the newsletter - Lawrence Grassi Middle School

École Intermédiaire Lawrence Grassi Middle School
610 7th Street
Canmore, Alberta T1W 2H5
Principal: Nadine Trottier
Email: Nadine.trottier@crps,ca
Attendance Line: 403-678-6006 – Press 1
Office Staff: 403-678-6006 - Press 2
APRIL/MAY
GRASSI TRAILS
“Reach for the Peaks—Atteindre le sommet”
2016
MESSAGE FROM THE PRINCIPAL
Dear LGMS Families,
Happy Spring everyone! You will see how LGMS has been a very busy place in the last 7 weeks.
Congratulations to Quinn Blyth, Matthias Gasser and Finn Manktelow for winning first place at the Science Fair. They
will now be going to Montreal for the National competition! We are extremely proud of them and their efforts. Thirty-eight students from LGMS will also participate in the annual CRPS Word Smash event on May 17th at the Banff Centre . Students will
have the opportunity to work with authors to perfect their writing skills. Bravo!
Congratulations also goes out to Ms. Seto and Ms. Fearing for being nominated for the Mayor’s Excellence in Volunteer
Awards. These two accomplished women make a significant contribution volunteering their teaching time to students here at
LGMS. We would also like to recognize all of our students who bike daily to come to school.
Our grade 8 students, along with Exshaw students, Ms. Kelly, Ms. Soler and a well known artist, Ajay Louden, have created a very impressive school mural. The theme of this mural is reconciliation. According to the artist, the goal of this theme is as
follows: “ To me, identity is a central theme within reconciliation - being empowered by pride in your own identity and having
the ability to recognize and respect that in others. For this mural, each group had their own colours and came up with their own
phrase, symbol, and writing style. They approached the wall and collaborated to paint their section. Periodically, one member
from each group moved to another group, where they learned the 'culture’ in their new group. Between the two hands reaching
out in giving/receiving position, there is a black rock of coal with a small flame. This represents the shared history of the Indigenous and Settler populations in Canmore: the Stoney people sharing the knowledge of the 'burning black rock' with the settlers,
a major part of Canmore's mining history. This symbol of exchange, along with the relevant backstory, is a great way to tie the
mural all together.”
Keep looking at our Week at a Glance to find out more about all the sports events happening at Grassi. Our badminton team
should be very proud of their accomplishments during the recent Zone Tournament hosted over 300 students from across the
province right here at LGMS.
Take a look at the new fish additions on our school fence. These were painted by our Grade 8 students as part of
Streams of Dreams Project. Special thanks go out to all volunteers who helped and to Parent Council for making a donation in
order to make this project happen.
Students have been very proud of helping out residents of Fort McMurray. Ms. Seto initiated a candygram fundraiser. Students were encouraged to write encouraging messages. These messages were attached to candy and then the
“candygrams” were delivered to fellow students. The money raised will be donated to the Red Cross. Ms. Seto has generously matched the amount students raised to support this important cause.
Remember to follow us on Facebook and Twitter for all
the latest happenings at Lawrence Grassi Middle School
Principal’s message continued:
Quick Professional Development Update: we have three teachers that have signed up for the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math education or STEM initiative. We look forward to seeing how this program will transpire
into projects happening in our Learning Commons. Thank you Mme Desautels, Mme Grondin and Mr. McQueen for
signing up! We also have a Tech Committee that has been created to address digital citizenship issues, sharing monthly tips with us. Merci, Mme Desautels and Mme Provencher! We have a group of committed teachers doing a book
study after school to further develop common reading comprehension strategies and instilling a love of reading in our
students. Lastly, our Lead Learner Teacher joined the School Board during the Instructional Excellence Symposium in
order to plan our District Wide focus for next year. Our mandate is to continue to strive in delivering high quality education to our students.
Our LGMS theme this year has been about Taking Risks. I will conclude with this story on risk taking, written
by Victoria Green, from M. Vallee’s class in Grade 8 French Immersion. Here she shares a perfect example on how she
ventured into the unknown and took a big risk, as part of a Mentorship Personal Project. Please read her story: “ Just
after spring break my teacher, Mr. Vallée, announced that we would be doing the personal project mentorship program. None of us had ever heard of this program, and let me tell you we were confused. After more explanation, we
learned that it was simply a project where we would pick our own topic, find a mentor to help us with the research,
and make it entirely our own. At first I had no idea what to do, but after some thought, I realized medicine was the
way to go. Lucky for me, my next door neighbor, someone I've know since I was little, just happened to be the orthopedic surgeon in Banff, Dr. Mark Heard. I asked him if he would be my mentor. The very first day of the project, he
asked if I would like to join him in the OR. I was ecstatic. Later on, we decided the focus for my project would be ACL
reconstruction surgery. The Monday morning of May 2nd, I joined Dr. Heard in the intake clinic. Here he assessed the
patients to determine whether they would need surgery or other methods of recovery. The next morning, I joined him
in the OR. It was an early up to go into surgery for a trauma case that had come in the middle of the night. After this, I
then watched two ACL reconstruction surgeries and some screws being removed from a leg. This was not like other
school projects where you research something you're not interested in, and can't wait to be done. No not this one. I
loved this project! I got to research and learn about things I already loved. I would find myself, a little off topic, but still
doing the research in the medical field hours later. This experience and the information could be relevant for my future education, you never know. But one thing is certain, I will never forget this really special day and not to mention,
very interesting experience. So thank you to everyone who helped make it happen!”
Nadine Trottier
Principal
Lawrence Grassi Middle School
Important Dates
May 11
May 12
May 17
May 18
May 20
May 23
May 25
May 25
May 31
June 2
June 2
June 3
June 6
June 6
June 6-11
June 7
June 8
June 9
June 9
June 13
June 14
June 15
June 15
June 16
June 16
June 17
June 17
June 17
June 20
June 21
June 22
June 22
June 23
June 23
June 24
June 27
June 28
June 29
June 30
June 30
Pizza Day
Grade 6 English—PAT Part A
Word Smash—May 17th at The Banff Centre
Grade 6 English—PAT Part B
Full Day PLC—No school for students
Victoria Day Holiday—No school for students
Pizza Day
Regional Track and Field Meet
Zone Track and Field in Calgary
ERS Grade 3 visit at 1 pm
LGMS Open House for ERS Gr. 3 Parents and new students in the community 6:30 pm
PLC—Students dismissed at 12:01 pm
Bee Keeper presentation
6A Booth—Swim Lessons at Elevation Place 1:30 pm
Grade 7 & 8 Quebec Trip
4C Field Trip to Kananaskis
4A and 4B Field Trip to Kananaskis
Parent Council AGM
St. John’s Instrument Rental Night—6 pm (for Band Students)
MADD presentation
Grade 6 FLA—PAT Part B
Grade 6 English Part B
Year End Concert & Drama Performance in the Gym
Band and Drama performance artsPlace
Grade 6 Mathematics PAT
Grade 6 Science PAT
Last Day for Grade 7 & 8 Options
PLC—Students dismissed at 12:01 pm
Grade 6 Social Studies PAT
Writers’ Workshop Wrap Up Party
Grade 6 Field Trip to Calaway Park
Lady Pirates of the Caribbean presented by Gr. 7 Drama. time and location to be announced.
Grade 8 Farewell 2016 1:30—2:30
Grade 8 Farewell 2016 Reception & Dance 7-10 pm
Grade 4 Cave and Basin
Sports Award Ceremony-Gym time TBA
Grade 5 Year End Swim
School BBQ at 12:01 pm
Academic Awards Ceremony
LAST day of school—students dismissed at 12:01 pm
Report Cards go home - Grade 8 Final Walk at 11:45 am
Please check the LGMS Week-at-a-Glance or the front page of our website (lgms.crps.ca) for more updates.
Grade 8 students fired their
marshmallow catapults in the
gathering area in April. A lot of
work and fine tuning went into
the building of the catapults.
They were successful in firing
the marshmallows and some
the length of the gathering area. The top 3 teams from the 7
and 8 classes competed in the
gym for the final.
Congratulations to the winners!
Mr. Vallee and his students said good-bye
to student teacher Erin MacKinnon. Erin
completed her practicum under the guidance of Mr. Vallee. She did an “Excellent
Job” . LGMS wishes her well as she continues on with her teaching career.
We will miss you Erin!
Canada Wide Science Fair
Good Luck to Quinn Blyth, Finn Manktelow and Matthais Gasser, who placed first in
their categories at the CRPS Science Fair back in March and have earned a spot at the
Canada Wide Science Fair. The travelled to Montreal to compete in the Canada Wide
Science Fair the week of May 16th. Quinn will be presenting his project “What kids
know about Global Warming” . Matthais and Finn will present their project Alga Tricity.
Way to Go Boys!!
Grassi Garden News
The wonderful work is happening in the garden! Students have
been busy planting, watering and preparing the greenhouse, garden beds and pathways. We are also working with a videographer
to showcase our student learning in the garden. As soon as our
videos are complete and ready for viewing, we will let parents
know where to access them.
Parents are always welcome to come and see the garden and
check out the active learning!
If you are interested in helping out with our garden activities,
please contact kelly Smith kelly.smith@crps.ca
Getting the spring clean-up
started at the LGMS garden.
Gym Shorts
Congrats to the LGMS grade 7 and 8 badminton team. The participation and competition was top notch this past week at
our Zones competition. Special shout out to Luke Fricker and Krissy Scurfield who stepped up and played against the grade
9’s for some tough competition in Banff. Our top school finishes included performances by Silver Medalists; Khara Morgan
Smith, Jaiden Webster, Rhys Jobbit and Logan Moldenhauer. Bronze Medal went to Kaleb Stannard and Jackson Ostman
Running Club
Mondays are running fun days. All kids are welcome to participate in this fun and active after school program. Wednesdays are MARATHON CLUB. This is not a drop in club but a team of students who are logging the miles to
run the equivalent of a marathon distance by June.
Drop in Badminton
Thanks so much to our parent supervisor Kat Wiebe for her volunteer efforts running this club. This program ran for an
extended period of time and provided our students with a safe environment to practice their skills. This is a free extracurricular activity that is made possible with the help of volunteers. It is now over and will start again next year.
Track and Field
Practices have commenced. This year we are practicing on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays after school. Our local
junior high meet will take place May 25 at LGMS and our South Central Zone meet will be May 31 at Foothills Athletic
Park. We will need volunteers to help run the local meet. If you are interested in helping out with the running , throwing or jumping components please give let us know.
Iride bike programs will start for the grade 4 classes in June.
This program is paid for by the RBC and brings mountain
bike instruction to our grade 4 students.
I’ve included an interesting read for every parent who is bringing up active kids in the Bow Valley and beyond. If your child
is being coached professionally outside of school it’s a great idea to ask their coach and more importantly, the sports governing board how they are following the LTAD to ensure your child does not drop out of sport.
http://www.cbc.ca/sports/sports-participation-canada-kids-1.3573955
Running Club and Marathon Club
Running club will meet on Mondays and Wednesdays in the student gathering area at 3:30. Please remind your child to be
prepared with the necessary equipment to run outside. Running club is hosted by incredible volunteers Dan and Fonda
Sparks. Reminder that Monday’s Club is geared towards fun and games runners , and are best suited for kids who are
interested in getting outside, spending time with their friends in a fun active environment. Mondays will be
called RUNNING CLUB which is very different from Wednesdays club. Marathon Club on Wednesday is geared toward the more serious runners who will by the end of the program have run a marathon distance. These kids will be
running longer progressively longer distances each week and will finish with a race in Calgary. Distances are predetermined and will be tracked and recorded each week.
MUSIC NOTES- JUNE 2016
Welcome to June everyone! Thanks for a great year and I look forward to seeing everyone at our annual Spring Concert! Congratulations to our LGMS Concert Band and to Lawrence Grassi Jazz for their amazing performances and
awesome participation in Edmonton’s annual Cantando Music Festival in Edmonton. They represented Lawrence
Grassi Middle School with pride and great manners! We also had a blast playing laser tag and going to West Edmonton Mall. A special thank you to Vivian Ceilan, Kat Wiebe and Marcy Casselman for their parenting, supervison , wisdom and sense of fun on the trip! We appreciate you taking time off to make this trip happen.
Thank you to Olds High School for their guest performance at LGMS and to the grade7,8 band students for their amazing performances of Terminal Velocity and Best Day!
Some Important dates to keep in mind:
Instrument Rental Night-Wednesday June 9TH at 6:30 p.m. in the music room.
All grade six
band parents are encouraged to attend. This is an information meeting for all grade six parents who will have their
children participating in grade six band next year. Parents will also be able to rent and reserve an instrument for their
child for next year as well as buy books and supplies for the 2016-17 school year.
SPRING INTO SUMMER CONCERT-Tuesday, June 15th at 7:00 p.m. in the LGMS School Gym.
Our final music performance for the year. All students who are performing in the concert need to be at school by 6:30 p.m. This
includes grade 6, 7 and 8 band students. All grade 7 and 8 concert band students need to wear their white shirt, black pants, band
pin and blue tie. All jazz band students need to wear their black shirt, black pants, band pin, blue tie and black shoes. All grade 6
students are encouraged to wear a white shirt and black pants or skirt if they have it. If not, they can wear something dressier
than what they wear to school.
THE LADY PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN- Wednesday, June 22nd, at 7:30 p.m.
Location:TBA
Tickets: $5.00 each, children get in free- $2.50 goes towards Fort MacMurray
A Comedic Play Presented by the grade seven drama class and supported by the student voice option. This is an exciting new project this year. The students and myself are working very hard on this project. We look forward to
presenting this fun adaptation from the film Pirates of the Caribbean,
Thank you for your continued support of the music program! It has been a great year of learning and playing music
with your children! So much fun and friendship and joy in music making! Good luck to all the grade eights going on
to the high school and I look forward to seeing the grade sevens in the fall. Have a fantastic summer!
Activities and Learning at
Lawrence Grassi Middle School
Benches of Canmore
As part of a school project, we are photographing all of the benches in Canmore. We want to capture the
words of remembrance and the view from the bench. Our aim is to create a book to highlight a small but significant part of Canmore's history: the families who chose to live in our beautiful town and keep a part forever in their hearts and minds. As we collect and identify the network of benches, the book might become a
guide to our trails and at the same time document the lives and stories of those commemorated.
We are hoping that we might find family members and friends who would like to share stories about their
departed loved ones.
We are also interested in any stories you have about how you use the benches: what part do they play in
your life? Do you have a favourite?
Any links or information you can provide to us would be most appreciated.
Shaun McQueen
Grade 7 Teacher
Description of Mural Project: by Aja Louden, artist
The subject of our mural is reconciliation. To me, identity is a central theme within reconciliation - being empowered
by pride in your own identity and having the ability to recognize and respect that in others. For the mural, we'll split the
youth into 6 groups - 4 based on the directions of the medicine wheel and 2 groups of 'settlers'. Each group will have
their own colours and will come up with their own phrase, symbol, and writing style. We will then approach the wall,
with each group collaborating to paint their section. Each section of the wall will start to fill up with that groups visual
'culture' - their phrases, symbols, and styles all in the same colour. Periodically, one member from each group will be
moved to another group, where they learn the 'culture' - the symbols, styles, phrase, and use of colour in their new
group. No matter what, they'll be bringing some of the things they learned in the last group along with them. This is the
beauty of cultural exchange.
Once we've filled most of the space, I'll be coming back in and painting an image of two hands reaching out in giving/
receiving position. Between them will be a black rock of coal with a small flame. This represents the shared history of
the Indigenous and Settler populations in Canmore - Virgil, an Elder here, had shared a story with Dawn at Public Arts
who relayed it to me about the Stoney people sharing the knowledge of the 'burning black rock' with the settlers, a major part of Canmore's mining history. This symbol of exchange, along with the relevant backstory, would be a great way
to tie the mural all together.
Early Concept
development on
the whiteboard
The process
begins
Getting it Done!
News from Grade 6
Grade 6 students from Ms. West and Mr. Booth classes had the opportunity to meet the
mayor recently as part of their Social Studies unit on Local Government. Students were given
a tour of the Civic Centre and insights into what it is like to work as a town councillor. Some
students even participated in a mock council meeting. Thank you to Mayor John Borrowman
for taking the time to work with our classes.
Students enjoying time at the Canmore Illusions Gym
Gardening with Ms. Amirault’s Class
LGMS Parent Council news
Our amazing volunteers continue to rock. Rona Griffin and her volunteer team brought Stream of Dreams to
Grade 8 students. Our pizza volunteers, led by Kendra Dominico, served their millionth slice of pizza. Up
next we are planning a staff thank-you lunch the year-end student BBQ and the Parent Council AGM. Parent
Council meetings are a great place to get to know staff and to learn about opportunities for your child. It is
amazing what we accomplish in one hour a month. Please join us at 6:30 p.m. on May ?? For our usual
meeting and a special presentation on addition at 7:30. Grade 8 parents requested this presentation, but it
will touch on topics for all grades
Biosphere Institute
LGMS is participating in the sustainable Small Steps Challenge! Take a photo of your son or daughter, your
family or your business taking their Small Steps.
Inspire others and enter for a chance to win an IPad Air! Submit up to 10 entries ie. home/work/school/play
To enter or see others’ Small Steps visit www.biosphereinstitute.org/small steps Biosphere Institute’s Facebook page or share your Small Step via Twitter or Instagram using #smallstepsbio
Challenge/tag friends to take their Small Steps!! Let’s show how LGMS helps make the Bow Valley more sustaintable!
Below Melanie Watt from the Biosphere Institute teaching the students about cougars with one of their
Edukits.