Issue 4 January 2013

Newsletter Contents:

Important Dates:

Page 2

Principal’s  Message

January

Page 3

Autism Conference

Mon. 7th

Classes Resume

Christmas Volunteers

Tue. 8th

Pita Lunch

Advanced Science

Wed. 9th

Early Dismissal

Parent Council

Thurs 10 - 12SAPEC BBall Tourney

Leadership 8

Fri - 11th

Gr9 Play Prod visit Paul Kane

School Clothing

Mon 14th

Booster Juice

School Website

Thur 17th

Ski Club - Rabbit Hill

Congratulations!

Thur 17th

Internet Integrity Session

Office News

Fri 18-19

Jr. BBall Tourney

Basketball news

Mon. 21st

Parent Council Meeting. 7pm

Fitness & Lifestyle

Thur 24th

Cell / IPod Day

Student Teachers

Fri 25th

SMILES DAY!

Cheerleading

Tues 29th

7,8,9 Fit for Life visit Servus

Page 6

Leadership

Tues 29th

Leadership at Hope Mission

Page 7

Unsung Heroes

Thur 31st

Ski Club - Rabbit Hill

Page 7,8

Counselling Corner

Page 9

Rec Academy

Page 4

Page 5

WILLIAM D. CUTS JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 149 LAROSE DRIVE, ST. ALBERT, ALBERTA T8N 2X7 TELEPHONE: 780-458-8585 FAX: 780-459-3688 SCHOOL WEBSITE: www.wdcuts.spschools.org ST. ALBERT PUBLIC SCHOOLS

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W. D. Cuts School

PRINCIPAL’S  MESSAGE We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and had lots of family time. Students are back in class and moving towards the halfway point of the year. Welcome back. Our basketball teams are moving into their regular season. Thanks to all the coaches volunteering their time to work with our athletes, Mrs. Rivet and Ms. MacLachlan coaching senior girls; Mr. Herman, Mr. Wiens, Miss Seymour and Eric Boychuk (three volunteers from our community) who are coaching our senior boys! Mr. Babiuk is coaching our junior boys and Mrs. Henker is coaching our junior girls. Thanks to Mr. Witschen who has organized our Rabbit Hill ski trips once again. Our Cheer team is moving into the competitive part of the year. I would like to thank Linda Bland, Hillary McClelland and Kaitlyn Boos who have spent countless hours working with our program. It is great to see alumni coming back and helping and so special thanks to Sydney Coady, Brenna Krull, Beth Pastucha and Gabby Channon who have each been volunteering throughout the year. We look forward to SMILES Day on January 25th, which is the first of two reward days. Students qualify for SMILES DAY, indicating three or fewer lates from September to January. In addition, students have been responsible for maintaining a polite disposition, achieving an effort score of less than 18 points on the first term report (satisfactory to excellent effort) and basically following the expectations of the school. We are very proud to state that over ninety percent of our students qualify and that is a powerful statement about the great things happening in our school. We would also like to give a shout out to all the families who spoiled us with gifts, food and cards. Thank you so much and we really appreciated it.

Enjoy the New Year! Mike Tod

W. D. Cuts School

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AUTISM CONFERENCE

Jan. 31st to Feb. 2nd, 2013 Children's Autism Services of Edmonton invites you to join them for their 6th Annual Conference at the Edmonton Mariott River Cree. Register online at: www.childrensautism.ca

CHRISTMAS KETTLE VOLUNTEERS A big Thank you to our Christmas Kettle, Salvation Army volunteers. Katie Bornia Brittany Sieward Brooke Budskin Clara Houdek Ariana Pfaffenbichler Desiree Gettis Alicia Easthop Brittany Jahns Quinn Waselenchuk Nicole Barry Courtney Hogg This is a wonderful way to give back to the community.

ADVANCED SCIENCE

On December 18, students from the Advanced Science option displayed their Leonardo da Vinci models. Students spent much of November and December researching, blueprinting and creating their models on a miniature scale. Models included tanks, war scythes, gliders, a trebuchet, a parachute, a crossbow, an anemometer and a castle siege weapon, some of which were working models. While many scientific concepts came into play, such as mathematics, design, construction, and knowledge of various forces, the biggest concept practiced was problem-solving. Overall, it was a successful learning experience for all students involved, and their teacher.

PARENT COUNCIL Our next parent council meeting will be on Monday, January 21 at 7:00 pm in our staff room. Meetings normally last an hour and are very informative. If you would simply like to sit and join us, please feel free to attend, no strings attached. Everyone is welcome!

Grade 8 Leadership The students from Leadership 8 were fundraising throughout the months of November and December for one of the ME to We initiatives entitled "Pennies for Water". The goal was to collect as many $25 penny bags as possible. When the event finished on December 21st our school was able to raise $312.00!!!! That's 31 200 pennies! Way to go Cuts! Leadership 8 would like to thank everyone who made this possible.

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W. D. Cuts School

SCHOOL CLOTHING

SCHOOL WEBSITE

We have a large selection of WD Cuts clothing available for sale at the school. Shorts, sweats, hoodies, all at reasonable prices. Come check it out in the office!

www.wdcuts.spschools.org

BASKETBALL The Senior Boys and Girls Basketball teams are well underway. We played in the VJM tournament early in December and had some successful results. Our league will be starting up in January. Our first HOME game is January 22nd against ESMY. Girls play at 4:00 and Boys play at 5:30. Come out and cheer on the senior teams!

Remember to check out our school website regularly. It is a valuable resource for finding field trip forms, newsletters, school calendar, school photos, upcoming events etc. You can also use it to view D. A. S. H. This tool helps you see what work is due and when. This is sorted by homeroom teacher. The Rec Academy calendar and School Calendar of events are also on the site for your reference and planning.

CONGRATS!

A big congratulations to 2 of our students. Riley Gulewich and Clara Houdek have been  nominated  for  “Student  of  the  Year”   with the Desa School of Karate. Way to go!

OFFICE NEWS Student Absences and Lates: If you are going to be away from school or if you know you are going to be late, please remember to have a parent call and leave a message on our voicemail. Students must sign in at the office and obtain a late slip if they are coming in late. Students must sign out at the office if they leave the school for an appointment, etc. Students must use the office phone when calling a parent for permission to go home if they are ill, injured, etc. Student Records: Have you moved? New telephone number? Have an Alberta Health Care Number? Do we have a Birth Certificate on file? Please remember to let the office know of any changes.

W. D. Cuts School

Page 5

FITNESS & LIFESTYLE 7/8/9 We have been having a lot of fun in Fitness & Lifestyle. We went bowling and got to try yoga and karate! Thank you to Sensei Desa and thank you to Jess from Soul Fitness for coming in to work with our classes. In the new year we will be going rock climbing at Rock Jungle, and swimming at Servus place.

STUDENT TEACHERS We were very fortunate to have had 2 special student teachers at our school for 6 weeks before the Christmas break. Kirstin Walke and Danielle Gallant were helping out with Mrs. Rivet and Mrs. MacLaughlin classes. Together they organized our very successful career day. They were a wonderful addition to our staff. We wish them success in their future careers. They will be missed!

CHEERLEADING Our cheer team will be holding a bottle drive on Saturday January 19. Funds raised will be used for our team uniforms. Donations can be dropped out at the St. Albert Bottle Refund Center, 8 Riel Drive, between 9am and 1pm. The Cheer Team is thankful for your support!

UNSUNG HEROES December was a great time to recognize some of our kids who go above and beyond. We call them our Unsung Heroes. Great Job! Our nominees were: Kate Chernoff, Nathan Tiedeman, Brandee Levesque, Darryl Broderick, Micheal Mallais, Brittany Purpur, Kennedi Venramin, Hunter Pickford, Matthew Draper, William Montgomery, Jonathan Taylor, Jon Borrett, Graeme Janssen, Cam Bolen, Jared Trusz, Matthew Jackson, Damon Comaniuk, Will Pethick, Jill McLennan.

W. D. Cuts School

Page 6

LEADERSHIP On December 4th, Leadership 9 students with the help of parent volunteers, Dee Parent and Tara Burnett, Outreach Program Coordinator, The St. Albert 50+ Club and volunteers from the Club made Christmas cards and wrapped gifts for seniors in our community. Thanks  to  Dee  for  the  beautiful  cards  and  our  friends  from  the  Senior’s   Centre as it was a fabulous afternoon which put us all into the Christmas spirit. On December 11th and 20th, the students along with Tara, Ms. Blachford and Ms. Jang delivered these gifts along with homemade cookies from our leadership students. We had Christmas music and sang carols to the seniors. As every year is a very emotional time, the  Senior’s  Centre  chose  recipients  who  had  fallen  upon  tough  times  so  our  job   was to bring them cheer. We have had 4 phone calls and 2 thank you letters from the seniors who SO loved our visits! It is the true meaning of Christmas to give back. On  December  13,  many  of  our  leadership  students  took  turns  “ringing  the  bells”  for  the   Salvation Army. We  had  a  fabulous  time  at  the  Sobey’s  entrance  and  raised  a  lot  of   money for people in need. Thank you to Mr Mentz for organizing this worthy endeavour. We  have  been  back  and  forth  to  the  Senior’s  Centre  helping   with a variety of Christmas Lunches. It has been great working with them and we look forward to returning back in January! We also had a very successful PJ Day in December. Our class  asked  all  of  the  students  to  wear  their  PJ’s  to  school   and remember to bring a toonie for the Global Enrichment Fund. We will be buying needy children in Africa gifts to make their world just a bit brighter. In January, we will all return to our volunteer placements within the community. Students should know where they are placed and will start on January 8th. We are excited that we can take students to the Hope Mission on January 29th. Strange request, but if families have any new unused kitchen knives, the Hope Mission kitchen is desperately in need. We will need to plan for the transportation and delivery of these. Email us at the school for further information. Students and parents need to sign a waiver before they can go -space is limited.

W. D. Cuts School

Page 7

COUNSELLING CORNER To My 13 Year-Old, An iPhone Contract from Your Mom, With Love Technology is a blessing and a curse it seems. You can't help but notice how quickly you can get sucked into the digital world. Whether it is surfing the Internet, checking Facebook, browsing Pintrest, or sending out a couple emails: an hour can pass by in an instant. The challenge with technology is to use it in moderation and to pass this message on to our students/children. Janell Burley-Hoffmann is a writer for The Huffington Post and recently shared her views in the article, "To My 13 Year-Old, An IPhone Contract from Your Mom, With Love." Her approach is realistic, fair and clear. It is about being the same person online as in real life. As a district, St. Albert Public Schools is working together with all junior highs to talk about Internet Integrity. On January 17th, ten grade eight Leadership students from W D Cuts will be joining forty other junior high students from across the district. We will be spending the day at Lorne Akins talking about being responsible cyber citizens. These students will then be coming back to school as our experts and will be speaking to the grade seven classes in Advisory. Please enjoy. Any questions/comments please email me at [email protected] Jacqueline Brown Dear Gregory Merry Christmas! You are now the proud owner of an iPhone. Hot Damn! You are a good and responsible 13-year-old boy and you deserve this gift. But with the acceptance of this present comes rules and regulations. Please read through the following contract. I hope that you understand it is my job to raise you into a well rounded, healthy young man that can function in the world and coexist with technology, not be ruled by it. Failure to comply with the following list will result in termination of your iPhone ownership. I love you madly and look forward to sharing several million text messages with you in the days to come. 1. It is my phone. I bought it. I pay for it. I am loaning it to you. Aren't I the greatest? 2. I will always know the password. 3. If it rings, answer it. It is a phone. Say hello, use your manners. Do not ever ignore a phone call if the screen reads "Mom" or "Dad." Not ever. 4. Hand the phone to one of your parents promptly at 7:30 p.m. every school night and every weekend night at 9:00 p.m. It will be shut off for the night and turned on again at 7:30 a.m. If you would not make a call to someone's land line, wherein their parents may answer first, then do not call or text. Listen to those instincts and respect other families like we would like to be respected. 5. It does not go to school with you. Have a conversation with the people you text in person. It's a life skill. *Half days, field trips and after school activities will require special consideration. 6. If it falls into the toilet, smashes on the ground, or vanishes into thin air, you are responsible for the replacement costs or repairs. Mow a lawn, babysit, stash some birthday money. It will happen, you should be prepared.

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W. D. Cuts School

7. Do not use this technology to lie, fool, or deceive another human being. Do not involve yourself in conversations that are hurtful to others. Be a good friend first or stay the hell out of the crossfire. 8. Do not text, email, or say anything through this device you would not say in person. 9. Do not text, email, or say anything to someone that you would not say out loud with their parents in the room. Censor yourself. 10. No porn. Search the web for information you would openly share with me. If you have a question about anything, ask a person -- preferably me or your father. 11. Turn it off, silence it, put it away in public. Especially in a restaurant, at the movies, or while speaking with another human being. You are not a rude person; do not allow the iPhone to change that. 12. Do not send or receive pictures of your private parts or anyone else's private parts. Don't laugh. Someday you will be tempted to do this despite your high intelligence. It is risky and could ruin your teenage/college/adult life. It is always a bad idea. Cyberspace is vast and more powerful than you. And it is hard to make anything of this magnitude disappear -- including a bad reputation. 13. Don't take a zillion pictures and videos. There is no need to document everything. Live your experiences. They will be stored in your memory for eternity. 14. Leave your phone home sometimes and feel safe and secure in that decision. It is not alive or an extension of you. Learn to live without it. Be bigger and more powerful than FOMO (fear of missing out). 15. Download music that is new or classic or different than the millions of your peers that listen to the same exact stuff. Your generation has access to music like never before in history. Take advantage of that gift. Expand your horizons. 16. Play a game with words or puzzles or brain teasers every now and then. 17. Keep your eyes up. See the world happening around you. Stare out a window. Listen to the birds. Take a walk. Talk to a stranger. Wonder without goggling. 18. You will mess up. I will take away your phone. We will sit down and talk about it. We will start over again. You and I, we are always learning. I am on your team. We are in this together. It is my hope that you can agree to these terms. Most of the lessons listed here do not just apply to the iPhone, but to life. You are growing up in a fast and ever changing world. It is exciting and enticing. Keep it simple every chance you get. Trust your powerful mind and giant heart above any machine. I love you. I hope you enjoy your awesome new iPhone. xoxoxo, Mom

W. D. Cuts School

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REC ACADEMY Thank you to all involved in making December such an active and exciting month. Mondays in January will see us off to the Kinsmen Sports Centre in Edmonton - if a racquet is involved, we'll be doing it. Fridays will be outside as we continue to embrace winter: free skating at Lacombe Park Lake and Hawrelak Lake in Edmonton, and an afternoon at Rabbit Hill will keep our cheeks rosy. We will also be planning our three day Jasper trip scheduled for February 28, March 1, 2. Stay tuned for more information.

Monday

Tuesday 7

Wednesday 8

Kinsmen Sports Centre 12:30

Friday

9

10

Rabbit Hill 12:30 7pm

16

17

18

Staff Meeting in School Activities

14

15

Kinsmen Sports Centre 12:30

In School Activities

Kinsmen Sports Centre 12:30

22

28

Skating at Lacombe Park Lake 23

24

In School Activities

21

Kinsmen Sports Centre 12:30

Thursday

29

25 Skating at Hawrelak Lake Edmonton

In School Activities

31 30

01

WILLIAM D. CUTS COMMUNITY SCHOOL

2013 Sunday Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday Thursday

1 2 New Years Christmas Day Break

6

7 8 Classes Resume Pita Lunch

9 Early Dismissal

Friday

Saturday

3 Christmas Break

4 Christmas Break

5

10 SAPEC B Ball Tournament

11 SAPEC B Ball Tournament

12 SAPEC B Ball Tournament

Grade 9 Play Production Field Trip to Paul Kane 13

14 Booster Juice

15 Sr B Ball @ VJM B@4 G @ 5:30

16

20

21 22 Parent Caouncil Sr. B Ball 7:00 p.m. @ Cuts G@4 B @ 5:30

23

24 Cell Phone I Pod Day

27

28

30 Sr. B Ball @ Cuts B@4 G @ 5:30

31 Ski Rabbit Hill

29 Fitness 7/8/9 Servus Place Leadership Hope Mission

17 Ski Rabbit Hill

18 Jr. B Ball Tournament Morinville

19 Jr. B Ball Tournament Morinville

25 SMILES DAY

26

Internet Integrity Session

Stakeholders Meeting

WILLIAM D. CUTS COMMUNITY SCHOOL

2013 Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

1 Sr. B Ball Tournament Gibbins

2 Sr. B Ball Tournament Gibbins

Interim Reports Issued 3

4 5 Grade 9 Sr B Ball Immunizations @ Cuts G@4 B @ 5:30

6 Winter Carnival

7 Teachers Convention No Classes

8 Teachers Convention No Classes

9

13 Sr. B Ball @ Cuts B@4 G @ 5:30 Outdoor Ed Trip

14 Ski Rabbit Hill

15

16

20 Sr, B Ball @ E S Gish G@4 B @ 5:30 Randon Acts of Kindness

21 Cuts Spirit Luncheon

22

Random Acts of Kindness

Random Acts of Kindness

27 Sr. B Ball @ Cuts B@4 G @ 5:30

28 Rec Academy Jasper Trip

Early Dismissal

Pita Lunch

10

17

11 Booster Juice

18 Family Day No Classes

12 Fitness 7 Wall Climbing

19 Fitness 8/9 Wall Climbing Random Acts of Kindness

24

25

26

Outdoor Ed Trip

Outdoor Ed Trip 23