School District No. 57

Morfee Elementary 250-997-6340

Lost and Found June 2017

There are a lot of items in our lost and found bins at school. If you are missing items please visit us before June 30th. After June

30th the items will be donated. If you have a difficult time mak-ing it to the school during school hours, please call the office and we can make arrangements.

Please check our website for important

information and calendar updates

www.sd57.bc.ca/school/morf

Yearbooks are well underway!

Big thank you to Mrs. Brumovsky

and all of her volunteers for help-

ing put these keepsakes together.

If you ordered one, they will be

sent home last week in June. Mrs.

Brumovsky is looking for parent

volunteers to help collate the book.

mbrumovsky@sd57.bc.ca

Please send your child

dressed for the weather

and with spare clothing.

The weather has been

wet, but warm lately and

students are enjoying

being outside.

School Supplies

Supply lists will be linked to our website, sent home with

summative reports and availa-ble at our office. Supplies of-ten need to be replenished mid

year and teachers will send home notices as needed.

Congratulations to our Grade 6’s and 7’s who will be moving on to the

high school next year. We hope you leave Morfee with many great memo-

ries! We have appreciated all of your contributions to our school!

MOVIE NIGHT @ MORFEE

PAC sponsored!

June 16th @ 6pm in our gym (doors open @

5:30)

Cost: $3 per child, $1 per adult, $10 per family

(up to 5)

ALL students must be accom-

panied by an adult.

Snacks and beverages available

for purchase.

Important Dates (also found on our website calendar)

June 27 Logan (K celebration) 1pm -1:30pm

Pride (K celebration) 2pm -2:30pm

June 28 Gordon (K celebration)2pm-2:30pm

June 27/28 Airband/talent show

27th– 9am; 28th 9am

June 29 Last day of school

Recognition assembly 11am -12pm

Summative Reports and

Self Assessments go home

June 30 School closed for summer

Reopen August 28th for

registration

June 16 Primary Report Writing Day

(no school grades K-3)

6/7’s @ MSS assembly 9-12

Movie night at Morfee: Smurfs-

The Lost Village

June 20 Soak a 6/7 12:30-2 (lunch will be at

11:30 to accommodate)

June 22 6/7 Orientation @ MSS 10-2:30

Middle Years parent/student Tour

And meeting @ 5:30pm

June 23 Grade 6 and 7 Year end

evening celebration

June 26 Sports Day 9am -12pm

Year End Airband/Talent Show We have 2 showings of our Year End Airband/Talent Show this

year. Both shows will have the same performances. Please come

check out our Morfee talent on one of the times below

June 27th @ 9:00 am

June 28th @ 9:00 am

Everyone Welcome!

School District No. 57 (Prince George)

NOTICE TO PARENTS, STUDENTS AND FORMER STUDENTS SUMMER CLOSURE OF SCHOOLS

Elementary schools will be closed for summer effective 3:00 pm on June 30th. They will reo-pen during the week of August 28th.

*Secondary schools will be closed for summer effective 3:00 pm on July 7th.

They will reopen during the week of August 28th.

Note: All schools will be closed on July 3 – Canada Day Stat.

Items held at schools are only available when schools are open and must be request-ed before schools close for summer or after they reopen for the new year.

Are you moving? Please

let us know at the office

as it helps us plan for

September.

Farewell

Mrs. Hall ~ enjoy your retirement!

Mrs. Russo~ best of luck in your new school!

Ms. Wilson & Ms. Hyde~ Happy to have you at MSS!

Miss Kosakowski~ We will miss you!

Ms. Sitter~ Enjoy your change of scenery!

It is hard to believe that our 2016-17 school year is coming to a close. The end of the school year is always busy. Our students have had, and are looking forward to many exciting learning opportunities as we finish off the year.

Science Al!ve presenters from SFU visited all of our classrooms in May. Our K-2 classrooms made crystals and bottle rockets, while our 3-7 classrooms did computer science activities. Our Mackenzie Ecology program ran a number of different local field trips (see attached description) and it was great to see all of the parent volunteers heading out with our students and staff to learn more about our local environment. Janie Dubman from Wildlife Infometrics does a great job of organizing this program and finding grants to fund it.

Our Grade 1’s and 2’s had the opportunity to visit Theatre Northwest in Prince George to watch Mun-sch Upon A Time, a national level theatre production.

Our Kindergarten classes have been busy visiting various locations around the community; their re-turn on the fire truck is always a highlight.

Ms. Gordon’s Lil’ Mudders are training hard to compete in the Lil’ Mudder competition in Prince George on June 23rd and our Airband/Talent Show practices are in full swing thanks to Mrs. Barlow and Ms. Scrase. Students will perform in our last week (27th and 28th) and it is always great to see students share their talents.

Through the month of May we had our gymnastics equipment set up in the gym and students enjoyed the opportunity to try some beginner level gymnastics during PE. At recess and lunch a road hockey game on our back cement pad was student initiated. Students of all grades have been dropping in to play and they are showing great leadership in taking care of the equipment and playing by the supervi-sor’s rules. Similar games of basketball and soccer are taking place at recess and lunch.

Our annual Bike to School Week was a success. Thank you to Ms. Gordon, RCMP, Ms. Hopkins, Ms. Pat-terson and our crossing guards for all that went into the week. Despite the rain, many of our K-2 stu-dents practiced safe riding at our Bike Rodeo. Thank you to Nukko Logging for donating 2 bikes and to the RCMP for donating a 3rd. All of our students were entered in the draw and Amelia Jackson, Caleb Sharp and Cameron Letnes have some nice new wheels just in time for summer.

On June 5th, (N.I. day) Ms. Hyde and Mrs. Barlow took a group of young entrepreneurs to the YES57 event in Prince George to compete against other schools. Grades 5,6,7 student teams developed an idea for a business, product or service. They presented to judges at Duchess Park Secondary and Morfee had the most teams participating. Skye Barlow and Ella Favron came in 3rd place overall!!

Our 6/7’s have visited the high school for orientation and PE blocks; they are looking forward to an assembly at MSS on the 16th, a full day at MSS on the 22nd and their celebrations on the 23rd.

20 Grade 7 students had the opportunity to compete in the Indigenous Games, hosted by Glenview Elementary in Prince George. Ms. Jackson and Ms. Wilson went down with this enthusiastic group.

Sports Day plans are well underway, thank you to Mrs. Dowler, Mrs. Weissenmayer, Ms. Kosakowski and Mrs. Pride for putting things together and to our PAC for running a station. We encourage par-ents to come out for the morning (9-12) to watch students enjoy the activities they have planned.

We thank our families for all of your support throughout this school year and hope to see you at one of our upcoming events. We also hope you have an amazing summer!

Morfee School Ecology Program 2016/2017

Another great year of ecology learning and outdoor fun!

The School Ecology Project is a community-based program aimed at providing enriching outdoor, ecology-centered activities for

school students. This program is funded mainly by the Fish and Wildlife Compensation Program (Peace Region), coordinated by

Janie Dubman, a biologist from local consulting firm Wildlife Infometrics, in partnership with McLeod Lake Indian Band. The pro-

gram has completed its third full year of activities and is proud to report on a successful year.

Our greatest thanks go out to the local individuals and organizations who have contributed many hours of volunteer time and their

years of expertise to the program – these opportunities for the students would never have been possible without their generosity.

Canfor, Conifex, the FLNRO/BCTS office (here and in Prince George), and the Mackenzie and District Museum are just some of the

partners we want to acknowledge. The MLIB has been a fantastic program partner, with members providing an invaluable indige-

nous perspective to the field trips. Many thanks also to the enthusiastic and accommodating teachers and administrators at Mor-

fee Elementary and Mackenzie Secondary. Of course, thanks to the parent chaperones who came on the field trips and kept a

watchful eye on the young ecology scholars!

This year, we implemented a total of 8 modules in 15 classrooms, reaching ~230 students from grades K – 7. Below is a glance in-

side the learning and fun behind the modules. Enjoy, thanks for supporting the program, and looking forward to next year!

Kindergarten – Birds and listening skills: a presentation about observing birds and their traits, aided by several bird mounts

borrowed from the Mackenzie Nature Observatory, were followed by an outdoor game where ‘nesting pairs’ of local birds

(who were taught their unique songs) had to find each other blindfolded. Excellent listening skills practice!

Grade 1 – pond communities: after learning about ecological communities in the classroom, complete with a ‘find your habi-

tat’ game with Velcro creatures on a felt pond, students, parents and teachers walked out to the Bell Subdivision pond

where they located the real-life habitat of their creature and dip-netted for aquatic insects

Grade 2 – Fish life cycles: we started by learning about the life cycles of fish, using the beloved Rainbow Trout as our guiding

example. The next day, to glorious sunshine, we visited Morfee creek and rotated through six stations led by knowledgea-

ble local experts on fish sampling, indigenous fishing methods, spawning habitat, casting and tying lures, aquatic insects

and forestry practices.

Grade 3 – Plant taxonomy and uses: We started our exploration of plants by learning the major groupings within the plant

kingdom and doing a scavenger hunt for representative specimens in the ‘Big Forest’ behind the school. The next day, we

headed out to McLeod Lake Historic Post to explore traditional uses of local plants as food, tea, and medicine, as well as

continue learning about plant biology, invasive plant species and forestry.

Grade 4 – Mustelids and the fur trade: In these classes we took a close look at the six local species in the weasel family, and

their important role in both local ecology and history. In the classroom, we experienced some furs and skulls lent by local

trappers, and learned about local food chains and the mustelids’ place in it. For our field trip, we spent a morning at

McLeod lake learning about the history of the post from MLIB elder Alec Chingee, trading at a Hudson’s Hope post, watch-

ing a skinning demo and snowshoeing, as well as reinforcing food chain concepts.

Grade 5 – Forestry and renewable resources: to set the stage for forestry, we began by learning about renewable and non-

renewable resources, the importance of these resources to all people, especially resource-centered towns like Mackenzie,

and how we can manage them sustainably. On our field trip to Lions Lake, we were hosted by a group of local foresters

who took the students through all the stages of a block’s life cycle, from initial survey to replanting, and we also learned

about wildlife values in forestry, as well as First Nations forest values and traditions.

Grade 6 – TBA. This field trip, which will focus on the body systems of insects, will take place on June 16th.

Grade 7 – With these classes, we looked to the caribou to help us learn about evolution and adaptation. In the classroom, the

students rose to the challenge of identifying the adaptations that caribou would need based on their harsh and challeng-

ing habitat, and learned some cool facts about the local herds. On our field trip, we seized the amazing local opportunity

to observe caribou at Kennedy Siding, and engaged in some hands-on learning about lichen (caribou food), tracks, preda-

tor-prey dynamics, and a common technique for studying wildlife – radio telemetry.

Big thanks again to the awesome community, who sup-

ports this project in so many ways, and have a great

summer! ~ Ms. Dubman