January/February 2015
Dixonville
SchoolNews
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Principal’s Message
January 30 - no school
February 4 - Wintery Walk Day
February 10 - Mighty Peace Day
February 11 - School Council Meeting 7 pm
February 13 - no school
February 16 - Family Day
R
No School
February 19 - Edmonton Trip Parent
Meeting 7 pm
February 23 - Site based PD No school
February 25 - Science Fair
February 26 - Stand Up Day
Wear Pink T-shirt Day
Dixonville School held an assembly on Tuesday January 27th. Prizes
were presented to the students who participated in our annual Magazine fundraiser. Mr. Garaba promised the students that he would
“Kiss a Pig” if the students reached their fund raising goal. Unfortunately no matter how hard Mrs. Sorensen looked she could not find a
pig to bring to our assembly. Instead of a pig we settled for a tri colored lamb for Mr. Garaba to kiss. Thank you to Mike and Lorna Scott
for allowing us to borrow their lamb. As you can see in the picture, Mr.
Garaba kept his word and kissed our lamb.
Thank you to Mrs. Jenny Sorensen for coordinating this very successful
Magazine Fund raiser.
Talent Show
Plans to host a Talent
Show at Dixonville
School are underway.
All acts must be all type
of audience appropriate.
If you would like to enter our show please call
the Dixonville School at
780-971-3770
More information will
follow.
P i n k
D a y — S u p p o r t i n g H e a l t h y
R e a l t i o n s h i p s
We would like to express a special Thank you to lone Tech
Enterprises of Grimshaw for sponsoring our “pink T-shirts
we will all wear on February 25th “Anti Bullying Day” Dixonville School will participate on February 26 so Kindergarten students can also participate.
P a g e
2
D i x o n v i l l e
Sc h o o l N e w s
Kindergarten
January has been an exciting month in our class room. The kindergarten children are
learning about life Under the Sea! We are finding out about the animals and creatures
that live under the sea and recreating a collage of life under the sea. We are very excited to extend on this knowledge by having a resource tub filled
with exciting shells, starfish, stories and books.
Did you know? Starfish are echinoderms (spiny skinned sea urchins). They are
also known as sea stars and are not really
fish despite the name been given to them.
Starfish cannot swim, and they do not use
gills to breathe.
Mini Skits in L.A.
Gr ade
1—3
y Bo
or
Mem
x
Rock On, Grade 1-3
The Science Fair is coming to Dixonville School, and grades 1-3 students are getting
ready. Grade 1s have been studying The Five Senses. Recently, the sense of seeing has
been highlighted, so they are making books describing ways to protect their eyes. Also,
they wrote their name in braille, and at the Science Fair may challenge parents to write
their names using the braille alphabet. Grade 2-3’s just finished a unit on the sense of
hearing and sound production. At present they are classifying rocks and minerals by
properties such as: color, lustre, hardness, magnetic or non-magnetic, and a vinegar
test to test for calcium carbonate. So, if you get to come to the Science Fair, be prepared to classify a rock, or mineral. Take your pick!
We are also working at writing paragraphs with lots of dress-ups such as: strong verbs,
good describing words, because clauses, and prepositions. Guess what one of the topics
is? Would you believe: “rocks”!
The following pictures say it all: Rocks and Minerals Rock!
Mrs. Klein
i
ls
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er
in
Ro
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15
Feb 0, 20
1
What is Mighty Peace Day?
 A day of celebration and a day for inspiration to do more



A call to bring a generation together to make the world a better place
Involve youth that will inspire our generation to Act in ways that make a difference
Fuel the desire for change
Four students from Dixonville School will attend the The
Courage to Create Change Conference on Mighty Peace Day in
Grande Prairie this month. I am sure they will bring back
many supportive ideas to help staff and students at Dixonville
win the battle on bullying.
Gr ade
6-9
The Grades 4
through 9 students just completed their Forestry Course taught by Mr. Tim Klein of Alberta Forestry. Thank
you to Mr. Klein and all the guest speakers who helped make
this course fascinating for our students.
The students learned about the Boreal Forest. Students in
Grades 6 through 9 are actively working on their Science Fair
Projects. Science Fair will be
happening on February 25th.
Please feel free to come to the
school around 10 a.m. to view the
Science Fair Projects.
3
Grade 4-5
The Grade four and five class has been working hard in Social Studies. The Grade 4’s have just finished a unit on Alberta’s
Natural Resources. Ask your child to name some of the natural resources in our region, the Boreal Forest. The Grade 5’s
recently studied the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Lowlands Region. Ask your child to name two contributions that immigrants
brought with them when they arrived in Canada.
Chapter review….What have we learned?
In Math, the grade four and five class are working on division. What is a quotient? We are exploring the terms: grouping
and sharing
Grade 6-9 Language Arts
We have begun the “Words Their Way” Program. Megan is reviewing her words
after she has “sorted” them. We have also been reading the novel, “The Outsiders.” Ask your child to describe one of the characters that we have read about so
far.
Parent Satisfaction Surveys
As an annual check-up on the education system, the Accountability Pillar provides an opportunity for Alberta Education and school authorities to ensure that we are equipping students for success.
The Accountability Pillar uses a set of 16 indicators consisting of surveys of students, parents and teachers on various aspects of quality; student outcomes such as dropout and high school completion rates;
and provincial assessments of student learning.
From January to the end of February, Alberta Education will be conducting the annual Accountability Pillar Survey. In January, parents of students in grades 4 - 9 will receive a survey from Alberta Education. In
February, students in grades 4 - 9 and all teachers will be completing their surveys online at school.
All surveys are anonymous and ask questions about experiences with the school. In addition to English
and French, the parent survey is available in Chinese, Punjabi, Arabic, Blackfoot, Cree, Korean, Spanish,
Tagalog and Urdu.
Your participation in the survey helps provide important information on the quality of education your
child is receiving, so we encourage you to return your survey promptly.
Survey results will be available to school authorities in May 2015, and will be reported publicly as part of
their 3-Year Education Plans and Annual Education Results Reports.
SAFE AND CARING SCHOOL
The students were asked the question: Are you proud of your school. Check out the results in
the graph below.
Our students were also asked the questions: “Do you feel safe at school?”
“Do you feel safe on the way to and from school?” “Do other students treat you well?” “Do your
teachers care about you?” “Are you treated fairly by adults in your school?” Please check out
the graph below. We are very please to note that 100% of students at Dixonville School feel they
are safe and we as staff and community care about them.
P a r e n t s :
H a v e
a
V o i c e
i n
E d u c a t i o n
In January and February many parents will receive a survey in the mail from Alberta Education. Please take a few
moments to complete this survey - your participation is very important to us.
The responses collected in the survey are provided to and reviewed by all school staff, the board of trustees and
the Alberta Government so that we can learn what is working in schools and what needs improvement. Your
answers to the questions on the survey will be considered in school and divisional planning and therefore will have
a direct impact on your child’s educational experience. This important annual survey provides you with another
way to be involved in decision making at your child’s school.
The survey is mailed to parents in grades 4, 7 and 10 (unless the
school has fewer than 120 students in grades 4-12 in which case the
survey will be expanded to include all students and parents). To ensure we receive as many responses back from
parents as possible, the survey comes with a postage paid return envelope.
Thank you in advance for your time spent in completing the survey. Through working and learning together, your
input and involvement makes our schools great places to grow, learn and be.
Paul Bennett
Superintendent of Schools
Peace River School Division No. 10
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PaulBennett
Bennett
Paul
SuperintendentofofSchools
Schools
Superintendent
PeaceRiver
RiverSchool
SchoolDivision
DivisionNo.
No.10
10
Peace
February 2015
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
1
2
3
4
5
Wintery Walk
Day
6
7
8
9
10 Mighty
Peace Day
Grande
Prairie, AB
11
12
School Council Meeting
7 p.m.
13
Non Operational Day
No School
14
Valentines
Day
15
16
Family Day
No School
17
18
19 Edmonton 20
Trip Parent
Meeting
7 pm
21
22
23
ATA PD day
No School
24
25
Science Fair
26 Stand Up 27
Day Wear
Pink - School
Event
28
January 2015 ends
The Dixonville school sent January out
with a BANG! BOOM!! KICK!!!
SPLATTT!!!!!!
The students challenged the Staff to a
Dodgeball game January 29th. The students rocked the gym walls with all the
anticipation and excitement of defeating
the staff. The Dixonville School staff
were outnumbered and even recuited a
secret tough player but fought to the bitter end. With all the excitement and
noise coming from the gym we aren’t sure whether the victors were the Staff or
the students.
A special thank you to the Dixonville Public Library for sponsored cake as a
treat for all after the big game.
Would the students
dare to challenge the
staff to another
game??? You bet
they would. Would
the staff accept the
challenge??? You bet
we would. Was it fun
for all??? You bet it
was!!!!