January 2017

JMPS

Home of the Jaguars

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Jack Miner News

A Charlie Brown Christmas

During the last eleven days of school leading up to the Christmas Break, staff and students participated in festive activities to celebrate the Holidays. The theme this year was “A Charlie Brown Christmas”. The activities began December 8th and 9th with the viewing of the movie “It’s A Charlie Brown Christmas” and Pyjama Day, and ended on December 23rd, with our Character Counts assembly and the singing of Christmas Carols. DPA Day was an even bigger success this year. Mr. Fetter’s and Mr. Affleck’s Grade 7 classes did a great job organizing active centres for our students in Grades 1-8 for an impressive150 minute time block, while Mr. Relic’s and Mrs. Fennel’s Grade 8’s helped our Early Years students have some fun outdoors in the snow. Students and staff really got their hearts pumping! We are so proud of the great leadership our students demonstrated on DPA Day. Thanks to the generosity of our Parent Council and the parent volunteers (Mrs. Mikkelsen, Mrs. H. Andrade, Mrs. K. Andrade, Mrs. Baillargeon, Mrs. Maes, Mrs. Cornies and Mrs. Bolton), students enjoyed a holiday treat of hot chocolate and donuts on the 9th day of activities. New this year was Building a Snowman Day, and with the recent large snowfall, we definitely had lots of snow for this activity! Students had great fun being outdoors playing in the snow! While Career Day was a day where no busses were running, some of the students who were at school really got creative and dressed the part. Mindful Colouring Day was an activity where students with patience and a bit of creativity really got to shine.

With the cold winter weather here, children need to be dressed appropriately. Students also need to have a pair of indoor shoes for safety.

On the second day … Career Dress Up Day

KISS and RIDE VOLUNTEERS

NEEDED

More volunteers are needed to assist with the Kiss and Ride program before school hours from 8:00 a.m. to 8:15 a.m. If you are able to help, please contact the school. We would greatly appreciate

Principal: Miss Langlois Vice-Principal: Miss Alexopoulos Secretary: Mrs. Harnish

On the fourth day … Holiday Sweater, Scarf or Hat Day

On the fifth day ... Mindful Colouring Day

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On the eighth day… DPA Day

December Spitfire Ticket Winners December Flyer Ticket Winners

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Band Concert

As always our talented Jaguars put on an amazing show at Migration Hall on December 7th. Our Junior and Senior Band enjoyed participating in this Family of Schools event, and had the audience members moving to the music. Even though students in the Junior Band do not have the experience of the Senior Band members, the talent they demonstrated was very impressive. All band members are to be commended for their hard work practicing at home and coming into school early in the morning for band practice in order to improve their skills. Thanks to Mrs. Capel-Cure for her dedication to our school’s band program and the time she puts into helping our students improve their skills.

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Dragsters

Students in Grade 8 are once again this year participating in the making of “Dragsters”. This is a partnership project with KDHS, where students design and build their “Dragsters” based on the criteria given by the High School. Students carved out their race cars while at the High School, then finished building and painting them back at the school. They are very excited about the upcoming school race off as well as the race off at Migration Hall. The Grade 8’s are now eagerly working on their presentations for the Auto Show at Jack Miner, where they will have the opportunity to showcase all of their hard work.

Visit to the Bird Sanctuary

On December 15th and December 16th, the Grade 7 and 8 students braved the elements and walked to the Jack Miner Bird Sanctuary to enjoy a tour of the grounds and learn about the history of a very famous person from our area, and the name sake of our school, Jack Miner. The students enjoyed eating their lunches in a refinished schoolroom, learned about the history of Jack Miner's life and his love of the wilderness and birds. They visited the Miner Manor where the home was furnished and decorated as it was in the late 1800's and early 1900's, viewed the birding catchment area and learned about the bird banding process (why Jack Miner banded birds in the first place & why the Sanctuary still bands birds to this day). Students also had an opportunity to feed

the birds, ducks and geese that were on site, and enjoyed some hot chocolate and holiday cookies. Our Grade 7’s and 8’s had a wonderful time and learned many valuable historic and life lessons about Jack Miner.

Winter Walk Through

Leading up to the evening of the Walk Through was a visit from our retired Grade 2 teacher, Mrs. Founk, who shared her book “I Am Magic”, with a theme about girl power, to our students in Grades 1 & 2. Students proudly took their parents to their classrooms and hallway bulletin boards where they shared their math, art and creative writing with their parents. Parents and students also had fun ‘playing’ with math activities in the classrooms. A big hit were the mascots from Paw Patrol (Chase and Skye) and Pikachu, who roamed the school visiting students and taking photos with them. Thanks to our hard working Parent Council members (Mrs. Maes, Mrs. Mikkelson, Mrs. H. Andrade, Mrs. Bolton, Mrs. K. Andrade, and Mrs. Cornies), who came out to support this event, treats were enjoyed by families in the library.

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Kindergarten Registration

Registration: February 21, 2017— March 3, 2017

Please spread the word about all the great things happening at Jack Miner School. We look forward to meeting all of our future little ‘Jaguars’.

If you have any family or friends who have children ready to attend JK or SK this coming fall, registration will begin February 21st. Students being registered for JK must be 4 years of age on or before December 31, 2017, and students who did not attend JK and are registering for SK, must be 5 years of age on or before December 31, 2017. More information about our Open House and registration will be provided in our February newsletter.

A Day in the Life: April 5, 2017

Welcome to Kindergarten: Spring, 2017

Open House: February 22, 2017 5:00 -7:00 p.m.

Jack Miner Students Show Their Generosity

“We Care, We Can” Food Drive

Jack Miner School students and staff partnered with the Kingsville Goodfellows to donate food and other needed items to assist families in our community. The "We Care, We Can" Food Drive began on December 1st and ended on December 14th. The Goodfellows who came to collect the items were once again amazed at the tremendous generosity of the parents and students at Jack Miner School. We are very fortunate to be part of such a giving community! Donated items filled the hallway in the front foyer. The Kingsville Goodfellows and Jack Miner staff would like to extend a very special thanks to the school community for the kindness that has been showed towards those in need this winter season. We are so proud of our Jags! Thank you also to Mr. Fetter, our leadership students, Seth and Nicole, and the Grade 7 student helpers, Peter, Alexis, Kaley, Colyn, and Sian for all the time they spent sorting, organizing and boxing the donations. A lot of hard work and time went into the food drive, which made it such a huge success. Approximately 2000 more items were collected this year, for a grant total of 3773 items.

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Sports News

Volleyball season has now come to an end and Basketball season is in full swing, with the Senior Girls and Boys teams being recently chosen.

The Senior Girls Volleyball team had a great season this year. The girls came together as a team, improving their serves, sets and hits as they progressed through the season. During their regular pool play, the girls were able to come out on top a number of times with successful matches. They had three tournament opportunities at LDSS, KDHS and the regional competition. The girls did a fantastic job playing together and showcasing their talents. What a great season! Thanks to Sydney, Myah, Angelina, Charlene, Chelby, Faith, Alexsis, Nicole and Kennedy for their dedication.

The Senior Boys Volleyball team had a very good season. The boys learned a sophisticated system of play and improved their skills each time on the court. The game team finished their season with a 4th place finish in the Pronger Tournament, knocking out one of the tournament favourites. Congratulations to our graduating players Ethan, Jake, Michael, Cameron, Ashton, and Royal. Looking to continue with this year's success will be Joel, Seth, Ethan, Julian, and Ryan.

The Junior Girls volleyball team turned many heads by their impressive play at the KPS Tournament by winning the Tier 1 and 2 championships. The girls put together a fine performance with their serving, passing, and offensive strength. Congratulations to Teagan, Jade, Zoe, Molly, Clara, Claudia, Vanessa, Avery, Makenzie, Mia, Kylee, Paige, Selena, Emily, and Erica.

Although the Junior Boys volleyball team did not experience the same success as the Girls Team in a short season, the boys gained valuable experience in two tournaments and three exhibition games. The team was led by Grade 6’s, Matteo, Ty, Liam, Daniel, Andrew, and Kaden, along with the Grade 5’s, Hayden and Corbin. Rounding out the squad were Grade 4’s, Ottavio, Tate, Gannon, Josh, and B.J. The future is bright for boys volleyball at JMPS.

Junior Boys and Girls Volleyball Teams

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December’s Character Focus was Initiative December’s Jaguars who demonstrated Initiative:

Early Years

Jade, Bruce, Evan, Isabella

Primary

Ava, Emmerson, Jonas, Patrick, Michael, Ayden, Julia

Junior

Maddie, Emmerson, Hayden, Liam, Claudia

Intermediate

Ava, Hayden, Keagan, Faith, Arthur

Grade 8’s Visit Kingsville District High School

On December 1st, the Grade 8’s went to KDHS for a transition day, in order to see what high school life is like. They began at the cafeteria where they were separated into four groups in order to explore the four optional classes that they could take in Grade 9. Art class was one of these options, where students got to mix various colours of icings to make toppings for cookies. In Business class, students learned about coding on the computer and the technology available for student use. The third class students visited was Food and Nutrition, where students made snowmen and reindeer cupcakes. The last option was a Drama class, where they learned how to present a monologue. Students enjoyed a pizza lunch in the cafeteria midway through the day, which was provided by the High School. A favourite class was getting active in a Phys. Ed., where

students played coopera-tive games. The Grade 8’s left the High School very excited to be Cavaliers next year!

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Teachers and Students Learning About Coding

As part of our continued goal to support improved student learning in the area of mathematics which aligns with our school improvement plan, eleven teachers from Grades JK-6 at Jack Miner attended a coding workshop at KPS. Teachers then were able to share their learning with their students back at the school with the guidance of their trainer, Brian Aspinall. The focus was on computational thinking, spatial sense and conceptual understanding of mathematics, through exploring the big ideas from Geometry-Location and Movement. Coding requires students to make sense of problems, persevere on a task and make use of critical thinking and problem solving skills. Research has

shown that a strong spatial sense in young children yields better mathematic thinking and problem solving later in life. Some coding activities

have already begun in classrooms and students are loving it.

January’s Character Focus is Perseverance What does it mean to have Perseverance?

Work hard towards goals

Overcome obstacles

Do not give up easily

Be resourceful in reaching a goal

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FINA CHAMPIONSHIPS

Thanks to the generous funding of admission to this event from FINA, students in Grade 6 had free entry to watch the Swimming Champion-ships at the

WFCU. Students were very thankful to have had this amazing opportunity.

Early Years Hot Chocolate Social

Our Early Years students got to showcase their talents on December 8th. Parents had the opportunity to engage in activities in the classroom with their child, and they listened to the beautiful voices of our young students as they sang holiday songs. Parents also enjoyed spending time with their son/daughter while sipping some hot chocolate and eating tasty treats.