January 26, 2015

Millarville Community School

130 Millarville Road 403-938-7832

http://millarville.fsd38.ab.ca

Principal’s Message Last week you received an emailed one-minute survey to help provide our staff with some feedback about how we are doing as a learning and caring school. The image above is the response of over 40 parent responses indicating where we are successful as a school. This and the other responses will be shared with the rest of the staff in hopes to drive continual growth towards our school goals. The biggest positive, is that we have received DOUBLE the responses to this one-minute survey as we did to the Accountability Pillar surveys last year! Thank-you for your support. Next month, FSD will be closed for a week after the Family Day weekend for the annual Teacher’s convention. All teachers will be attending the convention in Calgary for two days and we will be hosting a learning day on our own campus for the third. Teachers each year set personal goals for learning, share those with the administration and then self-select professional development based around those goals. The convention has numerous choices for our staff to learn from schools across Alberta and specialists from around Canada and the US on these days. If you are interested in learning more about the choices offered during Teacher’s Convention, please check out http://www.pdtca.org/. In this edition of the Messenger, please look for information regarding our Erin’s Wing ski trip, the Wildcat Ice Hockey program, important dates regarding Teacher’s Convention and more. Glenn Gibson (gibsong@fsd38.ab.ca) Be Awesome, Be Better, Be a Team Player

Upcoming Events: January 26-30 Literacy Week Activities January 30-31 – Wildcat Chaos Basketball Tournament February 3 – 7:00pm – School Council February 6 – Staff Learning Day February 13 – Monthly Assembly – Grade 2 Hosting

February 16 – 20 Family Day and Teachers Convention week (No classes) February 27 – Erin’s Wing Ski Day

January/February 2015 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

Sunday

26 27 28 29 30 31/Feb 1 Millarville Messenger Publication

Guest Reader Day! Final Hockey Day After school BBQ

Character Day – Dress like your favorite book character

Literacy Activities in Learning Commons Gr 6 BB @ Spitzee Senior BB @ Home vs Cayley

Kinder Friday Wildcat Chaos Basketball Tournament 7/8 Boys

Wildcat Chaos continues Saturday 7/8 Girls

2 3 4 5 6 7/8 7p School Council

Meeting Gr 6 BB @Home vs

Turner Valley Senior BB @ Cayley

Staff Learning Day No classes

9 10 11 12 13 14/15 Millarville Messenger Publication

Grade 5 Fieldtrip to Glenbow

Gr 6 BB vs Percy Senior BB @ Home vs Edison

Kinder Friday Assembly (Grade 2 Hosting)

16 17 18 19 20 21/22 Family Day No classes

Day in Lieu School Closed

PD Day at MCS Teacher’s Convention

Teacher’s Convention

<-----------------------------------------Literacy Week ------------------------------------------->

School News Briefs

Amazing Volunteer Thank-yous!

• All our parents who helped with skating over the last

few weeks, Jill, Alana, Alex, Lauren, Nicole, Ben, Lorne (sorry if we missed your name, there were so many!)

• Our grade 7/8s for skate tying, especially Alex, Emeril, Brennan and Kade Fisher!

Millarville Directory

2015 Millarville directory is getting ready for spring publication. If you have changes to your phone number or would like to be included in our super handy book, please email millarvilledirectory@gmail.com We are also looking for local businesses to advertise in our book. It goes out to more than 1500 families in the Millarville and Priddis area. Send us an email and we can send you the cost of the ad spaces. Thanks again for your continued support.

FundScrip

This month FundScrip is offering a special promotion for the following cards:

• Red Lobster – 7% • Starbucks – 6% • Indigo/Chapters – 12%

This will be an ongoing fundraiser for the remainder of the year. Please see the order form at the back of this newsletter. Orders will be due this Wednesday, January 28th for delivery the following week.

School Fees

Just a reminder that school fees for the 2014-15 school year are now past due. If you have not yet paid, please do so as soon as possible as we are required to submit all fees to our Division Office by the end of January. If you have concerns or would like to set up a payment schedule, please contact Mr. Gibson or Mrs. Gregson in the office at (403) 938-7832. Thank-you!

Wildcat Ice – Hockey Canada Skills Academy

Wildcat Ice wraps up its inaugural season on Wednesday, January 28, 2015. Wildcat Ice is Millarville Community School’s name for our Hockey Canada Skills Academy (HCSA). It is an option that students in Grade 6-8 sign up for to improve their hockey skills. On Wednesday afternoons these students gather to participate in on-ice and off-ice activities designed to improve their individual hockey skills. The curriculum is designed by Hockey Canada and taught by FSD teacher Brian Erickson. Off-ice classes have students working with slide boards, attack triangles, balance boards, parachutes, reaction balls and agility ladders to improve their skills, while on-ice the five main skills - skating, stickhandling, passing, shooting and checking are emphasized. Up until the end of December our on-ice sessions took place at the Oilfields Arena. Then, when January arrived, we were able to utilize the great outdoor Millarville rink with its incredible setting! We have 19 students in the program and they have each put forth a super effort in every situation we have put them in during our first year. They are a helpful, friendly and happy group who are a real joy to work with. A huge thanks to Mr. Gibson who suggested we give the program a try and then did the organizing as the year progressed. As well, to the parents who had to make arrangements to get their child’s equipment to the rink and to the people who make the Millarville rink such a great place to have our ice sessions. ~Brian Erickson

Grades 5 – 8 Ski Trip

Thank-you to all of our fantastic volunteers! We will be contacting you shortly with the available tickets and more information about the date and transportation needs. If you have not turned in your forms, please do so as soon as possible as we would like to finalize our numbers for transportation. Students not attending the ski-trip and remaining at the school will be asked to help out in some of our other classrooms for the day and/or catch up on some work. Let’s cross our fingers for snow! (I cannot believe I just said that!)

Students (and Staff) of Awesomeness

The following students have been recognized by their peers or teachers for exhibiting one or more of the IB Attitudes in their time at MCS. Student names will be pulled from this growing list of names for additional surprises at upcoming assemblies. Maya(2) – for Respect & Appreciation Josie(2) – for Confidence William (6)– for Creativity Ella(2) – for Respect Adelaide(2) – for Respect & Friendship Ms. Davis – for Respect Izaak (6) – for Creativity Freddie (2) – for Cooperation Samuel (2) – for Empathy Noah (6) – for Respect Ms. Elliott – for Enthusiasm Jaxson (5) – for Cooperation Reagan (2) – for Respect Tyson (5) – for Confidence Courtney (5) – for Respect

Jordan(6) – for Appreciation Wyatt (7) – for Respect Mrs. Gregson – for Empathy Elle (5) – for Respect Tyson (5) – for Independence Justin (1) – for Empathy Hayden (1) – for Cooperation Austin (1) – for Cooperation Ava (3) – for Respect Taylor (6) – for Appreciation Hailee (6) – for Confidence Kalea (5) – for Respect Bryden (5) – for Cooperation Kalea (5) – for Cooperation & Respect(x2) Sage (5) – for Respect

Community News

MILLARVILLE AND DISTRICT RECREATION BOARD

The Millarville and District Recreation Board is accepting applications for funding for non-profit organizations for the coming year. Each year the board receives a grant from the Municipal District of Foothills No. 31 and disperses the funds to deserving groups. If you would like to apply for a grant, please send a letter stating your request along with a budget for 2015 and a financial statement for 2014, to Box 59, Millarville, Alberta T0L 1K0. In previous years funding has been provided to the Millarville Sports Association, Millarville Community Library, Millarville Community School, Oilfields High School, West End Band Program, various 4-H groups and individuals in sports and dance who have competed at a national or international level. The deadline for applications is March 15th. For further information please contact Norma Dawson at 403-931-3580. We are always looking for new community members to sit on our board, so if you are interested please give Norma a call.

MILLARVILLE COMMUNITY LIBRARY The Annual General Meeting of the library will take place on Tuesday, March 3rd at 3:00 pm. Everyone is welcome to attend and we are looking for new people to sit on our board. The average age of our board members is getting up there and we need some new younger blood to revitalize our library and make us more in tune with new technology. Many of our daily volunteers go south in the winter and we may have to cut back our hours if everyone goes away at the same time. Right now we have sixteen regular volunteers and four spares which usually means we can stay open over thirty hours each week. If your children are in the school, maybe you could find a half day each week or every other week where you could volunteer. It is a fun place to work and you do not need any previous library experience – we will train you! If you are interested, please call the library at 403-931-3919

FOOTHILLS CONTINUING EDUCATION

The new course guide is out and you can pick up your copy at the School, the Community Library or the General Store. There are classes offered all over the Foothills so have a look and learn something new! In our area there are courses in working with willow, yoga, badminton, pickleball, various cake classes, ebooks and library apps and an introduction to Scottish dancing just in time for Robbie Burns day.

Rocky Mountain Tae Kwon-Do Have you ever wanted to learn a Martial Art? Rocky Mountain Tae Kwon-Do offers training

in a safe, family oriented environment on Monday & Thursday Evenings 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm in the gym at Millarville Community School.

We place a strong emphasis on self-confidence, mental and physical fitness.

Registration for our next session is Monday, February 2, 2015 @ 6:30 pm

Come out and try an introductory class

For kids (ages 7+) and adults (Family Discounts Available) For further information please contact:

Damon Grover 403-931-3146 rockymountaintkd@gmail.com

Monthly PromotionsValid from January 1st to 29, 2015 - 9:30 a.m. ET

Red Lobster

Order Form for January 2015 Promotions at FundScrip

Regular 5%

7% 6% 12% Starbucks

Regular 5%

Indigo Chapters

Regular 5%

Retailer on Promotion Denominations Quantity Sub-Total

Red Lobster $25

Starbucks$5

$25

Indigo / Chapters / Coles

$5

$10

$25

Total

Print Name

Valid at Coles