|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Welcome back to Woodhaven!
This year promises to be truly exceptional. I am especially looking forward to some of the new ideas we will be putting into action this year. First, we will be starting right off the bat by taking our Grade 9 students to Calgary on September 3rd to be part of the World Skills competition. This is a truly exceptional opportunity for our students to see the future of the world of work. We follow this by taking our Grade 8 students on an Outdoor Education overnight outing to Camp Warwa, September 10th, and Mr. Tokarsky is heading a trip for Grade 8's to the Telus World of Science September 3rd. What a great start to the year!
We also have new program initiatives coming to Woodhaven. Our staff is working to build on the work we did last spring and we will be launching a full year of Woodhaven Reads....our School Wide Reading Program. Starting in October under the guidance of Mrs. Gericke, students from Grades 5-9 will be working on specific reading skill development strategies two times per week.
In an attempt to increase the overall fitness of our students, Mr. Coghill will be leading a new Wellness initiative at Woodhaven. Beginning in September students will be working with our excellent PE staff as we lead them to an understanding of what it means to be truly well. Look for our school wide monthly Wellness and Fitness targets.
This is the year of the playground! Construction happens in September. We are excited to see this project coming to fruition. We will be looking for volunteers to help with the construction. Please come to our Open House Thursday, September 10th for more details.
The start of the year is time for change. We are welcoming a number of new staff members to our team. In Grade 5 we are welcoming Mrs. Thiel back to Woodhaven. Also joining us is Mrs. Morris. In Grade 6 Miss Pierce has done a great job painting her classroom and is excited to start the year as a homeroom teacher. In Grade 8 we welcome Mrs. Schaber and Mrs. Daniell to our team. Last but certainly not least, a big Woodhaven welcome to Mr. McLachlan in Grade 9.
I am proud of our staff. We have a dynamic teaching team who are ready for an exciting year.
Miss Brimacombe and I look forward to seeing you all around the building.
Russ Foster
Principal
__________________________________________________________
Woodhaven to Pilot School Wide Reading Program
Woodhaven Middle School is embarking on an ambitious program to improve the reading skills of all 506 students attending the school. Running from Grades 5-9, the program will run throughout the month of May. This will serve as a pilot for full year implementation in 2009-10. All students will focus on the same four reading strategies this month. They are:
1. Making personal connections to reading,
2. Identifying important factual information,
3. Putting information into sequential order, and
4. Identifying the author's opinion.
The first reading session begins on May 6, and includes a total of eight reading days during the month. Reading will occur school wide at the start of the day and each session is 30 minutes in length. During each session the students will be responsible for completing a short activity which shows whether they understand the topic being taught. At the end of the year the results of the reading program will be reported to you on the final report card. What you will see is a checklist with the four skills and an indication of whether the student completed the strategy successfully.
Woodhaven would like to recognize six staff members who contributed significantly to the development of this program. They are Mrs. Gericke, Ms. Getz, Ms. Brimacombe, Ms. Neumann, Mr. Teliani and Mr. Tokarsky. They have led the way in showing our staff that every teacher can be, and is, a reading teacher. Thanks!
__________________________________________________________
Excellence in Teaching Awards 2009.
Woodhaven Middle School is proud to announce two of our teachers: Kevin Tokarsky who teaches Grade 8 LA & Social Studies, Grade 7 LA and Grade 5, 6, 7, 8 & 9 Drama Option along with and Gerry Smithaniuk who teaches Grade 8 Math & Science, Grade 7 Science and Grade 7 & 8 Building Construction Option have been nominated and have reached the semi-finals for this year's Excellence in Teaching Awards.
We would like to recognize and congratulate Mr. Smithaniuk and Mr. Tokarsky for their achievements.
Out of 365 eligible nominations from across the province, 134 teachers reached the semi-finals, among them five teachers from the Parkland School Division #70 were selected.
All teachers were nominated for their exceptional work and leadership in their respective classrooms.
This brings to three the number of our staff who have advanced to this level in the past two years. Barb Gericke was a semi finalist last year for her work as an innovative Grade 7 teacher and Health Day leader.
___________________________________________________________
Woodhaven "Saint" Program A Big Success
Woodhaven Middle School is blessed to be full of great kids who know how to "Do Right". That is a great thing because the school prides itself on having only one rule...that being to Do Right. Comments came to the office on a regular basis about students who had provided a service to others without being asked, they just did it out the goodness of their hearts.
At the same time we were discussing how great our kids were an anonymous donor dropped off a small package at the office. The envelope was opened to reveal two Seasons Tickets to the Spruce Grove Saints Jr. A hockey team. The only condition placed on who was to get the tickets was that they had to deserve them. What a gift!
It only took moments to put our earlier conversation about great kids together with the Saints tickets to come up with the idea of having our own "Woodhaven Saint" and rewarding kids who did good deeds with free hockey tickets.
As of November 18 we have named eight Saints. Their contributions have been varied but each one is characterized by our students showing they are great citizens who know how to "Do Right". They are:
Oct 8th - Alyssa...Volunteer referee
Oct 15th - Austin...Helping keep the school clean
Oct 24th - Seth...Volunteering an entire weekend working at a tournament.
Oct 29th - Kyra...Helping clean up the Home Ec. lab.
Nov 5th - Deja... Helping a younger student feel comfortable on the playground
Nov 8th - Alex...Helping a younger student feel comfortable on the playground
Nov 15th - Walter...was an outstanding help to his teacher
Nov 22nd - Axel...Found a lost scooter and returned it to the office
Nov 28th - Lexie...Helping clean up the I.A. lab.
Nov 29th - Shaylyn...Helping clean up the I.A. lab.
Dec 6th - Garrett
The following six students were chosen to become Woodhaven "Saints" for an outstanding weekend of scorekeeping at a Woodhaven Volleyball tournament, giving up their free time to help make the weekend a success.
Dec 17th - Wyatt
Dec 19th - Jordan
Dec 20th - Cody
Jan 2nd - Drew
Jan 3rd - Tyler
Jan 10th - Sam
The following four students are doing an excellent job of re-cycling bottle, cans, juice boxes and paper and have earned themselves the title of Woodhaven "Saints"
Jan 17th - Steven
Jan 27th - Allan
Jan 30th - Justin
Feb 4th - Kruize
The last two Woodhaven "Saints" have been selected for their good work cleaning the Multi-purpose room more than once without being asked.
Feb 14th - Tyler
Feb 18th - Joey
We congratulate all the students who earned tickets to the Spruce Grove Saints Jr. 'A' Hockey games.
The program was a success and students continue to "Do Right"
We would like to thank the Spruce Grove Saints Jr. 'A' Hockey Club for their kindness in donating the tickets to our school and we wish them every success in the future.
Russ Foster
Principal
