Dear Niton Central School Community,

I hope our students enjoyed their long weekend. I look forward to hearing of them on Monday. Our staff participated in numerous PG sessions related to school priorities surrounding literacy, numeracy, and safe & caring schools. Our School Continuous Improvement Plan is posted on our Niton Central School website and includes our goals and instructional focus for this year. Report Cards went home with students on Thursday. If you have questions regarding the report card, please contact your child's teacher. White Hatter Cyber Safety presentations take place this week. If you would like to make a change to your student's permission form, or have not yet completed the form, please contact your child's teacher. The grades 6 & 7 presentation is on Wednesday, December 7 and grades 4 & 5 on Thursday, December 8.

This Monday, December 6 at 10 a.m. is School Council. Please see below for the agenda and link to the meeting. School sports start up again this week with JH basketball. See below for try-out and practice times. We are grateful to Coach Benson who will be coaching the girls and to Community Coach Mr. Setzer for taking on the boys team.

Wishing everyone a great week ahead! We will be keeping an eye out on temperatures this week as it is predicted that the mornings will be cold. Please ensure that your students have warm gear for their bus rides and outside recesses.

Ms. Jan Wiens, Principal

Niton Central School

780-795-3782

mailto:janwien@gypsd.ca

Video call link: https://meet.google.com/zpj-cwjj-yif

This season, NCS students have an opportunity to give back to their community through our first "Coins for Christmas" drive. Each class will have a donation jar where students may donate their coins throughout the month until December 15. Our NCS donations will go to the Niton Community Pantry housed out of the library. Cash donations allow the Community Pantry staff to purchase perishables or needed items. Donation jars will also be placed in the library and the school office for parents/community members who wish to contribute.

Yellowhead County has reached out to the school and asked us to help promote Santa's Anonymous and the Christmas Hamper programs. Please see the attached information that can be used as application for the programs. The information can also be found at the public libraries. The deadline to apply is December 10.

On December, 1st Niton Central School's Jr. High students participated in Skills Canada Alberta's, Skills Exploration Day together with 60 other schools from across the province. Students had the opportunity to learn skills related to six trades and apply them to their own prototypes. This year's design challenge asked students to create a prototype of a piece of sporting equipment to improve athletic performance, or to create a sporting equipment that would make sports more accessible to people with physical disabilities. It was a full day of engaging, problem-solving, fun-filled learning. Well done!

Giving evokes gratitude. Whether you're on the giving or receiving end of a gift, that gift can elicit feelings of gratitude - it can be a way of expressing gratitude or instilling gratitude in the recipient. Research has found that gratitude is integral to happiness, health and social bonds.

Please follow the Lobstick BEST facebook page for programs and activities BEST provides outside of the classroom. Please see the information below from BEST Success Coach Erin Paterson. Caregiver FREE education sessions are brought to you by Alberta Health Services and the Mental Health Foundation. Sessions are offered online through Zoom conferencing application. There are some great sessions offered within the next month.

December 6 - Monday - Girls try-outs 3:30 - 5 p.m.

December 7 - Tuesday - Boys try-outs 3:30 - 5 p.m.

December 8 - Wednesday - Girls practice - 3:30 - 5 p.m.

December 9 - Thursday - Boys practice - 3:30 - 5 p.m.

On October 15, the Alberta Government updated the Parent Guide to Covid-19 management in schools. Please see the following link for more information including when a school would pivot to online learning. Thank you for your continued support of the Niton Central School community and for completing the Alberta Health Daily Checklist before sending your student to school. Please call the school if you have any questions and I will be happy to discuss this with you.

1. Please ensure your student is dressed for the outside weather. Some students may need an extra pair of socks and mitts in case they become wet. Grades K - 6 students go outside three times per day until the temperature (including windchill) reaches -20 C. We always include the windchill when we are gauging the temperature.

2. Last week, our K - 6 students enjoyed playing in the snow. It was great to be outside with them! Many of our younger students made use of their extra set of dry clothing. Please ensure your child has an extra set of clothing as well as a pair of socks to leave at school.

To arrange to meet your student's teacher or if you have questions concerning the classroom, please email the teacher directly or call the school at 780-795-3782 and leave a message with our secretary who will have the teacher call you back.

preK/K Mrs. Jenna Robinson mailto:jennrobi@gypsd.ca

Grade 1/2 Ms. Shania Miller mailto:shanmill@gypsd.ca

Grade 3/4 Mr. Thomas Meier mailto:thommeie@gypsd.ca

Grade 5/6

Grade 7 Mrs. Jacey Maskell mailto:jacemask@gypsd.ca

Grade 8 Mr. Aaron Fern mailto:aarofern@gypsd.ca

Grade 9 Mr. Alan Stoyles mailto:alanstoy@gypsd.ca

Please continue to phone the school or email Mrs. Benson at branbens@gypsd.ca or your student's homeroom teacher if your child will be absent. Sign-out your student through the office if they will be picked up early and please notify their bus driver.

December

6th - Virtual School Council, 10 AM

14th - Winter Craft Day

16th - Holiday Sweater Day

16th - Virtual NCS Christmas Concert

17th - PJ DAY = last day of school before Christmas break (December 20 - January 3)

January

4th - First day back after Christmas break