Welcome to the final weeks of what has been an Amazing Race sort of school year at Fox Creek Elementary Secondary! Talk about action packed! We have accomplished several components of our 2009/10 School Improvement Plan and look forward to the development of the upcoming three year plan. By considering the commendations and recommendations of the Partial School Review and with the contributions of all stakeholders, the new plan will provide a road map with continuity for Fox Creek School. The results of the review have been made known to the NGRD executive and to the Trustees and I expect the final product will be shared at the school level, soon.
Thank you for coming out to enjoy the first ever Education Week Gallery Walk and Dessert Night Fundraiser for our Tour Group. I think you will agree, student art in a K-12 school has its own special charm. The desserts were amazing ( I am eating a leftover Nanaimo Bar as I type) and another demonstration of parent community engagement. Thank you also to the community volunteers who helped us with the Promenade Dance and the Red Eye Hockey Tournament. Special thanks for Club Moo Spirit Week volunteer parents. Club Moo is one of my favourite Fox Creek school traditions and this year I even kept my wardrobe colours straight for each special day! Our Spell-A-Thon was a spectacular success–thanks to all of the participants and sponsors. Extra special thanks to Mr. Thesen and Mrs. Hardy for booking the SMART RISK presentation for secondary students, offered April 28th. This was made possible by the donation to Fox Creek school for safety education, made in honour of Robert Kennedy and Carey Klatt, who were tragically killed in a workplace accident.
May has a number of important dates to take note of, for both elementary and secondary students. Please check the attached calendar page for the most recent information. Graduation and Provincial Achievement Tests are fast approaching. Secondary track and field events will be taking place. Enjoy our early spring! Please feel welcome to drop in for coffee with the Principal the last Friday of May between 9 and 10AM.
The Counseling Team are excited to announce that we have recently completed the Red Cross training for "It’s Not Your Fault" as RespectED partners in the Red Cross’ Violence and Abuse Prevention program. We look forward to working with our wonderful students and staff to raise awareness within the school and community about the issue of child abuse, and to arm our students with the education and character to take part in preventing violence and abuse.
We have also partnered with the CHAMP Team and CTS teacher Kevin Thesen to introduce the SMART RISK No Regrets program in Fox Creek School. Based around 6 key messages– Look First, Wear the Gear, Buckle Up, Get Trained, Drive Sober, and the Stupid Line, this program encourages students to make smart choices about the risks they take in their lives. Our first SMART RISK event will be co-hosted by two Grade 10 students, Dylan Petch and Jared Schmidt, who participated in SMART RISK youth facilitator training in March. We will be hosting a Melon SPLAT! on May 20th, where students can form teams and design helmets from regular household items to compete in designing the best helmet to protect a watermelon dropped from the school roof, We’re looking forward to having our students compete, but also to help draw their attention to the importance of wearing the gear.
As part of our bi-monthly Counselor’s Corner meetings, the Counseling Team at Fox Creek School would like to invite you to an information session for parents and students in Grade 9, on Thursday June 10 at 7:00PM, where we will discuss upcoming achievement tests, study tips and test-taking strategies, and the course requirements for enrollment into Grade 10 courses. We will focus on Alberta Education’s recommendations for student success, based on Grade 9 achievement, in transition to high school academic courses. Exam exemplars, sample course outlines, textbooks, and refreshments will be provided.
2H had a fantastic Easter break and are now continuing to work hard during the home stretch! We continue to practice writing our stories and reading in Language Arts. In Math we have become quite the mathematicians and have developed many different strategies to add and subtract numbers up to 100! We are just finishing up our Hot and Cold Temperatures unit in Science class, and are really looking forward to learning about BUGS in our next unit. In Social we are beginning to learn all about Fox Creek and how it has changed over time! It's been so busy...but we're learning a lot!
It has been a terrific month for the students of 1B. Our class is fully engaged in the "Needs of Plants and Animals" science unit. We have adopted a few classroom plants and a classroom pet, our fish named Spyro. The students have taken nature walks, discovered the different parts of plants and dissected fruits and vegetables to discover their seeds.
In Art, we have started to experiment with photography. The students have looked at a variety of photographs and cameras, exploring the similarities and differences between them.
We have been spending much of our daily Physical Education time outside enjoying the beautiful weather and preparing for our Track and Field day! We hope to see you at all the upcoming school events.
The Junior High Home Economics students have been creating some terrific smells throughout the school. Students have taken the opportunity to cook or bake a variety of tempting foods from pancakes to cinnamon buns. . .YUM! Students have also had the opportunity to learn the names of various kitchen utensils along with their purpose. We are hoping that this will make for safer experiences at home.
Registration and Parent Meeting for 2010-11 Kindergarten Year Monday May 17, 2010 7pm in the Small Gym
LIAM’S EASTER EGG HUNT BY Liam Bassingthwaighte and Cody Larsen So much chocolate. So hyper. 20 chocolate eggs. So good. They were here, they were there, they were everywhere. Up and down, high and low, in the middle, too slow. In the curtains, in the shower, in my underwear.
Spring Promendade
It was a sparkling evening! Congratulations to our Prom Court, who were nominated and elected based on exemplifying traits of a Fox Creek School student:
King -- Steven Zwicker Queen -- Leanna Iddings Prince-- Brandon Ahn Princess -- Kaitlyn Duff
SMARTRisk Presentation
Thank you to Mr. Thesen for bringing in our enthusiastic and informative presenter. Appreciation is also extended to Mr. Koble, Jared Schmidt, and Dylan Petch for providing us with more information from a student perspective. We are certain to make smarter choices about the events and activities we choose to participate in.
Redeye Floor Hockey Tournament
Thank you to Daniel Wiltse, who put forth a great deal of effort organizing this event. Thanks to the Pizza Joint for the delicious dinner! Congratulations to all students for their participation! Winners will be shared next month (once participants and team names can be confirmed).
Buddy Day
Buddy Day was an impromptu event this month which was a coordinated effort in support of Earth Day. Students and their buddies pitched in to clean up our school yard and took numerous bags of garbage to the dumpster. The Buddy Day that was planned for Wednesday, May 19 has been swapped out for this event in an effort to ensure students are able to focus on their exams, which are just around the corner! There will be a Buddy Day wind-up event planned for June, so stay tuned!
Upcoming Events
Spelling Bee
Given the great spellers that have been developed through the elementary spell-a-thons over the years, and with the Hollywood attention, Student Council will be hosting a spelling a bee at lunch on May 27. There will be a junior division (grades 7 - 9) and a senior division (grades 10 - 12). We have asked the English teachers to forward their two best spellers by class to participate (due to time constraints). We are looking forward to a fun and exciting event!
On March 24th I received an email notifying me of my acceptance into " Mr. Speaker’s MLA For A Day". It was an experience of a lifetime! It was two days filled with meetings, lectures, and group activities from early in the morning till late at night. We had a VIP guided tour of the Legislative Building in Edmonton, Alberta. We then went to a dinner where I had the opportunity of meeting Ed Stelmach, our Premier. After supper we had a mock debate in the Legislative Chamber debating whether or not cell phones should be banned in motor vehicles while driving. The group I was in won the debate; we believed they should be banned. On day two, I had the chance to tour Mel Knight’s office, later meeting him at our luncheon. We attended a question period in the afternoon and observed how the politicians debate in the Legislative Chamber. Watching this and participating in the other activities has given me the idea of possibly becoming a politician one day. It was definitely an amazing adventure and I would do it all over again if I were given the opportunity!!
Kyria Baranowski
Mrs. Smith’s CTS class, with the expert assistance of Mr. Trent Ferguson, have been studying the various aspects of the art of Photography. The students are pleased to extend an invitation to a Photo Show of their work on Monday, June 7th at 7pm at Fox Creek School.
Math 30 Pure
The Grade 12 students are exploring the world of Trigonometry and Radian Measure. Soon we will be moving on to Graphing Trig. Equations with Real World Applications and Proving Trigonometric Identities.
Math 8
The distributive property, SAMDEB (backwards BEDMAS), and solving equations has been the recent focus for Grade 8 students. We will be extending these ideas into graphing linear equations.
Science 9
SPACE--the Final Frontier! Students are looking forward to understanding our planets and they are hoping to spend an amazing evening gazing at the stars!
Science 10
Students have recently argued for their jobs as parts of the cell and have learned the particle model of matter. Students will be building models to demonstrate transport within a cell and investigating plants as multicellular organisms.
The students in Grades 1-6 are very excited about the new instruments we have started using in the music room. We are fortunate enough to have several ORFF instruments--xylophones, metallophones, glockenspiels, temple blocks, and some new tambourines and triangles. Everyone has enjoyed trying out the new instruments and making beautiful sounds. All of us especially like the three bass bars, along with the deep sounds they make. The Grade 5K students have come up with some great ideas for using the new instruments. We have been using the piano and some of the ORFF instruments to accompany our recorder playing. The music is sounding FANTASTIC! Great job everyone!
Students in Grade 3, 4, 5, and 6 are reminded to bring their recorder to every music class. If you still do not have a recorder, please purchase one.
The school choir will be singing at the Whitecourt Rotary Music Festival on Monday, April 26 at 1:00pm and 1:10pm. This event will take place at Percy Baxter School. On Thursday, May 6, we will be travelling to Hillside Jr./Sr. High in Valleyview to perform at "Artfest 2010". The African drumming group from Fox Creek School will also be performing at this event. Students, please make sure your permission forms and lunch money are turned in to Miss Bowey ASAP.
Thanks to the choir students for their hard work all year! Special thanks to Miss Slade for being our conductor.
Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!
The grade threes would like to thank Mrs. Peterson and Brooke for, once again, helping us with our Ukrainian Easter eggs! We greatly appreciate the time and the supplies that they so graciously offer year after year. We also wanted to thank our moms-- Mrs. Campiou, Mrs. Rycroft, Mrs. Marnius, Mrs. Lalonde, and Mrs. Kennedy--for helping out that day! This is a yearly event for Mrs. Kennedy and we do appreciate her expertise as well.
Tuesday May 11 9am Grade 3 English Language Arts Part A
Wednesday May 12 9am Grade 6 English Language Arts Part A
9am Grade 9 English Language Arts Part A
Monday June 14 9am Grade 6 Mathematics Part A
Tuesday June 15 9am Grade 3 English Language Arts Part B
9am Grade 6 Social Studies
Wednesday June 16 9am Grade 6 English Language Arts Part B
9am Grade 9 Social Studies
Thursday June 17 9am Grade 3 Mathematics
9am Grade 6 Mathematics Part B
9am Grade 9 Mathematics Part A
Friday June 18 9am Grade 6 Science
Wednesday June 23 9am Grade 9 English Language Arts Part B
Thursday June 24 9am Grade 9 Science
Friday June 25 9am Grade 9 Mathematics Part B
GET CAUGHT READING! CALLING ALL PRESCHOOLERS THROUGH GRADE 12S!
Can we catch you reading? The library, once again, is running a "GET CAUGHT READING" Campaign. What’s the catch? You read a suitable book and turn in a summary page which enters you in the contest. Everyone is a winner, even if you only read one book, as prizes are graduated. Be the one to read the most books and you’ll get to choose your prize first! Last day to enter is May 6. We have a wonderful collection of prizes supplied by local sponsors. The students, staff and library would like to say a HUGE thank you to Movie Shack, Pizza Joint, The Source, Sherry and Denis Burkin, Rexall, Home Hardware, Students’ Union, and the Fox Creek Municipal Library Board for supplying the many and varied prizes. We couldn’t run this contest without your support! Pictured is a sampling of the prizes available.
Art Displays
Throughout the year we are often able to display student art work. In April, we had a very colourful collection of "one of a kind" pieces sculpted by Ms. Mercer’s Grade 3s. Students molded plasticine in pictures, modeling illustrator Barbara Reid’s work. Well done, Grade 3M!
If you didn’t make it in to the library before April 25, you missed a wonderful art exhibit by Ken HouseGo entitled "Dreams Do Not Come With Titles." There were some really unique 3-D pictures included. We are so fortunate to be able to bring in art collections through the Alberta Foundation for the Arts several times each year for display.
We’d like to thank Brandi Bedson for her display of memorabilia from the Walk to End Breast Cancer. We received many compliments and enquiries about the items and the walk. This year it will be "The Walk to End Women’s Cancers". We wish the Fox Creek walking team "One Step At A Time" every success with the Ladies Night Out event, April 24 and with their walk in August.
The Municipal Library program, Time For Tots, is winding down for this year. The last session will be May 26, giving our librarian time to get ready for the Summer Reading Program "Destination Jungle". Watch the bulletin and newspaper for further information.
MS CARNATIONS: Again this year the library will be host to the MS Carnation Campaign, taking place the first week in May. Potted plants will be available at the library for $5.00 with the proceeds going to the MS Society. Once again Home Hardware, our corporate sponsor, is is generously donating $2.00 for each carnation plant sold. Thank you for supporting the cause as more people are diagnosed with this debilitating disease every year.
Thanks to the Fox Creek Positive Relationships and Active Living Grant, we have purchased circuit training equipment for student use across all sport/fitness interests. Appreciation goes to Gabriel Koble and Dwayne Mytrunec for their assistance in the design of the stations. Community members interested in setting up stations around the gym after school hours for adult fitness workouts are most welcome to do so. The equipment is simple, the benefits are immense!
Slo-pitch equipment for student use is being purchased using the Fox Creek Positive Relationships and Active Living grant funds. Local adult mentors are welcoming youth over the age of 14 to join a team and have some fun. Please contact Lynda Beck for more information.
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!
School Council is looking for volunteers to help Flip Burgers and Sell Beverages, Foods and Snacks.
Jr/ Sr High---May 18th
Elementary---May 28th
If you are Interested in Making These Events A SUCCESS Please Contact
Jo-Ann Pollard 780-622-9498
Liz Mostowich 780-622-7150
Or the School Office!
Monday June 14 9:00-11:30AM English 30-1 Part A English 30-2 Part A Tuesday June 15 9:00-11:00 AM Social Studies 30 Part A Social Studies 33 Part A 9:00-11:30 AM Social Studies 30-1 Part A Social Studies 30-2 Part A Thursday June 17 9:00-11:00 AM Chemistry 30 Friday June 18 9:00-11:00 AM Applied Mathematics 30 Pure Mathematics 30 Tuesday June 22 1:00-3:00 PM Biology 30 Wednesday June 23 9:00-11:30 AM English 30-1 Part B English 30-2 Part B Thursday June 24 9:00-11:00 AM Social Studies 30 Part B Social Studies 33 Part B Social Studies 30-1 Part B Social Studies 30-2 Part B Friday June 25 9:00-11:00 AM Physics 30 Students are permitted an additional one-half hour beyond the officially scheduled time to complete their exams.
The Grade 8 classes had a Renaissance Feast on Thursday, April 28. This was part of their final project for this unit. They studied three people during the time of the Renaissance and investigated the "New Ideas of Humanism" during that time era. They had to state what this idea would do for their country, as well as, the world convincing the Queens to listen to the ideas at large. A case file was created by groups and presented to the Queens during the feast. Many good ideas and research finds were presented. During the Feast there were jesters, performed by Mrs. Sharkey and Mrs. Pasula. They told jokes, had a jousting match topped with riding horses and more jokes followed. They definitely made the Queens laugh during their performance to the court. The Grade 8s enjoyed the food and entertainment provided. A special thank you goes out to Mrs. Sharkey and Mrs. Pasula.
On Wednesday, May 19th, the RCMP and Champ are putting on a special driver safety presentation to all students in Grades 9-12. We are hoping to have the Seatbelt Simulator, for demonstration purposes, at this presentation.