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Week of May 5—9, 2014
Superintendent’s Memo FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT
The 3rd Annual BTPS Superintendent’s Public Speaking Competition was a HUGE success! We were so pleased to have such a great turn out of sup-porters to the Alumni Hall Theater at Lakeland College in Vermilion to cheer on the competitors. All of the competitors made the work of the judges diffi-cult with their very thoughtful content and excellent presentation. I would like to personally congratulate the 25 students who represented their schools in the three categories. They include:
Division II
1. Ryan Welch – WES (returnee) 2. Kira Axley – Hughenden
3. Kalli Beebe – KES 4. Paynton Bensmiller Venaas – Dewberry
5. Tori Dawn Cromarty – Provost 6. Jenna Teasdale – EH Walter (returnee)
7. Tyson Rudolf – Delnorte 8. Amber Wagner – VES
9. Rae Flemming – Irma 10. Brett Moran – Edgerton
11. Noah Saskiw – Marwayne Jubilee 12. Kelby Smith – Dr. Folkins
Division III
1. Amanda Torpe – Hughenden 2. Lauryn Heintz – Provost
3. Maya Gabrielson – EH Walter 4. Kathleen Fleck – Delnorte (returnee)
5. Kennedy King – KHS (returnee) 6. Katie McKee – Irma
7. Matthew Trefiak – Edgerton 8. Brittany Eyben – JR Robson
9. Marty Jackson – Mannville 10. Anya Kuziw – Marwayne Jubilee returnee)
11. Catherine Clifford – Dr. Folkins
Division IV
1. Kali Brodbin – JR Robson (returnee) 2. Marti-Jean King - KHS
Continued next page.
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
From the Supt (cont’d) ............2
Policy Update ...........................2
Curriculum ...............................3
FNMI Teacher Resources ........3
Minister’s Student Council ......4
Technology ...............................4
From the BTMS Calendar ........5
From In the Loop...……………...5
Items of Interest…………………..6
May 11 MISSION: Buffalo Trail Public Schools is committed to maximizing student learning, in
a safe and caring environment, supported by a highly effective team.
FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT (FROM PAGE 1)
After the speeches were delivered, the judges had to make some very difficult decisions to select the Gold and Silver Medal winners in each category (photo of the winners is on the next page). The final results were:
Division II Gold—Brett Moran (Edgerton) Silver—Noah Saskiw (Marwayne)
Division III Gold—Kathleen Fleck (Delnorte) Silver—Matthew Trefiak (Edgerton)
Division IV Gold—Kali Brodbin (JR Robson) Silver—Marti King (KHS)
Many thanks go out to all of the stu-dents who participated in the school level speaking events. I also want to personally thank staff members who promoted and organized qualifying events at their schools. Thanks also goes out to parents and grandparents for their help and support in this event. Thank you to our judges; Bernie Huedepohl, Marie Isaman, Karla Sun-derland, Corrine Butt and Debbie McMann. Also a big thank you goes out to LLC President Dr. Edwards for al-lowing us to use the Alumni Hall Thea-ter for this event!
Let’s go for 20,000! You have all been wonderful in your support for Innisfree student Aaron Friesen’s quest for freedom! We are now in the last week of a contest that has the potential to change this amazing young man’s life forever. As you will recall, over the last few weeks we have been tracking and supporting our votes to help him achieve independence. May 9, 2014 will be the last day that we can vote for Aaron to be a recipient of one of the specialized vehicles that will give him he mobility he dreams about. As of early Friday afternoon (May 2) Aaron currently has 17, 140 votes. We need to rally in this last week and see if we can push his votes over the 20,000 mark! WE CAN DO IT!
You may recall that in March, schools across BTPS were encour-aged to lower their flags to half-mast to acknowledge the end to Cana-da’s mission in Afghanistan. May 9th, 2014 is Canada’s National Day of Hon-our. Education Minister Jeff Johnson shares the following message with all Alberta school jurisdictions, “As a province, we proudly marked the end of Canada’s mission in Afghanistan earlier this year on March 12th, which coincided with the final lowering of Canada’s flag in Kabul, Afghanistan. The National Day of Honour offers teachers, schools and communities another important oppor-tunity to learn about and commemorate
the contributions of Canadian personnel to the international effort in Afghani-stan.
I encourage schools in your jurisdiction that express an interest in participating in the National Day of Honour to please do so. As Ministerial Liaison to the Ca-nadian Armed Forces, I am proud of the respect shown by our students for the Canadian military’s contributions to peace and security across the globe. The National Day of Honour provides an excellent opportunity to continue to engage our students in learning about Canada’s role on the international stage and how Canada’s efforts and those of its international partners have helped to improve the lives of the Afghan peo-ple.”
To assist those wanting to take part in the May 9 commemorations, the Gov-ernment of Canada has provided online information about Canada’s Mission in Afghanistan and the Nation-al Day of Honour at www.app.forces.gc.ca/ndoh-jndc/national-day-of-honour.html.
Take care,
GO BACK
POLICY UPDATE
The policy committee is working on a draft admin procedure that would clearly define different levels of high risk activities for schools.
Titled 302.9AP Approval for School Participation in Physi-cal Activities, the admin pro-cedure will provide rationale, and will include lists of ac-ceptable and excluded activi-ties and a notification/approval process. Additional-ly, a general information ref-erence document from the Alberta School Boards Insur-ance Exchange (ASBIE) and a link to the Safety Guidelines for Physical Activities in Alber-ta Schools will be provided.
The draft documents have been sent to schools for feed-back, which will be brought to the June 9 policy commit-tee meeting.
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“May 9, 2014 will be the last day that we can vote for Aaron to be a recipient of one of the specialized vehicles that will give him he mobility he dreams about.”
CURRICULUM
Education Week is here (May 5 to 9, 2014) - It is a time to celebrate the im-portant role education plays in shaping the future of our province. Here are a few sites with resources and activity ideas celebrating this week:
http://www.teachers.ab.ca/News%20Room/IssuesandCampaigns/Pages/Education-Week.aspx
https://education.alberta.ca/department/events/educationweek.aspx
Reminder for those upcoming diplomas—PrimeTime Learning offers Diplomax Tutorials in Vermilion for a fee. Tutorial sessions begin in May 30. You can regis-ter online at http://www.primetimelearning.ca/
May is Asian Heritage Month and the TC2 Pivotal Voices online collection con-tains resources that recognize Chinese and South Asian Canadians experiences. Here is an interactive game, with focus on historical perspective of fictional Chi-nese characters from the 1850s to the 1940s.
http://ccs.library.ubc.ca/game/index.html
Internet safety—MediaSmarts (previously Media Awareness Network) provides resources for teachers, parents and librarians to support them in addressing the new challenges and issues that arise as children and young people go on the Internet. It provides tips for reducing the risks in the classroom. http://mediasmarts.ca/ Professional Learning Opportunities—2learn.ca offers free
online webinars that explore current topics of interest to Alberta teachers. For an overview of upcoming 2learn.ca professional development events visit:
http://www.theconcourse.ca/elgg/event_calendar/list
The Learning Network sessions: http://www.learning-network.org/programs
Edmonton Regional Development Consortium sessions:
http://www.erlc.ca/programs/default.php GO BACK
FNMI TEACHER
RESOURCES
Resource for gr 11 and 12 students: Aboriginal Bursaries from the federal office of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, this is a searchable database of scholarships available to aboriginal students. This database also provides a listing by province.
http://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/eng/1351687337141/1351687403171
Alberta Education has produced a number of special education resources, here is an important one: A Handbook for Aboriginal Parents of Children with Special Needs.
This week, we showcase another portion of Alberta Education's "Walking Together" resources: http://www.learnalberta.ca/content/aswt/#/home
As we continue moving around the digital resource, this week we explore the ‘Indigenous Pedagogy' piece. This exploration provides an opportunity for you to reflect upon how Indigenous pedagogy has existed since ancient times and has endured and evolved to the present day. As you explore, please consider the reflection statements: What tried and true approaches to education have First Nations, Me tis and Inuit (FNMI) Peoples been using for generations? Considering the Indigenous pedagogy presented, where do you find similar examples in your own practice?
Reminder – visit BTPS’s FNMI support wiki for more resources: http://fnmisupport.wikispaces.com/home
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Public speaking competition winners (back row): Marti King, Div IV silver; Kathleen Fleck, Div III gold; Matthew
Trefiak, Div III silver; Kali Brodbin, Div IV gold. Front row: Brett Moran, Div II gold and Noah Saskiw, Div II
silver.
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MINISTER’S STUDENT
ADVISORY COUNCIL
Invitation to Alberta Students aged 14 - 19—Alberta Education recognizes that students have a valuable perspective when it comes to their education. Speak Out – the Alberta Student Engage-ment Initiative is committed to supporting students and schools in increasing Alberta youth's en-gagement in their education and improving student learning expe-riences, both at the local and pro-vincial levels.
Through the Minister’s Student Advisory Council (MSAC), stu-dents can get involved in decision making, connect with other stu-dents, grow as a leader and be-come the student voice in their community. As ambassadors of Speak Out students will share their voice collaboratively along-side all education partners, in-cluding teachers, principals, su-perintendents and government staff, to enhance the education system.
The MSAC consists of 24 to 30 youth between the ages of 14 and 19 years old. Council members are selected based on a diversity of backgrounds, opinions, experi-ences and every attempt is made to have representation from each zone. Check out what these stu-dents had to say about their in-volvement in “Why I Do It”.
Help promote this provincial ini-tiative by sharing this infor-mation with your school leader-ship and with youth in your school and community. Applica-tions for the 2014-2015 MSAC are currently being accepted, the deadline is Friday, May 30, 2014 at 4:30 pm. A complete applica-tion needs to include a completed consent form which can be sub-mitted by email, mail or fax.
For additional information about MSAC or Speak Out, please visit the Speak Out website or contact the Speak Out Team at [email protected].
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TECHNOLOGY
Pinning Any Website to the TaskBar in Windows—Sometimes when a bookmark just won’t do, you would love to add that site as a an icon on your taskbar. Well, Google Chrome has you covered.
After making sure that you are signed into the Chrome Browser, you can go to any website then turn that into a desktop icon, taskbar pin or start menu item in two simple clicks. (If you aren’t sure if you are signed into the Chrome Browser, you can check in the settings by clicking on the three lines
icon in the right hand corner. It should say “Signed in as [email protected]”)
Find the desired website, perhaps your BTPS Gmail.
Then click on the three lines icon
Then hover over “Tools” then click on “Create application shortcuts…”
A new window will pop up, and you can choose what kind of shortcuts you would like to make. Click on the ones you want then choose “Create”.
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Now the pin will be added to your taskbar.
HELPDESK
Email volume has been light. Please remember to contact us with any prob-lems you are having.
Reminder: Do not call the main central office switch board as they are not trained to help with technology.
Email us at [email protected] tech problems; [email protected] for PowerSchool PowerTeacher problems
Phone 780-806-2053
Text 780-806-9228
BTPS EdTech Cheat Sheet click to link
Twitter hashtag #btps28 GO BACK
“The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives.”—Robert M. Hutchins
May 5
April suspension reports due
Support staff monthly payroll information due
May 6
Admin Assistants’ Meeting—South Training Centre (WHS)
May 7
Try-a-Trade in Lloydminster
May 8
PIC meeting—North Training Centre (JR Robson)
BTPS Administrative Matters (via V/C)
May 9
PUF severe review packages due for funding
Administrators’ Planning Meeting—North Training Centre (JR Robson)
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PARENTS HAVE CONVERSATION WITH MINISTER JOHNSON
Teachers, school leaders, students, parents, community leaders – we’re all involved in the success of Alberta’s youth. Inspiring Educa-tion began as collabo-ration among Alber-tans, and we want to keep it that way. Parents are true partners in achieving the vision of Inspiring Education, and we need to work together to ensure all stu-dents succeed.
On April 14, Minister Jeff Johnson joined Brad Vonkeman, President of the Alberta School Councils’ Associa-tion, and Claudine Lajoie, President of the Fe de ration des parents de francophones de l’Alberta, for his bi-annual conference call with parents on school councils.
The call was an opportunity for Min-ister Johnson to update more than
300 participants on our vision for Inspiring Education and initia-tives like Curriculum Redesign. Dur-
ing the hour-long call, parents also had the opportunity to ask questions and share their ideas and perspectives on a variety of educa-tion-related issues.
Special guest for the evening was Dr. Glenn Feltham, President and CEO of the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology and Chair of the Task Force for Teaching Excellence. Dr. Feltham updated the group on pro-gress to date, including details of the upcoming Symposium on May 5. Members of Alberta Education’s Ex-ecutive Team were also on hand for the discussions.
From the May 2014 issue of In the Loop, an Alberta Education newslet-ter. Created and delivered using In-dustry Mailout.
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FROM THE BTMS CALENDAR
FROM IN THE LOOP
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THIS NEWSLETTER?
Please send your comments
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We’d love to hear from you!
BUFFALO TRAIL PUBLIC
SCHOOLS
1041 10A Street
Wainwright, AB T9W 2R4
P: 780.842.6144
F: 780.842.3255
www.btps.ca
Twitter: BTPS#28
ITEMS OF INTEREST
Congratulations to Kadence Landmark in grade 4 at Provost Public School. She has been chosen as one of the 10 grand prize winners in the Scholastic Underwater Exploration Contest. Students from all across Canada are al-lowed to enter the design contest. Students were asked to design a vehicle that can go underwater to explore the 95% of the ocean realm that has yet to be seen. Kadence wrote about and drew a picture of her Shoobeyboobaba invention to explore the undiscovered depths of the ocean. She has won a wa-terproof digital video camera for herself and a set of non-fiction books for her classroom! (Submitted by Provost teacher Teresa Boerrichter)
Cheyanne Vetter is a former graduate of Hughenden Public School. She pre-viously has spoken to all BTPS staff a few years ago at a long service awards day sharing the speech she won with in New York at the UN speaking competi-tion. Cheyanne is currently enrolled in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan. She is required to do a presentation to high school students. As part of the Canadian Federation of Medical Students’ Rural Outreach Program (CROP), she is required to present in a high school to students who may be inter-ested in learning more re careers about medicine, and answer questions. She will be doing a presentation on June 3rd at HPS shortly after 9 AM. The presentation would take no longer than 30 minutes. If there is anyone else interested in having her present, or if there are select students that you know of who intend on pursu-ing medicine and may want further information or a mentor, please contact Susan Campbell at [email protected]. Cheyanne stated the "the potential of one more rural doctor would make a difference!" (submitted by Hughenden teacher Susan Campbell)
Hughenden School Travel Club Visits Switzerland and Italy—Seventeen stu-
dents and six chaperones spent the Easter vacation exploring the wonders of Switzerland and Italy with EF (Education First) tours. Highlights of the trip includ-ed riding a gondola to our hotel in the heights of the Swiss Alps, watching a glass blowing demonstration Ven-ice, walking through the Coli-seum in Rome and touring the unique grottos and mag-nificent cliffs surrounding
the Isle of Capri by boat. Our students were able to learn first-hand about the won-ders of the Roman Empire and experience the magnificent scenery so different from the prairies of Canada. Gelato was a new culinary treat, as well as pizza made the Italian way. Students came home with a new understanding of the diversity of our world and an appreciation for cultural differences. (Submitted by Hughenden
teacher Cathy Samson) GO BACK 6
