Midsun School Council Update

Greetings from Midsun:

The School Council meeting scheduled in May has been moved from Wednesday May 14^th to Wednesday May 7^th at 7:00pm in the Library Learning Commons.  We are still looking for people to fill the following positions within the Council for next year – Chairperson, Vice Chairperson and Treasurer.  Please contact Kim Bender at kjbender@telus.net if you are interested in any of these positions for the fall.

Thank you for your continued support of our recent fundraising efforts.  We hope everyone enjoyed their hot cross buns!

Miss Smith is looking for parent volunteers to help out with various jobs related to the upcoming production of the Wizard of Oz.  Registered school volunteers will receive an e-mail detailing what these jobs entail tomorrow (Wednesday).  If you are interested in helping with this production regardless of volunteer status, please contact Edwina Ewart at eoewart@cbe.ab.ca

Grocery Gift Card deadline for May is Wednesday May 7^th. 

Imperial Oil Science Tech Engineering and Math Info for Parents

Grade 7 students visit the Military Museum

In the last week, Midsun’s Grade 7 students have had the opportunity to attend the Alberta Military Museums to learn more about the War of 1812. At the Museum, the students were treated to an interactive presentation, a hands-on game examining different battles of the war, as well as personalized tour.

Afterwards, the students had time to explore the many fascinating exhibits the museum has on display—it was an informative and excellent (although somewhat ‘alarming’ for some!) way to spend a day outside the classroom.

Thank you to all the parent volunteers who participated.  Your support is appreciated.

Invitation to Parents for Teleconference with Education Minister Jeff Johnson

Teachers, school leaders, students, parents, community leaders – we’re all involved in the success of Alberta’s youth.  Inspiring Education began as a collaboration among Albertans, and we want to keep it that way.  Parents are true partners in achieving the vision of Inspiring Education, and we need to work together to ensure all students succeed.

 It is in this spirit of collaboration that I invite your school councils and parents to join me, together with Brad Vonkeman, President of the Alberta School Councils’ Association, and Claudine Lajoie, President of the Fédération des parents francophones de l’Alberta, to learn more about our progress on Inspiring Education and initiatives like Curriculum Redesign.

Our special guest will be Dr. Glenn Feltham, President and CEO of the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology and Chair of the Task Force for Teaching Excellence.

As a participant, you can also share what you consider to be priorities for our ongoing work to ensure that Alberta kids continue to have access to leading-edge learning opportunities.

When

Monday, April 14

8 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Registration

To take part in the call, you will need to register before 4 p.m. on Friday, April 11.  To register, please visit http://education.alberta.ca/resources/teleconferenceapr2014.aspx.

Due to the number of phone lines available, I encourage your school councils to call in as a group and invite parents from your school community to join you.  Please have one person register on behalf of the group.

Once your school councils have registered, they will receive a confirmation email with additional information, including a call-in number and participant pass code.

If you or your school councils have any questions about the teleconference, please contact:

Christine Bouchard, Education Manager

Learning Supports and Information Management, Alberta Education

christine.bouchard@gov.ab.ca

780-422-6503 (To be connected toll-free from anywhere in Alberta, dial 310-0000.)

I look forward to this discussion and working together to prepare our students for the future!

Sincerely,

Jeff Johnson

Minister of Education

MLA, Athabasca-Sturgeon-Redwater

Spirit Week Events

D2L Personal Parent Access

D2L  Parent Personal Access

1. How can parents access D2L?
Parents have 2 ways to access D2L. Parents can sit along side their child after he/she logs in to
D2L to have meaningful conversations with their child around their learning. Parents also have
personal parent access to D2L to view student progress by logging into the CBE MyAccounts
application and clicking on the D2L link.

2. Will parents be able to see news items in a course?
Through the personal parent access to D2L, parents will not have access to see news items. In
Phase 1 of Personal Parent Access, parents will only be able to see the Student User Progress
tool. Phase 2 will include parent communication and interactivity within the course, but will not
be available this school year.

3. Will parents be able to download homework documents?
Parents have no interactivity with Phase 1 of Personal Parent Access. They can view a list of the
documents and topics in a course, but they cannot download them.

4. When viewing student progress, why don’t all courses show the same indicators?
Teachers use D2L in different ways out at our schools. Teachers can decide what information is
relevant for parents to see around Student progress.

5. Where do parents go for help?
Parents should work first with their child’s teacher to resolve any issues. The teacher can
contact D2L help if they aren’t sure how to resolve an issue.

6. Where do parents go to log into D2L?
Parents have personal parent access by logging into the CBE MyAccount application
https://webapps.cbe.ab.ca/myaccount/Account/LogOn and clicking on the D2L link. This link is
also available on the D2L login page for parents.

National Math Competition

Matthew K,  Hannah D, Justin R,  Hanna H, Addison P,  Haley M, Megan O, Holt T, Holly T,  Dion P, Sonny S, Blayze L,  Youssef A, Matthew P, Sophia C, Isabelle S, Kaya V, Jenny D, Miles F, Sagan C, Parker B, Abir S, Zoe H, Jillian H, Justine L, Sarah B, Silvia C, Cynthia L, Jamie R, Lauren E, Andrew M, Mikayla M,  Jenny L, Jessica A, Harrison F, Reuben V, Chris D, Farid S, Drew D, Pierce B, Dante P, Zach M, Lizzie L, Max N, Jack Barnett R, Brooke T, Kim H, Carly A, Eric X, Jordan B, Kevin H, Hussan K, Britta D, Nickolai K, Max M, Abigail T, Koi M,  Lacey Z, Takara N, Kalena P, Matt P, Kai S, Dhruv M, Nathan R, Nick S, Josh C, Jin S, Austin T

These students will be representing MidSun in a National Math Competition on Wednesday April 9th.  Good luck to all involved and thank you to Ms. Marinescu for organizing.

Info for June Planning

We have received some questions from parents who are trying to plan for summer holidays and hope this information will be timely and useful for families. Our Final exam schedule is as follows:

Monday May 12 9:00 AM-11:30 AM – ELA Part A

Thursday June 19 – Awards Assemblies (busses run at regular times) 

Grade 7; 9:00 AM, Gr 8 11:00 AM, Grade 9; 1:00 PM

Friday June 20 – Grade 7 & 8 Social exam 9:00-10:45 AM (Grade 9 at Calaway Park)

Monday June 23 9:00 − 10:45 AM – Science

Tuesday June 24 9:00-11:00 AM – Math

Wednesday June 25 9:00-10:45 AM – ELA

Thursday June 26 9:00-10:50 AM – Social (grade 9 only)

Thursday June 26 2:30-3:30 Report Cards all grades

Friday June 27 - 9:00-11:30 AM Appeals

In the past we have held tutorials prior to the exams but teachers feel that this may have encouraged students to cram and not develop good study habits so we are not holding the tutorials prior to the exams this year. The busses on exam days will be leaving the school at 11:30 with the exception of June 19 and 26 when the busses will run at normal times. Some students may need to arrange for their own transportation on these days either to or from school. Students who are entitled to extra time will need to arrange for alternative transportation home.

We appreciate students being here to write their tests on exam days. Please call the office if you have any questions!

PS. Don't forget, Grocery Gift card orders and Hot Cross Buns orders are due tomorrow! Order forms available at:

http://schools.cbe.ab.ca/b691/council.htm

April 4, 2014

Yesterday we were treated to a talent show that was organized by our leadership students.  There were talented singers, dancers, musicians, a baton twirler, and comedians who strutted their stuff in the lakerdome and delighted our audience. It was a great afternoon that proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that MidSun's got Talent!

In literacy class today we talked about a learning strategy that helps to make our brains sticky for information: asking ourselves questions about what we are reading and then answering them.  Information is retained better when we relate the questions to our personal lives.  There was a great article in the Globe and Mail that reinforced this work.  It is available at: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/parenting/why-your-teenager-is-studying-the-wrong-way/article17766154/

Next year our report card will look different.  We are changing the way we discuss student learning from "What percentage did I get?" to "What areas am I doing well in? What areas do I need to work on?"  Each subject on the new report card will be reported on using stems that break the course learning outcomes into subcomponents.  Examples of the stems for each course came home with the report card in February.  Instead of having Language Arts listed with a percentage attached to it on the report card, there will be four Language Arts stems, each indicating if your child needs support to achieve grade level, is meeting grade level expectations or is excelling grade level expectations.  In Language Arts, there will be a stem for reading, one for writing, one for evaluating ideas and information,  one for speaking and listening and one for expressing ideas and understandings through a variety of media.  In short if your child is an excellent reader but struggles with writing, you will see that on the report card.  If they are excelling in reading and writing but struggling with using the information to create new ideas, you will see this too. A simple number like 75% blends skills into a lump that does not make sense and is more about ranking students than understanding them as learners.  75% does not help them understand where they need to improve.  

I invite you to School Council on Wednesday April 9, 2014 at 7 PM where we will discuss the new report card and some exciting initiatives around technology that may see each of our students with a laptop device.  We could use your ideas and input.  Also, please take a good look at the fundraising information that came home this week.  We are in the last order of the year for grocery gift cards and have been struggling to make our minimums the last few months.  No minimums, no funds for our school.  If you buy groceries, why not purchase the gift cards to buy them with from us?  It doesn't cost you any extra but the stores give our school money back for buying in bulk!  Also for Easter are delicious hot cross buns from Cobbs.  The order deadline for both of these items is Tuesday April 8, 2014.  Thanks for helping us work to make MidSun even better for our learners and improve our technology for learning!

Have a great weekend!

Veronica Saretsky

2014 Badminton Practice Schedule

Band Camp Information Session #2

BAND CAMP INFORMATION SESSION #2

Thursday, April 3- 7:00pm- MidSun Gym

Any students attending our upcoming band trips must have a parent representative sign in at this meeting, or the one held in January.  Please ensure that you meet this CBE regulation.  Thanks, also, to all the parents who stopped in at interviews to discuss band trips.
Thanks,
Mr. Campbell

 

THANKS!