Nitehawk Ski Day - École St

January 2014
JUNIOR HIGH OPTIONS
Term 2 options starts on January 30th. If you
haven’t already done so, please pay for those
options that have a fee attached to them:
Nitehawk Ski Day
As a part of the physical education curriculum, we will be
spending a day at the Nitehawk Ski Hill on Friday, January 17th. Students can ski, snowboard or luge. *Helmets
and lessons are mandatory .
Foods ($35), Active Living ($50), Mme Alicia
Digital Scrapbooking ($35), Sewing ($25) and
Industrial Arts ($25).
Parent Teacher Interview
In an effort to optimize opportunities for student success in this 2nd reporting period, we
will be holding parent teacher interviews on February 11th and 12th and will follow-up
with report cards on March 14th. We believe reviewing student progress earlier with parents in a 1 on 1 situation will give you and us time to provide needed support to students, allowing them to successfully complete assignments and/or improve performance
prior to issuing report cards.
* Please note during parent/teacher interview there will also be a Book Fair (Festival du livre).
ALBERTA EDUCATION ACCOUNTABILITY SURVEY
Dear grade four and seven parents:
As an annual check-up on the education system, the Accountability Pillar provides an opportunity for Alberta Education and school authorities to ensure that we’re equipping students for success.
The Accountability Pillar uses a set of 16 indicators consisting of surveys of students, parents and teachers on various
aspects of quality; student outcomes such as dropout and high school completion rates; and provincial assessments
of student learning.
From January to the end of February, Alberta Education will be conducting the annual Accountability Pillar Survey. In
January, parents of students in grades 4, 7 and 10 will receive a survey from Alberta Education. In February, students in grades 4, 7 and 10 and all teachers will be completing their surveys online at school.
All surveys are anonymous and ask questions about experiences with the school. In addition to English and French,
the parent survey is available in Chinese, Punjabi, Arabic, Blackfoot, Cree, Korean, Spanish and Tagalog.
Your participation in the survey helps provide important information on the quality of education your child is receiving, so we encourage you to return your survey promptly. You will be mailed the survey to your home address and a
pre-paid return envelope will be included.
Survey results will be available to school authorities in May 2014, and will be reported publicly as part of their 3-Year
Education Plans and Annual Education Results Reports.
Encourage French within our School
Every year we are always looking for ways to encourage the students to speak French more often with their
peers. This year we would like to offer students the opportunity to have a 2 day ski trip to Marmot Basin or an Eastlink
Centre day.
Students can choose to participate by signing up either for Marmot or Eastlink and will have one week to decide as we
will then start booking. The deadline will be January 17th.
The criteria to participate is that the majority of teachers see an increase in the use of French in the school, all assignments are done to the best of their ability with nothing outstanding and evidence of promoting our virtues/values with
staff, students and the community.
Marmot – M. Doiron, Mme. Buss, etc…
Feb.28 & March 1 (Friday/Saturday) – travel coach- lifts for 2 days – accommodations at the Lobstick Lodge (4per
room) cost is $239
We would leave at 4:30 am on Friday morning and come back around 11:00 pm Saturday night.
The coach can only take 50 students max and I need at least 40 students to proceed.
Eastlink with M. Dumont
Feb.28th – cost is price to enter, school will cover the cost of the bus.
In Our Classrooms - January 2014
Science 7, 8 & 9 - M. Daniel Doiron
Dear Parents,
Well the holidays are behind us and it’s back to work. Here is what we are attempting for the
month of January.
Grade 7 Science: This month we will enter the 3rd unit of our studies which will encompass Heat
and Temperature. How do we measure it, particle theory and it’s reactions to changes in
temperature, contraction and dilation, energy transfers, thermal energy sources and the preservation
of combustible fossil fuels.
Grade 8 Science: Here we will study the effects of light and optic systems. What is light? Reflective
properties, refraction, lenses and vision, color sources, and light wave-length models.
Grade 9 Science: In January, we will explore environmental chemistry. What are some chemical
substances that we use in everyday life? Pesticides, herbicides, substances that we ingest
(knowingly or unknowingly), fertilizers, and how it affects the world in which we live.
Thanks and have a great month.
Daniel Doiron
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Social Studies 8 - M. Daniel Dumont
We will be acquiring new knowledge about the Japanese culture and its geographical area. The students will be working on a project about the chronological history of Japan, covering all aspects of
the Japanese traditions, history, geography and culture during the months of January, February and
March. They will be doing a presentation of their projects in March. Also, we will be having discussions & assignments on a variety of subjects & questions concerning the Japanese community and its
influence on our world.
Possible Tests Dates:
Chapters 4 - Thursday, January 30th, 2014
Chapters 5 & 6 - Thursday, March 27th, 2014
Math 7 & 9 - M. Jonathan Scott
Grade 7: We will learn about shape and space. We will demonstrate an understanding of the circle:
circumference, radius, diameter and the relationship among them. We will also develop formula for
determining area for 2-D shapes like triangles, circles and parallelograms. This unit will be
completed around January 24th.
Grade 9: In January, we will study the four properties of circles. We use the properties to solve a
given problem involving an application of one or more of these circle properties. We
will also use the properties to determine the measure given angles. This unit will be
completed around January 24th.
Math 8A, 8B & 8C - Mme Alicia Burdess
Happy New Year everyone! We will be working with fractions, percentages, ratio, and rate in the
coming month. Students have been doing some amazing work solving problems with algebra and
writing up their solutions. Please contact me if you have any questions at aliciaburdess@gpcsd.ca.
Social Studies 9 - Mme Sarah Hunziker
This month we are working on chapter 4 of our text which deals with treaty and collective rights.
Students are working on a multimedia project this month that demonstrates their knowledge and
research on how the collective rights provided in the Canadian Constitution affects citizens and why
they are important to Canada. Students will use their research in order to create a multimedia project (podcast, imovie, etc) that will instruct their audience about collective rights.
French 8 - Mme Sarah Hunziker
This month students are using a film viewed in class to make a comparison between the war between children from opposing villages and an actual war that they have researched. Students will be
writing this essay and learning how to create a critique of another student's work.
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French Language Arts 9 - Mme Joanne Buss
Students are just finishing up with activities using the correct form of past tense and we will move
on to a unit on reading and analyzing comics and writing their own short comic story at the end. Afterwards, we will be working on persuasive essay writing and formal letters to prepare them for
their written component of their final exam.
English Language Arts 9A & 9B - Joanne Bardak
Students in ELA 9 have recently completed two major writing projects in ELA: A Careers Essay and
a Hope and Music Essay. Students have made great progress in their formal writing abilities with
these two projects. Over the upcoming weeks, students will be focusing on a variety of literary interpretation and response strategies in preparation for an upcoming novel study. Students are expected to continue to read daily their independent novels for Reader's Workshop, as it is during
Reader's Workshop that all students learn reading comprehension strategies and response to literature strategies.
English Language Arts 8C - Joanne Bardak
Students in ELA 8 have recently completed a persuasive review, applying persuasive writing strategies learned in class. Students have demonstrated better writing organizational skills as they
learned to write criteria with supporting evidence and examples. Over the upcoming weeks, students will be focusing on a variety of literary interpretation and response strategies in preparation
for an upcoming novel study. Students are expected to continue to read daily their independent
novels for Reader's Workshop, as it is during Reader's Workshop that all students learn reading
comprehension strategies and response to literature strategies.
French 7 - Dena Boucher Moon
This month in Grade 7 French we are working on our essay writing skills. Working in pairs we are
strengthening ideas and editing our content. We are also learning how to better edit our grammar.
As for Social Studies we are currently working on the fur trade in North America involving the
French, the British and the First nations. Mid month we will be embarking on the Seven Year War
and how this event was a turning point in Canada's history.
Grade 7 and 8 ELA – Mme Bailey Reid
This month in ELA we are taking the time to reflect, appreciate and share our most memorable moment of 2013. The students are collaborating by asking questions for helpful feedback and elaborating on ideas to help each other complete a quality text that describes the moment. We will be starting a class blog that will be used to communicate our interests and share our reading experiences.
To also expand our reading experiences, we are having a ``book party`` where each student is required to write a blurb about a book they would highly recommend to a particular audience. The
recommendations will be posted in the classroom for ongoing referral.
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Religious Program
January 2014
Dear Parents,
As part of the religion curriculum the grades 8 French immersion classes will be going to St. Joseph Catholic
Church for a religious retreat on the following dates:
January 28th = Grade 8A
February 4th = Grade 8C
February 6th = Grade 8B
Katherine Shepherd, youth ministry coordinator, will be the presenter for the day.
Please make sure your son/daughter attends this important school learning opportunity.
God Bless
Jonathan Scott
Aquatera Presentation
Aquatera presentation to Jr.high about the realities of
bottled water and it's negative effects on our environment. Students & Staff learning how powerful they have
been misled with advertising.
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