W.M.S. MISSION STATEMENT

William Mason School is committed to providing a safe and caring environment for our students. We will endeavour to create an environ-ment that allows students to experience a high level of academic achievement. As professionals we will continuously strive to improve in order to support every student in learning curricula via differentiation. We will work collaboratively with colleagues, students, parents and

community to help students become problem solvers and life-long learners.

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W.M.S. VISION STATEMENT

We will have a high level of expectations for our students, and with our help and guidance, students will take responsibility for their learn-ing. We want positive and caring relationships between all staff and students that promote a nurturing and inclusive school climate and

culture. We will offer a quality K-12 program for our students, and we will investigate and research ways to keep William Mason School a strong and viable institution. We will provide students with meaningful opportunities to grow academically, socially and in the area of extra

-curricular activities. We will foster positive parental and community relationships. Students will take ownership of their school and all

stake-holders will be proud to be a part of William Mason School.

WILLIAM MASON SCHOOL 100 - 7th Street East Principal: Mr. D. LaRose

Choiceland, Sask. S0J 0M0

Phone: 428-2157 Website: http://wms.nesd.ca

Sept.

2016

Issue #1

Hello everyone and welcome back.

The school year has officially started and, as the SRC we have already started to plan out some fun events! We would just like to announce as an SRC that we will not be having House Teams again this year, and that we will continue with Cougar Cash.

Last week we had a Welcome Week. On Wednesday, we had a Pancake Breakfast for the whole school, which went over great. On Thursday, we did some fun activities in the gym. And on Friday, we played two games of Red Rover, one with Elementary and one with our High School students. Along with Red Rover, we did a water relay which included the whole school. Although the weather did not cooperate, everyone still had lots of fun!

To show our Rider Pride on September 22nd

, it will be Rider Pride Dress Up Day, so show off that green! Our first food sale of the year is everyone’s favorite…. Yep, you guessed it, a Hotdog Sale! This will take place September 28

th. On September 30

th, the Terry Fox Run will take place in the

afternoon. Everyone is welcome to walk/run with us. Since everyone loved dressing like a turkey last year we decided to do it again. Dress Like a Turkey/Fall Colors Day will take place on Friday, October 7

th.

Our canteen will be open on Tuesdays and Thursdays again this year.

On behalf of the SRC we wish everyone a great harvest and a Happy Thanksgiving!

Your SRC Co-Presidents,

Taylor and Kennedy

Dates to Remember

Sept. 22 - Rider Pride Dress Up Day

Sept. 28 - Hot Dog Sale

Sept. 30 - Terry Fox Run @ 1:15 p.m.

Oct. 3 - SIP Day - No School

Oct. 3 - Grad Parent Meeting - 6:15 p.m.

Oct. 7 - Turkey/Fall Colour Dress Up Day

Oct. 10 - No School - Thanksgiving Day

Oct. 17 - Pajama Day

Oct. 18 - Picture Day - 9:00 a.m.

Oct. 31 - Hallowe’en Parade - 1:15 p.m.

Welcome back to school! I hope that everyone had a wonderful summer full of adventure and relaxation! I am happy to be back into the swing on things and spending time getting to know the 15 wonderful children I have in Kinder this year! We have been busy getting adjusted to coming to school all day! We have been working on classroom rules and expectations! In ELA, we are spending time getting to know our letters of the al-phabet and the sounds they make! In Math, we have been learning about patterns! Stay tuned for our adventures and exploration in Kindergarten! Miss. Katelin Stankowski

Grade 5/6

Hello, my name is Trevor Davidson and I look to forward to teaching in Choiceland. I began my teaching career in the North West School Division and then taught in Star City and Gronlid.

We are planning to have a representative from SERM and Mr. Don Gordon of the Fur Trappers Association in to discuss animal awareness and the health of our ecosystem for Science class.

In Math, we are investigating input/output tables and patterns. We are also research-ing the recent Olympics in Social Studies. The Grade 6 ELA class are busy exploring Science Fiction stories while the Grade 5 class are investigating Mysteries.

Grade 7 Breaking News Welcome back to school! We are your hosts of

Grade 7 News: Jenny Lewis and Grace Cham-

berlain. We have a very nice new intern teacher

named Mrs. Morrow. She teaches the Grade 7s

Social Studies and is very good at it to. In So-

cial, the Grade 7s are learning about treaties. In

Gym, the Grade 7s are playing football. Oh,

and something just got in HEATHER PALID-

WAR caught the football we are all so proud

of her. This year we are taking on a new sub-

ject PAA half of our class is in Home Ec. they

just baked apple crisp and in shop we are stud-

ing for our test so we can use all the tools. In

ELA we are doing connections.

And that is it for Grade 7 News.

Senior Cross Country:

The Senior cross country team has already been practicing hard and is welcoming new members this year. Our team includes:

Grace, Devin and Landen from Grade 7, KC and Cody in Grade 8, Nicky and Brayden from Grade 9 and of course Kaden in Grade 12. We are looking forward to a busy and successful season.

Our race schedule is as follows:

Tues., Sept 13 – Tisdale (Kinsmen Park)

Wed., Sept 21 – Melfort (Rotary Park)

Tues., Sept 27 – Nipawin (Rolling Pines)

Tues., Oct 4 - NESSAC – Star City (Cowell Farm)

Sat., Oct 15 SHSAA - Deslisle

Yearbooks

Our 2015/16 yearbooks are here!

If you didn’t pre-order one, you can

still purchase one from the office.

Pre-Order your 2016-17 yearbook

at the office as well.

We are downsizing the number of

books we are ordering so pre-order

to ensure you get one.

Yearbook cost is $30.00 each

Cheques payable to NESD

Junior Cross Country

Junior Cross Country is in full swing

again here at William Mason! We have 9

runners that have been busy practicing

for upcoming races!

Riley Kurbis

Cory Burka

Cash Aasen

Rael Aasen

Mason Warren

Bradley Fabish

Heather Priestley

Kathrine Rees

Hunter Nakonechny

Our upcoming races are as follows:

Thursday, September 15th- Nipawin

Thursday, September 22nd- Possibly

Melfort or Star City or Bjorkdale

Thursday, Sept 29th- to be announced

Thursday, Oct 6th- Choiceland

Thursday, Oct 13th- Tisdale

Miss Katelin Stankowski

A ‘Minion’ Reasons to Love Grade 1/2

This year Mrs. Long welcomes 23 students to the Grade One/Two Classroom.

Stepping up into Grade 2 are Nia, Tyrel, Calleigh, Matthew, Jesanna, Jessica, Kolbi, Trevor and Rylee. Along with Mrs. Long, they welcome the newbies to Grade One.

We are glad to have Krystal, Jadyn, Holden, Amy, Jase, Adrik, Drexton, Xander, Madalyn, Hunter, Rylan, Mackenzie, Carter and Persephony. It is most exciting to see all these young people with happy faces ready to begin a year of fun and learning. To start, we will renew friendships and re-flect on our summer holidays. It is fun to hear how the students have spent their va-cation, and equally, it is great for them to share their experiences. The elementary students sure look forward to their recess time on the playground while the weather is fantastic. During the beginning of the school year, we will practice many school and classroom routines to set the stage for a fabulous year. Remember, we ROAR at WMS. ROAR means Respect Others, Act Responsible. This Caring Cougar attitude creates a good climate for everyone who works, learns and plays at WMS.

Happy Harvest and welcome back to the 2016-17 school year!

Mrs. Long

Junior Girls Volleyball Update

Welcome back to another year at William Mason School! The Junior Girls team, which consists of stu-dents from grade 7-9, are excited to be back for another season of volleyball. This year, we have sev-en veterans returning to the team: Andrea Blair, Chloe Fabish, Jenny Lewis, Emma Jensen, Alexa Long, Sasha Nakonechny, M'Kenzy Bell, and Ainsley Olsen. We would also like to welcome some new players to our team: Amber Alcock and Grace Chamberlain! Our practices are Tuesdays after school from 3:30 to 5:00 and our games will be Wednesday's after school. Everyone is more than welcome to support their Junior Girls volleyball team by cheering us on during our home games on Oct. 5th and 19th!

Hope to see you there!

Game days:

September 21st-- Melfort

September 28th-- Nipawin

October 5th-- Choiceland (hosting)

October 12th-- Carrot River

October 19th-- Choiceland (hosting)

October 26th-- Pod Playoffs (TBA)

Ms. Lyons

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM SCHOOL

Newsletters each month

Food Sales each month – return order form with money/cheque in baggie

SRC Fundraisers and Other Activities – watch for news and/or forms

Special Events: Literacy Night, Hallowe’en, Remembrance Day, Christmas, Curling Bonspiel, Track & Field, Year-End Trips – watch newsletter & please plan to attend

CURRICULUM & REPORT CARDS

FYI: Students from Kindergarten to Grade 9 are marked according to the following rubric:

NY = Not Yet – the student has not yet met an outcome, the assessment is considered formative and further instruction and practice is given.

MM = Mostly Meeting – assistance and prompting must be given for a student to meet the outcome.

FM = Fully Meeting – the student is fully meeting the outcome (100%)

EU = Enriched Understanding – the student goes beyond the expectations of the outcome to show enriched understanding and keen insight.

VOLUNTEERING

Call the school (306.428.2157) if you have time to volunteer to listen to children read, help with food sales, or help at special events.

TRANSPORTATION TO AND FROM SCHOOL:

Bus Drivers take attendance both in the mornings and after school. Alternate arrangements have to be made ahead of time and the Bus Driver must be informed.

If you are picking your child(ren) up during the day, be sure the Teacher (and Bus Driver) know you are coming so the student can be ready. Please park at the skating rink parking lot. Do not park in front of the fire hydrant! Notify the office whenever you come into the school.

When you drop your child(ren) off, watch carefully as the student crosses the road to the school and makes their way to their entrance.

*Keep clear of the busses before and after school as vehicles must stay out of the Bus Safety Zone when students are boarding or unloading. Mind our Safety Patrollers and watch out for pedes-trians.**

** While it is ILLEGAL for students to drive an ATV without a valid drivers licence, thy are NOT permitted to park anywhere on school grounds. Anyone caught underage without a helmet, with other kids or seen ripping around town will be reported to the RCMP. **

**Please avoid the bus road. Use 1st Avenue and 7th Street.**

WINDING DOWN LABELS FOR EDUCATION

Campbell Canada’s Labels for Education program is winding down. They will honour deposits of all labels until December 31st, 2016. They will begin removing the Labels for Education logo and expect there will be a limited number of products that contain these labels in stores through 2017. As of January 1st, 2017, they will only accept product labels with the Labels for Education ® logo.

Please send in all the labels you have been saving as soon as you possibly can!

Junior Boys Volleyball

This year we have a Jr. Boys Volleyball team that will compete in NESSAC play. The team will travel to Melfort for their first set of matches against Naicam and Melfort on September 22nd.

The members of the team are: Jaxon, Dawson, Tristan, K.C., Colby, Nick, Kody, Cameron, Justin, Cole, Hadley, and Devin.

Good luck Boys!

TD Summer Reading Club 2016

We had another successful summer this year at the Choiceland Public Library and our TD Summer

Reading Club. With 37 kids registered, we read close to 3000 books! Congratulations Kids!!

There were 240 visits to the 17 club days that were held throughout July and August. Lots of fun was had and some totally awesome crafts were made by these creative kids.

Prizes were given out by the Choiceland Library board for the most & second most books read in each age group: Ages 9-12 - Heather Priestley read 413 books Shelby Kosowan read 300 books Ages 6-8 – Rayelyn Kosowan read 300 books Edward Priestley read 274 books Ages 0-5 – Chelsea Pearse was read 232 books

Wapiti Regional Library also held a draw for the number of books taken out/read by the children. Nia Eastman won 3rd prize of a stuffed “Little Critter” bear; Erik Holmen, Abby Gingell, Eden Laurie, Shaun Holmen & Rayelyn Kosowan all won 4th Prizes of 4 books each.

The Library Board would like to thank the student volunteers who came throughout the summer to help with the reading club. Things ran so much smoother with their help! They were: Ainsley Olsen, Sasha Nakonechny, Hadley Nakonechny, Andrea Blair, Heather Priestley, Emma Gingell, Shaun Holmen, Abbey Gingell, and Mitchel Flagel. Nia Eastman, Rayelyn Kosowan & Shelby Kosowan were my reading helpers too!

Thanks too to the parents who helped out with the crafts when they could! A special thank you to Karen Priestley who helped me to organize the volunteers and everything else!

Thanks for a great summer! I can’t wait for next year!!

Rita Holmen

Grade 3/4 News!!!!!!!!!!

Hi, we are the Kosowan sisters. My name is Shelby and my name is Rayelyn! We are the 3/4 News Reporters for September! First, we are going to name all the birthdays and events.

But first of all, we asked some kids of what they like about school and Sierra said new class-mates and a new start, and Reese said new friends. Breaking News: Reese rescued a bear on Highway 55 and got eaten! Sorry, Reese, boo-hoo-hoo! And now she haunts that Highway 55. And now, back to the news. Green Day is every Friday in our classroom because we love Rid-ers. Go Riders!

So, we are past the first week of school. We hope everybody had a great Labour Day because we sure did! Mm mmm, the Pancake Breakfast was sure yummy! Thank you to the SRC. Let’s give them a round of applause. And we would also like to thank the SRC for the fun games during Welcome Week. On the 12

th was PJ Day. Hope we all wore comfy PJs. Hey, Rayelyn!

What do you like about school so far? Doing Art and all the rest of classes…so learning? Yes, that’s right! By the way, did you know it will be Rayelyn’s birthday on Friday, Sept. 30

th? Hope

you have a really great day, Rayelyn! In other news, we are doing Patterns in both grades, ex-cept the Grade Threes are doing Increasing and Decreasing Patterns, and Grade Fours are doing Patterns in Charts. In ELA, we are doing Daily Five. In Art, we are doing the Elements of Art. In Science, Grade Fours are doing Light and Threes are doing Forces. Our teachers’ names are: Mrs. Baerwald, Miss Stankowski, and Mrs. Kendrick, three awesome teachers!

Well, this is the end of the Grade ¾ News. Bye! Have a great Fall!

Sincerely, Shelby and Rayelyn