Christmas Concert

Congratulations to all of the students involved in the Christmas Concert last evening.  You did an amazing job.  The gym was packed and parents/community members were impressed with your efforts.  Thank you to Santa Claus who made an appearance and offered each student a candy cane.

Reminder of Upcoming Events:

Dec. 17 -- PJ Day

Dec. 22 -- Red/White/Green Day and Christmas Potluck

Upcoming events

Christmas Concert: December 15, 7:30 p.m.

P.J. Day: December 17.

Community Potluck: December 22 at noon in the gym.

Parent Teacher interviews

Parent/Teacher interviews are being held on the evenings of Wednesday, November 24 and Thursday, November 25 from 5:00 to 8:30 p.m. 

There is no school on Friday, November 25.

Miss Byrnes Gets Arrested

Miss Byrnes was the lucky choice from our staff for the Jail and Bail fundraiser.  She raised just under $200 for the health fund.  Good job Miss Byrnes!

Montmartre School Web-Presence - examples

Our Web Presence:



• Division Website - http://www.pvsd.ca/


• Montmartre School Website - http://montmartre.pvsd.ca/


• Montmartre School Blog - http://montmartreschool.blogspot.com/


• Mr. Bircher’s Blogs - http://history30.edublogs.org/
                                              http://birchbark.wordpress.com


• Miss Byrnes’s Blog - http://kidblog.org/MissByrnesClass/


• Miss Lugrin’s Blog – http://kidblog.org/MsLugrinsClass/


• Mr. Froese’s Blog – http://mrfroese.blogspot.com/






What Parents and The School Community should know:


• You can subscribe to the blogs (RSS, for example Google Reader)


• Follow us on Twitter, for example:

o www.twitter.com/montsaskschool


o http://twitter.com/byrnesa


o http://twitter.com/mrfroese

o   http://www.twitter.com/bircherd

MSCC Elections Poster

Click here to download this poster in .pdf format (from FileJumbo.com).

Montmartre School Community Council Elections Poster

LF

Principal's Report: September, 2010

Principals Newsletter – School Opening

We are off to a great start for this school year, except for the weather of course.  I would like to update you with some of the events that occurred over the summer and some of the plans for this school year.

Learning Improvement Plan

Last year we set two specific goals for our school - the first in writing and the second in math.  Our students showed progress in writing, but we did not achieve the specific goal we set.  However, there was some discrepancy with the specific writing assessments.  Hence our results were somewhat inconclusive.  Our students continue to demonstrate consistent writing processes, but need to improve in final product development.  We will continue to work with our students in the writing process, focusing on the final product.

We also set a specific goal with mathematics.  Our teachers developed and conducted grade level assessments last year focusing on basic skills.  Our students showed improvement over the year.  This correlated with our AFL results as well, which are provincial assessments.  Overall, our students are showing overall growth in math skills over the past two years.

Although not a specific goal, we also did some work with attendance.  This culminated with a focus group held last March, which was a tremendous success.  Our attendance is strong, but we feel we can improve. Through various communication strategies and data collection, we hope to accomplish this.  We have made attendance a specific goal for this year.

Our work plan also included work in many other areas.  I have attached a summary of this plan at the end of this newsletter.  If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at school.

Facility Development

Our facility has undergone many renovations over the last six months.  Construction of a new washroom, roof renovation and daycare were major highlights.  New flooring was installed in the middle year’s resource room, hallway and staff washrooms.  The high school hallway saw the remainder of the orange lockers removed and new matching blue lockers installed

Technology                                                                  

We are excited with some of the new purchases to support the learning plan.  Upgrades include the installation of six SMART Boards and one SMART Table.  All classrooms and one computer lab are now equipped with SMART technology.

PVSD also has provided thirty Netbook computers, to be predominantly used in elementary and middle year’s classrooms.  The acquisition of this equipment helps us in developing a solid learning program for students of the 21^st century.

Our school’s website is active and will gradually increase with more information over time.  We encourage parents to check the website for information on a regular basis.  One new feature is the school blog.  When posts are published, parents also have the ability to leave comments regarding the particular topic.

We also have a Twitter page.  To access regular updates just sign up for a Twitter account and follow @montsaskschool. 

We hope to utilize social media to increase communication with parents and community, as well as model proper use.

Staff

Our school would like to welcome the following new staff: Gr. 6 - Candy Lugrin, Support staff – Stacey Romanow and Amber Wood.

Extra-Curricular

We have a full slate of activities for students to participate in.  Volleyball, cross-country, and golf are now in progress along with Yearbook and craft club.  Research has proven that students who participate in extra-curricular usually achieve higher, so encourage your children to get involved!

Equipment/Learning Aids

Our school received a tremendous amount of equipment this past summer, courtesy of PVSD.  New purchases in Physical Education, Practical and Applied Arts, Math, Science and Students Services will help us support the Learning Improvement Plan.  We will post updates to our blog and “tweet” them as well.

Nutrition

Prairie Valley School Division now has a new administrative procedure regarding nutrition and foods in schools, as per the Ministry of Education’s directive.  We now have a nutrition committee comprised of Mrs. Weichel Mrs. Bircher, Mrs. Schneider and Mrs. Sandy Kerbs.  They will investigate healthy food options for our canteen and for hot lunches.  We previously asked students for their input on nutrition as well.  If you would like to help this committee or have ideas regarding healthy food choices, please contact a committee member.

Playground

The SCC and SRC purchased three picnic tables and three garbage receptacles this past year.  These will be installed on our playgrounds as soon as possible.

We have consulted with PVSD regarding upgrades to our middle years’ playground.  We hope to meet with a landscape architect as soon as possible to begin planning for new upgrades.

Welcome Back BBQ                           

We will have the annual BBQ and Terry Fox Run on Friday October 1^st.  Students are taking pledges to raise money for this worthwhile cause.  We  welcome parents and community members to participate in the BBQ and run.

Busing

All busing requests received by the school were issued to PVSD prior to school opening.  If parents have any questions regarding transportation please contact the Grenfell office at 697-2441.  If students are not riding the bus on a particular day, please contact the driver in advance.  For student’s safety, please do not park in the bus lane or alongside buses or on the north side of the school.  Students walk the shortest distance and we do not want them walking between vehicles of any kind.

If you would like to have this correspondence emailed to you, please contact the school.  This will be posted to the school website as well.  http://montmartre.pvsd.ca

I hope you found this correspondence informative and helpful.    My best wishes to all for an enjoyable school year.

D. Bircher

Comments welcome!

The blog will now accept comments from anyone!

L. Froese

Education Week

Please give us your ideas for Education Week events.  Just paste a sticky note on the wall below by double clicking on an open space.

Fact or Urban Legend?

Today Mr. Tholl and his Grade 9 students investigated the following problem: Could an egg can stand on end only during the autumnal equinox?   We found our answer today.  More tests to come!

Welcome Back

We hope you all had a wonderful summer and are ready to get back into school mode!  Also, a big welcome our new students.

Classes for all students begin at 8:50 on Tuesday, September 7th.  Students will be in homerooms until 9:30.  All staff and students will then attend our first assembly for the year.  The school timetable begins in period three.

Keep checking this blog for further updates.  We welcome comments from parents as we attempt to increase communication with our community.

You can also follow our school on Twitter: @montsaskschool.

We also would like to welcome our new students this year.

Junior Track and Field

Junior Track and Field will run after schools from 3:15 to 5:00 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays beginning April 19. When the weather is nice we will be at the park. If the weather is too cold or wet we will run the practices at the school. Parents are welcome to come to practices and assist with events.

This year we are hosting the Jr. Meet. Please watch for more information on volunteering for this event.

lf

School Bingo

This is just a reminder that our annual school bingo will take place this Thursday March 11th @ 7:30 p.m.  Doors will open @ 6:45.  Come out and enjoy good company while having a little fun - bingo style!

We thank all families who donated prizes or items for the food hampers.