Clearspring Middle School

I continue to be amazed by the quality of our students at Clearspring Middle School. Our students are generally kind to one another, they come to school with a cheerful attitude, and they work hard to learn what the teachers have planned for them to learn.

We had a busy February! The entire month has been I Love to Read Month. We have heard students read their reviews of books about a growth mindset. We had a book fair which sold almost $3,600.00. AND, we had a morning visit by author Sigmund Brouwer. Many of our students have read his books. Mr. Brouwer led a great assembly in which he emphasized the importance of story. He urged us to think about changing the phrase “I read a book” to “I read a story”. He also led close to 150 interested students in a writing workshop which students enjoyed and teachers said supported the learning in their classrooms.

In addition to I Love to Read, February saw the beginning of DARE (Drug and Alcohol Resistance Education) for our Grade 7 students. The Grade 5 classes hosted some Piston players for some floor hockey and then had time to ask them questions. And our Grade 8 classes had a busy month with a ski trip to Falcon Trails, a French activity day, and the Grade 8 bands participated in the Optimist Festival in Winnipeg. They received good scores which indicate our students, and our band program, are on the right track.

February was busy, and March will also be busy - but a great kind of busy. Our School Allies, representatives from each class, have worked with us to declare March as Kindness Month. We look forward to seeing how our students demonstrate their creativity as they show kindness! Our Grade 6 students will begin tryouts and rehearsals for the spring musical, Oliver Twist - A Musical Adaptation. Performances are on April 26th and 27th. Grade 5 students will celebrate Winter Fun Day on March 5th, and will be heading to Fort Whyte later in the month. Grade 8 students will start the registration process for heading to Grade 9 at SRSS next year. And finally, we will be sending report cards home on March 15th, and will host a portfolio evening for ALL students and their parents on March 16th. Please call the school for an appointment.

We have sent home a letter from Manitoba Health, Seniors and Active Living regarding Mumps in Manitoba. This letter contains important information for you to read regarding the outbreak of mumps in Manitoba, and what can be done to avoid the spread of this disease. There is also a link below for the letter!

March 16th will be portfolio evening at CMS from 4:15-7:00 pm. Please call the school directly to schedule an appointment. For our students, the portfolio evening will be an opportunity to demonstrate their creativity. Creativity is one of the core competencies in Hanover School Division’s Deeper Learning plan. While it has always been important for students’ learning, recent thinking about creativity has re-emphasized the importance of creativity in in problem solving. A quick scan of my library led to a few books with a creativity focus. Shop Class as Soulcraft (Crawford, 2009) and Sparking Student Creativity: Practical Ways to Promote Innovative Thinking and Problem Solving (Drapeau, 2014) both focus on the importance of creativity as it prepares us for a lifetime of problem solving. School has always been about problem solving, but now we are trying to pose problems for students that don’t have perfectly clear answers. We are trying to ensure that students need to think about problems, and then make their thinking visible, or apparent to others so that teachers can help students take the next step in learning. When you come for the Portfolio Evening, I hope you have opportunity to ask your child(ren) about creativity, problem solving, and thinking.

The annual SRSS Open House for grade 8 students registering for September 2017, will be on March 9th. This is for all incoming grade 8 & 9 students.

The evening open house for parents will be on the same day from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm

Wednesday, March 1st - Beginning Band Festival

Friday, March 3rd - Gr. 5 Winter Fun Day

Thursday, March 9th - Gr. 9 Orientation Tour for Gr. 8's

Friday, March 10th - Admin (PD) Day

Sunday, March 12th - Daylight Savings Time

Tuesday, March 14th - Gr. 5's at Fort Whyte (5DG, 5SS, 5ST)

Wednesday, March 15th - Grade 5's at Fort Whyte (5SH, 5EK, 5JL)

Wednesday, March 15th - REPORT CARDS

Thursday, March 16th - Portfolio Evening

Friday, March 24th - MAC Dance

Monday, April 3rd - Classes Resume

Friday, April 7th - Admin Day (No School)

Friday, April 14th - Good Friday (No School)

Friday, April 21st - Earth Day

Wednesday, April 26th - Grade 6 Musical

Thursday, April 27th - Grade 6 Musical

Email: cms@hsd.ca
Website: cms.hsd.ca
Location: 1 Brighton Lane, Steinbach, MB, Canada
Phone: 204-346-9644