Maude Clifford Public School

Message from the Office The month of November is a busy and full one—this is the time where we are gathering student work for assessment to assist in reporting student progress. Parent Teacher Interviews are an important time for you to learn more about where your child is at and how you can further support his or her learning. Meeting with your child’s teacher at PTI is a great way of modelling for your children the importance you place on education, even if you think there is nothing new to hear about. If you have any questions or concerns please don’t feel you need to wait till PTIs to discuss it.

Our interviews are on November 28th (5-8 pm) and November 29th (4-7 pm). Like previous years, we are scheduling Parent-Teacher Interviews electronically! Between the 2nd and 3rd week of November, you will receive a letter (and later an email), with instructions on using Sign-Up Genius to book your interviews.

Your Administration Team!

Tracey Mark, Principal It has been my privilege to be a part of the Maude Clifford team as Principal. This is my eighteenth year of teaching and my seventh year in administration. I am a local girl who grew up attending school right here in Grande Prairie. It is a great honour to work with parents, students and staff in my home city. I completed my Bachelor of Education at the University of Alberta and later my Master’s in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Calgary. I am passionate about building student emotional, social, and academic capacity so that they can achieve and grow. My life is richly blessed with a supportive husband Peter and two daughters Mei Lei and Jai Lin. My girls, 12 and 15, are active in dance and volleyball – everyday they amaze me! When not working, I enjoy travelling with my family, and am an avid reader. I LOVE working in an elementary school. Zipping zippers, recesses with jump jacks and challenging students to ‘Be Your Best’ both academically and socially fill me with joy. I am very excited to join the Maude Clifford family and look forward to working with you as your Principal.

Tracey Mark, Principal

Teresa Rawlyk, Vice Principal I am thrilled to be a part of the Maude Clifford team as your Vice-Principal. This is my 18th year of teaching and my third year in Administration. I grew up in Calgary and completed my Bachelor of Education at the University of Alberta in Edmonton where I met my husband Dan who convinced me to move to the Peace Country. We have two daughters Ella and Saimaa who fill our life with great adventure and joy! Two years ago we added another member to our family, Izzy, a Shorkie who is a bundle of energy and loves to cuddle. I love coffee, reading, wood fires and travelling. Learning and growing as a professional is a priority to me. When the new math curriculum was introduced I desired to have a better understanding of the research behind it which led me to complete my Masters in Numeracy through Simon Fraser University. I experienced great joy as a teacher implementing my learning and watching my students deepen their understanding of mathematics. I always look forward to working with Maude Clifford families, students and staff. Teresa Rawlyk, Vice Principal

Reminders Criminal Record Check All volunteers must provide a Criminal Record Check before volunteering at the school. A new check must be issued each new school year. Bus Lane Parking Please remember not to park in the bus lane. Attendance If your child is ill or will be absent from school please call the office and let us know or leave a message. Animals on School Grounds Bylaw Officers are responsible for enforcing Bylaw C-1226. C-1226 states that "The Owner of a dog shall ensure the dog does not enter or remain in or on any area where dogs are prohibited by posted signs, or within five (5) meters of a playground, athletic field or school ground.”

Engaging our School Community Safe and Caring School It has been a terrific start to the year at Maude Clifford Public School. As we move forward, it is important to us to consider your input into decisions at your child’s school. When students feel safe and cared for learning and instruction excel. As a school we have been focusing on respectful, responsible, and safe behaviour so that our Trailblazers can ‘BE YOUR BEST’.

A specific focus on how we treat each other and demonstrating how our teachers care about our students has been at the forefront.

Let us know how we are doing in this area- What’s working well? What’s not working? What needs to be tweaked? Please forward your feedback to me by phone at 780-357-3500 or by email at tracey.mark@gppsd.ab.ca

Emergency Response Plan As you may already know Grande Prairie Public School District #2357 has a District-wide Emergency Response Plan, which would be implemented in the event of a local disaster or school emergency. The primary objective of the plan is to ensure the safety of your child and our staff.

The Emergency Response Plan is a preparatory measure. Statistics show schools are still among the safest places to be on a day-to-day basis, due to strong commitment of educators, parents and communities to their children. Nevertheless, disasters do happen and because of that no community can be complacent in its efforts to make schools even safer. For this reason we have implemented the Plan, so please do not be alarmed by this precautionary action.

Over the 2017-2018 school year we will be providing information of the various aspects of our Emergency Response Plan that parents should be aware of and how you can assist us in making sure all students remain safe.

Thank you for your support and cooperation in ensuring the continuing safety of our students. If you have questions or concerns regarding our emergency procedures, please contact the school.

Attendance Regular attendance is extremely important! Children who do not attend school regularly and on time are more likely to:

Fall behind in their school work Find it difficult to make and keep friends Be unhappy at school Arriving late unsettles a child and disrupts the start to their day Misbehave so others cannot see that they are finding the work difficult Get into bad routines that can affect them getting or keeping a job later in life

As part of our attendance strategy to improve and promote regular attendance, those students who are on time and attend daily will be entered in a draw to win Maude Clifford Clothing! We honoured the following students for their attendance in October: Tristan Friedel Raine Nickerson Easton Flander Paige McIvor Aaleyah Dungo Hayden O'Brien Joseph Joaquin Olivia Feser Autumn Lecraci

Malone Cline Paige McIvor Jensine Quartly Austin Wilson Bella Lynk Franklin Bridger Zaryl Joaquin Parker Miller Nicholas Watson

Evan Clarkson Ashley Flores Avelyn Fehr Minka Brown Jovee-Raie Perra David Muse Hailie Hender Esben Antonio Austin Jefferies

Alex Printer Cail Stigson Taylor Berns. Nakayla Read Summer Morgan Josie Smith Roman Smith

PLEASE REMEMBER. . . . - The Traffic loop at the front of

the school is a drop off zone only

- The bus zone is a no parking zone

- Please walk on the side walk, not in the middle of the

parking lot

Thank you for helping us keep our student safe

French Corner Bonjour! Grade five and six students had a great time celebrating French language and culture at the Mega-Concert on October 26th featuring Étienne, Roland Bibeau and Nate Vedette. They enjoyed singing along with some familiar songs, dancing, and watching the awesome performance. Grade 4’s have been learning about the different things in a classroom and continuing to practice basic French phrases. Home practice activity: search “Matt Maxwell – Dans ma salle de classe” on youtube and sing along with your child. The Grade 5’s are continuing their School unit and have been working on an Imaginary School Project where they design and label the different rooms in their Imaginary School. They are also working on a writing extension to describe their Imaginary School. The Grade 6’s are continuing to learn the names of different foods in French and are expressing their likes and dislikes. They are working on a French skit where they are either on a cooking channel or doing a tutorial video about making a pizza. Merci, Mme Chliboyko

Nutrition Program Healthy food is essential for students’ physical, emotional, social and intellectual development. Research has shown that well-nourished students are better able to concentrate more effectively, retain and apply the things they learn and are more likely to show positive social behaviors. Children use up energy quickly and require frequent nourishment. Our nutrition program is safe and welcoming, reflective of the values and tastes of our community and follow Canada’s Food guide to Healthy Eating. Like last year, our nutrition program will provide all students with a piece of fresh fruit each Tuesday and Wednesday should they want it. If there is extra fruit leftover, it will be available to students for the remainder of the week as well.

News from the Library The Scholastic Book Fair is coming to our school, November 27-29, 2017! We would like to invite you to join us in this celebration of books and reading. The Scholastic Book Fair is also a fundraiser for our school library. For every $10 you spend at the Book Fair, up to $6 goes back to our school, allowing us to purchase new books for the library. Dates and Times: Monday, Nov. 27: 10:00 am – 3:00 pm Tuesday, Nov. 28: 10:00 am – 3 pm, 5 – 8:00 pm Wednesday, Nov. 29: 10:00 am – 3 pm, 4 – 7:00 pm Students and parents are welcome to visit the Book Fair throughout the day or on the evenings of November 28/29 as we will be holding a special Family Event those evenings coinciding with Parent Teacher Interviews. Don’t forget to enter your child’s name in the Family Event Draw. You could win $25 in books for your family! Thank you for supporting our school library!

Monthly Virtue Our Virtue for the month of October was Thankfulness (Gratitude). At our October Superkid Assembly we read students Nanabosho by Josh McLellan. In the book, Nanabosho demonstrated his thankfulness to turtle by creating a shell for him from a rock. He painted a special design just for turtle. To honour thankfulness in our school, students will have the opportunity paint a rock to show what we are thankful, similar to how Nanabosho painted a rock for turtle to show he was thankful for his fishing advice. A special thank you to Kakwa Stone for donating the rocks and Woodland Home Hardware Building Center for donating the paint.

Social Media Much of our communication to parents and students will occur by utilizing social media. Maude Clifford can be found online: Facebook: www.facebook.com/maudeclifford Twitter: @mc_gppsd School Website:

http://www.gppsd.ab.ca/school/maudeclifford

Head Lice Head lice have become more and more of a problem over the last few years. Control of head lice depends on prompt diagnosis and effective treatment. Your help in inspecting your child at least weekly throughout the school year for the presence of head lice would be greatly appreciated. Also, please remind your children to not share hats or scarves.

Jack Links Fundraiser Thank you to all the students and parents who participated in the Jack Links Fundraiser. We raised approximately $8000.00. As a result, we are able to fund our nutrition program for the year.

PE Corner Our District Triple Ball Tournament occurred October 21st for the Grade 5’s and 6’s. Triple Ball is a modified version of Volleyball where the coaches throw in the second and third serve. There was a location change from previous years. The boys played at Crystal Park and the girls at I.V. Macklin. The 5’s and 6’s had a great time playing Triple Ball and representing Maude Clifford at the District Tournament. Way to go Trailblazers! In Phys. Ed. classes this past month we have been focused on throwing and catching. Grades 1-4 have been playing Handball type games practicing both offense and defense. Mini Handball is a team sport in which two teams pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the goal of the other team. The goals are surrounded by a zone (crease) where no defensive or offensive players are allowed. Goals must be scored by throwing the ball from outside the zone. After receiving the ball, players can pass, keep possession, or shoot the ball. If in possession of the ball, players can take up to three steps before passing or shooting the ball. Intramurals continue with Flying Chicken Baseball for the month of November. More information on the game can be found at: http://www.playsport.net/activity/flying-chicken-baseball The schedule for November’s Intramurals and Open Gym is below:

INTRAMURAL SCHEDULE (PLEASE NOTE THESE DATES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE)

THURS. NOV. 2: 2Cl - Flying Chicken Baseball TUES. NOV. 7: 4J - Flying Chicken Baseball

THURS. NOV. 9: 4B - Flying Chicken Baseball TUES. NOV. 14: 1L - Flying Chicken Baseball

THURS. NOV. 16: 1W - Flying Chicken Baseball TUES. NOV. 21: 1B - Flying Chicken Baseball

GR. 4 OPEN GYM (PLEASE NOTE THESE DATES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE)

Nov. 1: Fresh Start Fitness Nov. 8: Indoor Soccer

Nov. 15: Yoga Nov. 22: Floor Hockey Nov. 29: Badminton

Thanks again, the Maude Clifford Physical Education Team

Physical Education Challenge of the Month:

Pass or Volley a ball with a friend or family member. Tell them about Handball or Triple Ball.

Celebrating our Success GPPSD Fun Run

Striving for Excellence

SuperKid Assembly