MDJH February 10, 2017 Parent Newsletter PARENT NEWSLETTER Macdonald Drive Junior High School 110 Macdonald Drive, St. John's, NL, A1A 2K9 Phone: 709-753-8240, Fax: 709-753-1243, E-mail: christinapike@nlesd.ca MDJH Participates in the Human Shield Event On Friday, February 3rd, a student delegation from MDJH participated in the community event Human Shield Protect our Mosques, St. John s, at the Masjid-an-Noor Mosque on Logy Bay Road. This event was planned to support the Muslim community and families who suffered in the attack at the mosque in Quebec City on January 29th. MDJH brought more than 30 people, and demonstrated our commitment to peace and tolerance in our community and in our country. As our school bus approached the mosque on Logy Bay Road we watched as cars lined the streets and people streamed toward the hundreds of people already gathered in solidarity outside the mosque. It was very cold, but our students represented MDJH with respect and maturity. It was a powerful display of the difference individual people can make to support change and growth in the world. As Mr. Syed Pirzada (president of the Muslim Association of NL) said so well that afternoon, "Canada has spoken: no to hate, no to bigotry, no to religious violence, no to intoler- ance." Many thanks go out to City Wide Bus Company who generously donated the transportation for ours and many other schools. WE Day in Montreal As part of a WE school, our student council has been recognized for our local and global efforts. The WE organization in partnership with West- Jet have recognized our commitment to making positive contributions in our school, our community, our country and our world. Some of our WE campaigns have included WE create change, WE bake for change, WE are rafiki. WE They have provided 13 of our student council members and two teachers with an all expenses paid trip to Montreal to attend WE day on February 24th, 2017. On February 23, our students will travel to Montreal to attend this national leadership event. Students will receive round trip flights, hotel accommodations, and be paired with a group from a host school in Montreal upon arrival. They will also participate in an action planning workshop with the host school led by a WE facilitator. Our school was the only school in our area to receive the opportunity. Many thanks go out to our school community for your continued support of student council initiatives.
Pink Day, February 22, 2017 Looking for Pink Cupcakes! On Wednesday, February 22nd, the students and staff of Macdonald Drive Junior High will be celebrating Pink Day, a national day recognizing Bullying Awareness with the message that Bullying Stops Here! This day originated in Nova Scotia when a group of boys noticed a new grade 9 student being bullied for wearing pink. To show their support of the new student they, along with several other male students, arrived at school the next day wearing pink shirts. To promote the anti-bullying theme of Pink Day, students at Macdonald Drive Junior High will be offered pink cupcakes on February 22nd, when they wear an article of pink clothing to school that day. This endeavor has been very successful in the last few years due to the tremendous support of our students and parents. Once again this year we are requesting parental donations of pink, iced cupcakes for Wednesday, February 22 nd. If you are able to help us in this endeavor please email Ms. Jackie Taylor-Myles at jacquelinetaylormyles@nlesd.ca or Ms. Tracy Reardon at tracyreardon@nlesd.ca or contact the school at 753-8240. Cupcakes should be delivered to the office by 9 a.m. Wednesday morning. Please remember that MDJH is a nut-free environment. National Sweater Day at MDJH We participated in National Sweater Day on Thursday, February 2 nd. National Sweater Day is a fun way to learn about the importance of saving energy and to inspire you to use less heat all winter. Home heating accounts for 80% of residential energy use in Canada and is a significant source of emissions. If all Canadians lowered their thermostats by just 2 degrees Celsius this winter, it would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 4 megatons that s equivalent to shutting down a 600 mega-watt coal-fired power station, or taking nearly 700,000 cars off the road! Page 2
St. Pat s Mercy Home Appreciation Lunch MDJH student council members attended an appreciation lunch at St. Pat s Mercy Home on Thursday, February 2nd. The staff shared stories of how our donations of gifts this past Christmas brought smiles to many of their residents. One of our students tried out the piano after lunch. Teacher Appreciation Week The week of February 13th - 18th is Teacher Appreciation Week. The student council would like to show the teachers of MDJH they are appreciated by providing baked treats during recess/ lunch. We are asking homerooms by grade levels to be responsible for different days: Grade 7 - Monday, February 13 Grade 8 - Tuesday, February 14 Grade 9- Wednesday, February 15 If you wish to send in something for the staff, please email Mme Quann at colettequann@nlesd.ca Crush for Your Crush In the Spirit of Valentine s Day, student council will once again be taking orders for a crush for your crush. Orders were taken during lunch the week of February 6-10. No orders can be accepted after this date. Students can purchase a crush for a friend or themselves for $1. They will be delivered along with a Valentine on Valentine s Day. In a school this size, there are students with the same first name and sometimes full name. All valentines must include the first and last name as well as the homeroom number to ensure delivery to the right person. If any of this information is missing, there is no guarantee it can be delivered. Page 3
Hypnotist Show Back by popular demand! A hypnotist show during our Green Apple Days! Our grade 9 students are offered the opportunity to be hypnotized while the rest of the student body enjoys the show. It is enjoyed by all. Our Green Apple Days / Spirit Week will be held from March 6-10, and the hypnotist show is scheduled for the afternoon of Thursday, March 9th. To cover the cost of the show for our students, each student is asked to bring in $3. This will be collected by homeroom teachers starting the week of February 27th. Celebrating Student s Successes We want to acknowledge and celebrate the accomplishments of the students of MDJH. We have a wall of celebration where we will place a certificate of acknowledgement highlighting participation and success in a variety of activities. We want to know if your child has participated in any plays, musicals or has been on a team that has won some title or has been recognized in any individual competition. We need your help with this. Please let us know so we can proudly display this on our wall. Please email Ms. Quann at colettequann@nlesd.ca with Celebrate YOUR CHILD S NAME in the subject line. Yearbook Photos Anyone having a team or group photo to submit to the yearbook can please email their photo to colettequann@nlesd.ca. Any pictures taken from a cellphone should be sent selecting actual size to ensure the quality is correct for uploading to the yearbook. Soccer team pictures are needed. The school soccer season is so short. If any parent, student or coach has a picture of the school soccer teams, please email one to colettequann@nlesd.ca. 2015-2016 Yearbooks All yearbooks have been distributed to our current students. Last year s yearbooks have been delivered to Holy Heart and Gonzaga for distribution with a list of the names of who ordered them. Photography Club The theme for this month s photo contest is Animals. All members are reminded to submit their photos to twragg@hotmail.com. Page 4
Music News The music ensembles will be participating in the 2017 Rotary Music Festival. Concert Choir, Vocal Ensemble, Junior Jazz Band, Senior Jazz Band, Grade 7 Concert Band and Grade 8-9 concert band will all receive a clinic and perform in an evening concert. The festival takes place April 25-May 4, 2017. Dates will be announced at the end of February, however, at this time all students are required to submit $17 for participation in the festival. These fees are due by February 13. On Friday, March 3, the Concert Choir and Vocal Ensemble will be taking part in a Choral Connections workshop put off by the NLESD for Grade 4-9 choirs with Scott Leithead from Edmonton. Students will leave MDJH at 12:30 and return at 2:45pm and will need to be picked up by parents at that time. There is no cost for this workshop. Permission slips will be coming shortly. The Grade 7 music program is very excited to have received a PLACE Grant from the Cultural Connections division of the Department of Education. Over the next 6-8 weeks, grade 7 music classes will receive 5 classes with percussionist and educator Andrew McCarthy. Students will learn African drumming/percussion and the traditional songs of Ghana, Africa. We are quite excited and really appreciate having this opportunity! Art News Any students wishing to participate in the City of St. John's 15th Annual Youth Week Art Exhibit, the Inspire ECO Art Competition, and/or the Knights of Columbus Substance Abuse Awareness Poster Contest, please see Mrs. Penney in room 227. Information for Grade 9 Parents Holy Heart of Mary Regional High School are hosting an information session on course selections, etc. and the IB Program at the Holy Heart Theatre 6:30pm on Tuesday, February 21. Gonzaga High School will be holding a Grade 9 parent orientation meeting on Wednesday, February 22, at 7:00pm. Dates to Remember: February 14 Janeway Day February 20 Early dismissal at 1:10 February 13 to 17 Staff Appreciation Week February 22 Pink Shirt Day Page 5
Book Circles at MDJH Book Circles in class. It is on his work that we base our approach. Students, in groups of four, meet to discuss their books on four Fridays following the assigned reading. Each time they meet, they are required to have completed a worksheet based on the week s readings and use that work to guide their discussion. Like any Book Club, food and drink play an integral role. The idea is for students to enjoy a celebration of their reading. They eat and drink snacks for the first 15 minutes of class. This allows them to talk and socialize, generally, before the book discussion. For the next Some students in English are opting to meet in Book Circles (or Literature Circles) for their independent novel studies instead of completing the traditional book reports or projects. This exciting approach to novel studies has been around for a while. In fact, it was Oprah s Book Clubs on her eponymous talk show that started the whole phenomena. Once Oprah ignited a reading frenzy on her show, U.S. educator, Harvey Daniels, became intrigued and conducted numerous studies on the process. He wrote the definitive book on how to successfully conduct 15-20 minutes, they share questions, vocabulary, drawings, connections and highlighted passages. The teacher circulates around the room to listen but not to interfere. The process is student led, so their independence is paramount to the success of the program. The end of the class involves clean-up and a start on next week s reading. Book Circles involve practising all the skills that good readers employ questioning, word building, connecting, highlighting and visualizing. By participating in Book Circles, students are actually learning to be better, more independent, (and hopefully) life-long readers! Page 6
Science News Science Project season is starting! Science teachers are handing out project guides and bringing classes to the computer lab so students can start research for their project. There are various project options depending on program, grade level, and teacher. Students in the English program have a choice between a Science Fair project, which can be either an experiment or a model, or a grade-specific Common Place Book assignment, which uses their textbook as a resource to explore an upcoming unit. In French Immersion, all grade 8 and 9 students are doing Science Fair Projects (experiment or model), as are the grade 7 Early French Immersion classes (Mme Brunet's classes). For grade 7 Late French Immersion, Mr. Devereaux's class has already completed a portion of an Ecosystem project, and Mr. West's classes will do a project on the Earth's crust and plate tectonics, using an information booklet that was specially written for accessibility in French for beginning students. The final deadline for all science projects will be the end of February - please consult the homework pages for exact dates. The MDJH School Science Fair, open to all students who have chosen that type of project, will be on Thursday, March 16, 2017, 1:00-5:00 pm. Participation is optional, but warmly encouraged, with a 5% bonus added to their project mark. This year, the Science Department is trying a couple of special initiatives to give additional support to students doing these projects. First, we are exploring the use of Google Classroom, where students can access copies of the project guides, register their topic chosen topic, and have the option of completing the plans for their experiment/model online rather than on paper. Some science teachers are also using Google Classroom for portions of the Common Place Book projects. We are also offering a Science Project Help Lab during lunch on days 1 and 3 of the school cycle. Teachers will be on hand to help students with all stages of the project, from choosing a topic, to planning their experimental work, to writing up their report - including French help for FI students. In some cases, students may also be able to use the school's lab space and equipment to perform their experiment. Please note, the intention is to supplement, not replace, the help you are able to offer your children. We are looking forward to students' creativity, and to messing about in the lab with them! WANTED: Science Fair Judges The MDJH School Science Fair this year will be Thursday, March 16th, 2016, 1:00-5:00 pm. Science students are getting to work and creatively designing and performing experiments. Many of them will be proudly showing off their work at our School Science Fair. It will be, as every year, a big event with a high degree of community involvement from parents and other scientists. We are proud of our high rate of student participation! If you have a science background and want to share in the excitement of doing and talking science with young people, we want you! Judges visit individual projects and engage the students in conversation about their work, giving each participant the benefit of a supportive, enthusiastic, and thoughtful audience for their learning. Then the judges help select the Science Fair winners, who will have the option of going on to the Regional Science Fair or other event depending on their type of project. If you are able to participate, please contact me at nathaliebrunet@nlesd.ca Page 7
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School Leaving Carnival Grade 9 Parents / Guardians, please return permission forms with $20 for the Grade 9 School Leaving Carnival, scheduled for May 25, 2017, 6:30-9:00. Also, we are asking for prizes and/or Gift Cards so that all of our Grade 9s will walk away with a prize. Grade 8 Parents, if you are able to volunteer for the Grade 9 Carnival, a form has gone home with all grade 8 students. A copy can also be found on our web page at http://mdjh.info Parking Lot Reminder Coming off of Toronto Street, there are two lanes. The right lane is for buses and traffic going around MDJH. The left lane is for parents/ guardians dropping off their children. PLEASE pull up to the STOP sign before letting your child out. The drop off lane should only be used for quick stop, drop and go, even if the doors are not open yet. If parents do not want to leave until the doors open, they should park in the parking lot. Please take a moment to watch MDJH Drop off Video the people may have changed, but the instructions are still the same! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptikibllhvo PARENT NEWSLETT ER Macdonald Drive Junior High 110 Macdonald Drive St. John s, NL A1A 2K9 Phone: 709-753-8240 Fax: 709-753-1243 E-mail: christinapike@nlesd.ca We re on the web! http://mdjh.info Page 9