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Spring Break is upon us and I can’t think of a group of people more deserving of a break than the staff

and students at CSS. With the Sci-ence Fair in early February, report cards and student-led conferences in March, and the resumption of field trips as the weather has warmed up, everyone in the school has been tre-mendously busy. I marvel at the in-credible work that our students and teachers undertake day in and day out – the building is always bustling with the energy of learning and dis-covery!

One of the more significant events in the past two weeks for many of our students was the Calgary Youth Sci-ence Fair. Our students have always earned tremendous success at the fair and this year is no different. The re-sults are published later in this Spec-trum, but I wanted to make it clear how proud I am as the Principal of our students. We even have one student who has been invited to participate in the National Science Fair! Congrat-ulations to all participants and thank

you to the parents and teachers for the amazing support.There is another group of people I would like to recognize for their com-mitment and dedication. Our school council has undertaken a very ambi-tious plan to contribute to the op-eration of the school in the coming years. Their plan involves greater in-volvement of parents in everything from direct volunteering in the class-room to working on traffic and pedes-trian safety measures near the school. As well, we are hoping to provide parents an even greater voice in the planning and reporting documents the school sends to Alberta Educa-tion. I very much appreciate the am-bition of the council and I continue to enjoy working with them to improve the school environment and qual-ity of education at CSS. If you would like more information about the plan, you are all invited to attend the May school council meeting, or you can contact Leann Meronek, chair of the school council.

One of the changes to the operation of the council has to do with volun-

teering. A subcommittee of the coun-cil that presently call themselves the CSS Parent Volunteer Development Committee, has done an incredible job of coordinating volunteers for teachers for a variety of activities in-cluding working directly in the class-room with the teacher and students, to organizing a work bee in the art room, to arranging for parents to help maintain the science lab. Of course, each volunteer must undergo the vol-unteer screening process. At a recent Board of Directors meeting the volun-teer screening policy was changed so that parents are no longer required to annually undergo a police security check, but that it would now be re-quired at roughly three year intervals. The details of the amended policy can be found on our website, in the pub-lications section, then in the policy manual section under policy #4.07 – volunteers. A short article summariz-ing the changes appears elsewhere in this edition of the Spectrum.

Have a wonderful Spring Break!Darrell Lonsberry

Principal’s Message

THE CALGARY SCIENCE SCHOOL

APRIL 2010 • ISSUE 8 • VOL . 7

the very polite students. His words of advice for the students from CSS into the future are the following: “Be adaptable and ready for change.” We will greatly miss Gordon Welch in our school. His practical approach to educational matters was always well-received by the Board, staff and stu-dents. We wish him all the best in his future endeavors.

Dr. Shelley Robinson

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Principal’s Message..........................1

Gordon Welch...................................2

Provincial Achievement Tests.......3

Changes to the Volunteer Policy....3

Message from the Board............4

Tra!c Safety Around CSS............5

Computer & Video Game Ratings....................................6

Programs for Children, Youth & Parents................................7The Fort Steele Experience............7Transportation Update..................8

Youthlink Online Safety Program.................................9

Provincial Debate Championships..........................9Library Report.................................10

Homes of Hope...........................11

Calgary Youth Science Fair......12

Update from Mr McWilliam......14

Grade 7’s Beautiful Structures.....15

CSS Basketball Season................16

Phys. Ed Update............................17

Spring Musical................................18

Girls Leadership............................19

2009/2010 Yearbook..................20

Fun with Science Education.....21

Grade 4 Snowshoe Trip...............21

April Calendar..............................22

May Calendar.................................23

It was a tremendous honour to pay tribute to our past superintendent at our recent school assembly on March 10, 2010. Students Alyssa A. and Vats R. (Grade 9) were the masters of cer-emonies and navigated us through a full program featuring numbers from the fine arts department in the jazz band, drama, dance and choir pro-grams/groups, along with a Grade 5 response from Mr. Neufeld’s class. Dr. Garry McKinnon (present superinten-dent) and Darrell Lonsberry (principal) also paid tribute, honouring Gordon’s 46 years of work which started out delivering groceries; and then on to working in geology in the oil industry; and then finally into education. Gordon has taken on several edu-cational roles in his career (teacher, administration, associate superinten-dent and superintendent, and has also done some educational consult-ing work around/for the province). He has two sons, Tony and Robert and a daughter, Sherry. His fondest memories of CSS are the enthusiasm and collegiality of the staff along with

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The provincial achievement test time is just around the corner, and it is important for you and your children to be aware of the upcoming schedule (see below). Alberta Education has some excellent resources on its website that can help you as parents to be aware of what your children can expect in their examinations, and as well, for students, some sample ques-tions, and ideas about how to best prepare. Please take advantage of this site to help prepare your family, but not to over-analyze the process as this can create test-anxiety. It is healthy to be prepared and feel “test ready”, but it is not valuable if this will cause undue stress for students.

Alberta Education: General website for PAT’s: http://education.alberta.ca/admin/testing/achievement.aspx

Parent Guide for Grade 6: http://education.alberta.ca/media/1191386/07%20gr%206%20pat%20parent%20guide%202009-10_final_print.pdf

Parent Guide for Grade 9: http://education.alberta.ca/media/1179826/08%20gr%209%20pat%20parent%20guide%202009-10_si-gnoff%20print.pdf

Previous Achievement Tests: http://education.alberta.ca/admin/testing/achievement/answerkeys.aspx

Wednesday, May 12 9:00 - 11:00 AM Grade 6 English Language Arts Part A9:00 - 11:00 AM Grade 9 English Language Arts Part A

Monday, June 149:00 - 9:40 AM Grade 6 Mathematics Part(ie) A (New)*

Tuesday June 159:00 - 10:30 AM Grade 6 Social Studies

Wednesday, June 169:00 - 10:00 Grade 6 English Language Arts Part B 9:00 - 11:00 Grade 9 Social Studies

Thursday, June 179:00 - 10:00 AM Grade 6 Mathematics Part(ie) B9:00 - 9:40 AM Grade 9 Math Part A (New)Friday, June 189:00 - 10:00 Grade 6 Science

Wednesday, June 23 9:00 - 10:15 Grade 9 English Language Arts Part B

Thursday, June 24 9:00 - 10:15 Grade 9 Science

Friday, June 25 9:00 - 10:15 Grade 9 Mathematics Part(ie) B (New)

May 2010

June 2010

Changes to the Volunteer PolicyThe Board of Directors recently amended the policy regard-ing volunteering. When the policy was first passed it man-dated an annual police security check. The policy was just amended to extend the time that a police security check is valid for at CSS. As a quick summary of the changes, only par-ents of students in grades 4 and 7 will need to undergo the full volunteer screening process, including the police secu-rity check. Parents of students currently in grades 4,5,7, and 8 will not need to undergo a policy security check for the 2010-2011 school year if they had one done for this past year; parents of students in grade 6 and parents of students new to the school will need to undergo the full volunteer screening process, including the police security check. The schedule for undergoing the police security check is based on the oldest child for those families with siblings. Therefore, if a parent has undergone the full screening process for an older sib-ling this year, they would not need to undergo the process if they have a new student joining us in grade 4 next year. The intent behind the changes is to have a maximum of 3 years between police security checks for any parent volunteering in the school.

For those years when a full security screening is not required, parents wishing to volunteer will need to fill out a volun-teer application form, which will include a declaration that they have not been convicted of a criminal offense since the last police security check, as well as the driver authorization form, proof of insurance and driver abstract (if they will be transporting students). Completion of the volunteer screen-ing process must be completed by June 15th.

Darrell Lonsberry

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The Board subcommittee for communication headed up by Tom Short is involved in a major revamp of the way we communicate information to all our stakehold-ers. On our new web site every student, parent and teachers will have easy to navigate to links with all the information they will need to stay informed and make decisions. One of our charter goals is to enhance the amount of collaboration and outreach we are involved in outside our school walls through the teacher section of the web site. We are confident sharing some of our innovations in education will help us achieve that goal and that the school will ultimately become a resource for educators everywhere to draw upon.

Further to our goals around collaboration, a new com-mittee that will likely be called the ‘external collabora-tion committee,’ is going to be chaired by Sean Maclean. Coincidentally Sean is our newest Board member. This committee is just in the process of defining its terms of reference. Once that is done, we will share details of the important work they will spearhead.

Our school operations committee is chaired by Debra Scott-Pylypiw. Deb is our longest serving Board mem-ber. She began as a parent Board rep then continued on as a board member-at-large when her daughter gradu-ated from CSS three years ago. This committee is pri-marily responsible for keeping our policy manual up to date. Recently an ad hoc committee devoted to trans-portation was struck under the direction of the Ops committee. One of the major goals for this working group in the next year is ensuring a sustainable bus-sing program exists at the school to make certain we fulfill our mandate of serving a broad spectrum of stu-dents from across Calgary. By doing this we can claim that our educational model is truly transferrable to any school or student anywhere in the province. Nothing would make us happier (and prouder) than to have schools across the city and province modelling facets of their education after what our teachers are currently practicing. This is really what the charter school system was developed for in the first place.

The finance committee that is chaired by Cathy Cook re-views and recommends our school budget and monthly financials for Board approval. The total school budget of $6.6MM has escalated around 5% for the last number of years as pay scales have escalated and our staff has matured. Funding from Alberta Education has always kept pace with these increases in the past. This year we are faced with some challenges related to funding cuts by Alberta Education that will create a budget deficit of

at least $400,000.00 for the upcoming year. Clearly this is not sustainable over the long term and so we are look-ing at ways to bring our budget into balance. It should be noted that this reduction is one that will affect all school Boards across the province so we should not feel singled out. We do have a number of special funding requests in to the Deputy Minister of Education that could help us deal with the forecast deficit. Regard-less of that, school staff and administration are picking through every line item of the budget to look for ways to reduce our costs without affecting the education stu-dents at the Calgary Science School and their families have come to appreciate over the last ten years. This process will involve defining what is critically important to the education here at CSS so we can make sure every dollar is directed appropriately.

The school facilities committee is chaired by Tim Ed-wards. They are responsible for all building projects at the school. They have done a marvellous job of getting our new Indoor Activity Centre up and running despite the best efforts of the contractor to put our little project at the bottom of their list of priorities. I think every-one would agree that the finished product is just fantas-tic. I am looking forward to seeing how the remodel of our staff room proceeds in the coming months and the functionality that adds to the school and its programs.

Finally the Governance committee, which I chair, has the role of making sure the Board make-up is appropriately diversified to meet the needs of the school and that the school is following the mandate set by Alberta Educa-tion. Currently we have Board members who are edu-cators of educators and, several scientists from varied disciplines, a retired lawyer, a marketing and advertis-ing specialist, as well as strong representation from the financial and accounting vocations. We are required by our charter to have at least two thirds of our maxi-mum 15-person board be members at large drawn from the local community. The balance can come from the school parent population and are voted in to their role by Parent Council.

The Board is looking forward to the road ahead of us. There are certainly some challenges but we are confi-dent that we will continue to offer an education that is both innovative and rewarding for students and teach-ers alike.

Dave RobinsonBoard Chair

Message From the BoardThe Calgary Science School Board and its sub-committees are at one of their busiest times

of the year. Much work is underway to plan future communication strategies, budget goals, and school operation mandates for the coming year and beyond.

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• Communication with nearby residents and the Lakeview Community Association

• Look at whether additional crosswalks are needed around the school and, if so, work with community and city representatives to have the new crosswalks installed

• Evaluate whether crossing guards would im-prove student and traffic safety around the school and, if so, work to implement a crossing guard program

• Address any other school-related traffic safety concerns that arise over the course of the project

We would like two parents to co-chair this ini-tiative: ideally one parent who drives their child (ren) to / from school and another parent who lives in the community. Another two or three parents would be most welcome to participate on the Committee. It’s currently expected that this project will commence in March / April and wrap-up sometime in the fall.

See past issues of the Spectrum (page 13 - August 2009 and page 2 – December 2009) for additional background information. Past issues of the Spec-trum can be found on the Publications page of the CSS website.

Please contact Denise Kitigawa at dkitigawa@shaw.ca if you are interested in helping out with this important committee.

Phil ButterfieldAssistant Principal

Traffic Safety Around CSS

• When dropping off or picking up students in a pri-vate vehicle, park on the east side of 34th Ave. (the school side of the street) only. Parking on Lewis Dr., in the alley behind the school, or on the side of the street opposite the school pose hazards for stu-dents who are moving between vehicles and cross-ing streets.

• School buses need to park in front of the school as they arrive in the morning and for student pick up at the end of the day. If you are visiting the school between 8 am and 3:45 pm, please park on 34th Ave.

• Remind your child(ren) to use extreme caution when moving between parked vehicles as they could be-come mobile at any time and the driver may not see the child.

In response to feedback from nearby residents and concerned parents, we’re looking for parent volunteers to join a Traffic Safety Committee. This commit-tee will be responsible for working with CSS Administration to:

• Review student drop-off and pick-up procedures

• Explore options to better communicate and / or enforce these procedures (both at the start of the 2010/11 school year and going forward), including:

• Whether there should be a student-oriented aspect to the communication

Traffic congestion and the inherent risks of having students moving in and around parked or moving vehicles in the vicinity of CSS has created some sig-nificant concerns of late. It is therefore worth revisiting some of the current guidelines for student drop off and pick up:

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Computer and Video Game RatingsThe proliferation of computer and video games among youth in the past decade has created an envi-ronment where many parents are unaware of a game’s content or in-tent. Just as we pay close attention to the ratings on movies that our children watch, it is also impera-tive to be knowledgeable about the degree of content that may not be age appropriate. A further pitfall arises when older siblings pass along games to their younger brothers or sisters, bypassing pa-rental scrutiny along the way. The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) has developed a rat-ing system for video and computer games that serves as a valuable resource for parents trying to de-termine the suitability of a specific game.

By way of example, it is worth not-ing that the popular, but explicitly graphic and violent video game Grand Theft Auto is rated ‘M’, yet students as young as 9 years old have been found to be playing the game on personal handheld devic-es at school. The web-based multi-user game World of Warcraft has a ‘T’ rating and is therefore consid-ered suitable for adolescents aged 13 years and older, yet younger children are often subscribers to this on line phenomena. A key strategy to ensuring your child is only accessing age appropriate games lies in maintaining a supervised setting for gaming that provides you a line of vision to the computer or gaming device as well as access to all passwords and gaming history. Computer and video games are designed to entice players to higher levels and make them want more instant ‘gratification’; hence they want to play for longer periods and with greater frequency. Setting and adhering to precise limits on gaming time can help children to learn self-regulation and promotes a healthy approach to a balanced lifestyle.

Please do not hesitate to contact the school if you have any questions or concerns on this topic.

Phil ButterfieldAssistant Principal

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Programs for Children, Youth & Parents

Study Skills & Exam Prep for Junior & Senior High School:

Student and Parent Workshop Wednesday, May 5, 2010 6.30 - 8.00 pm$30 for student and parent $15 per additional student

Getting Ready for Junior High: Organizational Strategies & Study Skills for Students in Grades 4 - 6

Student and Parent WorkshopWednesday, April 14 2010 6.30 - 8.00 pm$30 for student and parent $15 per additional student

Coping with Test Anxiety: What you Need to Succeed

Student and Parent WorkshopThursday, June 3, 2010 6.30 - 8.30 pm$50 for student and parent $25 per additional student

To register please call the Calgary Learning Centre at 403.686.9300 or visit: www.calgarylearningcentre.com

Child Safe Canada offers a variety of programs for child and youth as well as their families. Top-ics include:

Red Cross Babysitting ProgramFirst AidSocial Skills programsSelf-Esteem programsAnger ManagementConflict ResolutionSpring and Summer Camps

To find out more about these wonderful programs please visit the Child Safe Canada website:

http://www.childsafecanada.com/programs.aspx

For more information about programs or resources specific to the needs of your child or family please contact Shannon Mitchell-Flek, School Counsellor/Student Services Coordinator at: 403.282.2890 ext. 233 or by email: shannon.m@calgaryscienceschool.com

Shannon Mitchell-Flek

The Calgary Learning Centre provides programs for children, youth and adults in the areas of literacy development, learning and attention difficulties.

The Fort Steele ExperienceGrade 5 and 7 students will be heading to Fort Steele shortly after spring break for an unforgettable experi-ence of being immersed in a pioneering era where ingenuity and hard work preceded computer technology. An important meeting for the parents of all students heading to the Fort will take place at 7 pm on Wednesday April 14th in the gym. Booklets detailing equipment lists, menus, and activities will be dis-cussed and distributed at the meeting. The Ft. Steele schedule is as follows:

April 29 – May 2 5.4 and 7.1May 2 – May 5 5.3 and 7.3May 5 – May 8 5.1 and 7.4May 8 – May 11 5.2 and 7.2

In the event that the scheduled dates for your child’s class conflict with another commitment that cannot be adjusted, please contact their homeroom teacher as soon as possible so they can participate with another class at a different time. The fee for the Ft. Steele excursion will be approximately $250.00 (we are still wait-ing on a couple of costs) and may be submitted through the on line payment system effective April 15, 2010.

Phil Butterfield

for changes to routes or stops to be emailed to the committee. We will meet after this date to review the routes and all the requests we receive. Any changes will be submitted to Southland and they will let us know when the modified route will become effective. It is our intention to keep changes to a minimum. Ex-traordinary circumstances may require major changes but typically the routes remain very similar to what we send you in June.

Request to use another stop: Parents can request to use a stop other than the one we have placed them at. As long as there is space on the bus, riders can use any stop. Riders can also use more than one stop on a regular or occasional basis but parents must email the committee so that the student’s name can be added to the route sheet.

The message from our CSS Board Chair, Dave Robin-son, outlines some of the challenges facing CSS for the next year. Dave mentioned that every budget item will be examined for potential savings. This in-cludes transportation. The Board and the committee will work together to provide parents with the best service possible while keeping transportation costs at a minimum. CSS transportation has always relied on compromise and goodwill to operate and next year will be no different. The board is seeking to maintain the excellent educational program our students en-joy. I encourage parents to appreciate the opportu-nity provided by attending CSS and be willing to ac-cept any slight changes to the bus system that might be necessary.

Registration Correction

Part of the transportation registration process stat-ed that Southland would always send a bus even it came very late. This is no longer the case. In the past, there were occasions when Southland would send a replacement bus up to 90 minutes late. By this time, there were no students left to be picked up as par-ents had driven to school or directed their child to go home. CSS was charged for this non-service. Start-ing with our new Southland contract in 2009-2010, we now cancel the bus when Southland cannot have it start within 60 minutes of its scheduled time. As soon as the decision is made, notice is posted and sent to affected parents who have signed up with the mes-sage system. I think that we have only cancelled three buses this year and I have not had any negative feed-back about this new procedure. If you have any com-ments regarding this please email them to transportationatcss@gmail.com.

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As I write this, 95% of the places at CSS have been filled. The last few families are making their decision and I expect that all the spots will be filled soon. I an-ticipate that we will have around 405 riders for next year. The committee is starting to plan next year’s routes. Here is our planning timeline:

Thursday, March 18: Meeting to set routes. A small sub-committee will decide the communities that will go on each route. We are looking to manage passenger loads and route time as we find ways to provide reasonable service to everyone registered. We aim to have these decisions made before Spring Break.

April 15–17: The whole committee will meet to re-view the plan for next year. Each route coordinator will get their list of riders. They will need to choose safe, appropriate stop locations that allow for effi-cient travel from stop to stop. As much as possible, stops will be located to be central to all riders. If any route is significantly new and different we may have Southland test drive it Friday, April 23 to get a time estimate.

May 3–7: The committee will meet again to review and approve each route. Coordinators will explain their stop location choices.

May 10–14: Coordinators will develop the route sheet used by Southland, the driver and the parents.End of May: We will meet with our Southland rep and present the routes. Southland looks at each stop location and suggests changes if the location is not suitable. Once the routes are approved the route sheets can be distributed to parents and our drivers. A new map of all the stops will be posted on the CSS web site.

Early June: Our drivers can choose to return to their CSS route for 2010. If any routes are in need of a new driver, Southland allows their other drivers to choose our route for 2010. This allows our perma-nent drivers to drive their route from the first day of school.

Start of school – end of September: Routes will run as published in June. Exceptions may be made for new students but usually Southland is unable to make changes in this time period.

Monday Sept 20, 2010: Last day for any requests

Transportation CommitteeFrom your

Registration Update and Route Planning

CSS Budget Development and Transportation

Registration Correction

Provincial Debate ChampionshipsThe Alberta Provincial Debate Championships were held on March 13th, 2010 at Strathcona Tweedsmuir School in Okotoks. Two Jr. High stu-dents; Arjun N. and Swarochish G. represented the Calgary Science School in the Junior Begin-ner category. They had a fantastic day of de-bating that included topics such as; this house believes Canada’s commitment in Afghanistan should be extend past 2011, that voting should be mandatory and that jail sentences should only be for violent crimes. Throughout the 5 rounds of debate, Arjun and Swarochish impressed nu-merous judges with their articulate arguments and critical thinking skills. When the final awards were handed out Arjun won the bronze medal as an individual speaker and Swarochish won the gold medal and Mike Dorval Cup as an individual speaker. As a team they won the Provincial Jr. Be-ginner Championship, claiming the gold medal and Ellen Weber Trophy. Congratulations gentle-men on a fantastic debate!!

Jon Hoyt-Hallet

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Youthlink OnlineSafety ProgramRecently students in Grade 6 participated in a criminal investigation sponsored by the Calgary Police Service and published in the Calgary Her-ald. After following a trail of clues which involved comparing DNA evidence, fingerprint samples, tool markings and fibre analyses, students sub-mitted an arrest warrant outlining their findings and indicating the suspect that they felt commit-ted the crime.

For their efforts, Sadie from 6.1 won a $1000 RESP contribution and an iPod, while Duncan and An-dersen from 6.1 won a $100 gift card and $50 gift respectively for Southcentre Mall.

Emily Brown

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Anne Tingle Library ReportOnce winter break is over, there’s always a flurry of activities, and then suddenly three months are gone, and the promise of spring is in the air. Hur-rah! The last week in February was Freedom to Read Week. In this school, every week is freedom to read week, and that is something to celebrate and value. Our students read consistently, and choose well. Research tells us that students read more when they have choice, a range of good qual-ity books, and interact in an environment where reading is modeled and valued. This is easily ob-served in the library and classrooms throughout our school. Just a reminder that all basic information about our school library is offered on the library web-page, which you can access on the right hand side of the school website, in the class/subject pull-down tab. Blogs are added on different top-ics and recommended reading. In response to the school council’s request, a new blog has been added called Parent Resources, which provides a listing of books we have in the collection that are of interest to parents. Books are categorized into four groups- positive parenting, gender differ-ences and implications, social issues, and parent-ing teenagers. A full description of the purpose of this section is offered on the webpage. Parents interested in borrowing from this section can do so by contacting me to set up a library account, after which the book will be passed on to your child to take home. You can phone or email your requests and questions, and I’d be interested in any suggestions or feedback on this new project.

After Spring Break is a good time for students in grades 7-9 to verify that they have the textbook copies they signed out in August. This can be done through the teacher, or in the library, and saves a lot of grief that can ensue in June, during exams and textbook returns.

Here’s another “housekeeping” topic: overdue li-brary books! Once a week homeroom teachers re-ceive a report listing students who have overdue books. Occasionally, we pull together a report that lists “significantly overdue” books, which we did this month: 56 books- with a total replacement cost of approximately $660.00- were overdue from last fall. Letters were sent home requesting par-

ents assist in getting the books returned, or in the case of lost books, paying the replacement charges. Enlisting parental support through the letters home resulted in over 90% of the books returned or fees paid. Thank you!

A final reminder for students doing research at home online: The Online Reference Centre located within the www.learnalberta.ca website is a valu-able source of reliable, current information from numerous databases paid for by Alberta Education. It’s a door that opens into a vast series of “libraries” (databases) that offer access to encyclopedias, jour-nals and newspapers, books, pictures, maps, and recommended websites. When at home, user id and password are required: LA 362, password: 4284.

Enjoy the break, Donna Johnson Alden, Teacher-Librarian

Book Review By Denise Kitagawa

“Hold on to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers” by Gordon Neufeld (Ph.D.) and Gabor Maté (M.D.)

I recently borrowed this book from the Parent Re-sources section of the CSS Library. Here`s a short review...

Neufeld and Maté lay out a compelling case against the peer-oriented culture that`s so important to many children and teens today. They go so far as to claim that true maturity isn’t actually occurring among those who take their cues primarily from their peers. The immature lead the immature, with disastrous results: increased bullying; desensitized kids; bored students; susceptibility to drugs; and so on.

Neufeld and Maté take almost two-thirds of the book to support these assertions. I found the first hundred pages or so very difficult to read, mostly because I was impatient with the repetitiveness. But the middle section of the book really drives home the myriad consequences of peer-orientation.

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In the last two sections of the book Neufeld and Maté maintain that no matter what problem or is-sue we face in parenting, our relationship with our children should be the highest priority, from early childhood through adolescence. Although a little light on detail, they make several recommendations related to strengthening parent-child attachment, an attachment-based approach to discipline and suggestions on how to reclaim peer-oriented chil-dren. Here are some snippets from the book that, for me, summarize their advice:

“Necessary as we may consider it to impose order on a child’s behaviour, it is much more important to impose order on a child’s attachments. We have two jobs here: establishing structures that cultivate connection, and restrictions that enfeeble the com-petition.”

“It is wise to use the attachment power we possess today to put structures in place that will enable us to preserve the power we will need for tomorrow...family holidays, family celebrations, family games, family activities.”

“We need to...restrict the things that would take our children away from us... The rules and restrictions should apply to television, computer, telephone, In-ternet, electronic games and extracurricular activi-ties. The most obvious restrictions that need to be put in place are those that govern peer interaction, especially the free-style interaction that is not or-chestrated by the adults in charge.”

To me, much of their advice is plain common sense. But I appreciated the reminder that it’s important to work at remaining close to and involved with our kids as they hit the teenage years. Peer-oriented kids may look grown-up; only parent-oriented kids actually grow-up.

For a complete list of parenting resource titles avail-able to be borrowed from the CSS Library, see page 9 of the March 2010 Spectrum or visit the Parent Resources entry on the Library blog page accessed from the CSS website.

The experience of a lifetime was finally upon me. To travel to Mexico to help build homes for two families made me realize how

lucky we really are in Canada. On February 25th I boarded a plane to San Diego California and then drove an hour into Mexico to the town of Ensenada.

The first day of work was exciting as we started by saying a prayer for the family and having a quick safety talk on the rules. There was already a concrete base laid down on the site so we did not have to pour the concrete. A few of the jobs consisted of cutting wood, painting, carrying things, putting up the drywall and putting on the roof. It was a very fun but exhausting job to do. The family was even helping us build their home as well since they felt extremely grateful that we were building it for them. The temperature was a beautiful 24 degrees this day and we had gotten the house set up and looking good to finish by the second day.

The second day consisted of finishing up the shingles on the roof, building the families furniture and adding the fi-nal touches onto the house to welcome the family. It was even more tiring since the first day took lots of our energy and we had to try to put the same amount into the second day. The weather on the second day made matters worse since it was raining for the majority of the day making the weather cold and harder to work in. But in the end we made the two families very happy with a brand new home to live in. I would like to thank everyone who supported me at CSS.

Evan H 9.3

Homes of

HOPE

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On the 20th of March many young scientists from CSS had the opportunity take part in the annual Calgary Youth Science Fair. Over the course of the two-day event students were able to showcase their science fair projects to experts as well as the general public. During judging, students were also able to roam free for short periods of times to explore other sci-ence fair projects as well as displays by other scien-tific communities such as the U of C. CSS was repre-sented by close to 40 stu-dents with projects rang-ing from environmental to medical sciences. So, it was natural that CSS did extremely well despite the competition, winning numerous trophies and medals as well as a spot at nationals taking place in Peterbor-ough Ontario. Everyone had a great time and really enjoyed meeting so many other students with a passion for science. The CYSF was a great experience for all the young scientists who attended. CSS hopes to have an even stronger attendance in the future so we hope to see you in 2011!

By Calder & Reed 8.4

Final Results for Grade 5

CSS at Calgary Youth Science Fair

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Final Results for Grade 6

Final Results for Grade 7

Final Results for Grade 8

Final Results for Grade 9

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Update From Mr. McWilliamG’day from Yeppoon, Queensland! My family and I have been downunder for 80 days and time is flying by. Our first term of the school year is al-most over. We survived the blistering hot summer months and are looking forward to fall and win-ter. It is strange experiencing fall in April and the middle of winter in July!

School has been great and I work at a wonderful facility. The school ranges between Kindergarten (prep school) all the way up to grade 12. It opened in the 1880’s and the original building is still in use, though it is now surrounded by 10 or more newer buildings. My students have their swimming class tomorrow in the outdoor pool near the ten-nis courts just down the path from the theatre and boarding houses. The website is http://www.rgs.qld.edu.au/

The students are great and very eager to learn all about Canada. They are still buzzing about the gold medal hockey game. We watched it live on a Monday morning in the library. We even got in a little trouble for celebrating too loudly. I know the kids in 7.3 and 7.4 have been interested in the stu-dent life here. My students have 4 uniforms they wear for different days. They have a day uniform, sport uniform, formal uniform and sporting house uniform. The sporting houses are like Hogwart’s where the kids are put into different houses to compete against each other.

RGS is also a boarding school where 3 of my 26 students live seven days a week all term, only see-

ing their parents on term breaks. They have all of their meals in the dining hall and have tutoring every night. It is very different from what I am used to.

As for our family life we are off to New Zealand for Fall break (your Spring break). We will be spending 2 weeks there. We also have plans to visit Sydney and the out-back in June, Vanuatu and New Caledonia in September and maybe Asia in December.

We miss everyone in Calgary, but if the rest of the year goes as fast as the first 80 days, we will be home in no time with endless stories and memories.

Mr. McWilliam

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During the month of February, all four grade 7 classes were involved in a collaborative project with Mount Royal University art students. The art students visited each class a total of four times to teach about one and two point perspective drawing. Students were lead through a series of lessons on perspective draw-ing and then chose a beautiful structure to replicate using this technique. Students chose buildings from around the world that were aesthetically pleasing to them; ranging from cathedrals to bridges to towers. They sketched the building and then finished them using black ink and shading. Examples of student work can be viewed in the grade 7 hallway. This was a very rewarding project and the students ended up with some terrific pieces of art.

Erin Couillard

Grade 7’s

BEAUTIFUL STRUCTURES

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Basketball SeasonCSS

Senior boys:The senior boys basketball team re-cently wrapped up their season with a heartbreaking 41-39 loss to Almadina. Although the boys went out in the first round of the playoffs the team as a whole dramatically improved over the course of the season. Their 4 and 4 re-cord reflects a late season surge where they showed they could compete with the best teams in the league. Both Mr. Kutcher and Mr. Scott are very proud of the hard work and the effort the team showed developing as ball players this year. Good luck to the grade 9’s who are moving on to high school and we look forward to seeing so many return-ing players for the 2011 season.

Junior. Boys: (no photo available)The Jr. Boys basketball team wrapped up their season a few weeks ago with a friendly game against the Sr. Boys Team. The purpose of the Jr. team was both to develop skills as well as provide a fun and active lunch-time activity. A core group of fifteen boys made up the team and they were thrilled to get a taste of competi-tion when they played a great game against Khalsa School back in February. All the Jr. Boys are encouraged to try out for the Sr. Boys team next year. Thanks for a fun basketball season!

Senior GirlsThe senior girls team this year was a developmental team. It was awesome to see how much the grade 7’s were able to im-prove with the help of the grade 8 and 9 players. Players learned about commitment, hard work and dedication when playing on a school team. They also learned inbounding plays, de-fensive concepts and offensive plays such as give and goes and motion offense.

Phys. Ed News

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Phys. Ed News

Grade 5 Team Canada Hockey Gold medalists! 4.1 Rocks at Hockey

Check out what we have been up too...

Mr. Schmeichel did a cool new unit of yoga

UpcomingField trips:Grade 6 March 24 to COP

Grade 7 April 14 Curling

Grade 8/9 TBA to Mount Royal

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It’s that time of the year again! Grades 7-9 students have been busy preparing for our spring play. This year we are trying some-thing new, exploring a more modern day, teen-age themed and realism based play, entitled “Yearbook.” With a cast of about forty students, we have been able to pro-vide more hands-on, active involvement for all of the participants. That has allowed students to be more involved in the entire creative process, sharing a wide variety of ideas and talents and giving more owner-ship to the cast. It has been a very exciting learning experience for us all in the ensem-ble cast of “Yearbook.”

The play will be presented April 21 and 22, 2010. Both days will have a matinee for our student audience, to be followed with an evening performance. The evening perfor-mances will commence at 7:00 pm. Rehearsals have been ongoing since Janu-ary, mostly occurring during the lunch hour. However, as the play dates get closer, we will soon require after school rehearsals. Af-ter school rehearsals will run from 3:45-5:15 pm on Monday April 12 – Thursday April 14, 2010 and Monday April 19 – Tuesday, April 20, 2010. We will also be having our dress rehearsal on Saturday April 16, 2010 from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm.

Students have been asked to design their costumes for the play. They should be bringing in their costumes as soon as pos-sible to Mrs. Armstrong. Please label all clothing and accessories clearly with first and last names, as well as the student’s class. If anyone is having any difficulty as-sembling their costumes please do not hesi-tate to ask either myself or Mrs. Armstrong for assistance.

We are also looking for a wide variety of tal-ented parent volunteers. Although our set is quite simplistic compared to some of our previous settings, our lighting effects are

more demanding and we will still require assistance with setting up. We are also looking for people to help with organizing, supervising and otherwise assisting with our Saturday rehearsal as well as during performances. If you have any questions or concerns please email myself (amy.p@calgaryscienceschool.com) or Mrs. Armstrong (carolyn.a@calgaryscienceschool.com) at any time.

Thank you in advance,Miss Peebles

Monday April 12 –Thursday April 14, 2010Afterschool rehearsals

Saturday April 16, 2010Dress rehearsal

Monday April 19 – Tuesday April 20, 2010 Afterschool rehearsals

Wednesday April 21 – Thursday April 22, 2010Matinee and Evening Performances

Important Dates:

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GIRLS Making a difference in girls’ lives at CSS...I think the Girls Leadership Group has been a great way of getting to know many of the girls in the school from each grade. The main pur-pose I see from this, is that it brings girls together to create a strong bond. Our last meeting was a success. We had two guest speakers, and both speeches I think, made a difference in our life.

The first speaker, Dr. Lynn Bosetti, talked about how girls and boys are different. From how we approach life differently, to how our brain works, these all have posi-tive and negative affects on both genders. I think that this speech taught us girls a little bit more about understanding and seeing the differences between both genders. It was fascinating to see how much of a difference the genders are in each part of life.

We were lucky to have another guest speaker in to talk to us, Car-ol Huynh. She was an Olympic gold medalist in wrestling in the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics. This speech I think, was a real inspiration to the girls at the meeting. She talked about the pro-cess of having the honor to go to the olympics. It was interesting to see the difficulty she had to go through and the rewards she got after those years of training. She has showed that any girl can do whatever she wants, they just have to believe. Sometimes in life people hold you back and tell you you don’t have the abil-ity to do that sport - either gender, age, etc. Though the greatest part is proving them wrong.

Being apart of the Girls Leadership Committee is a great honor to me. This committee was an amazing idea and hopefully it contin-ues because it can make a difference in girls’ lives at CSS.

B.McD. (6.4)

Leadership

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This year the Yearbook 7 classes are creating the CSS 2009/2010 Yearbook. The theme for the year-book is the 2010 Winter Olympics. Elizabeth T. in Grade 9 won the cover design contest which is fea-tured in the picture above.

The yearbooks have a soft cover with full colour pages highlight-ing the events and activities of

this school year at all grade levels. The cost is $20.00 per yearbook.

In order to ensure that all events and activities that occur through-out the year at CSS are included, yearbooks will be delivered Au-gust 2010. Those students who purchase a yearbook will receive an autograph page in June that can easily be placed in the back of

the yearbook upon delivery.

More information regarding the delivery and pick up of the year-books in August will be provided at a later date. We are looking at scheduling an evening for the grade 9 students to return to pick up their yearbooks and visit friends and teachers.

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SnowshoeingWhen I took my first two steps with my snowshoes on, my feet felt very heavy! But after a while I got used to them. The first cool thing we saw was a trail of prints from one of the animals! My group thought they were wolf footprints but it turns out they were from a lynx! Next we started up a hill. That’s when everyone started to fall down. Lucky for me I didn’t fall down! There was lots of poop up there and another little footprint trail of a snow-shoe hare. It must have been in a hurry because the footprints were far apart like it was hopping REALLY fast. On the way down the hill my group leader spotted a deer antler! Inside of it was so cool, it had a white spongy looking part. When we got down the hill and hiked a bit more my group and I decided to have a little snack and play a camouflage game! It was amazing how people in bright coats could disappear from view. A few minutes later, we packed up and started on our way back. I remember on the way back my friend and I thought that the snow wasn’t that deep but we were wrong. We took one step and... poof, we fell right through from our toes to our knees. That snowshoeing trip was something special to remember!

By D.V. (4.1)

Snowshoeing

Mrs Armstrong and Ms. Brown collaborated with Dr Bonnie Shapiro from the University of Calgary, who brought her second year student teachers from her Science education class to work with the Grade 6 students. For two very exciting mornings, our stu-dents challenged their misconceptions around the properties of air and aerodynamics while the stu-dent teachers gained valuable experience in teach-ing students using hands on activities. It was hard to tell who had the most fun students or teachers.

Science EducationFun with

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4 5 5 6 8 9 10

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SPRING PLAY REHEARSAL3:45 " 5:15 PM

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SPRING PLAY REHEARSAL3:45 " 5:15 PM

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SPRING PLAY REHEARSAL3:45 " 5:15 PM

FORT STEELE PARENT MEETING 7PM #GYM$

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SPRING PLAY REHEARSAL3:45 " 5:15 PM

GRADE 4/5PARENT SESSION#2 " FRIENDS FOR LIFE

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SUBWAY FUN LUNCH

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SPRING PLAY REHEARSAL9:00 " 1:00 PM

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SPRING PLAY REHEARSAL3:45 " 5:15 PM

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SPRING PLAY FULL DRESS REHEARSAL1:00 " 5:15 PM

BOARD MEETING5 PM

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SPRING PLAY“YEARBOOK”7:00 PM

6.1 " POLICE INTERPRETIVE CENTRE #PM$

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SPRING PLAY“YEARBOOK”7:00 PM

6.2 " POLICE INTERPRETIVE CENTRE #PM$

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PD DAYNO CLASSES

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BADMINTON TOURNEMENT % WESTMOUNT

25 26 27 28 FORT STEELESETUP

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6.3 " POLICE INTERPRETIVE CENTRE #AM$

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6.3 " POLICE INTERPRETIVE CENTRE #AM$

DAY 4 DAY 5 DAY 6 DAY 1 DAY 2

DAY 3 DAY 4 DAY 5 DAY 6

Spring Break - School Closed

Spring Break - School Closed

DAY 1 DAY 2 DAY 3 DAY 4 DAY 5

Fort Steele 5.4 & 7.1

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8.3 & 8.4 WORLD OF SCIENCE BODY WORLDS EXHIBIT #PM$

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SCHOOL COUNCIL MEETING 7:00 PM #LIBRARY$

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8.1 & 8.2 WORLD OF SCIENCE BODY WORLDS EXHIBIT #PM$

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9 10 11 12

PAT GR. 6 & 9 ELA PART A

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SUBWAY FUN LUNCH

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16 17 18

BOARD MEETING5:00 " 8:00 PM

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PD DAYNO SCHOOL

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VICTORIA DAYNO SCHOOL

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GR. 4 " S. ALBERTA HISTORY TOUR #1

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GR. 4 " S. ALBERTA HISTORY TOUR # 2

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DAY 5 DAY 6 DAY 1 DAY 2 DAY 3

DAY 4 DAY 5 DAY 6 DAY 1

DAY 2 DAY 3 DAY 4 DAY 5

DAY 6 DAY 1 DAY 2 DAY 3 DAY 4

Fort Steele 5.3 & 7.3 Fort

Steele 5.2 & 7.2

Fort Steele

5.2 & 7.2

Gr 8Camp Sweet #1

DAY 6

Fort Steele

5.4 & 7.1Fort Steele

5.1 & 7.4

Gr 8Camp Sweet #2

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THE CALGARY SCIENCE SCHOOLAPRIL 2010 • ISSUE 8 • VOL . 7