Important Dates

Friday, Dec. 3 through Scholastic Book Fair

Wednesday, Dec. 8 Scholastic Book Fair

Friday, Dec. 10 Club Day

Monday, Dec. 13 Formal Report Cards Home

Friday, Dec. 17 Last day of classes before

Christmas Break

Tuesday, Jan. 4 Schools Open

Friday, Jan. 28 Pro D Day – no school

1265 Citadel Drive, Port Coquitlam, BC V3C 5X6 Tel: 604-945-6187 Fax: 604-945-6581

http://www.sd43.bc.ca/middle/citadel/Pages/default.aspx

December 3rd, 2010 Volume #17 Issue #4

Dear Parents/Guardians:

Busy times, busy people… busy place! Citadel

Middle is “a buzz” with all sorts of activities as our

first term wrapped up. Term 2 has begun and

Christmas holidays are fast approaching!

Term One has passed so quickly this year as

students and staff have been engaged in academic,

athletics and artistic pursuits! You will see in

reading various team updates in this month‟s

newsletter that a variety of interesting units and

topics have been studied, often supplemented and

enhanced by field trips and outings. Our staff

members, as well have continued to offer their

support in sponsoring extra-curricular activities

for our students in the form of athletics,

intramurals, Gym drop-in at lunch time, contests

for students who love to read, Games Room,

debating club, yearbook and leadership

opportunities just to highlight a few!

We feel it is important, and we continue to

encourage all students to become involved and

connected in their school. “Being connected”

enhances students‟ sense of belonging and self

esteem.

Thank you to parents for your support in all that

we do with and for our students. We appreciated

you for providing transportation for field trips and

sports events, supporting our hamper campaign,

supporting our Book Fair, baking for bake sales, and

attending PAC Meetings. On a daily basis, thank

you for sending your sons and daughters to school

each day, for helping with homework, for

communicating with us openly and honestly and for

working together.

We wish you a very Merry Christmas and a healthy

and happy holiday!

Mrs. G. Speight Mr. A. Corbould

Principal Vice Principal

gspeight@sd43.bc.ca acorbould@sd43.bc.ca

PAC MEETING

Please feel welcome to join us for our PAC

Meeting on Monday, December 13th

,

at 7:00 pm in our school library.

All parents are invited and encouraged

to attend our monthly meetings!

CITADEL

MIDDLE SCHOOL

Mission Statement

Working together, our mission is to provide a safe, nurturing and

responsive environment that meets the unique developmental needs of

early adolescents. A Special Pl-ace for a Special Age

mailto:gspeight@sd43.bc.camailto:acorbould@sd43.bc.ca

Citadel Middle School Page 2 December 3rd, 2010

SCHOOL NEWS

CHRISTMAS HAMPERS Hello Citadel Community!

Once again I was overwhelmed by your generosity

for our food hamper drive. We helped 10 families

in our community by providing Hampers and

Grocery store gift cards. The students, under

the supervision of their teachers, sold candy canes,

hot chocolate, brioches and held a guessing game

where the winner would get a jar of candy. In this

difficult economic time, it was heartwarming to see

the Citadel Community pull together to

support such an important cause.

Merry Christmas and Thank you,

Rosaria D'Alfonso

TREE OF MEMORIES Once again, as the holiday season

approaches, we will encourage students

and/or staff to create an ornament to

be placed on our Christmas tree in

memory of a loved one who has passed

away. Opportunities and materials to create the

ornaments will continue to be provided during noon

hours over the next 2 weeks.

CITADEL MIDDLE TRAFFIC SAFETY! With the onset of wet and colder weather more

students are being driven to school. The access to

our school driveway is difficult given the number of

students who are driven to school. In order to

provide the safest entry to and exit from our

school for students we ask the following of our

parent community:

1. Obey all parking and road signs. 2. Be aware of the many students that use our

crosswalk. 3. Talk with your child about traffic safety

and the need to use the crosswalks. Please

do not try to cross the driveway at the top

of the hill. 4. Please do not block the actual crosswalk or

the sightlines which enable other drivers to

see students. 5. Make arrangements to drop off/pick up on

Citadel Drive rather than in our traffic

turnaround.

6. Consider making arrangements to be

dropped off earlier (before 8:25am) or

picked up later (after 3:05pm).

We hope that your cooperation with these items

will reduce the traffic tie ups we are currently

experiencing at the entrance/exit for our

driveway. Our concern is student safety!

Mr. Corbould handed out over 100 copies of this

information to drivers last week. Thank you for

your attention to this matter.

CLUB DAYS!

Planning for our December 10th Club Day is almost

complete. Last Friday all students met with their

club sponsors to review important information and

previously distributed permission forms and

requests for parent drivers. All club money and

permission forms were due November 24th. Your

support is greatly appreciated as we cannot run our

clubs without parent support in driving and

assisting in supervising students. At this time

some clubs (Bowling, Laser Tag and Rock Climbing)

are still looking for more drivers. Please check

with your child to see if his/her club has enough

drivers. Please contact Mr. Corbould if you have

any questions.

SCHOLASTIC BOOK FAIR 2010 It‟s Scholastic Bookfair time again!

The Bookfair will be December 3-8 at

before and after school, and at

recess and lunch. On the night of our

Christmas concert there will be a

family night on Dec. 7th, 3:30-7pm. There are a

great selection of books for all reading levels

(including some adult selections!), cool school

supplies, bookmarks and posters perfect for

Christmas giving. It would be appreciated if any

parent volunteers are available during our evening

opening. Please call the school or email Ms.

Sandilands at msandilands@sd43.bc.ca

REMEMBRANCE DAY ASSEMBLY As parents and family members who attended our

assembly on November 10th will agree, our students

with the support of staff members performed

exceptionally well.

mailto:msandilands@sd43.bc.ca

Citadel Middle School Page 3 December 3rd, 2010

The observance featured creative, thought-

provoking individual and small group presentations

offered by our students including poetry, creative

dance and power point slide shows. Several

students were represented in our colour party as

cadets, and we were pleased to feature our Grade

8 piper, Liam Hilder, piping the colour party to and

from our gymnasium once again this year. Luke

Gair, on his cornet, played Las Post and Reveille

calling our attention to the Moment of Silence just

after 11:00 am.

Our Senior Band and choir selected and performed

pieces that were moving and inspirational, and we

thank and recognize Ms. Elie and Ms. Freeman for

all of their efforts and leadership in our Music

Department.

Mr. Corbould‟s tribute entitled “The Torch”

inspired students and staff alike as he shared

some personal thoughts and experiences from his

trip to Europe this past summer. With his careful

selection of slides that accompanied his heartfelt

words, we learned just how much Canadians are still

being appreciated and remembered for the efforts

of our soldiers during World War II.

TEAM LIGHTNING

Another month has flown by for Team Lightning.

The big highlights from this past month were the

team‟s field trips to the Colony Farm Bike Tours,

Club Aviva, and Cliffhanger. We would like to thank

all the parents who volunteered to drive us there

and back. The trips were in conjunction with our

current Gymnastics and Aboriginal Ed units.

The team would also like to acknowledge all of our

students who either played in the band or sang in

the choir so beautifully for our Remembrance Day

Assembly.

We wish Ms. Hughes a speedy recovery from her

operation and welcome Ms. Tuan teaching full time

until Christmas Break.

We would like to wish you and your families all the

best during this holiday season.

TEAM THUNDER

Team Thunder is getting excited for the month of

December and the start of Term 2. We are looking

forward to our clubs day, hamper drive, music

concert and all the other events that take place

before the winter break. Just a reminder to

parents and students that curriculum is being

taught amongst all the fun things planned and

students need to come to all classes prepared

which include wearing gym strip to physical

education class. Have a great holiday season.

TEAM TROPICAL

This has certainly been an interesting month for

weather; but there is a rainbow on the horizon.

Basketball, wrestling, skiing and snowboarding, as

well as our club day are coming up shortly and

occupying the imaginations of all members of

our team. It is so great that our students have

so many different opportunities in which to

participate in and excel.

In Math, students have just finished their unit on

integers and will launch into the wonderful world of

fractions when we return after Christmas In

Science, we are now progressing to the systems

that keep our hundreds of trillions of cells

operating: respiration, circulation, digestion,

excretion, and the immune system. In French,

students should now be able to conjugate regular

„er‟ verb and build basic but complete French

sentences and questions. We are going to be

working with seasonal vocabulary before the break.

Our Humanities 7 group has been working hard on

understanding human rights, the United Nations

and standing up for social justice. It has been

great to see so many connections between our class

work and the efforts made by the Teal shirts

group and our charitable work surrounding our

Christmas hampers. We are hoping to do something

in support for two local charities in the spring. In

Humanities, students are working on a “tuff” novel,

“The Outsiders,” as well as an illuminating World

Religions unit. The team is eagerly looking forward

to our culminating Outsiders activity on December

14th, “Greaser Day.” This is an exciting day where

students come to school dressed as either a

Greaser or a Social and we celebrate finishing the

story, with a fashion show as well as watching the

movie adaptation of the novel.

Citadel Middle School Page 4 December 3rd, 2010

The end of this calendar year and the beginning of

the next is a great time for students to pause,

reflect and set some goals for their return in

January. We are all looking forward to a restful

holiday, remember to rest, read and enjoy all your

uninterrupted family time. Expect report cards to

come home with your children on December 13th.

Team Tropical Skating, December 15th, parent

drivers needed!

TEAM TSUNAMI

Mr. Rasmussen

In Math, we are working diligently in our

fractions/decimals unit. In Science, the students

just began their “Earth‟s Crust” unit. We will be

studying about earthquakes, volcanoes, plate

tectonics, continental drift, layers of the earth

and tsunamis. The students will witness a

homemade volcanic eruption created with

ammonium dichromate. In H.C.E., the students will

examine the human reproductive systems,

physical/emotional, and social changes during

puberty. In P.E., the students are enjoying their

gymnastics unit.

All assignments and project deadlines are posted

at mrraz.ca.

Mr. Tjosvold

In Math, students have been working diligently on

their Math Basics tests and have recently

completed their desktop board games incorporating

geometric shapes. In Science, the class concluded

the “Extreme Environments” presenting their

A.R.C. (Animal Rescue Craft) modules. There was a

lively discussion as students made a case for which

species to save from the mock world cataclysm.

A special thanks to the students who have offered

to volunteer at the Canadian Mental Health

Association luncheon. The music and extra hands

will make this a special event for all.

Mr. Exley

In Social Studies we have finished up the

geography unit and we are now looking at text book

features. Students are in the process of designing

two textbook pages about a city they chose. They

will be using the text book features that they have

studied. In Language Arts we are finishing the

novel study of either Lost in the Barrens or The

Giver. The students are in the process of rewriting

the novel in a picture book form. These books

should be finished by winter break.

I would like to wish all the families of Team

Tsunami a Happy and Safe Holiday!

TEAM TYPHOON

Typhoon had a wonderful field trip to

Science World in late November. An extra

special treat was to see Vancouver covered in snow!

Students‟ knowledge of human body mechanisms

and cell specialties was reinforced and enhanced by

the Omnimax film and Body Worlds exhibit. We

were pleased with their inquisitive and respectful

behaviours.

Term 2 in French brings a new exploration of the

French-Canadian culture within Canada. Typhoon

students will look at multiple aspects of the

lifestyle in Quebec. We will work on mini-projects

comparing ourselves and our French-Canadian

counterparts. Comparisons are taken from: sport,

film/tv, music, geography, and food. Each week

students will rotate between topics and complete a

mini assignment on each. Alongside the culture

study we are continuing with our grammar and

vocabulary study by looking at verb conjugations.

This will allow students to form basic sentences

which will be practiced both orally and in writing.

In the marvellous world of mathematics, students

are deeply immersed in positive & negative numbers

and those oh-so-hilarious riddles. Watch for an

integers test in the coming weeks. Next stop:

fractions!!!

In Humanities, the team is reading The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. This novel remains a favourite for

Grade 8s and we love hearing “My Mom/Dad read

this when they were in grade 8!” We will have a

dress-in-character day in mid December, so

parents you might be headed to Value Village to

help your Grade 8 Greaser or Soc dress the part.

Our Socials aspect of Humanities has us studying

the fall of the Roman Empire. Students will be

completing small projects in the weeks before

break. This will be a marvellous platform to begin

our study of World Religions in January.

Citadel Middle School Page 5 December 3rd, 2010

We have continued our Friday Reading Power

seminars: The Power to Zoom, The Power to

Question/Infer, The Power to Determine

Importance, The Power to Connect, and the Power

to Transform.

First term report cards will be sent home next

week. We typically find the first Grade 8 term

marks are lower than students have had in previous

years. The transition to high school level

curriculum is one that often takes a few months to

adjust.

If you have any questions about report cards,

expectations or curriculum, please contact us!

EXPLORATIONS

MUSIC- Ms. Elie Our grade 6/7 music classes have been learning to

read treble clef notes and have been working in

small groups to play the glockenspiel and

xylophones. To complete our Term 1, many

students performed musical selections for their

peers and each team performed a song in parts. Be

sure to ask your son / daughter about “Ding, fries

are done!” Congratulations to the Team Thunder

Section for the best performance. On December

1st a new section of students started their Music

Exploration. These students can look forward to

learning: Djembe drumming, writing rhythms,

reading treble clef notes, playing xylophones and

understanding how music affects emotional

responses.

DRAMA – Ms. Crudo Mrs. Crudo would like to extend a huge thank you

for the wonderful participation and cooperation

that was shown in all Term 1 Drama classes. Term

2 students have started this term by familiarizing

themselves with expectations for the drama

classroom, and by doing some quick improvisation

drills. I‟ve seen some budding actors already…so I

look forward to a fantastic term of drama fun.

Happy holidays!

TECH ED – Ms. Emmerson

The last month has just flown by and it‟s hard to

believe that first term has ended. The Grade 6s

and 7s have finished up their elastic band race cars

and constructed their pop bottle rockets.

Unfortunately the weather hampered our efforts

to launch. The Grade 8s completed their gumball

machines which looked fantastic and spent their

last week in Tech Ed building an elastic band

powered airplane. Overall a very successful term in

the shop for all students and hopefully they will

continue to use and enjoy their projects.

COMPUTERS – Mr. Shong

The students are wrapping up term 1 finishing their

Photostory 3 projects. Students brought in their

own pictures, and either created a digital story

book or a personal slideshow presentation. In

these projects, the students added both narration

and movement to their photos to give the

impression the audience was watching a video, and

not just looking at still photos. During the final

week of the term, the students took a typing test

to demonstrate ability to keyboard properly, a skill

which they have been working on throughout the

term. The students in computers in term one will

go to Home Arts and Drama in term two.

ART 8 – Mr. Corbould

As the first term ended the students finished up

their clay vessels using colourful glazes to

compliment their creative work. Please be sure to

take a look at some of the projects that are in the

display case near room 211 until the Christmas

Break! With the start of the second term we are

starting the process of discussing, modelling and

using the skills necessary to begin to create

projects made out of clay. I am looking forward to

more amazing projects being created!

BAND AND CHOIR

JR and SR Band – Ms. Elie

Both of our bands have continued to work

creatively to improve their ability to play their

instruments. Notices were sent home last week

delineating the prices for T-shirts and books.

With your support our Poinsettia Sale was a

success with a special thank you to Mrs. Unger for

her help in distributing the flowers. Remember to

come and support our students by attending the

Christmas concert on December 7th at 7:00pm. If

you are able please bring a non-perishable food

item to support our Annual Hamper Drive. Band

Citadel Middle School Page 6 December 3rd, 2010

students should arrive at 6:30 pm wearing concert

dress. Parents wanting to volunteer or become

part of the Music Parents Committee should

contact Mrs. Elie at telie@sd43.bc.ca.

Choir – Ms. Freeman

The Choir is wrapping up the season with the

Christmas Concert on December 7. They have been

working hard and coming to extra practices to

prepare themselves for their performance. Ms.

Freeman would like to especially thank Shelby

Simmons, Leah Yang and Maggie Lees for learning

the songs on piano to accompany us. Also, to Erica

Choi, Wendy Feng for leading on vocals with our

piano players, we really appreciate this extra

effort.

ATHLETES CORNER

Our Grade 7 and 8 volleyball seasons

came to a close in November. We are

proud of all our teams as they played

in district tournaments. The Grade

7 boys‟ team and Grade 8 girls‟

teams both advanced to the final

day of playoffs. We congratulate our

Grade 8 girls‟ team as they won the district

championship! Congratulations to all the girls and

coaches Christine Anderson and Mr. Richards. We

thank them and the rest of our coaches – Mrs.

McDonnell, Mrs. Sitter, Mr. Robinson, Mrs. Brant

and Ms. Leach – for providing the opportunity for

students to play volleyball this season. Thank you

too to the parents who drove to and from the many

games the teams played!

Students are asked to listen to the announcements

as wrestling will be starting soon with Mr.

Rasmussen. Basketball practices will begin in early

January with games starting near the end of

month.

Grade 5 Volleyball Jamboree

On Wednesday, December 2nd (after a snowy

postponement) we welcomed over 120 Grade 5

volleyball players from Castle Park, Hazel

Trembath, Kilmer, Mary Hill, and Central

Elementary schools to play in our volleyball

jamboree. As the evening progressed the skill level

of the players increased and all participants

enjoyed the event. Thank you to Citadel students

Jessica Neilson, Sam Van Emmerik, Lauren Taylor,

Tarah Suleman, Cam Rempel, Marty Rykers, and

Marti Chambers for their help in refereeing and

timing. Thanks also to Bailee Miller, Krystina

Wade, Lema Ghailan, Jared Winkler, Kaitlin Sater,

Jack Thomas, Kailen Pearen, Erika McLaren and

Mrs. Speight for running our concession stand! We

look forward to seeing these Grade 5 students

again in February for a basketball jamboree.

COMMUNITY NEWS

2011 SPRING JUNIOR FIELD HOCKEY PROGRAM

The TRI-CITY EAGLES FIELD

HOCKEY CLUB has offered a field hockey program

to younger players since 1991. The Spring program

runs for approximately 10 weeks from April

through until the end of June. There is a mini

program for those with 2001 to 2004 birth dates,

and a junior program for those with 1993 to 2000

birth dates.

U-11 to U-18 teams compete in the Greater

Vancouver Junior Field Hockey League and the

program cost is $115. The Club‟s Mini program is

designed to introduce younger players to the sport

and the rules and field size are modified. Season

fee is $100 per participant for the Mini program

and space is limited. Our U10 Mini program is open

to both boys and girls.

Registration deadline is February 4, 2011 (and

February 18, 2011 for Mini’s). Late registrants

add $10 late fee, if space is still available. More

information on the Spring program is available

through the Club‟s web site at

www.tcfieldhockey.com or by contacting Brian

Lewis at 604-619-4034.

Players must first register with Field Hockey BC to

gain insurance coverage and a player membership

number. U-13 to U-18 pay $43, U11 & U12 players

pay $15 and U7 to U10 pay $6. Without the player

membership number, registration with our Club

cannot be finalized.

We hope to see your daughter/son on the

field hockey pitch this Spring!

mailto:telie@sd43.bc.cahttp://www.tcfieldhockey.com/