Welcome Josh Woods and Lisette Lively

We are happy to introduce two new faces to MidSun, Josh Woods and Lisette Lively.

Mr. Woods will be taking over for Mr. McGhan as he goes on leave for the rest of the year.  Josh is a Kinesiology major who is more than comfortable in the gym.  He will also be heading up the grade 7 and 8 ENVO program.  Welcome Mr. Woods!

Miss Lively was the learning leader of language arts at Clarence Samson and has spent the last two years teaching in Kuwait.  She is glad to be back in Canada and teaching for the CBE.  She will be working with Ms. Smith's classes while she is away on leave.  Welcome Miss Lively!

Book Fair a BIG success

A great big thank you to our Michelle D. and her fabulous volunteers who worked hard to make our book fair a big success!  Thank you to everyone who purchased some wonderful reads. Our learning commons will be able to purchase $450 worth of books and the MidSun School Educational Enhancement Society is $498.25 dollars closer to putting a smartboard in every classroom!

Help us put a Smartboard in every MidSun classroom!

Our School Council has begun a large fundraising effort to provide our school with a smartboard in every classroom! The thermometer to the right of this page shows our fundraising target and progress. Thanks to all the parents who sent in donations at the start of the year.  Donations are still being accepted by the school council if you want to contribute directly.  The first fundraising event is in progress with Epicure spice fundraiser.  These spices make great hostess gifts or Christmas presents.  Your child should have brought home a form already but if it got lost in their backpack, another form is available at the link above.  Just drop off your order forms in the box in the office!  Thank you for helping our School Council make Smartboards a part of each MidSun School classroom.

Parent Meeting Re: Grade 8 New Homeroom distribution

Below is some information about the new funding that MidSun School will be given shortly.  This is an exciting opportunity for us to reduce class size. The priority for MidSun will be to reduce class sizes in our grade 8 population from 35 students to 30 or 31 students.  We will be holding a meeting on Saturday, October 29, 2011 at 1 PM in our library to discuss the process we will follow to redistribute the students in our grade 8 homerooms.  All parents are welcome and encouraged to attend.

Extra funding directed to schools from province

Principals are deciding how additional funding from the provincial government will benefit their schools.

During her campaign for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative party, Alison Redford promised to put $107 million back into education in Alberta. Within two weeks of winning the leadership, Premier Redford and new Minister of Education, Thomas Lukaszuk, announced that the money was secured.

The Calgary Board of Education (CBE) portion of the additional funding is $19.2 million.

During a public meeting on Oct. 18, the CBE’s Board of Trustees directed the one-time funding to schools so principals, who know their school communities better than anyone, can decide how to spend the money.

The CBE money comes from Alberta Education in two buckets. Part of the money is earmarked for Alberta Initiative for School Improvement or “AISI” projects. These projects are designed to improve our teaching across the system. The additional $4.2 million of AISI funding equals $43.50 per student. This money will be directed to schools for their personalized learning initiatives.

The rest of the additional funding for the CBE totals $15 million or $155.30 per student. Principals can use this money to make a difference in classrooms.

In general, Alberta Education has clear expectations for how the money is used. Minister Lukaszak has stated that the additional funding be “felt by” students and teachers. In other words, the funding is to be spent on people. This expectation is consistent with the feedback the CBE received to an online survey.

The CBE asked people to rate priorities for additional funding. Between Oct. 4 and 11, more than 6,100 responded to the survey. Teachers and support for teachers topped the list.

School principals have been asked to submit their spending plans for the additional funding by Nov. 1. The short deadline means the one-time money will get to students and classrooms quickly.

Principals will connect with their school council chairs to explain the exact funding for their schools and the spending plans. Given the quick turnaround, it is hard for principals to consult with the community again. That is part of the reason why the decision-making was delegated to principals. They know their schools. The spending plans will be a response to ongoing conversations about what is important in each school.

Sidebar: More than 6,100 people help set priorities

More than 6,100 completed an online survey to rank CBE priorities for additional funding from the provincial government. Here are the results in order of importance.

1 |    Teachers in schools

2 |    Support for teachers 

3 |    Support for students with special needs

4 |    School maintenance and repair

5 |    Technology for students

6 |    Support for English-language learners

7 |    Professional development for teachers

8 |    Reducing student fees  

9 |    Replenish CBE reserves

10 |  New schools

In addition to these choices, people could write in a response they thought was missing. Many of the 900 written responses emphasized the choices above. The most common write-in response was smaller class sizes, with 138 mentions.

Almost half of the people who answered the survey described themselves as parents with school-age children. About 40 per cent described themselves as CBE employees. For the most part, parents and CBE employees agreed on the priorities.

Fantastic Foods

Jenna P. really did an amazing job on this foods project extrodinaire!  The grade 8 students are finishing up their baking unit under the direction of Chef LeClair this month and will be moving onto sewing shortly. 

Parent/Student/Teacher interviews

All parents should have recieved interim mark updates by email last Friday in anticipation of our Parent/Student/Teacher Interviews on Wednesday October 26 from 5:30-8:00PM, Thursday October 27 from 5:30-8:00 PM and Friday October 28th from 9:00AM-Noon.  Students will follow a short day schedule on Oct 26 & 27 and no classes on Oct 28th.

Available at Interviews:
Catering Club hosts and hostesses
Leadership students selling SPC cards
Blog sign up
Book Fair to browse
Representatives from Learning cliks careers
pre booked Family portraits in the learning commons (library)http://schools.cbe.ab.ca/b691/pdfs/familyphotoevent.pdf

See you there!

Caring for our Watersheds

Agrium was at our school today teaching our students about caring for our watersheds.  They explained more about the contest they run for students in grades 7-12. (http://www.agrium.com/stories/1093.jsp)

Last year three MidSun students won $1300 in prizes by entering the competition.  We challenge all students to find ways to care for this important resource.  We would be proud to have another finalist this year!

Coming up....

We would like to remind parents to check their inboxes for mark updates from your child’s teachers tomorrow, Friday October 21^st.  Please let our office know if you do not receive them as we may have an issue with your email address. 

Individual Program Plans for student’s with Alberta Education Codings will be sent home on Tuesday October 25 and need to be signed and returned by noon on Friday October 28. 

We hope to see you at our Parent/student/teacher conferences on Wed and Thursday evening October 26 and 27 from 5:30-8:00 or Friday October 28 from 9 AM– Noon. Please bring your child along with you. 

October 26 and 27 is our Family Portrait Night. If you would like to book a sitting for a family portrait, please go to http://schools.cbe.ab.ca/b691/pdfs/familyphotoevent.pdf

The School Council will also be on hand at interviews for our annual Book Fair and will have more information about raising money for smartboards with the Epicure Fundraiser. Don’t forget to sign up for our new blog available at the top of this page.

IN SPORTS

Jr. Boys won 5 out of 6 sets on Tuesday!  Great improvement guys!

Sr. Girls won all of their games and are excited for some tournaments coming up this month.

CROSS COUNTRY RESULTS ARE IN!

Great Results for this year's team!  Congratulations to all runners!

Jr. Boys - FIRST Overall

2	Aiden G.
6	Matt P
12	Kai S
16	Kevin H
18	Pierson M

Jr. Girls - 14th Overall

51	Jenna M
58	Sara B
62	Riley
84	Sierra M
101	Danielle T

Int. Boys - 5th Overall

8	Daniel F
11	David R
48	Parks L
13	Connor V
49	Taylor S
50	Denver l

Sr. Boys - FIRST Overall

4	James B
8	Kyle G
14	Drake M
15	Len K
19	Justin L
22	Kyle F

Sr. Girls - 8th Overall

1

Laurin T

Book Fair Next Week

The School Council is hosting a Book Fair next week.  Your child should have brought home a brochure with information about our upcoming Book Fair.  This is timely since all of our students have 10 minutes of reading time each day during their Language Arts classes and need to bring reading material that interests them.  Students will tour the Book Fair during the day on Tuesday October 25, 26 or 27.  Parents can order books at our Student/Parent/Teacher conferences held on Wed October 26 or Thursday October 27, 2011 from 5:30-8:00 PM or Friday October 28th from 9:00 AM -Noon.

Performing Arts news

The class of Performing Arts is currently blocking the scenes for the upcoming play of “Dracula”  under the direction of Ms. I Chomyn .

The drama performance  will be presented in our school gymnasium on March 7^th and 8^th  2012 at 7:00p.m. for a cost of $7.00 per person

Students, parents and friends are invited to attend this spectacular event of Drama, movement, dance and music!

We are asking parents from students of the play, or any other parents who may be interested in helping

 to attend an important meeting regarding costumes, set and lighting on Thursday November 24^th from 4:00-6:00p.m.

Your input and help will be greatly appreciated.

For more information please contact

Ms. I Chomyn

Drama, Performing Arts and film teacher at Midsun

403-777-6430 ext. 2048

Jr Girls Win tonight!

The Jr. Girls Volleyball played well tonight winning 2 out of 2 sets! Keep it up!

Parent Fundraising for MidSun Smartboards

Our School Council has begun a large fundraising effort to provide our school with a smartboard in every classroom! The thermometer to the right of this page shows our fundraising target and progress. Thanks to all the parents who sent in donations at the start of the year.  Donations are still being accepted by the school council if you want to contribute directly.  The first fundraising event kicks off today with Epicure spice fundraiser.  These spices make great hostess gifts or Christmas presents.  Your child should be coming home with the forms tonight.  Thank you for helping our parent council make Smartboards a part of each MidSun School classroom.

Congrats to Sr. Girls!

Our Sr. Girls Volleyball beat out GCA for a Gold medal win at this weekend's feeder school tournament at Centennial High School.  Our Senior boys played well but fell short of the playoff round.  Well done Lakers!

MidSun Tutoring

Our Centennial High School tutoring program begins afterschool on Wednesday's in the learning commons on November 9th.  Any student wanting support in their core subjects are invited to attend.  We are very proud of the caliber of our high school tutors.  One of last year's tutors, Cynthia N., was featured recently in the Calgary Herald.  Congratulations Cynthia!

News from Centennial High School

Centennial High School cordially invites all MidSun parents to hear motivational speaker, Tyler Duncan, (http://bitesizedwisdom.com/) on Tuesday Oct 18, 2011 at 7-8:15 in the Centennial High School theatre. Free admission but they would welcome a tooney donation to help support thier mural fundraiser.

MidSun is invited to join forces with Centennial High School to make this world a little greener by e-cyling!

On October 19^th from 8:30am-5:30pm, you can drop off unwanted electronics at Centennial High School.

55 Sun Valley Boulevard Southeast

T2X 3W7

Please look for the big tent and banners in the school parking lot on the South side of the building.

Items accepted for recycling include:

-         Computers, Monitors, Cables & Accessories

-         Laptops

-         Printers

-         Fax Machines

-         TVs, VCRs, DVD Players

-         Batteries/Cell Phone Batteries

Congratulations to Laurin T.

On Monday October 3rd, Our Cross Country running team competed in their final race of the year.  While the final results are not in yet, no one will dispute Laurin T's first place finish in the Senior Girls race.  Laurin is a gifted runner and in the three years she has run for the Midsun team she has never lost a race!  She is also known for the way she congratulates her competitors and encourages her team mates.  Congratulations Laurin for demonstrating excellece both on and off the track at MidSun School. 
Final results of all of our team will be posted as they come available.

SR. Girls Volleyball

Sr. Girls win 2 of 4 games tonight in the lakerdome. Some great hits ladies!

Family Portraits at Parent teacher interviews

If you would like to get a family portrait done then consider booking a time on Wednesday October 26 or Thursday October 27 with Life Touch Photography at MidSun School.  These photos make lasting memories and great Christmas presents!  Information about the evening and booking an appt. is available at
http://schools.cbe.ab.ca/b691/pdfs/familyphotoevent.pdf

Junior Boys Volleyball

Good job to our Jr. Boys Volleyball team who won an impressive 3 out of 4 sets last night!

Chess club begins

The MidSun Chess Club will hold an informational meeting after school on Wed, from 3.45 p.m. to 4.15p.m in ROOM 14!  All gamers welcome!

IPP's come home

If your child has an Individual Program Plan (because they have special coding through Alberta Education for a learning disability), you can expect to see their IPP come home some time over the next two weeks.  We are interested in working with parents to make student goals attainable and measurable. Plan to discuss, revise and sign your child's IPP at our student/parent/teacher conferences on Wednesday October 26 and Thursday, October 27 from 5:30-8:00PM or Friday October 28 from 9AM-Noon.

Sr. Boys Volleyball & Giving Thanks

Good job to the Senior Boys Volleyball who won 3/6 of their sets last night at Mountain Park School.  The final match against Samuel Shaw was a real close and exciting game!  Good effort boys.

We have a great deal to be thankful for at MidSun School.  We are part of a larger community that understand and value education.  We have wonderful students who bring great enthusiasm for learning into our building.  We have a dedicated staff who work tirelessly to ensure all students have opportunities to recognize and develop their personal gifts and talents.  We have a strong parent council who is working to make sure our school has the tools to bring a world class education to our students. 

For all of these things we give thanks.  On behalf of MidSun School I want to wish you and your family a wonderful Thanksgiving.

This week in Volleyball

Congratulations to our Junior Boys Volleyball team who worked hard on Tuesday night and won 3 out of 6 Sets!

Tonight, our Senior Girls Volleyball rocked our lakerdome winning 5 out of 6 sets!  Way to go lakers!

Senior Boys play at Mountain Park School Thursday at 3:45PM.  Good Luck Boys. 

Reminder that Thursday is a Friday Schedule in preparation for a great long weekend.

Impact Society Presentation

The grade 7 and 8 students were challenged today by Jack Toth, founder and CEO of Impact Society, who spoke to them at an assembly this morning.  He encouraged us to understand our individual gifts and talents, and to share them in positive ways with others.  He helped us understand that we are heros when we do this and there is a hero in each of us.  The students will be following up the assembly with work from the Hero's program material they will be using in their Living Skills classes this year.

October Newsletter

October Newsletter highlights

-School start up

-School sports and clubs

-Calendar items

Read more about our school in our October newsletter.

Welcome Hannah Latak

Please welcome Hannah Latak, our new guidance counsellor, who will be filling in for Ms. Price while she is off for a few weeks on a leave.  She is an experienced guidance counsellor and is able to help students with any guidance support they may need.  Welcome Ms. Latak!

Congratulations to Ms. Blum!

Ms. Blum was honoured at the Calgary Petroleum Club last night for winning an APEGGA Education Foundation Excellence in Education Award for teaching Math and Science! Along with the award comes $2000 for Ms. Blum to spend on advancing Math and Science at MidSun.  Way to go, Ms. Blum!