May 2013

Badminton Tournament Congratulations to Brin Mahovlic and Janai Martens who won a gold medal in doubles at the badminton tournament.

If you are moving out of the city or relocating to another location in the city and will be attending a different school in September, please let the office know as soon as possible.

Each year as the weather improves and the temperature rises, it becomes necessary to remind students that it is important to dress appropriately for school. Beach wear, tube tops, halter tops and super short mini skirts are not appropriate for school. Students are asked to use good judgment when picking out their outfits. Students who are not dressed appropriately may be asked to put on a sweater or jacket to cover up, or in extreme cases may be asked to return home to change their outfits. To avoid this please dress appropriately.

Spring/Summer Dress Code

Band News The end of the year is approaching, and so we would like to remind parents that if you have rented an instrument from the school that it be thoroughly washed and given a maintenance treatment before being returned to the school for summer break. Instruments are to be returned on or before the last day of classes. If you rented an instrument from The Bandstand, Long & McQuade, St. John’s Music, or other private rental company please refer to your rental contract for where/when to return the instrument. Do not bring a privately rented instrument to the school as they are not our responsibility. Please ensure that your student brings their instru-ment home on or before the last day of classes. To keep up with all of the information for the St. Gerard Band Program, please take a moment to subscribe to the St. Gerard Band Newsletter. It can be subscribed to through the home page of www.MrDommer.Weebly.com or through the QR code below. Parents of students in Grade 4 who are entering band may sign up as well so that you do not forget to do so in the very busy month of September!

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Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

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27Discover E Science

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29

30 Grade 9 P.A.R.T.Y. program

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PD Day-No school for students

June 1

2

3 Early Dismissal @ 2:30

4

5

Theater Group Presentation

6 Swimming Gr. 8

7 Summer Camp Presentations

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9

10

11 Last Option Day

12 Aboriginal Bluebird Dancers @ 2:00 PM

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14 JH Talent Show

15 Gr. 9 Farewell

16 Father’s Day

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18 End of Year Mass @ 1:00 PM

19 20 FLA Gr.9 @ 9:00 AM

21 JH Bear Creek BBQ 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM

22 Junior Leadership Year End Party

23 24 Science Gr. 9 @ 9:00AM K& Science Gr. 9 @ 9:00 AM

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26 ELA Part B Gr.9 @ 9:00 AM K&E ELA Part B Gr. 9 @ 9:00 AM

27 Social Studies Gr. 9 @ 9: 00 AM K&E Social Studies Gr. 9 @ 9:00 AM Last Day of School

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29

Gr. 9 Trip to Edmonton

Gr. 8 trip to Jasper Zone—Track and Field

30

Catholic Family Services Administrative Assistant Duties include answering phone, booking appointments, intake for new clients, accounts payable/

receivable, staff support, assisting with special events and fundraising activities, maintaining stats and

greeting clients.

Candidates should possess a working knowledge of Microsoft Word, Access and Excel.

Previous experience is preferred.

This is a part time (3 days/week) job share position starting June 19, 2013. *Please note our office is closed

for July.

Applications will be accepted until May 31, 2013. Only applicants selected for an interview will be

contacted.

Please forward resumes to:

Catholic Family Services

9902 101 Street (Lower Level)

Grande Prairie, AB T8V 2P4

Phone: 780-532-9381

Fax: 780-513-1361

Attention: Erna Moon

ernamoon@gpcsd.ca

www.cfsgp.com

CONGRATULATION TO OUR WINNERS

AT THE 19TH ALBERTA FRANCOPHONE GAMES

Soccer Badminton

Junior mix - Gold Junior girls double Junior girls single

Emily Bardak and Tegwyn Curtis Brin Mahovlic—Bronze

Basketball Bronze

Male - Silver

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In Our Classrooms

Science - 7-8-9 – Daniel Doiron

Here is what we are doing in science during this last month of school.

Grade 7: Earth. Discovering it’s many layers, functions, and forms. Rocks and minerals to lava flows and

earthquakes, this planet of ours is a dynamic place, and we will investigate it`s many wonders in appreciation.

Grade 8: The Water System. From open oceans and running rivers and streams to underground springs and

water cycles. If it’s got Hydrogen + Oxygen, we will explore it, and how it impact every single living

organism on this planet.

Grade 9: Space, the final frontier. What is space? How do we measure things in space? What can we expect

in the future in terms of space travel? How can we use the knowledge of what we know out there, down here?

Math & Science- 7 – Alicia Burdess

Math 7A and 7C

We will be finishing up our unit on numbers this month and starting on our geometry unit. Please encourage

your child to work with numbers in their everyday lives. Estimating and mental math are arguably the most

important math skills. I am still available for extra help Tuesdays after school and most days during lunch.

Science 7A

We have the next two months for our units on plants and ecosystems. Now that it has warmed up, we will be

able to go outside to do some science. Please encourage your child to read the assigned chapters at home. This

will help free up class time for discussions, activities, and experiments.

Social Studies - 7 – Dena Boucher

Our last unit will show how women and technology have changed our country.

We will then start our year in review; this will include activities, review quizzes and projects.

This month students will also write a long answer final.

For more detailed information on each unit, as well as exam dates and homework assignments please refer to

the following site: www.denaboucher.weebly.com

French Language Art - 7 – Dena Boucher

Let’s review. Using all the skills and knowledge we have acquired this year we will start reviewing in prepa-

ration for our written and reading finals. The reading final is in June.

English Language Arts - 9 – Joanne Bardak

We have been discussing the following important exam preparation strategies:

Be well rested. This is a REAL issue for students this time of year.

Eat healthy including complex carbohydrates and quality protein.

Drink plenty of water.

Exercise daily.

Study a little bit every day.

Put in a full effort - always bring your best self to each task.

Please discuss and support these ideas and strategies at home with your son or daughter. I am confident all

students will be successful. As always, student effort combined with application of the strategies taught will

equal success!

Grade 7: We have almost finished the chapter on shape and space. The students will demonstrate an

understanding of circles (radius, diameter, Pi and circumference). We will also develop and apply a formula

for determining the area of triangles, parallelograms and circles.

After this unit, we will study the probability. For the end of the month, we will study the order of operations on

whole number and decimal number (Last unit of the year). Maybe, we will only touch this concept at the

beginning of June.

Grade 8: We are working on the algebra unit. We learned how to solve one-step, two-steps and three-step

equations. We will analyze table of values and graphs but this section will be short because it’s similar to

Grade 7.

After this unit, we will demonstrate an understanding of percentage greater than or equal to 0%, including

greater than 100%. We will solve problems on tax, discount, commission and tips. For the second half of the

month, we will study probability. (Last unit of the year)

Grade 9: We have almost finished the unit on rational numbers that includes fractions, decimal numbers and

whole numbers. This concept will be very short in Grade 9. The test will be next week. We will start the

LAST unit of the year on the properties of circle. This concept is completely new for Grade 9. After this

chapter, we will start the revision for the PAT.

A calculator is very important for math and science class. Please make sure your child has one.

Math - 7, 8 & 9 – Jonathan Scott

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This month in ELA, the Grade 7 classes will be preparing for the written portion of their final exam. They will

work through a variety of activities that will focus on the six traits of writing. The final exam will require them

to respond to a given topic by writing a short story, essay or personal narrative. There is also a business letter

portion to the exam. Throughout this month we will also be moving into a unit on poetry where the students

will experiment with figurative language while finding ways to include it in their own writing.

English Language Arts - 7 – Bailey Reid

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French Language Arts– 8 – Chelsea Buote

We have recently completed learning how to prepare for a debate and will now move on to reviewing for the

written final exam. We will review different types of writing and how to structure certain texts, as well as

various rules of grammar such as verbs and sentence structure.

English Language Arts– 8 – Wendy Fraser

We will review and practice reading comprehension strategies, parts of speech, literary devices (such as

alliteration, onomatopoeia, similes, metaphors, etc.). While reviewing we will be looking at different types of

texts, including poems, fiction short stories, non-fiction essays, and images. We will continue to work on

building our skills in these areas for the rest of this month and into June.

Social Studies - 8 – Daniel Dumont The students are working on completing their projects on ancient Aztecs or Spanish conquistadors. They will

share their work in small groups sometime during the month of June. Students will create a chart showing the

reasons why the Aztec were so vulnerable to the influence of the Spaniards. Also, we will continue to have

class discussions on similarities and differences between the two cultures.

During the month of June, the students will be reviewing the material covered throughout the school year for

their final exam on June 27th.

Social Studies - 9 – Sarah-Lynn Hunziker

The month of May brings us to chapter 9 in our textbook, which explores the relationship between the

government, the economy, and the environment. Students will learn about sustainability and why it is, and

should be on the forefront of the political and social mind. Students have also chosen a political party that they

feel represents their values and ideals the most and will be presenting a persuasive text. The goal of this text is

to convince their fellow party members/ classmates to elect them as the new party leader. Once we have

chosen a party leader for each class, students will help run a campaign that will wrap up with an election and

selection of a new Grade 9 Prime Minister. Students will also be presenting the final part of their Take Action

Project where they will report their efforts throughout the school year.

French Language Arts - 9 – Joanne Buss

In June they will write field tests for the Part B multiple choice final, followed by their actual reading compre-

hension final at the end of June. After the May 15th final we will continue to prepare for the multiple choice

reading comprehension final until the end of the year.

Field test dates for Pt B Comprehension Final: Monday June 10th @ 9:45am- 9A

Tuesday June 11 @ 9am- 9B

Thursday June 13 @9am- 9C

Social Studies - 7 - Chelsea Buote

This month, we will be learning about the North West Mounted Police and the impact they had on the develop-

ment of western Canada. We will almost examine the important role the Asian immigrants played in the crea-

tion of the Canadian Railway. Next, we will focus on various national policies created by the Canadian gov-

ernment.