March 2015 Newsletter · new on-line tool called “Pow-toon” to complete cartoon-style...
Transcript of March 2015 Newsletter · new on-line tool called “Pow-toon” to complete cartoon-style...
being bullied are clearly affected by it. Victims of bullying have their self-esteem lowered. They tend to miss school more frequently. Most concern-ing of the research find-ings is that cyberbullying victims are 2 to 9 times more likely to consider committing suicide!
At Manor School, we have established precise guide-lines for dealing with sub-stantiated acts of bullying. Bullies have various privi-leges revoked. Students in elementary grades who are younger than 12 years of age lose recess privileg-es for the first substantiat-ed incident of bullying. Subsequent incidents re-sult in greater disciplinary steps such as “in-school” and out of school suspen-sions. Students in Grades 7 to 12, or those 12 years of age or older in elemen-tary grades receive an oral warning and contact is made with his or her par-ents upon the first sub-stantiated incident of bul-lying.
-Continued on Page 7
Bullying continues to be an ongoing concern for stu-dents, parents, and school staff members. This is the theme of my report this month.
The school-yard bullies that I remember from my youth are still out there. And just like when I was a kid, the bullies don’t stop bullying after school ends for the day, or when they graduate from school. Young bullies continue their actions on the streets and back lanes of our communities, in our public recreation facilities, and many other places. Also, adult bullies are found in all occupations, public places, and at all ages.
Unfortunately, there are also some new ways that bullies have found to prac-tice their bad behaviours. Text messages, e-mail mes-sages, and a variety of so-cial media websites (Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, Vine and so forth) are places where people have experienced bullying. Add to this collec-tion the site called “YikYak” which allows users to anon-
ymously post messages viewable by other users within a 16-kilometer radi-us. Regrettably, the anony-mous nature of the post-ings to YikYak has created a near-perfect tool for bully-ing. Like many of the other schools in Southeast Cor-nerstone School Division, and schools across Canada and the United States, Manor School has request-ed a “geo-fence” for our school to prevent the func-tioning of YikYak in the proximity of the school. While this “geo-fence” may not stop bullies from using YikYak totally, it is my hope that it will help protect our students from being har-assed from within or near our school.
According to recent re-search reported on the website “nobullying.com”, nearly 43% of kids have been bullied online, and one out of every four kids has had it happen more than once. Furthermore, 21% of kids have received mean or threatening e-mail or other forms of di-rect messages. The kids
P R I N C I P A L ’ S R E P O R T I M P O R T A N T D A T E S :
March 2—SCC Mtg. 7PM
March 7—Regional Wres-tling
March 11—CFY afterschool program
March 14—Provincial Wres-tling
March 16—No School (PD)
March 18—CFY afterschool program
March 27—School Ski Trip Grs. 5-12
March 27—Gr.1-8 Report Cards out
March 31/April 1—SLC 4-7PM
April 1—Day of Pink
April 2—Grad Hot Lunch
April 3-12—Easter Break
M A N O R S C H O O L
March 2015 Newsletter Volume 1, Issue 1
Wow! February was one busy month...We began the month with Groundhog's day. The verdict is in...6 more weeks of winter. Boo!
The grade 3/4 students were busy predic ng and learning more facts about ground-hogs. Hot on the heels of our weather forecast came Val-en ne's Day! We had a great day making our card boxes, delivering mail and goodies, cookie decora ng contest and cupid's arrow blowing
contest using straws and Q-ps! We enjoyed a winter
break and are now im-mersed in wrapping up units and embarking on exci ng new ones. Our math wall is up, please drop by our school and check it out!
Students are also looking forward to the Music Alive program coming soon fea-turing Vivaldi and the Four Seasons.
make it a 26-16 win for Redvers. For their part, our players out-hustled and out-scored the Redvers team in the final three quarters. Regrettably, the Manor players missed many close-in opportunities to score baskets, which could have led to a Manor victory. The defensive play of the Man-or team was very strong after the initial Redvers lead. I was very proud of the improvements the play-ers achieved and the stel-lar efforts they made in our games against Redvers. I hope that we have planted
the seeds for a developing program for our school. I also want to take this time to thank two high school students, Chalisse Mac-Donald and Cooper Fox, for all of their help in coaching the Rookie teams. They both did a fantastic job. Thanks also go to Mr. Bartsch for also helping at practice and in the intra-mural program.
Mr. Butler, Coach
The inaugural Rookie Boys and Girls Basketball sea-son has formally conclud-ed. With a delayed start to the season and a lot of changes in the roster for the boys’ team, we man-aged to arrange only a home-and-away series against the Redvers teams. The one home game we arranged was on February 23rd, where our combined squad of boys and girls played the Redvers boys’ team. After taking a rapid 22-0 lead, the Redvers squad received a surprise when our players rallied to
GRADE 3 AND 4
P a g e 2
R O O K I E B A S K E T B A L L
Junior Badminton players will be prac cing every Tuesday and Thursday from 5-6:30. We have
three scheduled exhibi on tournaments between Arcola, Carlyle
and Manor; they are scheduled for March
15th, March 28th, April 10th. Players need to
come to prac ce prepared and wearing the proper a re for
badminton, this includes proper eye-wear.
M a r c h 2 0 1 5
our environment, where some students wrote essays on the topic, some made poster dis-plays, and others even used a new on-line tool called “Pow-toon” to complete cartoon-style presentations. The finished pro-jects were pretty impressive works. Way to go, students!
Mr. Butler, Teacher
ing the same guide-lines that the school follows for the elemen-tary recess with re-gards to tempera-ture. The following is a list of our scheduled activities: fort-building, snow shoeing, hiking, cross country skiing, skating, tobog-ganing (tentative), and alpine skiing (with the school).
The Survey 8 course has completed the Ecosystem and Wildlife module and has moved on to the Out-door Education mod-ule. The grade 7/8 students will be taking their learning outside for this mod-ule. Please ensure that your son or daugh-ter has the proper at-tire to participate in the outdoor activi-ties. We will be follow-
S O C I A L 7 U P D A T E
S U R V E Y 8 C O U R S E
P a g e 3 V o l u m e 1 , I s s u e 1
We continue to explore the rela-tionship that humans have with the environment. From the ways that the natural environment influ-ences where people live, what they eat, and how they live, to the ways that humans in turn can affect the environment through pollution, extinctions, deforesta-tion and global warming. The students have completed re-search projects on how we affect
We completed our masks! Check out the pictures of the finished products.
Now we are into the mu-sic part of the course. We have been exploring Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” concerto in preparation for a workshop hosted by September Russell of the “Music Alive Program” from the National Arts Council. This workshop also involves the Grade 3/4 class. Initially sched-uled for February 25th, poor road conditions that day led to a postpone-ment to a date still to be determined. The stu-dents know about tempo,
pitch, rhythm and melody. They have identified sev-eral instrument typically used by an orchestra. They have also learned the words and practiced singing the theme song of the Music Alive Program, have composed poetry about the four seasons, and made visual artworks of the four seasons, all in preparation for the work-shop day with Septem-ber. It promises to be an exciting workshop day for the students which will end with a concert perfor-mance for all students and staff and members of
the public who choose to join us!
Mr. Butler, Teacher
G R A D E 5 A N D 6 A R T S E D U C A T I O N
P a g e 4 M a r c h 2 0 1 5
of personal portfolios to show-case the talents and skills of the students; and 2) the on-line ca-reer development program called “My Blueprint”. The students will also be doing the “Young Work-ers Readiness Program” and pre-paring videos about workplace safety for a competition spon-sored by the provincial govern-ment. I am really looking forward
to seeing the creativity and hu-mour of the students come through in their video projects!
Mr. Butler, Teacher
C W E X 1 0 R E P O R T
P a g e 5 V o l u m e 1 , I s s u e 1
February saw the end of the sec-ond round of the work place-ments for the students. Most students in the class have achieved close to the minimum number of work placement hours for this course, and some have completed many more than the minimum. We are now back in the classroom for the next sever-al weeks to focus on two areas of the course: 1) the development
J U M P R O P E F O R H E A R T
P a g e 6 V o l u m e 1 , I s s u e 1
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 2 Day 4
SCC Mtg 7PM
Gr. 5-8 to Public Library –1:30 PM
3 Day 5
K day
Intramurals
4 Day 6 5 Day 1
K day
Intramurals
6 Day 2
Intramurals
7
Regional Wrestling
8 9 Day 3
K day
10 Day 4
Intramurals
11 Day 5
K day
Intramurals
CFY afterschool program
12 Day 6 13 Day 1
K day
Intramurals
14
Provincial Wrestling
15 16
No School
PD Day
17 Day 2
Intramurals
St. Patrick’s Day
18 Day 3
K day
Intramurals
CFY afterschool program
19 Day 4
Intramurals
20 Day 5
K day
21
22 23 Day 6 24 Day 1
K day
Intramurals
25 Day 2
Intramurals
26 Day 3
K day
Intramurals
27 Day 4
School Ski Trip Gr. 5-12
Gr. 1-8 Report cards
28
29 30 Day 5
K day
31 Day 6
SLC 4-7PM
MARCH 2015
P a g e 7 M a r c h 2 0 1 5
Principal’s Report—continued from Page 1
A subsequent incident leads to a one-day “in-school” suspension and further parental contact. Any fur-ther incidents result in “out-of-school” suspensions up to 10 days duration. Additionally, a complaint of harassment may be made to the RCMP on behalf of the victim and his or her parents. It is also is noted here that parents have the right, at any point in time, to lay a complaint about bullying or harassment with the RCMP directly.
Manor School also strives to be proactive on this topic on a regular basis. The teachers and I regularly discuss bullying issues with students. We stress the need for students to report bullying. We also stress the need for observers of bullying to stand up against the bully or bullies. Admittedly, this can be difficult for any person to do. It is even more difficult for young people to do this because of the “don’t be a rat” or the “don’t tattle just to get someone in trouble” messages that young people receive.
To further focus our efforts to make a difference with bullying, I wish to draw all parents’ attention to the provincial initiative, “Report Bullying SK.” This is a new website where students can report incidents of bullying. There is an online form for the student to complete, where they describe the bullying and state the name of their school. They also can choose whether to include their name. The report of the bully-ing is then forwarded to the Director of Education for the school division, who will then contact the prin-cipal of the school identified in the report. There will be an investigation into the reported bullying and consequences applied to the bully when the incident is substantiated. If the reporting student included his or her name, that student will also be contacted by either the school principal or another official of the school division for follow-up discussion regarding the incident. To reach this “Report Bullying SK” site, go to www.cornerstonesd.ca and click on the link on the main page. The link is one of the pictures that scrolls across the school division website’s main page.
The last topic on the theme of bullying is to share our plans for two special events to promote anti-bullying. First, on the afternoon of March 24th, all of our students will be participating in an activity fo-cused on reducing bullying and other forms of conflict that we are calling the “Nails in the Fence” pro-gram. The students will be invited to hammer nails into a “fence” to represent a time when they said or did something mean to another person. The students do this silently - the exact words or action is not shared with anyone. The nails will then be pulled out and the holes will be left to represent the hurt that the other person felt from those words or actions. After this activity, the “fence” is going to be used dur-ing our “Day of Pink” anti-bullying activities on April 1st. On this day, local author Tanya Reimer, from Bellegarde, will be addressing our Grade 5 to 12 students in an assembly, and then doing workshops with the classroom groups of Grade 5/6, Grade 7/8, Grade 9/10 and Grade 11/12 students focused on cyber-bullying and personal safety in the digital world. Meanwhile, the Kindergarten to Grade 4 students will be engaged in some anti-bullying activities with our Student Representative Council students and advisor, Mrs. Weir. At the end of the “Day of Pink”, all of our students from K to 12 will gather in the gym for a final activity and the official unveiling of our “Nails in the Fence” completed project. The “Nails in the Fence” display will then be mounted in the hallway by the main entrance to remind every-one of the importance of treating others with respect and kindness.
My closing comment is to remind parents to be sure to contact myself or your child’s teacher if you are aware of bullying issues involving your child. We cannot deal with issues that we are unaware of! Please contact us with your concern.
Todd Butler, Principal
P a g e 8 V o l u m e 1 , I s s u e 1
Manor School
1 Fraser St
Manor, SK
SOC lRO
support.
P a g e 9 M a r c h 2 0 1 5 South East Cornerstone Early Learning
Email: [email protected]
What is kindergarten readiness? You know your child best. Think about what your child is like when playing with others and when alone in their room. Then ask yourself the following:
1) Can my child listen to instructions and then follow them? Children need these skills to function in class, to keep up with the teacher and with their peers.
2) Can my child put on their coat and go to the bathroom by themself? Children need to be somewhat self-sufficient by school age.
3) Can my child use scissors, hold a crayon or a pencil or pick up small objects or manipulate pieces to complete a puzzle? Children will need these fine motor skills.
4) Does my child show an interest in books? Do they try to "read" a book by telling a story based on the pictures? This is a sign that their language development is on a par with other kindergartners.
5) Is my child curious and receptive to learning new things? If a child's curiosity is stronger than their fear of the unfamiliar, they will do well in school.
6) Does my child get along well with other kids? Does my child share and know how to take turns? Your child will be interacting with other children all day, so your child's social skills are particularly important for success in school.
7) Can my child work together with others as part of a group? The ability to put their needs second, to compromise and join in a consensus with other children, is also part of emotional competence.
If you answered "yes" to most of these questions and "sometimes" to the rest, your child is ready for kindergarten.
If you child will be turning 5 in 2015, please contact the school in your area for information on registration.
P a g e 1 0 M a r c h 2 0 1 5
A week long break and a short month meant not a lot of school days recently, but we still managed to squeeze quite a few things in. As always, another month flew by and we kept very busy. This month in Math, the grade 7 class began a unit on opera-tions and fractions. They are currently learning how to add fractions. Grade 8s are working with percent, ratio and rate. They have been learning how to calculate percents. In English class, we finished up our Hatchet novel and compared it to the movie Cast Away starring Tom Hanks. There are many similarities between the two stories. Students are work-ing on essays that analyze particular aspects of the novel. They are developing their essay composition skills and working on including important elements, such as thesis statements, supporting paragraphs, and transition words.
Our Science class has looked at the refraction of light. We com-pleted an experiment where we compared the angles of light passing through various liquids. Students are also looking at our eyes and how their functions and parts compare to cameras.
We also had the opportunity to spend time as a group out-side of the classroom. Our class attended a movie in Arcola at the beginning of the month. The film was a recreation of the classic, Annie. Students had studied the play in grade 5/6 with Mrs. James, and she thought it would be a great experience for the students to see the newest version. A big thank you goes to her for the purchase of tickets for our en-tire class! We had a fun evening out! The upcoming month brings us new things to look forward
to. Not only will we move on to new tasks in our classes, we will also have fun on the slopes towards the end of the month and show off our achievements when report cards go home.
STUCK IN THE MIDDLE – 7/8 NEWS
P.O. Box 28 #1 Fraser St. Manor, Sask. S0C 1R0
Phone: (306) 448-2110 Fax: (306) 448-4906 Email: [email protected]
Shout Outs: *To Jeremy, Ross and Colby for helping Ms. Hunt loading
and unloading furniture and materials.
*To Cooper, Chalisse and Mr. Bartsch for helping coach
the basketball team
*To Mr. McNaughton for refereeing our basketball game.
*To Ambria for volunteering to run the canteen when a
scheduled student was absent.
*To Cooper, Chalisse & Mr. Bartsch for putting away the
wrestling mats so the floor could be waxed.
M A N O R S C H O O L
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