McCrosson-Tovell Howl
October 31, 2006
Upcoming Events (Please mark your calendar)
October 31 Halloween
November 6 Professional
development: no school for students
November 8 & 9 Preventive
Dental Clinic for students with consent
November 18 School
Penny Table at Bergland Hall Craft Sale
November 27 Report
cards go home
November 29 Early
dismissal, Parent-Teacher Interviews
December 18 School
Christmas Concert
December 23 to January7 Christmas Holidays
October Stars
Derek Smith for being a cooperative member of our classroom and
for having a positive attitude. He
follows the rules and procedures in our classroom and can work effectively with
any student to complete the task. He also enjoys sharing his ideas and answers
with his classmates. Keep up the great job!
Alia Big George for bringing an enthusiastic attitude to class. She
is always excited to read and volunteer answers. She also happily lends a hand in the
classroom and is willing to help students if they do not understand the
question. Great work this month!
Justis Big George
has not missed a day of school for three weeks now. He enjoys being with his friends and playing
outside at recess. Justis likes to read
and play dodge-ball.
Jacob Jack
works very hard in all his subjects. He
attends school every day, pays attention in class and always has his homework
finished. Jacob has a lot of friends
because he likes almost everyone.
Lewis -for excellence in sports. Lewis placed 8th at the district x
country run at
-for participating in Chess. Lewis came in 2nd at the District
Chess tournament at
-for his good work in class. Lewis has been a real positive influence in
the class.
Emily Anderson -
for her excellent classroom behavior.
She is always a positive influence in the class.
- for her help
whenever she is called upon. She never
refuses and is a student that can always be trusted.
Miss
Angus’ JK-2
Classroom
Boooos
Thanks to everyone who came
out to the pot luck. It was great to meet you and for you to have an
opportunity to see your child’s work. They were very excited to show you their
work and the classroom. If you were unable to attend, feel free to drop by.
This month the firefighters came to the school and taught us about fire safety.
We also made many science experiments including pizza, gum drops and playdough.
They were all very successful projects. We have started the social studies unit
on Relationships, Rules and Responsibility. We will also be covering Traditions
and Celebrations. In math we continue to work on Number Relationships. In language the grade 1 and 2 students have
started the book bag program. Please
ensure you initial and date the page after your child has read to you. Also try
to complete one of the before, during and after activities you will find in the
folder. The kindergartens will be starting this program closer to
Christmas. We are also completing various writing tasks and are continuing the language centres. The JK and SK students
can practice printing their names and counting to 10 if needed. We have also
been learning about the calendar and the days of the week. The students have
learned a song to help them with the days of the week. Perhaps ask your child
to sing the days of the week song and the older students may spell them out or recite them in order.
On Tuesday October 31st we will be having
a Halloween party. The students can bring their costumes and dress up in the
afternoon. We will be having special activities and snacks will be provided.
Have a great month and as
always feel free to call if you have any questions.
Grade 3 to 5
Classroom Mews 
October has been another busy
month. It began with the grade 4 and 5
class attending a soccer tournament in Emo.
This was a new experience for some of the students. Having fun and learning tournament rules were
emphasized. We didn’t win any of our
games but gained in experience.
We finished our science unit on
plants in which we collected and analyzed parts and their functions. Most of the unit consisted of ‘hands-on’ and
discussion with a small portion being book work. We have now moved on to a Canadian studies
unit were we compare rural and urban areas.
All of the students have been diligently
working in new math units on a daily basis.
Parents are asked to sign the
marked math test. This is to ensure
that parents have had the opportunity to see what and how their child is doing.
We have focused on two areas of
writing this month. The first was a
humourous story and surprisingly difficult to write. The second piece was a non-fiction
report. This was fun to do and everyone
was eager to begin. The grade 4 and 5
has now begun to write a commercial which they will present to the rest of the
class. They have completed the story,
‘Where the Red Fern Grows’, and watched the movie to make a comparison. Grade 3 have finished their novel “Dragon
Slayer’. Through-out the story they
predicted, reflected and discussed the authors writing style. By doing this, it is hoped that students will
become better writers. We look forward
to our next novel study.
If you have any questions concerning
your child’s academic learning or school activities, please contact me at
488-5587.
News from Mr.
Mac’s Intermediate Class
The class has
been quite busy with extra curricular events, including soccer, chess, cross
country and Fall Harvest.
The soccer
tournament took place at
Two of our
four Grade 6 students went to the Junior soccer tournament also in Emo. Although the team lost all 3 games they had
lots of fun.
At the Fall
Harvest at Nanacost at Couchiching, the students had an excellent hands on
learning experience with wild rice and Canada goose preparation. They also watched some of the elders make
bannock and smoke fish. Of course the
best part for me was sampling the various delicacies. I would especially like to thank Liz and
Wally Detweiller for cooking our fish and bannock.( Liz does indeed make the
best bannock!)
Please find
another article regarding chess and cross country that I have placed in this
newsletter.
Academically,
the students have been going through their History text book at a fast
pace. Our focus will soon shift to
Geography though, as our new textbooks will arrive shortly. In Math, most of our students are in either
Unit 3 or 4 with a couple of students beginning Unit 5. There are 11 units in the book, so we are on
track to finish the text by the end of May.
In the month of November the students will be reading an awesome novel
entitled, “Touching Spirit Bear”. I hope
they all enjoy it as much as I did.
In closing I
would like to encourage the students to make sure they are bringing home
library books to read. Statistics show
that continued reading by young students impacts their success in a positive
way when they reach the higher grades.
Chess
Grade
6,7,8
At the Crossroads Chess Tournament in
Devlin, Courtney Hansen, Corey Smith, Lewis Linklater, Dylan Anderson and
Daniel Anderson, all participated. Courtney came in 1st in the 10-11
girls’ category, Lewis was 2nd and Dylan 10th, both in
the 12-13 boys’ category. The 3 of them
therefore qualified to go on to the tournament in
Grade
3,4,5
Jacob Jack, Adam Johnson, Alexis
Holland all participated in the Crossroads’ Chess Tournament as well. All three of them also qualified to go to
Cross Country
In
cross country some of our students went to 2 events. The first one was at
Lewis Linklater, Corey Smith,
The
following students also went to a cross country meet at
Lewis
Linklater, Courtney Hansen,
News from the Blizzard of Books 
Our Scholastic book fair has come to a close with
just over $1000.00 in sales. This
qualifies us for a profit of $500.00 worth of new books for the school library.
Eric Detweiler was the winner of our draw and has
chosen $25.00 worth of free books, courtesy of Scholastic. His classroom library also received $25.00
worth of free books. Congratulations
Eric and the grade 6 to 8 class.
Thank you to all students, family, and friends who
have supported our book fair. A BIG thank you goes to our grade 8 students as well as staff members who jumped in and
took responsibility for getting the fair set up while I was sick at home. Thanks goes out to Dylan, Michael and Daniel
for hauling the heavy boxes of books, to Courtney and Brittany Gibbins for the
original and beautiful bulletin board, to Lewis who acted as my very competent
right-hand man during the Monday night sale, and to all of these students whose
work is continuing this week as we pack
up and put the library back into operation. Many hands make light work, and
without our volunteers it would be impossible to put on a successful book fair.
Change Drive
The
weeks of November 6 – 10th and 13th – 17th
have been set aside for a special fund raiser.
Each class will be collecting pocket change in order to raise money to
buy “comfort toys.” ie stuffed animals.
The comfort toys will be given to our local first responders (
ambulance, police, fire ) who will then distribute them to children in
emergency situations. Students may bring
in their change anytime in this two week time frame. Walmart has been approached and has donated
$25.00 toward the cause. Thank you in advance
for your support of this worthwhile cause.
Penny Table
On
Saturday, November 18th the annual Bergland craft sale will take
place. Our school has been asked if we
would like run a penny table at the sale.
This is an excellent fundraiser for the school. We ask that, if possible, each family send in
a penny table item by November 14th.
If you are interested in helping to set up or in working at the penny
table this would also be appreciated.
Thanks in advance for your support.
Hot Lunch
We
will be having two hot lunches in November.
The hot lunch on Monday November 13 will feature chicken nuggets, tatter
tots and carrot sticks. The cost for
students is $1.50 for small (4 nuggets)
and $2.00 for large (6 nuggets).
The hot lunch on Monday November 27tht will be a spaghetti
and bread combination, cost $1.50. Money
may be brought in the day of the meal.
In
order to have a successful hot lunch program it takes many helping hands so
that we do not overload any one person.
If you are able to assist with the meals on the 13th or 27th please call Fern Holland at 488-5254. Your willingness to help out is greatly
appreciated.