School Newsletter September, 2018 Byemoor School

Box40 Byemoor, AB T0J 0L0 403-579-3959

Welcome Back!! Jersey Day #Humboldtstrong .

Principal’s Message

WELCOME BACK TO ANOTHER YEAR AT BYEMOOR SCHOOL!

I am excited and really REALLY scared about the upcoming 2018-2019 school year. I’m ex- cited because I always look forward to the new year and the new opportunities to see the kids and see how far we can take them in their learning. I am excited to have this new job title and what I can learn from it and do with it to help Byemoor School continue to be a great place to learn and work. This leads me into the scared part. There are a lot of things for me to learn! So far I am tread- ing water and I hope I can at least continue that or maybe even make some forward moves. I look forward to a lot of training during September and October as we get this school year underway. I am excited to welcome Mrs. Bobbi Buchwitz to our Byemoor School team. She is learning a lot of new admin assistant duties as well this month. Her positivity and enthusiasm is infectious and we know she will do a great job! Because we are welcoming Mrs. Buchwitz, this means that we are also getting ready to say goodbye to Mrs. Kobi. There are not enough words to describe how much we appreciate all that she has done for us over a lengthy number of years as our secretary, librarian, and educational as- sistant. Mrs. Kobi has gone above and beyond her job title(s) to make students and staff welcome and cared for at, what seems to be, our second home. Currently she is training Mrs. Buchwitz, and even though she lives just up the road, we will miss her when her work here is done. Happy Retire- ment, Mrs. Kobi! I continue to be excited to work with the parents and extended families of our school. Al- ready we’ve received your support with our pancake breakfast on Thursday. The students really enjoy having parents come in so they can share some of their school experiences with family. Thank you to Rhonda Hutton for the pancake mix, Suzanne Sorensen for sausages, Deanna John- son for watermelon and to all of those who stayed behind to help clean up. We appreciate the do- nations, the help, and most importantly your continued support for the school as a whole. As many of you may know, we have lost a number of children from our student population. Not only are we sad to see them go, but this loss has put a financial strain on us. We have cut back on some of our staffing and made changes with parts of our grade configurations to try and allevi- ate the stress on teachers and classes. As final budgets are completed, we may be making further changes, but hope to remain as we are now for the most part. Despite losing students we are all looking forward to another great year at Byemoor School. We look forward to seeing the successes of our students and sharing many of their learning oppor- tunities with parents and the extended Byemoor/ community. As always, if you wish to con- tact me I can be found at: [email protected] 403-579-3959 school 403-740-5087 cell

Mrs. Keith

The first day back is always exciting. Mrs. Keith’s class was excited to meet our 2 new grade one students, Tyke and Hunter.

Cross Country Meet

If any students from Grades 1-8 are interested in a cross country meet, there is one in on Saturday, September 15, with deadline for entries on the 11th. Please see Mrs. Keith for further info.

The firstSpirit Day is 'Tacky Day- forgo all fashion rules for this day of crazy fun on September 28th .

Terry Fox Run and School Kickoff Friday, Sept. 14 Run begins at 10:30 Everyone is WELCOME to join us Free hotdogs for everyone following the run (pledge forms are available at the school or on-line)

Hot Lunch Volunteers

We are once again looking for hot lunch volunteers. Please let Mrs. Keith know ASAP if you are able to cook for us this year. Hot lunches will be on Fridays beginning in late September or early October depending on how quickly a schedule can be put together. Usually our volunteers make 2-3 meals per year. Proceeds from our hot lunch program help fund field trips and other special events/activities around the school. [email protected] cell: 403-740-5087 school: 403-579-3959 Pancake Breakfast

Thank you to Mrs. Rietmann for organizing the Welcome Back Pancake Breakfast and to everyone that donated, volunteered, or came to join us.

Newest battery info:

Batteries can also be dropped off at the transfer station.

There should also be recycling containers at the landfill to recycle fluorescent tubes/bulbs, any plastic con- tainer with a caution symbols, and paint cans and spray paint.

Did you know that you can take your old matresses to the transfer sta- tion in Stettler and it will be taken to Re-Matt from that takes them apart and sends the wood, metal, foam, and fabric to local manu- facturers to be made into new products.

The program accepts mattresses, box springs, foam mattresses, futons, electric beds, and foam underlay. They must be dry and free from mud or heavy dirt. They have a sea-can at the Stettler Transfer Site to store them.

Kindergarten Commences on Tuesday, Sept 18, with 7 new students registered New registrations are always welcome. Playschool First Day is October 1 Children are welcome to join us if they are 3 years old and are toilet trained.

Playschool days are Monday and Wednesday mornings 9:00-11:30. Children are welcome to attend 1 or 2 days per week. Cost is $ 25.00 /month for one day/week or $ 50.00/month for 2 days/week If you would like more information, please contact the school at: 403-579-3959. September’s Maker Challenge

How it Works: The 7th Annual Global Cardboard Challenge will kick off this September and culminate on October 9, 2018. (Global day is Oct. 6.) Why Participate? 3 Reasons Among Thousands 1. Creativity is the most important skill of the future, and the Cardboard Challenge is a powerful tool to foster it through playful learning.

2. The Cardboard Challenge brings the world together around the value of creativity.

3.It’s a worldwide celebration of the genius of every child and the simple things adults can do to foster it.

Get Started: Watch “Caine’s Arcade” on Youtube to get inspired, then build something awesome out of cardboard, recycled materials and imagination.

Celebrate: The Global Cardboard Challenge culminates on Oct 9, the first day of Read In week. To tie in with our Read In Week theme, maybe you’d like to focus on sports. Bring your creation to school to celebrate creativity!

Some sporting ideas to get you started:

But go ahead and choose what you would like to make: A pinball machine, a glider, a puppet or a doll, a boomerang, a cardboard card, a fort, a skyscraper, a diorama (scale model), a roller coast- er... Mrs. Keith LA 1-3 – Because our school doesn’t have any grade nine students this year, we have moved around some of our grades for part of their Language Arts time. Mrs. Hallett will be teaching the grade 3 students for the bulk of their work and Mrs. Keith will also teach them, but for more of the writing, phonics and word work side.Grade one and two will remain with Mrs. Keith for all of their LA classes. During September with grade one and two, we will focus on a review of sounds and letter/sound com- binations. We will be doing lots of letter formation activities to practice our printing so we are more ready for writing moving forward. Both groups will be doing lots of reading. The grade ones will be working on pattern stories which will help them to focus on learning some key reading strategies and become successful with many sight words. The students will have some sight word practice and home reading sent home within the next week. Grade two will also be reading lots of stories, but their focus will be less on sight words, though they will continue to practice reading and spelling their prescribed list. These boys will focus on reading strategies as well, and will use the strategies to help build their fluency and comprehension. Math 1-3– Grade one and two are beginning each day with a daily math page. On this page they will practice multiple math concepts dependent on their grade and skill level. It is a great way to continually review and reinforce the concepts taught. Both groups will also start off the year with a focus on numbers. Grade one will work up to 20 and grade two, up to 50 to start. Grade three will be with Mrs. Rietmann Tuesday through Thursday for math class. On Mondays the students in Grades 1-5 will work with Mrs. Keith on various math skills. During this class the 3-5 students will work on Reflex Math, which Mrs. Rietmann will(or has) already shared with par- ents. All students will complete activities in a program called Mathletics that is geared to each students’ own grade level and skill set within the Curriculum. Finally, the students will be participating in math games that will help them to build their basic fact skills. All of the students will begin with some addition and subtraction, and the older students will also work on multiplication and division as each grade is ready for it. Social 1-3- This year we will be looking at communities around the world. The students will be “introduced” to children their age in the countries of Ukraine, Peru, Tunisia, and India. The students will learn about the land, people, traditions and celebrations of each area and make comparisons between them and with our own country/community. Science 1-3 Our first unit is called Seasonal Changes. We will start with looking at the Autumn season and focus on weather changes and how people, plants and animals make preparations and changes in the transi- tion between summer and fall. Art 1-3- Students are collecting items from nature that show the change of the season and will use the items to create a collage. Following that we will make a tissue tree to show what a fall tree looks like. Health- We begin the year with talking about ourselves. The students are sharing all kinds of things about themselves like their likes, dislikes, hopes and dreams, what makes them happy or sad or scared. We are completing some writing in LA class to go along with this unit. Music K-3 Our first unit will cover the concepts of beat, singing and speaking voices, high/low, and loud/soft. PE K-3 We will begin the year with some cooperative games where the students will work together to com- plete a physical task. It will give all of the students a chance to work with the others in order to get to know each other if they don’t already.

Kindergarten Kindergarten will begin on Tuesday, September 18. We welcome: Tulsa, Addison, Brielle, Robbie, Briar, Duncan, and Jace to our crew. The students will be starting the year with a focus on their names and working with the letters, sounds, and word that is their first name. We will use various stories to guide the activities and games to in- troduce them to each day’s activities. In kindergarten a program called Handwriting Without Tears will be used to help students with finger and hand strength activities and other activities that will prepare them better for pencil/tool grasp as they move into proper letter and number formation as the days progress. As more letters and sounds are introduced we will use a program called Jolly Phonics. It is a series of stories and songs about characters, that have sounds/letters/gestures attached to them, to help students learn the sounds in preparation for beginning reading. This program will start with sounds and add in decod- ing words, tricky words, and early reading. The students will start bringing home their sound books following their first lessons for the sounds of s, a, t, i, p, and n later in September or early October. The book pages will have the letter on the front of the page and the character and gesture on the back to help parents review the sounds with their children. This will, hopefully, be completed daily and should just take a minute or two. Please be sure the book is placed back into the child’s must-see bag so that we can add sounds as we progress. Each student will have a must-see bag that is carried to and from school so that important notes, art- work, and completed assignments will be easily found at the beginning or end of the day. In math the students will be starting out with a few lessons to introduce/review early numeracy con- cepts. The students won’t work in units, but will proceed through the year with work each month in the strands of number sets, patterns, sorting, shapes, number recognition/formation. This way there will always be a re- view of lessons learned previously and a build on that information to make for greater success.

Mrs. Rietmann

MATH Grades 3-5 Grade 3-5’s will be learning about number patterns and equations. In general, they will learn about different pattern forms, extending patterns, and solving equations. This year, we will be focusing on basic facts, problem-solving, and skill-building weekly. The Mathletics and Reflex Math programs will both be used again and can be accessed at home. Projects will be assigned, as students are ready for them. Grades 6-8 Grade 6’s will begin with a patterns and equations unit focusing on tables of values, graphing data from tables, and ap- plying the preservation of equality. Grade 7/8’s will begin learning about number relationships. Grade 7’s will apply divisibility rules from 2-10 and solve problems involving factors and multiples. Grade 8’s will solve square roots and use the Pythagorean Theorem to solve problems. Projects will be assigned for each unit. The Mathletics program will be used again this year and can be accessed at home.

SCIENCE Grades 4-6 Grade 4/5’s will begin the unit about electricity and magnetism. They will learn about electrical safety, recognize that electricity and magnetism and related, explore magnetic fields, and investigate closed circuits. Grade 6’s will begin the unit about air and aerodynamics. They will explore the properties of air, describe Bernoulli’s principle, and explain why birds can fly. Both grades will complete a project by the end of the unit.

Grades 7/8 Grade 7/8’s will be learning about cells and human body systems. The students will describe adaptations, label parts of a cell, and compare osmosis and diffusion. Throughout this unit, students will use microscopes and research current scien- tific studies on living things. Students will work on a Unit Project which involves teaching other students about a human body system and creating a brochure about healthy organs.

Music 4-6 Students will be exploring the differences in musical instruments around the world and completing music stations that focus on learning basic theory and playing the recorder and xylophone.

CTF 4-9 Students will begin by creating a pallet project and doing some cooking. The Junior High students will also complete a basic mechanics course. Mrs. Hallett

Welcome back everyone! Hope you had a great summer! I would like to start off by giving you a few ideas for reviewing spelling words at home for grades 3-6.

“Writing” words with a water pistol or plastic squeeze bottle on a hard surface

Use sidewalk chalk to spell words outside

Write words in the snow with a stick

Build words with Scrabble or other letter tiles

Write words with large, well-spaced letters on paper. They can then cut the words into individual letters and rebuild them.

This year, the grade 3-5 students will begin by studying Fry’s high frequency words. Students will strive to be able to read and spell these words. We will study 10 words per week. Tests will be on Fridays.

Grades 7-8 Language Arts We will begin the year with some work on writing expository paragraphs and brochures and then move on to a short story unit. Also, we will build in some time to discuss the 9/11 tragedy.

For grades 3-8 language arts, I’d like to encourage 20 minutes of reading per night. Students can read alone, you can take turns reading with your child, you can have them read to you. If you read to them, it can be at their level or above their level, which exposes them to new vocabulary and complexity in the writing. Fiction, non-fiction, hunting magazines - anything is good! This will really help them improve their reading. You will also notice that the better a child reads, the better they can write.

Grade 4-6 Social This year we will be studying the grade 5 curriculum - : The Land, Histories and Stories. We will dis- cuss physical geography of Canada, the diverse people who live here and how they have shaped our identity.

Grade 6 Social The grade 6 curriculum focuses on democracy. It takes a close look at 3 different groups: ancient Athens, the Iroquois Confederacy and local and provincial government in Alberta.

Grades 7-8 Social These students are studying the grade 7 curriculum - Canada: Origins, Histories and movements of People. We will look at history; pre-confederation and post-confederation and discuss immigration and migration.

Art Please send in any large plastic margarine, sour cream, or yogurt lids to use in art. Also, if you have any yarn that you’re not using, I could use that in art as well.

P.Ed. 4-8 We are going to go golfing in Big Valley on September 19th as long as we can round up enough golf clubs and car drivers. If you have older clubs and golf balls that your child could use, please send them to school as soon as possible so we know how many we have. If you would like to volunteer to drive (and golf if you’d like), please phone the school. We will be leaving the school at 10:35 and returning around 2:00. If it’s really cold or rainy, we will postpone the trip until there is nicer weather. September 2018

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Welcome Back!

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School Terry Fox & School Kick Off Council Mtg 7:30 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

Kindergarten Gr. 4-8 Begins! Golfing in Big Valley

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Atco Trailer Spirit Day presentation Dress Tacky Gr. 4-6 30 (Playschool Begins Oct. 1)