May 5, 2015

Volume 1 Issue 12 Mossbank School 120—1st Ave W Box 460 Mossbank, SK S0H 3G0

Phone: (306) 354-2449 Fax: (306) 354-2848 http://www.prairiesouth.ca/mossbank

Prairie Lightning News

Nurturing Learning in a Caring Environment

May 2015

3 4 Day 4

5 Day 5

Wear Pink Day

6 Day 6

7 Day 1

Author Reading

8 Day 2

9 Sr Badminton

Regionals

10

11 Day 3

12 Day 4

Seed

Survivor

13 Day 5 14 Day 6

15 Day 1

16 Sr Badminton

Provincials MJ

17

18 Victoria Day

No School

19 Day 2

Track & Field

Sections MJ

20 Day 3

21 Day 4

22 Day 5

23

24

25 Day 6

26 Day 1

27 Day 2

Track & Field

Districts MJ

28 Day 3

29 Day 4

30

• Thank you to the Home & School for the

delicious pizza lunch. • Thank you to everyone for the lovely AA

gifts! Mrs. Anderson

Home and School Spring is here and the Home and School committee is busy organizing the next step of the outdoor class-room. We will be planting trees mid May. Contact any member if you are interested in coming to help plant trees or if you would like to donate a tree. TD Friends of the Environment has made this project pos-sible with generous donation of $4000, which has been use to purchase the seating and wind breaks. We hope that the students and the community have enjoyed the additions to the playground.

Page 2

Focus On… Grade 3 & 4

On Thursday, April 30th the elementary students had the opportunity to listen to a presentation about anti-racism from four people from Moose Jaw – Dakota, Danielle, Paulin and Lily. The presentation covered infor-mation pertaining to the following words: culture, multicultural, diversity, immigrant, refugee, respect, discrim-ination, customs, traditions, and racism. This is what some of the grade 3-4 students had to say about the presentation. Jaidyn – “I liked it when we got to see the photos of the animals in Africa.” Lincoln, Quinn, Sahl, Derek - “I liked the entire presentation.” Nathan – “I learned lots about Africa. I liked when Paulin went up to tell us about Africa. I like giving Danielle and Paulin a first pump.” Gavin, Cara – “The presentation was interesting.” Claire, Hunter - “I liked when Paulin came up to tell us about his country.” Rylan – “I liked when Lily and Paulin told us about their countries.” Brooke – “I liked when Paulin told us about his house in Africa and I liked the pictures he showed us.” Abby – “I loved the pictures that Paulin showed us from South Africa. My favourite pictures were the animals.” Mrs. Clarke – “The entire presentation was excellent. The students learned some new words in connection to the anti-racism topic. They also learned some interesting facts about the way of life in South Africa and India, and that safety and education are a couple of reasons why some people immigrate to Canada from other parts of the world.”

Mrs. Anita Clarke

Page 3

Library Corner

So how many of you have an e-reader? This topic comes up as hot debate, especially among librarians. Are you a die-hard book lover or have you jumped over to the tech side? Or are you like me, an inbetweener. Reading habits have undeniably evolved over time.. Modern life is fast-paced and technology is always advancing. It's normal to want to keep up with the latest 'next best thing', es-pecially when new products are all around us, shiny and inviting. When it comes to the realm of literature, though, I still think a lot can be said for the pleasure found in a good, solid book. To me a good old book tells its own stories, from the smudges on the pages to the crinkled corners or marked sentences (although I know no one would ever admit to doing that to a library book!). E-books are great in that they are compact and light-weight. You can take them to the doctor’s office and can be good for those who have difficulty holding books because of arthritis or other muscle weaknesses. They are also really good at a moments’ notice for picking up a new book. If I finish a book and am not getting to the library right away, I can pick up an e-book from the library from the comfort of my own home. I also like when we’re travelling—my family never knows how many books I am taking along as they are all on one device! BUT there is something about the smell of a book, the crispness of the pages that stirs up a person. Dropping a book in the tub might be a nuisance but it won’t cause complete power failure, black screens, and NO book at all. For children covers are very im-portant—yes we should not judge a book by its cover but admit it, we all do, and it is so much easier to skim the pages of a book to look at the level of reading and our interest in it than to download an e-book and dis-cover we do not want to read it. For me especially, I am a huge skimmer and to wait constantly for the pages to load is a complete nuisance. Also if you ever want to look back at a character, find a particular phrase or scene it is almost impossible to do with an e-reader. You would never put an e-book on a table as a decora-tion and you don’t really ever give an e-book as a gift—you could do an Amazon certificate, etc. but could you ever share your books with others? Not really. Studies have shown that children learn most from an e-book when they share an e-book with an adult and that e-books should not be a replacement for shared reading with traditional paper books. Limit the amount of time spent on games, and spend more time together reading the e-book. Discuss the story, studies have shown that while children interact longer with their parents while looking at e-books they are not using read-ing strategies and are not discussing the story as much.

Christina Singbeil Library Associate

Page 4

Mossbank School Update – May 5th

Wow!! Only two months of school left! Where has the time gone? Before you know it, we will be breaking for summer holidays. We have some new students in our school in the past few weeks: Kindergarten - Chanel Friess and Grady Johnstone; Grade 1- Andy Krahn; Grade 4 – Judy and Nancy Krahn; Grade 7 – Rylan Lennox; and Grade 9 – Deian Lennox. Welcome!! We hope you enjoy Mossbank School. At present, we have 111 students in Mossbank School (104.5 Full Time Equivalents). Our next LIT day is scheduled for May 11th. The grades 7-12 students have finished up inferring where they pretested at 61% and on their post-test, after instruction and practice, they scored 74%. Well done!! Next, they will be working on questioning, centering on deeper questioning. On the Whole Class Reading Assessment for questioning, they scored 50%. Teachers have set the post-test goal at 75%. Let’s see how they do. The grade 1-6 students just finished inferring from concrete materials. They started out with 20% proficient or higher in inferring and finished off their post-test with 92% proficient at making inferences. Wow! Way to go grade 1-6 students! Our K kids also did an outstanding job of identifying end sounds. They started with a pre-test of 40% proficient or higher and ended up their post-test with 82% proficient or higher. Excellent work! We love the progress we are seeing in the students this year as they become more familiar with the reading comprehension strategies and skills!

My reading group right now in “Reading with the Principal” is the grade 4’s. I am so totally amazed at their fluency and ability to tackle difficult words. We have been discussing the different strategies, and they have been able to give me examples of where they use reading strategies to help them comprehend better. The more strategies they know, and how to apply them, the better their comprehension will be. Just ask them what reading strategies they use—they can tell you. Excellent reading grade 4’s!!

We are also still working on our Student Wellness Goal: To Create Positive Social and Emotional Well-Being. Baby Emily is continuing to visit the grade 3/4 classroom, the grades are continuing to do reading buddies with various different grade levels from Kindergarten to grade 10, and we are continuing to do activities that involve the whole school such as the Community Clean-up coming next week. The Tell Them From Me data showed that 90% of Grade 4-6 students felt they had positive relationships and 91% felt that they had a positive sense of belonging in Moss-bank School. In the high school, 72% of grade 7-12 students reported that they have a positive sense of belonging (last year the number was 64%), and 69% said they have positive relationships (last year’s number was 63%). Our goal for this year’s Learning Improvement Plan was to achieve a minimum of 80% of students, so we still have some work to do.

Once again, we had great participation from our parents in the Parent Tell Them From Me Survey. The gift cards winners were Jodi Baerg, Dawn Green, Antoinette and Garry Noble, Misty Eastwood, and Jenn Miller. We had 26 out of 60 families respond to the survey which amounts to 43%. Well done parents! Through the course of this year and into next, I will report some of the data from the parent survey in the newsletters and identify the target areas for im-provement in each category. In the mean time, it is good to remember that when our children start school, as parents, our beliefs about school become their beliefs about school. If we value school and learning, they will too, and they will accept that as the norm and the expectation in their lives. Our jobs then, are to support their learning as best we can, as we all want our children to succeed. We truly do appreciate your continued support of the students’ learning experi-ences at Mossbank School.

Lastly, the Mossbank School SCC AGM was held on Thurs., April 30th at 7:00 pm. I would like to congratu-late Melanie Baker and Jim Howe as our new members of the SCC. We really appreciate them coming on as new members. We will also be saying good bye to Ryder and Teneille who have been the student representatives on the SCC and look forward to welcoming our new student reps. Halle and Dean. The goal of the SCC is to support the school’s Learning Improvement Plan, to help better learning for all of our students. We look forward to supporting the students in their educational journey. We hope the warm weather stays around long enough for the farmers to finish up their seeding and other spring work. Be sure to work safely, and keep your heads up! As always, If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact the school.

---- Leanne Rutko Leanne Rutko Leanne Rutko Leanne Rutko –––– Principal Principal Principal Principal –––– Kind Thoughts; Kind Words; Kind Deeds

Upcoming Events:

• May 5-Wear Pink Day

• May 7-Author Reading

• May 11-Early Dismissal Day

• Seed Survivor

• May 18-Victoria Day Holiday No School

• May 19-Track & Field Sections

• May 27-Track & Field Districts

• June 2-Wear Pink Day

• June 5&6-Track & Field Provincials

• June 12-Grade 12 Graduation

• June 23-26-Final Exams

• June 26-Last Student Day

SCC News Greetings! Thanks to everyone who showed up at our Annual Meeting. We have a couple of new members who will be starting in May. Thank you to Jim Howe, Melanie Baker , Dean Singbeil and Halle Baker who will be joining the SCC. We attended the PSSD AGM this past month and displayed our board alongside all of the other schools in the division. Right now our SCC board is on display in the school hallway. Please come and check it out!

Page 5

SCHOOL BUS SAFETY Sitting in your seat will keep you safe – here is why: Occupant crash protection in school buses is provided through a concept called compartmentalization. Compartmentalized buses are designed to protect passengers in the same way that a carton protects the eggs inside. The seats on a school bus are designed with padded, flexible, shock-absorbent backs which are tall enough to stop children from flying out of the compartment. These seats are made in accordance with strict federal guidelines, which regulate everything from the force they must withstand to the floor that they are attached to. For this compartment to protect students, the students must be completely seated fully in the seat and facing forward. Rules for getting on the bus safely: Please be at your pick-up stop five minutes prior to the arrival of their school bus. The buses are on a schedule and cannot wait for late students. Never run to or from the bus. 1. Wait at the designated stop in a safe place well back from the side of the road. 2. Prior to crossing a street at an intersection: students should be alert. Look both ways. Look twice. Listen. If you think you hear a car, stop. Wait, listen, and look. Look again and then cross the street when you absolutely know it’s safe. 3. In Rural Areas: In a situation where the flashing red stop lights are activated, students may cross in front of the bus. Students should cross in front of the bus at least five metres (15 feet) so that the driver can see them at all times. Students should await the driver’s signal indicating it is safe before crossing. Before crossing, students should look both ways before stepping onto the roadway and continue to watch for traffic. Never cross behind the bus. Remember that other motorists don’t always stop for a stopped school bus – use extreme caution whenever getting on or off the bus. 4. Always keep a safe distance around the school bus. The danger zone is the area where the driver cannot see or has limited vision. This danger zone includes a minimum of three meters all the way around the bus. If you can touch the bus while standing outside, you are way too close. Move away from the bus where the driver can see you. 5. Hold the hand rail as you get on the bus. Don’t push or shove. 6. Go directly to your seat. Remain seated.

NOTE FROM PRAIRIE SOUTH SCHOOL DIVISION TRANSPORT DEPT.

At the beginning of each school year the Transportation Department receives over two hundred requests or changes for bus service . With schools being closed over the summer, bus drivers not work-ing during July and August, and the regular daily operations, our manpower resources are overextended and strained during the month of September. We would like to remind staff and parents that: o Any new requests for bus service received after June 30 will be processed within a four week period or longer after the start of the school year in September. This will allow the transportation department sufficient time to accommodate all requests and provide the least amount of disruption while adding new bus stops on a route. o A parent/guardian will be responsible for arranging alternate transportation until they receive confirmation for services directly from their school.

Page 6

Canadian Children’s Book Week

May 4-8th

Author Rob Laidlaw will be at

Mossbank School

May 7th 1:30pm

Grades 3-8 Rob Laidlaw is an award-winning children’s author,

Chartered Biologist and the founder of the international wildlife protection charity Zoocheck.

His work over the years has involved:

� a wide range of successful local, regional and national wildlife protection campaigns, including numerous successful bylaw initiatives and regional

campaigns to establish wildlife in captivity legislation, as well as campaigns to protect wildlife in the wild, including polar bears, elephants and wild horses; � providing assistance and expert commentary to various governmental and nongovernmental agencies regarding wild animals in captivity and various

other wildlife issues in Canada and around the world; � organizing and/or speaking at dozens of pubic awareness and capacity

building events, including local, regional, national and international lectures, workshops, seminars, conferences and rallies.

Laidlaw has also conducted programs for the World Society for the Protection of Animals, served as a cruelty investigator at one of Canada’s largest urban humane societies and was the Canadian Coordinator for Mobilization for Animals. He is a former member of the board of directors of the Canadian Federation of Humane

Societies, a current director of the Borneo Orangutan Society Canada and an advisor to ActAsia for Animals.

Laidlaw is also the author of numerous reports, briefs, articles and book chapters, in addition to being an award winning children’s author of 7 books about wildlife and animal welfare issues. His books have won numerous awards including the OLA

Silver Birch Non-Fiction Award and the Hackmatack Children’s Choice Book Award. Throughout the years, he has appeared on most major news program in Canada and

has spoken to audiences of all ages in every province, as well as internationally. Rod will have several of his books for sale that day including:

5 Elephants $20 Cat Champions $15

Saving Lives and Changing Hearts $15 No Shelter Here $15

On Parade $15