Daysland Digest

Tomorrow night, we are hosting our Student Conferences/Parent Teacher Interviews. We hope that you can attend. It is an excellent opportunity to discuss academic and behavioural support and ensure we have appropriate learning strategies in place. Make sure to bring your children with you. The link to book your interview is now closed. If you could not book an interview, please get in touch with the office before tomorrow afternoon and we will schedule one for you.

I want to congratulate the Senior Darls, who will compete at zones this weekend in Eckville. We wish them well as they aim to earn a spot in Provincials.

I also want to recognize our Mini Dunkers team, who will be playing in their final tournament next week in Viking. They have represented our school well and have learned a lot this season. We wish you all the best as you wrap up your season.

As basketball comes to a close, I encourage our athletes to thank their coaches for their time and effort this season. Our sports programs are only possible with them graciously giving their time.

We hope to be finished with the cold weather soon. However, we need to remind everyone of the importance of students wearing proper winter clothing. Our bus drivers have expressed concern that some students need to be more adequately dressed in case of an emergency or to wait outside for a short time. Parents, please discuss this with your child. We appreciate everyone’s support to ensure student safety.

This is our last newsletter before Spring Break, so we wish our families a relaxing and safe week off. Hopefully we return to some truly Spring weather.

Mar.

7 - Staff Meeting (Early Dismissal @ 11:40am)

7 - Parent Teacher Interviews/Student Led Conferences

10 - Spring Ahead!

12 - Grad Cap & Gown Photos

14 - Mini Dunkers Tournament @ Viking

14 - Agriculture Field Trip

18 to 22 - Spring Break (school closed)

29 - Good Friday (school closed)

Apr.

1 - Easter Monday (school closed)

2 - THEME DAY (Twin Day)

4 - Staff Meeting (early Dismissal @ 11:40am)

As of January 15, 2024 we have switched to online permission forms for field trips and extra curricular activities. You will go to the same site that you pay your school fees online. There will be a NEW heading called field/athletic trips where you can find your online field trip form. If you have any questions, please contact the office.

https://www.brsd.ab.ca/families/online-payments-ordering

Second semester fees are now due. Please go into the online payments/ordering to pay your school fees.

https://www.brsd.ab.ca/families/online-payments-ordering

Our Basketball seasons are wrapping up. Thank you to all of our coaches for volunteering their time and expertise. Mrs. Wendy Weiss, Ms. Marianne Bobik, Miss Hallback, Mr. Dan Guhle, Mrs. Reber, Mr. Gratrix, and Mr. Tim Guhle. We appreciate you all!

The International Travel Club will be running a flower fundraiser through Forster's Greenhouse this year, so watch for information in March from travellers on how to order for May delivery. Thank you for your continued support!

Parents are reminded that BRSD policy requires all students who ride the bus to wear (or carry) clothing suitable for the weather conditions. This includes headgear, hand covering, and appropriate footwear. Students who arrive at school inappropriately dressed will not be allowed to ride home or to/from sporting events or school planned field trips until they have proper gear dropped off or they are picked up by a parent.

As we enter the season of weather related bus delays and cancellations, BRSD would like to remind parents to check their school website or the BRSD website for updates. If there is a change to the schedule it will appear in an ALERT banner at the top of the website. If there is no banner, all routes are running as scheduled. Every family affected by a bus route delay or cancellation also receives an automated phone message.

If you are interested in purchasing Daysland School clothing, please visit

https://dayslandschool.entripyshops.com

Orders can be paced at any time of the year and will ship directly to the purchaser.

In Attendance: Teena Kasha Cristin Zimmer Kristie Nahajowich Alison Eshpeter

Carrie Carrier Brenda McKay Wes Wilson (principal) Laura Zwack

Jeanni Hoermann Jenni Thomas (Assistant Principal)

I. Teena called to order the regular meeting of the Daysland School Council at 6:34 pm.

II. Open Floor Shout Out – To Adrian Ketchmark for online work for Hot Lunch program and to Kerri Auburn for taking care of Subway hot lunch entirely. To Sr Ski trip chaperones for a successful and fun trip; not broken bones!

III. Review of Agenda – Motion: Laura moved agenda be accepted as circulated. Jeanni seconded. All in favour. Motion carried.

IV. Approval of minutes from last meeting

Minutes from January 17, 2024 were circulated prior to meeting. Motion: Laura moved minutes be accepted as corrected. Kristie seconded. All in favour. Motion carried.

V. Correspondence – None

VI. Reports

a) Administrator (Mr. Wilson)

1. Thank You

a. Parent helpers for their assistance with La Carnival. Kelly Tanton and Kierstan Reber for their work to coordinate everything.

b. For the upcoming staff room makeover.

c. Sausage donation to breakfast club - Zwack Farm

2. Parent Teacher Interviews

a. Thursday, March 7th

b. The online link to book a time will be shared before the end of February.

3. Teacher Convention

a. This Thursday and Friday.

4. Gr. 4-9 Ski Trip

a. Looking at Wednesday, March 6th as a possible date.

5. 2024-25 School Calendar

a. Staff Meetings/Collaboration Days/Professional Learning Series Days will all be

included in eight Fridays throughout the year: October 11, November 1,

December 6, January 31, March 7, April 4, May 2, May 30

6. Literacy/Numeracy Support

a. Implementing Numeracy Support in Gr. 1-9.

b. This is a combination of teacher (Marit Schlaut) and EA support.

c. Using a similar model to Literacy which we have had great success. We are using

data to identify which students are struggling and in which areas and providing

targeted small group instruction in those areas.

d. We are also focusing in Jr. High on problem solving problems, specifically to PAT

style questions. This is to better prepare for the Gr. 9 PAT which is an area of

concern.

7. Toilet Paper Challenge

a. This year we will spread the winnings across all elementary grades. We are

ordering pizza on February 27th for all students. (Pink Shirt Day)

b. Our school, for the third year in a row, donated the most rolls of toilet paper. Way

to go Daysland School!

8. Pink Shirt Day

a. In order to include the Kindergarten class, we are going to recognize Pink Shirt

Day on Tuesday, February 27th.

b. That week, staff will be looking for acts of kindness to recognize with a pink sticky

note. If a student receives one, they will take it to the office and we will post it on

our office window.

9. Theme Day - March 5th

a. Rodeo Day - dress as a cowboy/cowgirl

10. School Council Engagement Grant

a. $500 to better support individual school councils and strengthen engagement

with parents. This could include creating more school events that involve parents

and developing a broader range of tools to communicate with them.

b. Must be spent by the end of June

b) Room Reps: Not reported in meeting. Info submitted to secretary for minutes.

Kindergarten (submitted by Chantelle Hayes): Mrs Tanton – All is well on the Kindergarten front, we have begun our second round of learning the alphabet, however this time around we are putting more emphasis on word building. This is a very keen class so they will enjoy participating in word building games. In math we are working on patterning and identifying 3D shapes in our world.

We have been skating this month and so far it has been a success! I haven’t had one student

ask “is skating done yet?” We have a few Connor McDavid’s on the ice! They’re pretty fast and

tricky, I think I’m tagged “it” 90% of the time, lol. But they’re smiles, giggles and rosy little cheeks

and noses are worth all the tagging! The kinders have been busy preparing Valentine’s cards for their parents, so today we took a quick field trip to the Post Office to drop off our important mail. The Kinders had a great time stamping their own mail and then dropping them into the mail drop box, it was AMAZING!

Grade 1 (submitted by Laura Zwack): Mrs. Reber - The Gr. 1s are rocking their learning and working hard to prepare for Gr. 2! They are fluently reading, and it's a joy to listen to all their progress. We are working on missing addends in math and enjoying using different manipulatives for some hands-on learning. This week, we are using candy hearts to help us! In Social, we are about to start our community and maps project. Each student will build a community map to help meet these Social outcomes. We recently enjoyed a glow stick party in the gm after filling our star jar! This week, we look forward to going skating with the kindergarten class and taking part in different STEM activities for our Valentine's Party!

Grade 4 (submitted by Kirby Schmidt-Tiegen): Miss Halback - The grade 4’s just finished their unit on fossils in Alberta. We will be moving on to learn about the history, stories and people of Alberta. In science we are wrapping up our simple machines unit by building carnival rides that incorporate 2 simple machines. For my ELA group we have been reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. We have also started story writing. In math we have been practicing our basic multiplication facts up to 12. The kids have been listening to songs and learning tricks to help them memorize their basic facts. This Wednesday they will be going skating to celebrate Valentine’s Day. Mrs. Thomas - - For my ELA class, we have been working on Reader's Theatre, practicing fluent and expressive reading and presentation skills. We will soon be starting a novel study. We have also been provided with a reading and spelling instruction program that we will be trialling as a whole class, called Catch Up Your Code; it is designed to be used daily in 10 minute lessons. In Math, we are working on memorizing basic facts and on multiplying and dividing three digit by one digit equations using various strategies.

Grade 5 - (submitted by Laura Zwack): We are working on an Arctic Explorer unite, where students will be reading, writing, and responding to material based on becoming a student ambassador for an Arctic Expedition. We have completed the training, and we are now ready to fly off to the Arctic to continue our exploration of Language Arts through a thematic adventure. Currently we are working on multiplication and division facts, and making sure we can make sensible estimates. We do daily Mad Minutes as well as a daily word problem. I am so impressed with the improvements that I can see in the students' knowledge of their math facts. We have just begun our new unit: Mechanisms Using Electricity. It is the hands-on component that complements the previous unit. Throughout, we will be constructing circuits in series and parallel, and with and without switches. This will lead to building a burglar alarm and a working vehicle. We have just begun the unit Canada’s Stories and Histories. We started with a discussion on what it means to be a Canadian and what some of our symbols are. We are currently working on writing graphic novels based on the timeline we created. Next week we will be studying the different groups that lived in Canada in more detail.

Grade 6 (submitted by Cristin Zimmer): Mrs McKay - Everything is running smoothly in grade 6. We are working on some challenging math, but everyone is working hard and doing an amazing job! In ELA, we are wrapping up our non-fiction reading unit and will be completing a research project as a culminating activity. We are excited to go skating on Valentine's day, as well as on March 1. We are also looking forward to the upcoming ski trip. Thank you to all of the parents and guardians for navigating the online permission forms so seamlessly.

Grade 7/8 (submitted by Alison Eshpeter): Mrs McKay - We are about halfway through all of the units in both Math 7 and 8. Grade 7 is wrapping up the Patterns and Relations unit and will be moving on to the Equations unit after the long weekend. Grade 8 will be writing their test on Linear Equations and Graphing next week, then will move on to Square Roots and the Pythagorean Theorem. Each student will also have the opportunity to have some time to practice questions similar to what they may see on final exams and the PAT in grade 9. Mr Pastachak - Science 7/8 has just finished Part 2 (Outcomes 3 & 4) of the Light and Optical Systems Unit (Unit C). This week will be their Unit Exam, and introduction to the next topic being Mix and Flow of Matter. ELA 8 students have begun their novel study (The Outsiders). Mrs V Zimmer – In Social 7/8, our study of the interesting Aztec society is entering contact with the Spanish, so we are anticipating even more conflict than we've already covered! In ELA 7, we just are into the unit themed "Hope, Heroes, and Social Justice" where we touched on Black History Month and will soon embark on another novel study around disabilities and the discrimination surrounding people who are neurodivergent. Don't forget to check out PowerSchool to keep up with the status of assessments.

Grade 9 (submitted by Carrie Carrier): New semester is underway with new teachers. Now starting Science 9 (Mr Kerslake), Social 9 (Mrs Tobler), Industrial Arts (Mr Kerslake), Phys Ed (Mrs Tobler), Learning Studies (Mrs V. Zimmer), Math 15 (Mx Jones), and Options.

Grade 10 (submitted by Teena Kasha): Mrs V Zimmer ­- In ELA 10, we are starting up Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice" soon, so be ready for new Old English words floating around!

Grade 11 (submitted by Jeanni Hoermann): Mx Jones – Grade 11 - Mx Kelsey Jones - In math we are currently working on the quadratics unit. They will be starting on an assignment that they will take home and finish over the long weekend. Those in Chem 30 have been working on Thermochemistry. In particular, we have been learning about Hess' Law this week.

Grade 12 (submitted by Candice Guhle): Chem 30 - Mx Jones - Students taking Chem 30 this semester are doing a lab today on calorimetry and Hess' Law. Bio 30 and Social 30 - Mr Pastachuk Bio 30 & Social 30 have just finished the introduction to each course, with both having had quizzes already. Course outlines were sent out last week, please sign if haven't done so already. Bio 30 is currently learning about the Nervous System, specifically the neuron, action potentials and the central nervous system. Social 30 has been looking at the basic concepts of collectivism and individualism, as well as understanding basic political philosophy ( Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau). Grad - Mrs Thomas We held our first organization meeting for Grad planning and the grads picked out most of the people they plan on asking to speak at the event. An email was sent out earlier this week with information and a link to register for Cap and Gown photos (March 12). A google form also went out this week for selecting menu options from TC Catering. Students have been asked to send their pictures for the slideshow to Syn by the end of March. Our next meeting will be Tuesday where we will start to plan some details with regards to décor.

VII. Business arising from minutes:

a) Alberta School Councils Association/Role of School Councils - tabled

VIII. New Business:

a) Update Pamphlet - Jeannie will send out old pamphlet.

IX. Adjournment

Teena adjourned the meeting at 7:50pm.

Next Meeting Wednesday, March 27, 2024 7:00pm at Daysland School.

Email: dysgenvm@brsd.ab.ca
Website: daysland.brsd.ab.ca
Location: 5222 50 St, Daysland, AB, Canada
Phone: 780-374-3676
Facebook: https://facebook.com/darlsdynamos
Twitter: @DayslandS