Info for the week of Nov 3-7

November 3-7, MidSun will be collecting food bank donations for the Veterans Food Bank.  Students can bring the non-perishable food items or money donations to their TA during this week for collection and earn TA points at the same time.

On Friday November 7^th at 9:00 am we will be holding a Remembrance Day Assembly in the gym.  We welcome parents to attend.  Please contact the office prior to the date and let us know how many people you will be bringing.  

Donations will also be accepted for the Calgary Poppy Fund.  On Friday, Poppy’s will be handed out to TA’s prior to the assembly.

In a demonstration of our respect and thankfulness to the Veterans we are asking students to wear all black on Friday.

Thank you

Purdy's Chocolate Fundraiser

Chocolate for Chromebooks

PURDYS CHOCOLATE CHRISTMAS FUNDRAISER

 

Your Participation is greatly appreciated to bring Chromebooks to our classrooms!

Purdy's gives the school up to 25% of the profits plus additional tax rebates for orders over $4,000

Thank you for support and being partners in our students learning!

 

  Ordering Deadline: Mon Nov 17

Go to: www.purdysgpp.com   https://www.purdysgpp.com/JoinAGroup.aspx?c=m17147

• ¨    Select Login or Register (upper right corner)
• ¨    Select Returning or New Customer
• ¨    Enter your Contact Information if New Customer
• ¨    Enter Customer# 24054 MidSun will show up below This links you to MIDSUN Group Order
• ¨    Select JOIN Group
• ¨    Select Go to group home page
• ¨    Place your Order & Submit Payment online
• ¨    All Orders MUST be prepaid

 

Submit paper orders: completed form & payment to teacher by order deadline Nov 17

Cheques payable to:  MSEES

 

Delivery: Dec 12

*IMPORTANT: Online Orders MUST include

STUDENTS NAME under the “Shop Online” Tab

Add STUDENTS NAME to “Additional Info line” 

 

ORDER FORMS & STEP BY STEP ORDERING INSTRUCTIONS

 

 

Order Form - Alta tax included

 

Getting Started Guide for  Members (your customers)

 

Christmas 2014 Brochure

Hydration and Healthy Eating Day

October 27, 2014

Today, the first 400 students who came into school were treated to a breakfast snack and all students received a bottle of water. In classes, students discussed the importance of staying hydrated and eating a healthy breakfast and lunch.  Prizes were awarded to students who brought healthy lunches or were able to answer questions related to staying healthy. Thanks to our school nurse for brining in some informative displays about nutrition.  As we head into the Halloween season, we hope our students can enjoy their treats in moderation.

Our next healthy focus will centre around Active Living on December 1, 2 and 3.  On these days we hope to have members of our community come in and lead students in some fun fitness activities.  If you or any of your friends and neighbours teach Jazzercize, Yoga, Zumba, Dancing, or any other class that gets you up and moving, we want to hear from you! We hope to offer some fun fitness activities between 12:30 and 1:00 PM that will inspire and motivate our students to pursue active living now and into the future!  Please call Ms. Saretsky at the school if you can volunteer.

We are looking forward to seeing you at Parent Student Teacher Conferences this week.

First Notice of Overdue Fees

First Notice of Overdue Fees – October 27 2014

The first notice of Overdue Fees will be sent home with your student within the next day or two.

Payment of fees can be made by any of the following methods:

Ø  Online

Ø  Cheque

Ø  Debit

Ø  VISA/Mastercard – this can be done either in the office or over the phone

Ø  Cash

A staff member will be available to accept payments during Parent/Teacher conferences.

Ø  Payment Plan – an agreed plan for paying school fees on a regular basis with a regular amount

A payment plan can be arranged with our bookkeeper. Please contact Edwina Ewart on 403 777 6430

An application for Waivers can be made by going on the CBE website: http://www.cbe.ab.ca/Parents/fees.asp’

Henry Wise Wood International Baccalaureate Info Night for Grade 9's

Conferences and Grocery Gift Card Information

Parent, Teacher and Student Conferences are Tuesday and Thursday evening as well as Friday morning this week.  You can go onto https://midsun.schoolsoft.ca and book appointments if you have not already done so.  Please note that Mrs. Curran will not be available for this round of conferences.  Also, Mrs. Hayden-Isaak and Ms. Marinescu will not be available on Tuesday.  If you have concerns and would like to speak to them, you can contact them through e-mail directly to make other arrangements.

Due to the timing of the conferences, we will be running a short day schedule (Dismissal at 12:28) Tuesday-Thursday this week, with no school on Friday.

 

The MidSun Parent Council will have a table set up during interviews for parents wanting to order grocery gift cards.  Debit and Credit card payment will be accepted as well as cash and cheque.  There will be forms on hand, but if you want to print one off ahead of time please go to

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

Thank you for your continued support

Picture Retake Day/Healthy Hydration Day - Tomorrow!

A quick reminder that tomorrow is Picture retake day.  In addition, tomorrow will Healthy Eating and Hydration Day.

School News-October 23, 2014

MidSun celebrated our first Wordfest on October14-17, 2013 with fun contests and author visits.

Scott Chantler, Johnathan Auxier and N.D. Richmond all spoke to our students about their books and careers.  Each lunch hour that week a special Wordfest activity was held in our learning hallways.  Students played Jeopardy, sang Karaoke, and received prizes for using the word of the day in class.  On Friday, teachers took on a letter of the alphabet and became living wordwalls with words stuck to their cloths!  It was a fun and informative week. Special thanks to our School Council for their support of our events.  Your grocery gift card fundraiser support is enhancing the education of MidSun students!

Today is a short day and tomorrow is a professional development day. Teachers are gathering to work on our new assessment methods and clarify our communication of the indicator scale to students and parents.  We will be looking at linking tasks to the curriculum and designing interesting and engaging assignments for students.  We are delving into Bloom's Taxonomy and ensuring that students have the opportunity to demonstrate higher order thinking skills in their work at school.

Monday october 27th is Healthy Eating and Hydration Day.  We are celebrating the installation of our new water fountain with a waterbottle fill spout.  We hope students will bring healthy lunches and fill up their waterbottles to stay hydrated in class.  Our brains work better when we drink water. Next week we have short days on October 28th, 29th and 30th and no school on the 31st.  This is to allow for our Parent/Student/Teacher conferences.  There is still time to book interviews with your child's teachers.  Our catering club has been busy making cookies for the event and our School Council will be on hand to take Grocery Gift Card orders.  See the website for how to book. We have two teachers currently on leave, Ms. Marinescu and Mr. Reynard.  Ms. Cho has been filling in for Ms. Marinescu and Mr. Mahoney is here for Mr. Reynard.  We welcome them to our staff if even for a short time.

Our Remembrance Day Assembly will take place at 9:00AM on November 7, 2014.  We will have a guest speaker, band and drama performances and student readings.  If you are interested in joining us for the assembly, please call the office and reserve your place.  This will help us put out enough seating for everyone.

Have a great weekend MidSun families.

Grocery Gift Card - November Deadline Edition

Wrestling Schedule 2014

Parent Teacher Student (PTS) Conferences Oct 27, 28 & 31

Parent Teacher Conference Booking Opens October 20!

 Parent/Student/Teacher Conferences

 This is a reminder to go online and book for our upcoming parent student teacher conferences using Conference Manager. These are scheduled for Tuesday October 28, Thursday October 30, from 5:30-8:00 PM, and Friday October 30, 2014 from 9:00 AM-12:00 PM.

Teachers have been contacting parents of students that they believe need some extra support and booking appointments this week.

The site opens for booking by parents at 6:00 AM on Monday October 20, 2014 and closes at 12:00 PM on Friday October 31, 2014.  Each time slot is 5 minutes. Core teachers recommend booking two consecutive sessions. You may add any comments to let the teacher know if you have a particular concern you would like to talk about. Be sure to put travel time between interviews.

You are able to view marks and attendance records on HomeLogic on a consistent basis now. Please check your child’s information prior to your appointment so you can have the most up to date information available to you as you discuss your concerns.  For more information about Home Logic, please go to http://schools.cbe.ab.ca/b691/parents.htm and click on HomeLogic introduction for parents. You can log in to HomeLogic by going to https://sirswebapps.cbe.ab.ca/homelogic/  

We hope that this will allow our teachers to be prepared for your interviews and make the time more productive for everyone. Please call our office at 403-777-6430 if you have any concerns.

Parent-Teacher Conferences- October 28, 30 & 31, 2014

The link for the Conference Manager is: https://midsun.schoolsoft.ca   

A Parent Account is required to use the Conference Manager. However, you only need to go through the registration process the first time you use the system. If you have never registered in the Conference Manager use the link above and click the “Register Now” button.

Can’t remember your password?

If you already have a Parent Account, click on the link above, select “Forgot your password” and enter the email address you used to register in the system. You will then receive an email containing instructions for resetting your password. If you do not receive an email, you might have entered an email address the system does not recognize. Please also add appointments@schoolsoft.ca to your address book in your computer mail. This will override any spam filters that might be blocking the email. If the problem persists, please contact the office and ask them to access your Parent Account, confirm your email address and reset your password.

Step 1 - Conference Manager Opens to Parents – 6:00 AM October 20, 2014

If you used the Conference Manager in the past, your email and password are still in the system. You can simply access the Conference Manager using the link above.

Step 2 – Book your Parent-Teacher Conference

Select the teachers with whom you want to book interviews. You will see each teacher’s schedule. Select one session for a 5 minute interview or two consecutive sessions for a ten minute interview. Be sure to leave travel time in between your interviews. After booking your appointments you can print off your schedule. You will also receive an email confirming your bookings. You can log into the system at any time to view your bookings, print, cancel or re-schedule appointments.

If you do not have Internet access, you are welcome to contact the office and we will schedule your conferences on your behalf.

We recommend adding

appointments@schoolsoft.ca
to your address book

Important Dates:

October 20 – Start scheduling your interviews at 6:00 AM

October 28 & 29 – 5:30 - 8:00 PM Parent Teacher Interviews
October 31 – 9:00 – 12:00 PM Parent Teacher Interviews

If you have any questions or need assistance, please feel free to contact the school at 403-777-6430. Please let us know if you like this system! Special thanks to the School Council for purchasing the conference manager!

 

Centennial High Open House for Grade 9's

Influenza Vaccination Clinic Information

Alberta Health Services will be holding Influenza Clinics on the 3rd floor of South Calgary Health Centre starting October 20, 2014.  The Influenza Vaccine is available for anyone 6 months or older.

Monday-Friday 11:00 am-6:45 pm and Saturdays 9:30 am-5:15 pm for the first three weeks. Closed on Remembrance Day. 

The week of November 17th they will be open Tuesday-Friday 11:00 am-6:45 pm and Saturdays 9:30 am-5:15 pm.

Please bring your Alberta Health Care cards. No appointments, walk in. Free of charge to all Albertans. 

Address: 31 Sunpark Plaza S.E.

Many doctors' offices and pharmacies are also providing flu shots. 

Anti Bullying Presentation

October 3, 2014

MidSun Students were treated today with a presentation from singer, songwriter Rachel Ashley who shared her incredible and heart wrenching stories of being bullied as she grew up.  She has channelled her energy into writing music and talking to students across the country to stop bullying.  She reminded all of us that we can never know what another person might be going through and sharing a kindness to others can ghelp make the world a better place.  MidSun students were inspired and challenged to stop bullying and speak out when they see it happening.

On Tuesday, grade 7 ENVOE students went on an informative hike in the Kananaskis.  They learned how to layer their clothing, stay hydrated and some interesting facts about the Rocky Mountains. They saw fossils, waterfalls,  krummholtz ( a tree stunted by harsh conditions at the top of the mountain), and learned many animal facts.  The grade 8 students go out this week on a hike in Banff.
Grade 8 students will be heading out on the Bow River for Riverwatch and are asked to dress in layers to be sure they are warm enough while on the rafts.

Our staff continue to have great discussions around our new assessment methods and the indicator scale on the new report card.  The meaning of each number is important to keep in mind when measuring a student's understanding of the outcomes.  A two indicates a basic understanding of the outcomes and means that the student has demonstrated grade level understanding.  A three is a good understanding of the outcome with the ability to go deeper than level two.  A four indicates an excellent understanding of the outcomes and the student is able to demonstrate higher order thinking skills and apply their knowledge in new ways.

This example was shared in a math class last week.  Students were studying Cartesian
Coordinates.  They were asked to create as many squares as they could that contained the points (A, B).

The student who finds one square is working at a basic (2) understanding of how to create a square from two points.  Like this:

The student who can find two squares that share one side is going deeper and would be working at a good (3) level. Like this:

Students who are able to find a third square by creating a diagonal and using points that land midway between two intersecting lines would be extending their learning and applying their knowledge at a deeper level.  This would be considered excellent (4) understanding of the outcome.

It is important that we do not compare the indicator scale to our old measures of percentages.  This scale is about breadth and depth of understanding and does not lump together  achievement during the practice time or early learning stages.  It measures the understanding against an outcome and relies on teacher judgement of the entire body of evidence demonstrated by the student to determine their level of understanding.

If you want to know more about the indicator scale, join us at our next school council meeting on October 16, 2014 at 7:00 PM where I will be sharing exemplars of each level in a variety of subject areas.

Have a great weekend MidSun families!

Travel Tips for Sunmills Drive S.E.