiday break as the teams have a number of home and away games. Please check the calendar on our school’s website for a complete listing of tournaments and league games for the basketball season.

January also brings the end of the first semester and students preparing for their midterm and final exams. Letters will be sent home indicating when students will be writing their various exams, as well as this informa-tion will be posted on the school website. We would also like to remind those students writing diploma exams in January to be prepared for any inclement weather that may occur on exam days. Students are responsible to make any necessary arrangements to get to the school to write their exam. Watch for more information regard-ing exams on our website and in your mailbox. Wildwood School, Wildwood

Preparation school-wide for the Christmas Concert is in-tense! The Polar Express is sure to be enjoyed by all on December 16th. K/1’s have been excitedly sewing teddy bears, making graham wafer and candy houses, writing letters to Santa and delivering them to the post office. They also created a gigantic ‘gingerbread cookie’ who ran around our school, leaving them clues as to where he went. Once found, his final note encouraged them to enjoy eating him! Grades 2/3’s have been dutifully cre-ating lanterns, reading with the grade 6’s, and writing Christmas stories.

January 2016School News

Grand Trunk Events for January4 Classes Resume

5 Jr. B’ball @ Niton

6 Grad Parent Meeting @ 7pm

8 & 9 Sr. B’ball @ Edson

13 ELA 30 Diploma Exam Part A

Jr. B’ball @ Parkland

Grand Trunk Events (cont’d) for January15 & 16 Jr. B’ball Tournament @ Drayton Valley

18 School Council Meeting @ 4:30pm

19 ELA 30 Diploma Exam Part B

20 LA 9 PAT Part A

25 Last Day of Classes for Semester 1

Math 30 Diploma

Science 9 PAT

26 Jr. High Midterm Exams Begin

26 Sr. High Final Exams Begin

27 LA 9 PAT Part B

Chemistry 30 Diploma Exam

Jr. B’ball @ Pine Grove

28-30 Sr. B’ball @ Ryley


Niton Central School, Niton JunctionDecember was an amazing month at Niton Central School! Students are working hard to become responsible citizens of the world and Bill 6 got our community pretty excited. Both grade 5/6 and grade 9 students learned how to write busi-ness letters so they could contact our politicians directly. The grades 4, 5 and 6 students sent letters to Premier Rachel Not-ley about the new farm safety legislation. Grade 9 students wrote to either Ms. Notley or Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, depending on the issues they were most concerned about, including the Syrian refugee crisis and who pays for the PM’s child care! Other junior high Language Arts projects had stu-dents creating everything from a recorded movie trailer to board games after a recent novel study.

In the meantime, grade 7 students explored issues with Can-ada’s early fur trade in a very hands-on way. They were di-vided into 4 groups: First Nations, Hudson’s Bay Company, 13 Colonies and New France. These groups worked together to create their team identities, then proceeded to set up trading negotiations with each other. Meanwhile, back in the grade 8 class, their recent Social Studies unit wrapped up with a Renaissance Fair. Students researched an area they were pas-sionate about, made a trifold and diorama to illustrate what they learned, then created an activity to help elementary stu-dents learn about their project. The quality of the work was impressive and elementary students really appreciated the activities created for them. Topics included music, inventions and food in medieval times, gladiators, etc.

Christmas events this month started with our annual food drive for the WEE Foodbank, and we included an “Ugly Sweat-er Day” for comic relief. The theme for this year’s Christmas concert was “Christmas Around the World” and included many creative and fun acts, as well as traditional Christmas fare. The evening always starts with a Christmas supper at the hall across the road, put on by the grade 9 class, then parents and community members come over for the concert afterwards. It’s always a long evening, but full of Christmas spirit!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you, from all of us at Niton Central School! We will all work towards a more kind, peaceful world in 2016.

Wildwood (cont’d) Grades 4/5’s have been enjoying regular visits to the public library, making pastel murals, and recording conversations in French. Grade 6’s are successfully using performance based assessment to prove their learning of aerodynamics. And our grades 7-9 are participating in curling. In Art, wire sculptures were build. In Forensics, there was a 100% success rate on the extraction of DNA (from strawberries).

We will sincerely miss our wonderful student teacher, Shannon Kolotyluk! She has been an excellent addition and we would love to extend her time here at Wildwood School. Small School, Big Ideas!

Wildwood Events for January4 School Resumes from Winter Break

12 Grade 6 Wampum Belt Making

Grade 7 FNMI Presentation

15 Staff Meeting

18 Drum Making for Grade 4/5,

Rattle Making for Kindergarten/Grade 1, Metis Dancing for Grade 2/3

22 Social Studies PAT’s for Grade 9

Niton Events for January8 & 16 Staff Meeting

13 PAC Meeting


EDSON & AREA

A.H.Dakin School, EdsonWe had bus safety talks at A.H. Dakin School on De-cember 1st. The gingerbread man parade float designed by the parent council looked terrific on December 3rd. Dakin students enjoyed swim week between December 7th and 11th. We were caroling the morning of Decem-ber 10th when Santa arrived for photos. The Parent Council supplied milk and cookies that day and will be coming back on the 17th for our ‘Ugly Christmas Sweat-er Day’ to help kids decorate the frames for their Santa pictures.

After a free pizza lunch, members of the Royal Cana-dian Legion attended assembly on December 11th to present eight of our students with prizes for the annual Remembrance Day poster contest. Teachers recognized other students for their efforts in Superflex.

Children will delight audiences during our Christmas concerts on December 16th with the play ‘Santa’s Cook-ie Problem’ which will include some creative singing. The last day before holidays, everyone will enjoy pop-corn and a movie on Pajamas Day.

AHD Events for January4 Classes resume

5 Reading Groups Begin

PAC Meeting @ 1pm

13 Assembly @ 11am

15 Crazy Socks Day

Winter Fun PM

21 No ECS Classes

22 Noon Family Literacy Picnic

Evergreen School, EdsonEvergreen students, staff and parents have been very busy during the month of December. Letters to Santa have been written and received, the halls of the school have been decked in holiday style, the tree has been trimmed and we are all ready for the festive season.

The big highlight of the month will be the Christmas Concerts held on December 15th and 16th. Students, under the direction of our music teacher Mrs. Prince will present “A World of Christmas” to parents and fami-ly members. The program includes songs, carols and Christmas customs from fifteen countries around the world. It is a celebration of cultural diversity!

Independent Grocers in Edson once again served up a free hot pancake breakfast to all students on the morning of December 2nd. Our school council provided students with a free hot dog lunch on December 11th. We are fortunate to have such strong community and parent support for the school.

This month’s Super-flex program introduced a new character named Glassman. Glassman represents times when students might overreact to small problems and treat them as though they are big problems. A school-wide assembly was held to introduce the character and to recognize students who are doing a great job in practicing what they have been learning in the Super-flex program. In the classroom, students have also been learning how best to handle situations when they might be having big reactions to small problems, how to remain flexible in their social thinking and how to use strategies for problem solving.

Our SWAT Leadership Team continued leading students in Daily Physical Activities (DPA) once a week and in pro-moting a healthy, active lifestyle. The team researched, and then introduced, persimmons to the rest of the stu-dents this month. Students are enjoying trying healthy fruits that they may not have had the opportunity to taste before.

On December 11th, certificates were awarded to over 80 students who have had excellent attendance during the first term of school. These students had been absent from school one or less days from September to Decem-ber. Students who had improved attendance during the term were also recognized and celebrated.

Evergreen Events for January4 First day back after holiday break

7 Monthly assembly

11 Ski lessons start

19 & 22 Shrek – Pine Grove Musical

21 No school for kindergarten

27 Family Literacy Day

School News /January 2016

pg. 4

École Pine Grove Middle School, EdsonHard to believe 2016 will be here shortly! At this time of year, students, parents and staff are asked to give feed-back on their experiences at Pine Grove. The surveys which are completed address the accountability pillars set by Alberta Education in the following areas:

• Preparing students for high school completion, citi-zenship and entering the workplace

• Providing a quality education and safe and caring environment

• Continuously improving the quality of education

• Involving parents in the school

Each year, staff at Pine Grove work hard to ensure our school addresses these accountability pillars. This year, we have implemented some new initiatives which we think will help us do even better.

One of these initiatives is our focus on executive func-tioning skills. The introduction of a homework binder common to all students in all classes is one way to help students build organizational skills. These skills are an important part of preparing students for successful high school completion and entering the workplace.

Another area of focus this year is the creation of a data wall to track the progress of all students, in a variety of areas, on a regular basis. The use of this electronic data wall will not only allow for early recognition of areas in which a student may struggle, but also allows for imme-diate interventions to be put in place when a problem is identified. The collaborative nature of the data wall structure will ensure that a team of educators is at the table when deciding what strategies can be used to help a student become more successful. This initiative is helping us to improve the quality of education in our school and ensure that no child is overlooked.

These are just two of the ways that Pine Grove is working towards ensuring we meet all the accountability pillars set out by Alberta Education. We look forward to this year’s survey results which will help us continue to move in the right direction next school year.

PGMS Events for January6 Kinder8 Visit

18-22 Musical Week

23 B’ball Tournament

30 B’ball Trip to NAIT

Westhaven Events for January4 School Begins

21 No Kindergarten

27 Bilingual Magician Marc Tardif Performs (am)

École Westhaven School, EdsonWe are continuing to use school connects to communi-cate with our families. This is a phone call that occurs on Sunday and is a brief overview of the week’s events. It is an added communication tool for our families and our school staff. If you would like to be on the call out list please let me know and I will add you. We hope this added measure will help keep everyone informed of upcoming activities. We are busy continuing to collect for the Kinette food hampers. This is a wonderful way to assist the people within our own community and to help demonstrate to the students the importance of helping others. The support shown for this program has been wonderful.

Fulham School, FulhamFulham has been enjoying the wintry outdoors and all that it has to offer. Our students have been busy sled-ding, skiing, and skating. Our grades 4, 5, and 6 kids have been travelling to Peers to enjoy learning curling from the Peers Area Community Group.

Fulham Events for January4 Classes Resume

20 Field Trip to The Red Brick to Watch

Pine Grove’s Shrek Play

21 No Kindergarten


pg. 5

HINTON

Parkland Events for January4 Wrestling Practice @ 3:30pm

6 Wrestling Practice @ 7pm

8 B’ball Home Tournament + Spirit Day

9-11 Math 30-1 Diplomax Course @ 6:30pm

11 Wrestling Practice @ 3:30pm

13 Diploma Exams Part A: Social 30-1/30-2

Wrestling Practice @ 7pm

15-17 Chem 30 Diplomax Course @ 6:30pm

16 Wrestling Tournament @ Grande Prairie


19 Diploma Exams Part B: English 30-1/30-2

20 Diploma Exams Part B: Social 30-1/30-2

Wrestling Practice @ 7pm

Parkland Composite High School, EdsonWith winter break over and final exams quickly ap-proaching, exam stress can be debilitating. The follow-ing are some helpful tips for exam preparation.

• Start studying early and plan to manage your time effectively, hence the studying early part. Cram-ming all night does not work, but scheduling in breaks and finding a distraction-free zone should help.

• Be healthy; go for a walk, eat a well-balanced meal instead of junk food, and get enough sleep.

• Good sleep helps you remember what you have learned.

• Practice and then practice some more. This also goes in hand with the studying early part.

• Relaxation techniques: Write down your stressful thoughts and replace these thoughts with positive ones. Practice deep breathing, this will help get more air into your lungs to help you relax.

• Talk to someone you trust, whether it is a parent or a friend, a teacher. They can help you gain per-spective.

• While taking the exam, scan each page before you begin, this will help with your time management. Read all instructions before you begin and com-plete the questions you know first to make sure you get the marks for them.

And remember, pace yourself. Stay until the end of the exam in case you remember the answers to those diffi-cult questions, and review what you have done before handing in your exam. Just breathe… you’ve got this!

École Mountain View SchoolWe are continuing to diversify our communication with parents. Our primary method of communicating between the classroom and home remains the student agenda. Agendas have places for students to track their work and activities, as well as places for teachers and parents to write notes to each other to share information. Many of our teachers maintain a class list of parent email ad-dresses that can be used to send out information to in-dividual families or the class as a whole. Several of our teacher use Remind.com to share class information and homework assignments with parents. Our school web-page has the option for viewers to register their email address to receive an automatic mail out of newsletters and updates as soon as they are published. We are now in the process of working with SchoolConnects, a phone out system, to be able to send information out to our parent contact numbers to share updates of events for the week, as well as important school news. We con-tinue to send out paper copies of news and updates, but appreciate that not every piece of paper sent with students makes its way to their parents. Hopefully we will be able to ensure that all parents have access to the information they need regarding our school and their child’s education.

Parkland Events (cont’d) for January21 Last day of Classes

22 Exam Week Begins


27 Wrestling Practice @ 7pm

28-31 Environmental Science Trip

29 Sem. 1 Textbook Return Deadline

29-30 B’ball Tournaments: Sr Boys & Sr Girls


pg. 6

EMS Events for JanuaryCross Country Skiing:

6 Gr. 6 Voelker

7 Gr. 5 Girard

11 Gr. 5-6 Bonnafé

12 Gr. 6 Lyons

13 Gr. 7 Riggan

14 Gr. 7 Alderman

8 Literacy Hour from 10:30 – 11:30am

18 School Council Meeting @ 7:30pm

21 No Kindergarten

Gr. 3 Crouse School Sleepover

29 Hilarious Hat Day

School Walk @ 1pm

Family Game Night 6– 8 pm

Crescent Valley SchoolStudents at Crescent Valley School participate in a broad range of programs. There is an array of diverse programs which offer students opportunities for success.

Giving students the building blocks to success in school is very important. This year our staff has continued to implement a Reading Intervention program in every grade. Students begin each afternoon with 30 minutes of target-ed reading instruction at their specific learning level. Staff members in both the primary and elementary grades have also been trained in the Language Learning Intervention program which helps build the skills in struggling readers. Crescent Valley also offers Language Enrichment that pro-vides students with a solid foundation of building blocks from which to springboard towards lifelong learning.

Many other programs have also been implemented in order to ensure students participate in a well-rounded ed-ucation program. Students in grade 4 are given the unique opportunity to learn Cree via video conferencing with Sandra Davenport. Our grade 7 students also participate in a complimentary course called Healthy Lifestyles. In this program students are given the opportunity to experience many recreational activities that include hiking, swimming, and downhill skiing. This year, our physical education and music schedules have been altered in order to assure all students in grades 1 – 7 receive specialized instruction in both subject areas.

Crescent Valley Events for January8 Comfy Day

15 Math Convention

21 Non Kindergarten Day

22 Literacy Day

29 Monthly Assembly

GRANDE CACHE

Sheldon Coates SchoolSchool will reopen for all students at Sheldon Coates on Monday, January 4th. Our first STAR assembly for 2016 will be on January 13th at 2:30pm. In our STAR assem-blies, students have an opportunity to share what their class is learning about, and individual students are recog-nized for their learning success.

We will also be holding our Winter Activity Day on Janu-ary 27th. During our Activity Days, students are placed in multi-graded groups and rotate through multiple activity, craft, and learning stations. As this Activity Day is the same day as Family Literacy Day, we will be planning activities and stations with a storybook or reading theme. Happy 2016, everybody!


pg. 7

GCCHS/SonRise(SR) Events for January4 First Day Back

Swimming Starts SonRise

5 Dental Program SonRise

6 Star Wars Movie Trip

13 ELA 30-2 Part A

14 SS 30-1 /30-2 Part A

18 Literacy Week SonRise

19 ELA 30-2 Part B

Book Character Dress Up Day

20 SS 30-1/30-2 Part B

21 GCCHS/SR Pajama Day

22 Used Book/Hot Dog Sale SonRise

Jan 22-29 Exam Week

Summitview SchoolSummitview School is committed to providing a learn-ing environment where we support and develop healthy lifestyle choices by making a commitment to the mental and physical health of our students. We believe that we have a responsibility to help children develop and main-tain healthy lifestyle choices and it is our hope that these choices will continue into the schools and world beyond Summitview.

Amanda McDougal, our Family School Liaison, has put on classroom presentations talking about healthy relation-ships and being part of our school community. This has also allowed her the opportunity to introduce herself to all of our students and let them know that she is a resource that would be available to them throughout their school years in Grande Cache. She also touched briefly on the im-portance of taking care of yourself mentally and physically in and outside of school.

We are trying to support a healthy physical lifestyle as well through our afterschool offerings, as well as class-room curriculum options. Staff members and community members are volunteering their time to offer school sports opportunities such as volleyball and basketball. The stu-dents are taught proper stretching and exercise warm-up and cool down habits during the practice. Things are kept as fun and stress free as possible, of course. Our goal is to promote physical activity through sport and to learn more about the skills and organization of the various sports while building a sense of community in our school. The teacher coaches also focus on teaching teamwork and skills that help students get along with each other building abilities that will have far reaching consequences in their lives.

We are also working on building healthy community con-nections with our students and their community. Last year and this year we took part in the Pen Pal Program with Susa Creek School. Both schools’ students write letters back and forth and build healthy relationships with stu-dents within our Grande Cache Community. They will also participate in field trips where they are exposed to the culture and lifestyle of their pen pals and they are allowed opportunities to foster healthy relationships during these field trip times.

Our CTF options are now offered for grades 5-9 and they teach healthy skills from proper nutrition and calor-ic intakes to managing our school vending machine with healthy choose sometimes and choose often options.

Grande Cache Community High School, SonRise Christian ProgramSonRise will get going quickly after the Christmas holidays, as we begin our swimming lessons the first day back! Stu-dents will participate in 5 weeks of swimming as part of their physical education program. Later in the month, Son-Rise will emphasize reading during our Literacy Week from January 18th to 22nd. Guests from our local community will visit to share a favourite book and talk about the impor-tance of reading. The week is highlighted with a couple of special dress-up days including Pajama and Stuffed Animal Day and Book Character Day! We conclude the week with a used book sale which is always popular as students are able to bring home several books to enjoy! We also provide a hot dog lunch for students and family members who visit the sale.

In GCCHS, students will be wrapping up their courses in January and preparing themselves to be successful on their exams at the end of the month from January 22nd-29th. In order to give students a little relief from the stress of ex-ams, student council has organized a trip by bus to Grande Prairie to watch a private screening of the new Star Wars Movie – The Force Awakens on January 6th.

Construction continues to progress as we have recently seen our portables installed on our property and during January they will be completely set up for use as new class-rooms for several high school classes.


pg. 8

Jasper Elementary SchoolThe New Year is a fresh start for staff and students and a time to focus on what is truly important to us. One of the greatest gifts that we can give our children is a love of reading. At Jasper Elementary School the month of January is dedicated to literacy and reading for pleasure.

Research demonstrates that reading for pleasure has extensive benefits. It is linked to emotional devel-opment, growth in empathy and compassion, and is associated with numerous academic gains. Including critical thinking and the ability to articulate and ex-press our ideas with confidence.

JES Events for January6 SAC Meeting @ 7pm

24 JES Staff Host the Community Dinner

28 Student Led Conferences

Jasper Jr./Sr/High SchoolJasper Junior Senior High School is looking forward to the upcoming holiday break. After a December that included several presentations, a math expo, and activity days students and staff are ready for a well deserved two week break. In January, students will return to a week or two of review before getting ready in high school for end of semester exams. Please check out our website for the latest news and updates including photos from our December events under headline news at www.jasperhigh.ca.

JASPER

Summitview, (cont’d)We also provide our students opportunities to de-velop lifelong skills, hobbies and interests through our Sports Leadership, Outdoor Education, Art and School News classes and other programs that support student learning.

Students also have the opportunity to learn how to play the guitar building music talents and skills that will instill confidence, mental stamina, and joy now and throughout their lives.

It is our hope that we can do our part to support and enhance what parents are already doing at home to teach their children how to stay active and healthy, physically and mentally. We encourage you to work with us if you feel like you have a skill or talent that your would like to see as a part of our school. Our doors are always open!

Jasper Elementary, (cont’d)Classes resume on January 4th. Literacy activities planned this month include:

- Staff reader’s theatre presentation

- Dress as your fav. storybook character

- Read-In (special guests read their fav. stories)

- Guest author Moira McKinnon

- Books to movies: Charlotte’s Web

- Student Led Conferences

- Grade 3 FRIM class Dragon’s Den Inventions (students are paired with gr. 9’s from Jasper Jr. High)

- Gr.3 Fairy Tale Reader’s Theatre Presents

- Book Exchange

- Book Riddles

Students will also set weekly individual reading goals. While the greatest reward is reading itself, the students’ efforts are supported with weekly draw prizes. This year the Jasper Right to Read society is generously sponsoring draws for three Kobo eReaders.

Our goal this month is to instill a love of reading in children and help them discover the pure joy, ad-venture, and wonder that reading for pleasure can bring. Why not join us and jump in with a good book. It is a great way to begin the New


pg. 9

TLC Events for January4 Classes Resume

13-28 Diploma Exams & PATs

January - The beginning of a new year and the end of a semester. This will be a busy month with high school students finalizing semester one courses, writing school final exams, and 30-level students preparing for and writing diploma exams. Elementary and junior high In-Home education students will also be preparing to write provincial achievement tests during the month of January. Diploma exam weighting has changed this year. The historical 50% course work and 50% diplo-ma exam weighting has been changed to a 70% course work and 30% diploma exam weighting. While many students are intrigued by this change, it will take some time for both students and teachers alike to adjust to this new mandate. The weighting change aside, the process for finalizing semester one course work as well as preparing for school and provincial examinations has changed very little. In the last weeks of December and the first week back following Winter Break, students and staff will be working closely together to complete course work requirements.

After a period of relaxation and rejuvenation in the last weeks of 2015, the beginning of a new year in all schools is truly a flurry of activity that can be both exciting and stressful! TLC staff and students will welcome a return to ‘business as usual’ following the examination period in January and leading into semes-ter two which will begin Monday, February 1st, 2016.

THE LEARNING CONNECTION (TLC)

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