Thursday, 26 November 2015
Wednesday, 25 November 2015
Tuesday, 24 November 2015
Invitation to Grade 9's
Grade 9 students are invited to attend a performance of Twelfth
Night at Centennial High School on Monday, December 7. Students are
asked to return forms and admission fee of $5 to their homeroom teachers by
December 1. We are asking that attendees bring a bag lunch as they will
eat lunch and walk directly to Centennial for the afternoon performance.
Students will return in time for dismissal. Those not attending the play
will stay at Midsun and attend a study hall for the afternoon.
Extra forms are available on the D2L shell of grade 9
core teachers and any questions can be directed to the grade 9 Learning Leader,
Mrs. Kaiser (mekaiser@cbe.ab.ca) or our
Drama teacher, Ms. Smith (knsmith@cbe.ab.ca
).
Monday, 23 November 2015
Overdue School Fee Information
Notices of Overdue school fees have now been mailed
out. If you receive this notice, please pay by one of the following
options:
Online – by Credit card or debit, Credit Card either in the
office or over the phone, debit card in the office, send a cheque with the
student, bankers draft or cash, by person in the office.
We are aware that unexpected life changes happen and may
create financial stress and so we would ask that you would contact our
bookkeeper, Edwina Ewart 403 777 6430 ext 2377, to set up a payment plan for
your fees.
Unpaid fees at the end of January 2016 will go forward to
the collection process.
Friday, 20 November 2015
MidSun Complementary Subject Update
Hello again!
It is really exciting to see students start to complete many of their projects in their complementary subjects. I would also like to take this opportunity to provide a technology update and let you know about a famous event that will be occurring soon at our school.
Fine Arts Night
The Complementary subjects at MidSun School will be hosting our 2016 Fine and Practical Arts Evening. The grand event will take place on Thursday January 21nd 2016 from 6.30 to 8.00pm in the Drama Room, Atrium and Atrium Balcony at MidSun School.
This event will showcase our students' award winning talents in Art, Drama, Dance, Construction, Foods, Fashion, Jazz Band, French, CTF Design/Media Technology Studies and more!
Admission is free to this amazing event. The event is open to the public. Please mark your calendars, as we hope to see you then!
Regards,
Kaushik Tailor
Complementary Subjects/Technology Learning Leader – MidSun School
Calgary Board of Education | cbe.ab.ca/b691
t | 403-777-6430 ext: 3010
It is really exciting to see students start to complete many of their projects in their complementary subjects. I would also like to take this opportunity to provide a technology update and let you know about a famous event that will be occurring soon at our school.
Fine Arts Night
The Complementary subjects at MidSun School will be hosting our 2016 Fine and Practical Arts Evening. The grand event will take place on Thursday January 21nd 2016 from 6.30 to 8.00pm in the Drama Room, Atrium and Atrium Balcony at MidSun School.
This event will showcase our students' award winning talents in Art, Drama, Dance, Construction, Foods, Fashion, Jazz Band, French, CTF Design/Media Technology Studies and more!
Admission is free to this amazing event. The event is open to the public. Please mark your calendars, as we hope to see you then!
Technology Update
We have a wide variety of capital/technology projects
happening at our school. With the support of parent council, we have purchased
30 additional Chromebooks that will be deployed into classrooms to support
teaching and learning. We also have engaged with engineering services to
retrofit four of our classrooms with Light Raise interactive projector units to
support student engagement. Our 3D printer is also in use to support teaching
and learning in the classroom.Regards,
Kaushik Tailor
Complementary Subjects/Technology Learning Leader – MidSun School
Calgary Board of Education | cbe.ab.ca/b691
t | 403-777-6430 ext: 3010
Thursday, 19 November 2015
Wordfest 2015 @ MidSun
WORDFEST 2015
The first week of November we celebrated Wordfest at MidSun. On Monday
afternoon, we had author David Rvachew speak with two groups of grade 7
students in the Library Learning Commons.
He was very
engaging and we look forward to having him return another time to speak with
more students about the writing process.
We also had the pleasure
of having a parent, Adria Laycraft, who is a published author and professional
editor and ghostwriter come and talk to the kids Wednesday. She spoke
with 6 of our grade 7 groups including those who missed out on Monday’s author
talk. It was great to hear from her unique perspective. We also
look forward to having Mrs. Laycraft return to work with some of our eager
writers to help them in their goal to get published. If you’re a student
at MidSun who dreams of being published one day, stay tuned for announcements
of this in the spring!
To top it all off, author Simon Rose was another great speaker we had this Wordfest. He kept up his amazing energy and stamina all the way through 7 fabulous sessions of 60-90 kids, about his many books and the writing process. You can find out more about him through his website: http://simon-rose.com.
Actually, there were a number of other ways we found to celebrate words this year. At lunches, students had opportunities to participate in various activities that celebrated words – both spoken and written, including: Wheel of Fortune, Readers’ Theatre, and Karaoke. There is a display of Staff Picks favourite books as well! In classes, many teachers took the opportunity during this week to focus on the power of words through vocabulary studies, games, and other word-related activities.
Finally, Humanities teachers used this week to kick off our new Home Reading
Program. In seeing that our students’ scores have dipped from
previous years in the areas of reading, and especially in drawing inferences,
we are instituting this exciting new program. Humanities teachers sent
home materials for parents to use in support of this new program. In a
nutshell, students are expected to read at home 20 minutes a day, 5 days a
week. Afterwards, students and parents choose a prompt from the list
provided and have a short 1-3 minute discussion about what was read.
Lastly, parents sign off that the reading and discussion happened and
when the sheet is completed, students return them to their teacher. The
research tells us that the number one way to improve reading is to do more
reading, so we are very optimistic that our students will experience improved
scores as a result of this program. See your child’s Humanities teacher
should you have any questions about this new program.
A special thanks goes out to all the teachers and students who made this
year’s Wordfest a big success!
M. Hayden-Isaak
Humanities Learning Leader
MidSun School
Tuesday, 17 November 2015
Grade 8 Update from MidSun
Grade
8 Update:
What a busy first couple of months we have
had in grade 8: Parent teacher
conferences, final selection of the SEAs students, large scale humanities/science
audio/video project, a fabulous Remembrance Day Assembly and a French Fieldtrip
to sample some ratatouille at a French restaurant. There are 5 weeks left before Winter Break
and so many events will be happening before then as well.
It was great to have an opportunity at the
parent conferences to share the many fabulous things the students have been
doing. We were glad to see how many
parents checked on D2L for marks and assignments. We are committed to offering the students
access at home to the learning resources and information they need to be
successful through our classroom D2L shells.
Please make sure that you check
with your child about how each particular D2L page is organized and where to
find assignments, announcements and marks.
As well, you should be contacting your child’s teacher if you have any
questions or concerns.
This month, the grade 8’s have been working
on a combined science/humanities project involving how we are impacting our
water around the world. Some students are working on reporting about
the impact plastics have had on the oceans.
While other groups are reporting about the devastating effects of the sea
star Wasting disease. Each group has
researched and created a broadcast to communicate the information that they
have found. We hope to be able to post
some of these projects to our website.
There are five weeks left before Winter break. It usually around this time of year that
students lose track of many of the beautiful new supplies that they started the
school year with. It would be very
helpful if the students could review what supplies they have and what needs to
be replaced. One item in particular is
the calculator. Many students have
resorted to using cell phones as calculators.
We have asked that students refrain from having cell phones in the class
unless they are being specifically used (as directed by the teacher) for
learning such as research, audio/video recording or calendar reminders.
We look forward to an eventful and
spectacular last five weeks of 2015!
Douglas
C Stretch
Grade
8 Learning Leader, MidSun School
Calgary
Board of Education | cbe.ab.cadcstretch@cbe.ab.ca
t | 403.777.6430 (3016)
Tuesday, 10 November 2015
Adopt-A-Family Information
Adopt-A-Family
MidSun will
be ‘adopting’ 5 families from Calgary that are in need of some support during
the holiday season this year. If your
family would like to support this cause we will be accepting cash donations
(Leadership teachers and students will use donations to shop for gifts for the
family) as well as new gifts (unwrapped).
Step 1: Have
your son/daughter go to one of the trees posted in their pod and take a photo
showing potential gifts to purchase for the family.
Step 2:
Decide as a family what gift you would like to buy and have your son/daughter
go to the tree and remove the tag and bring it home.
Step 3:
Bring gift(s) back to your TA teacher with the tag attached (we need to keep
gifts sorted and separated and the tags are how we know what belongs to whom –
please do not lose the tag!).
If you would
rather donate cash, please send it in with your son/daughter to be collected by
their TA teacher. The use of our
debit/credit machine is available in the office if this is a better method for
you.
Thank you
for your support J
Grade 9
Leadership Students Monday, 9 November 2015
Update from Athletics
Terry Fox Run was a huge success! Thank you to all families at MidSun for your
support! We raised a total of $3,128.45
for the Terry Fox Foundation and our fight against cancer.
Final Results: As a school we finished 4th out of 20 schools! The junior boys won their division, senior boys came third, intermediate girls 4th and both junior and senior girls 6th, intermediate boys came 12th. Overall a great job done by MidSun!!
Grade 8 Girls: Ms. Miles & Ms. Hill
Grade 9 Boys: Mr. Slaughter
Grade 9 Girls: Ms. Amirault & Mrs. Slaughter
Athletics
Cross Country
Congratulations
to all of our cross country runners! It was a great season with three meets that
took place for our athletes to compete against other schools. Final Results: As a school we finished 4th out of 20 schools! The junior boys won their division, senior boys came third, intermediate girls 4th and both junior and senior girls 6th, intermediate boys came 12th. Overall a great job done by MidSun!!
Thank you to
our coaches for giving their time and expertise to ensure our students had the
opportunity to be on the cross country team this year! Mr. Bredahl & Mrs. Ryall & Ms.
Saretsky
Volleyball:
Our teams
are in their final weeks of their season with playoffs coming up November 12th. Good luck to all of our teams as you
represent MidSun to the best of your abilities!
Wrestling:
The season
has begun for our wrestlers. With
numerous tournaments and competitions during the season it is imperative that
our athletes make it to all practices.
Talk to your coach (Ms. Hayden-Isaac) if you are unable to make it and
good luck to all wrestlers during your season!!
Basketball:
Sign up for
the teams will begin the first week of December. Tryouts will begin December 3rd as
rosters must be decided upon for grade 8 & 9 teams must be determined before
we leave for the holidays. Now is the
time to brush up on your jump shot, work on your footwork and increase your
fitness level before tryouts begin.
Thank you to
our coaches: Grade 7 Boys &
Girls: Mr. Moulton
Grade
8 Boys: Mr. Woods Grade 8 Girls: Ms. Miles & Ms. Hill
Grade 9 Boys: Mr. Slaughter
Grade 9 Girls: Ms. Amirault & Mrs. Slaughter
Friday, 6 November 2015
Call for input
I have had the great pleasure of serving the MidSun community over the past seven years. In that time we have been able to implement daily physical activity and create a MidSun fitness room. We have teamed up with Centennial High School to support learners with an innovative tutoring program. We have moved to a new outcomes based reporting system; we have changed our library to a learning commons. We have put a Smartboard in every core classroom and added a portable as we have grown in size. We now have an annual Fine Arts and Complementary Subjects evening and a wonderful WordFest week. We have become more inclusive and respectful of diversity with the addition of two system classes of ACCESS and ALP learners. We have worked together with parents to see the creation of the MidSun Education Enhancement Society that has worked hard to get us extras like sewing machines, drill presses, books for our learning commons, chromebooks, author talks, and professional performances. We now have a beautiful outdoor classroom and plenty of bike racks to encourage students to ride to school. I am very proud of the way our staff have implemented technology like Iris, an online student portfolio tool, and our new 3D printer. We continue to be innovative in our desire to make learning relevant and engaging to our learners.
And now it is time for me to move on. My last day at MidSun School will be December 18, 2015. Our director will be hiring a new principal shortly and is seeking input from you about the qualities and skills you would like to see in your next principal as MidSun meets upcoming challenges. Please consider taking a few moments to fill out this survey:
I know there are many more exciting things in MidSun's future and I am proud to have had the opportunity to work with an amazing community, staff and students.
Take Care Lakers!
Veronica Saretsky
Open House Information
For our grade 9 parents,
Information on Calgary Board of Education High School
Open Houses is now available at:
http://cbe.ab.ca/schools/events-sessions-open-houses/Pages/default.aspx
It is updated often so be sure to check back regularly!
Monday, 2 November 2015
Purdy's Chocolatier Fundraiser - Chocolate for Chromebooks
Monday November 1 –
Monday November 16
Please Support our
Chocolate for Chromebooks
Our community raised $2189.25 through Purdy's Chocolates
last year!
With your continued support we would
like to carry forward this fundraising initiative to enable additional
Chromebooks purchases for our school.
At a cost of $400 each, Chromebooks
provide our children with the necessary technology in the classroom.
This
program gives 25% of the profit back to the school.
Invite
family and friends to join our school group 24054
Step 1: Register or Log In
IMPORTANT ORDER
INFORMATION
a) STUDENTS
NAME should used during Registration after your own name for online
orders
eg.) In LAST NAME
Field; enter your Last Name & then Students First & Last names
Step 2: Join A Group - Enter Customer Number
#24054 Select MidSun School
Step 3: Go to Group
Homepage
Step 3: Select the Shop Online Tab
Step
4: Choose
your preferred shopping method (Order Form or Marketplace)
If
you prefer to submit your paper order form please be certain to include 5%
Alberta GST when calculating your payment
Cheques
Payable to: MSEES
ALL
ORDERS MUST BE PAID IN FULL BY NOV 16 DEADLINE
DELIVERY INFO:
ORDER DEADLINE: Monday NOVEMBER
16
PRODUCT DELIVERY: Thursday DECEMBER
10
Product
Orders are available for pick up at the school: Thursday Dec 10
Convenient
online shopping or by order form, found inside the Brochure or a printable
version below.
Please
arrange to pick up your order. It is very difficult for student bus riders to
carry large orders on the crowded bus or even make the bus in time with so much
to carry.
Coordinator: Pamela
Howell
Phone:
403-988-2471 - VM/Text
Thank you for your continued
support!
Printable Brochure
Printable Order Form
http://www.purdysgpp.com/images/file/Order Forms/Christmas 2015 FR BC AND AB TAX incl.pdf
http://www.purdysgpp.com/images/file/Order Forms/Christmas 2015 FR BC AND AB TAX incl.pdf
MidSun Technology Update
Last week, our students had an opportunity to listen to
a presentation about online safety from Calgary Police Services (CPS). Students
learned ramifications about their actions online, and also learned about
pro-active strategies to support effective digital citizenship practices.
MidSun School
CPS recommends various strategies to help parents protect
their children from online hazards. Some of these tips include:
- Maintain open lines of
communication between parents and children.
- Make sure children to
not disclose any personally identifiable information (i.e names, photos)
to any strangers, websites, or chat rooms on the internet
- Teach children to stop
using the internet immediately and advise parent if they see or read
anything that upsets them.
- Keep your computer with
the internet access in a high traffic area of the home.
- Restrict access to the
internet when there is no supervision available.
- Monitor long distance
telephone/cell phone bills for unknown telephone numbers.
Additional resources, tips, and information can be found at
the CPS website:
Mr. Tailor
Technology/Complementary Learning LeaderMidSun School
MidSun Reminders Around Rememberance Day
MIDSUN REMEMBERS
Until November 10th, MidSun School will be
collecting cash and food bank donations for the Calgary Poppy Fund and Veterans
Food Bank. Students can bring the non-perishable food items or money
donations to their TA for collection and earn TA points at the same time.
The Calgary Poppy Fund helps raise money for local veterans, their
spouses and dependents. All the funds collected stay here in Calgary
and assist with the costs of rent, utilities, aids to daily
living, and any of their other basic needs.
Poppies will be distributed in homeroom on Tuesday
morning. Students are encouraged to make a donation when receiving their
poppies.
On Tuesday, November 10th at 9:00
am we will be holding our Remembrance Day Assembly in the gym. We are
honoured to have guest speakers Michael Hornburg, who lost his son in
Afghanistan in 2007, and Joey Bleviss, the
Chief Administrative Officer of the Calgary Poppy Fund joining us for
this year's ceremony.
Parents, relatives and members of the community are
invited to attend. Please contact the office prior to the date and let us
know how many people you will be bringing.
In a demonstration of our
respect and thankfulness to the Veterans we are asking students to wear all
black on Tuesday. The school will be closed on November 11 as we honour Remembrance Day, and classes will resume on Thursday.
Thank you
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)