Thank you all for attending the Student-led Conferences.  It was a wonderful opportunity to talk about all the great gains your child has made as well as a chance to talk about some goals to work towards.  It is always amazing to me how the students identify goals for themselves which I would also choose for them.

Also, a big thanks go to the following parents: Mrs. Risling, Mrs. Varty, Mrs. beBoer, Mrs. Lyle, and Mr. and Mrs. Laing. They all made arrangements and took time to drive us to the Nature Center on Nov. 20^th.  THANK YOU!!!!

Our classroom Christmas celebration:  We will be having our celebration on Thursday, December 20^th in the afternoon.  Thanks in advance to those parents who signed up to send snacks.  The list is outside the classroom if you need to check.  I’ll also send a reminder closer to the date.

           We will be learning about the format of a friendly letter in language arts.  It is to be followed up with writing letters to Santa Claus.  They will be mailed to the North Pole immediately to ensure replies before Christmas break. These will come to the school and students will bring them home. (A photocopy of the letter they wrote will come home as a reference for you.)

         Our school wide Christmas Gala is coming quickly!  You should have received a note about it last week from the office.  The Christmas Gala is on December 13th at various locations throughout our school.

Throughout the week of December 17-21 we will be carolling in the gym each morning at 8:30 and families are most welcome to attend.

The Christmas Season
Our school is participating in two different projects in order to help educate our students of the importance of giving.

Project ONE:
SOCK IT TO ‘EM (to December 13)
The Caretakers & Maintenance Staff in Lethbridge & Area schools are collecting
NEW SOCKS to be donated to local charities for Christmas. Please join them and make someone’s Christmas a little bit warmer!  Our school has a VERY large sock in our office where donations can be hung.  Thanks for your support.

Project TWO:
PULL TOGETHER 
For Ronald McDonald House - Southern Alberta
Our school is participating in a fundraising project. Students can collect and bring clean pull tabs to school from any beverage containers, soup cans, pet food cans, etc. These tabs will be submitted to Calgary in May where they will be recycled by Westcan Recyclers Ltd. with all proceeds going to the Ronald McDonald House in Calgary. That’s all there is to it. It’s easy. Just Pop a Top.
We recently participated in an assembly regarding the importance of the pull tab project.  Ask your child about it.  Please join us and collect pull tabs for Ronald McDonald House to help give sick children what they need most... their families.

December Events:

After school skating begins next Tuesday, December 4^th.  (It will be held on Dec. 4, 11, 18, Jan. 8, 15, 22, 29 at NS Arena from 3:30-4:30 p.m.) Teachers will be there to supervise and parents are welcome to attend.  Parents are responsible for getting their child to and from the arena.

13 MMH Christmas Gala!

19 “Dress Like Christmas” Spirit Assembly (8:30 a.m.)

20 Class Christmas Party

Dec. 24th-Jan. 4th -Christmas holidays!  Come back to school Monday, January 7th

Remember to FALL BACK with your clocks on Sunday, November 4th!

Here is an update for the month of November.

 In Language Learning we are continuing to develop reading skills following the framework of the Daily Five.  In an earlier post a link was provided to a power point presentation that explains this framework.  Check earlier posts below. This month we will be introducing the CAFÉ portion to improve reading skills.  The letters in CAFÉ stand for Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency and Expand vocabulary. Lessons demonstrate to children how to improve these aspects of reading and provide strategies so that the student can begin to improve in these areas of reading.

In addition to working on reading skills through the use of the Daily Five and CAFÉ, we are continuing to review the Jolly Phonics sounds from kindergarten as well as developing more word families (_et,  _en, _ig, _ot), introducing blends (tr, cr, st, sp ) and daily printing practice.

 Thank you to those parents who are signing the agenda for each home reading assignment.

In Math, we are wrapping up our unit on Patterns and jumping back into the unit on Representing Numbers.  The second half of this unit will focus on numbers 11 to 20.  The focus will be to have students represent and describe numbers 11 to 20, concretely (using physical objects such as blocks), pictorially (using pictures) and symbolically (using numbers). We will also introduce adding and subtracting numbers to ten.

The new Science unit will be The Senses.  Children will learn about the function of their senses, how they are cared for, how senses could be damaged, and how one’s ability to sense things may differ from those of other people and other living things. 

The aim of the Social Studies program is to promote a sense of belonging and acceptance in students as they engage in active and responsible citizenship.  Values and attitudes we are talking about include demonstrating respect for individual rights and respect for others, a willingness to share and cooperate with others, and assuming responsibility for their own individual choices and actions.  We want students to understand what their responsibilities and rights are at home, at school, in groups and within their community.

  

Thank you to parents who have contacted me to help drive for our Helen Schuler field trip on November 20^th.!

We still need drivers for 10 more students so if you're able to help us out that morning, please email me ASAP rita.johnston@lethsd.ab.ca .  It would be a shame to have to cancel due to lack of drivers.  Thanks

Report cards will be sent home on November 16th, followed by Parent-Teacher Interviews in the afternoon and evening of Thursday, November 22nd and the morning of November 23rd. We will  be doing STUDENT LED CONFERENCES.

You should have received a bright yellow package of papers on Monday, October 29th explaining the process.  Your time preference page needs to be returned no later than Monday, November 5th.  I am excited for this chance to meet with parents and I know you and your child will enjoy the time you spend together looking at their accomplishments.

Nov. 5th We will be getting an Education 3500 student teacher to help in our classroom.  His name is Jeremy Finch and the children met him about one week ago when he was here for his orientation day.

Nov. 8th  Remembrance Day Assembly 10:30 am . 

MMH will be hosting a special Remembrance Day assembly at 10:30 am.  If you would like to attend, you’re more than welcome!

Nov. 8th  Scholastic Book Orders Due.

Nov. 9th and 12th  No school  Fall Break

Nov. 15th Pajama/Teddy Bear Day: Spirit Assembly at 8:30 am.

Nov. 16th  Report cards come home

Nov.21st  Hot Lunch

Nov. 22nd Parent/Teacher/Student Conferences in the afternoon and evening.

Nov. 23rd Parent/Teacher/Student Conferences in the morning.

Nov. 28th Character Education Assembly hosted by grade four team.

DEC. 4 After School Skating 3:30 to 4:30 pm. at NS Arena

Dec. 13th Christmas Gala...more info to come.

Dec. 22nd to Jan.6th Holiday Break

Jan. 7th, 2013 School Resumes

 Sock it to ‘Em” program.  The caretakers and maintenance staff in our district are collecting NEW socks to be donated to local charities for Christmas. If you’re able to donate a pair, please send new socks in with your student to make someone’s Christmas a little bit warmer. Socks will be collected from November 1^st to December 13^th.  This would be a great opportunity to talk to your child about some of the objectives of our social studies curriculum.

 Thanks so much to everyone who sent snacks for our Halloween Party. 

 · ATTENDANCE: Please take the time to phone the school at 381-2211 if your child will be absent or late for school.   **If your child attends BLAST, you must notify them separately of the school office - they are a separate program.

· · Show n’ Share: Please encourage your child to bring items on Friday mornings. Help them to plan what it is they are going to say when they present their item.

Bear Unit:   We are beginning our themed unit on “Bears”.  This theme will encompass all areas of the curriculum.   We will be reading and doing projects with several books about Bears as well as completing a research project on bears. If you have anything (stories, artefacts, photos etc) to share, please send them in. 

Mike Mountain Horse Miistatosomitai
(1888 - 1986), a war veteran, scout and writer.  Born and raised among the Blood tribe, he left home in 1894 to attend an Anglican boarding school.  After his brother was killed in World War One, he joined the Canadian army and served overseas in France.  Upon his return he worked at various Mounted Police detachments in the Lethbridge area and for the Canadian Pacific Railway.  Launching a writing career in the 1920s, he wrote for the local newspapers and prepared a manuscript of the book, My People the Bloods, published by the Glenbow Museum and Blood Tribal Council in 1979.  in the late 1950s Mike Mountain Horse retired to the Blood Reserve where he served one term on the tribal council.