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Week of February 10—14, 2014
Superintendent’s Memo FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT
This week the Board of Trustees of Buffalo Trail Public Schools is honoring all of those who serve the students of BTPS! Our BTPS Max-imized Student Learning model identifies the important role that we all play in ensuring that our students are given every advantage in their learning. The work that our team does is integral to supporting our stu-dents in their learning.
We often hear the quote, “It takes a village to raise a child.” In that spirit, I believe that it takes a dedicated team to educate a student. We have a great team in BTPS and we all influence the education that the students in our care receive. Our impact begins very early in the morning every school day as our bus drivers greet stu-dents and safely transport them to their schools. When our students arrive at school, they enter a clean learning envi-ronment that has been carefully prepared by a dedicated team of custodians. The greetings that our students experience when they arrive at school show that we appreciate them and care about them. Library technicians, instructional assistants, administrative assis-tants, FSL staff and other school-level support staff play an important role in connecting with the students and providing supports. When our chil-dren enter our classrooms they are welcomed by a dedicated team of edu-cators who understand their needs and appreciate their unique learning styles. Our schools are led by an incredible team of committed leaders who understand the complexity of their roles. We have an outstanding team at Central Services and our Board of Trustees that supports the work in our schools and works tirelessly to ensure that the schools well posi-tioned to carry out their important work. In BTPS we have a team of over 500 people who work every day to ensure that we are doing everything we can to positively support our students.
Continued next page.
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
From the Supt (cont’d) ...... 2
Valentine’s Day Trivia ....... 2
Curriculum ......................... 3
FNMI Teacher Resources .. 3
Technology ......................... 4
Payroll & Benefits .............. 5
Student Education Services5
Items of Interest……………..6
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)
As a show of appreciation, this week the Board of Trustees will be distributing treats out to all of the staff in our schools. These treats will arrive at the school through the van run or may be delivered by your local trustee. The Board hopes that when they do arrive at your school, you can take a moment out of your very hectic day to sit and enjoy this gift of appreciation. WE APPRECI-ATE THE WORK THAT YOU DO FOR OUR STUDENTS!
Last week all students and staff in BTPS had a chance to hear the in-formation gathered in our student
engagement activity. The infor-mation shared by students was a powerful reminder of how they saw the important role of education in their futures, how our work is appre-ciated by students and how they feel about their learning. The Board val-ues the information gathered through this consultation process and will continue to find ways to engage students in this important conversation.
In the month of March, the Board will conduct the school tour that typically follows an election. As a part of their visits, they will conduct a number of consultations with stu-dents, staff and communities to gath-er more information that will inform their decision making and future planning. More details of this pro-cess will be shared in the near fu-ture.
As a team, we always need to cele-brate successes. Last week two schools submitted nominations for the Alberta 2014 Excellence in Teaching Awards. We are very proud of the three individuals who have been recognized by their local school communities for their out-standing contributions and the posi-tive role they play in impacting stu-dent learning.
Our nominees for the Excellence in Teaching Awards include:
Marian Priebe, WES
Warren Hammond, WHS
Doug Dalton, WHS
On behalf of BTPS, congratulations to the nominees, and we wish you all the best in the selection process. Your nominations honor the great work that is being done in our class-rooms every day.
The upcoming weekend will be extended by the Family Day holi-day and a BTPS designated day-in lieu. While the winter weather seems to want to hang on and we are not seeing much relief from the cold temperatures, we hope that you are able to take some time with your families and enjoy an activity that will serve to strengthen this im-portant bond.
Take care,
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VALENTINE’S DAY
TRIVIA
About three percent of pet owners give V-Day gifts to their pets.
Both men and women (62%) said a night on the town was their preferred V-Day gift.
Teachers will receive the most V-Day cards, followed by chil-dren, mothers, wives, and sweethearts.
About one billion V-Day cards are exchanged each year. The holiday is second only to Christmas in terms of the number of cards sent.
V-Day can be traced to the ancient Roman holiday of the Lupercal, which honored Lu-percus the Lycaean, who pro-tected flocks of sheep from wolves.
Pope Gelasius declared Febru-ary 14 to be Saint Valentine's Day in 498 A.D.
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“To catch the reader's attention, place an interesting sentence or quote from the story here.”
CURRICULUM
Specific details regarding Curriculum Redesign are still lim-ited, but the ARPDC is developing resources to share information that I will share as they are made available.
Please keep an eye on the Curriculum Redesign website from AB ED. Even without specifics, communicating why and how educa-tion in Alberta is going to change is important.
Please note that the Request for Proposals (RFP) that was released in August 2013 for curriculum development prototyping is now publically available from Alberta Education, and contains many de-tails about cross-curricular com-petencies, liter-acy and numer-acy bench-marks etc. Please be advised that these all remain in DRAFT form, and will change with the first round of curriculum development.
FNMI TEACHER
RESOURCES
The K -12 Alberta Social Studies Program of Studies has both the opportunity and the expectation that First Nations, Metis, and Inuit (FNMI) perspectives are included in the program delivery. This can be a daunting task, especially if you have limited resources and/or limited personal experiences with FNMI perspectives.
Some background: The purpose of including FNMI perspectives in the Alberta social studies program of studies is to recognize the diversity, depth, and integrity of the cultures of Alberta’s Aboriginal peoples. For historical and constitutional reasons, an understanding of Canada requires an understanding of Aboriginal perspectives, Aboriginal experiences, and that Aboriginal students have particular needs and requirements. Central to Aboriginal identity are languages and cultures that link each group with its physical world, worldviews and traditions. The role of Elders and community leaders is essential in this linkage.
Continued next page.
Provost Public School, c. 1916. Retrieved from the Provincial Archives of Alberta on January 22, 2014.
http://culture.alberta.ca/paa/eventsandexhibits/education/ifonlytheycouldspeak/default.aspx
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FNMI Spotlight: Newly added to the BTPS wiki this week is a list of teacher specific resources from across Canada that focus on best practices in Aboriginal Education. http://www.maei-ppw.ca/exemplary_classroom_practice.html
Check them out and have a great week! GO BACK
FNMI RESOURCES
(CONT’D FROM PAGE 3)
The social studies program of studies provides learning opportunities that contribute to the development of self-esteem and identity in Aboriginal students by:
promoting and encouraging a balanced and holistic individual and strengthening individual capacity honouring and valuing the traditions, concepts and symbols that are the expression of their identity
providing opportunities for students to express who they are with confidence as they interact and engage with others
contributing to the development of active and responsible members of groups and communities.
There are many resources for teachers, developed in recognition of the need for classroom materials that can help all teachers provide students with knowledge of, and opportunities to share experiences. Many of these resources are listed on our BTPS FNMI wiki: www.fnmisupport.wikispaces.com
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TECHNOLOGY
New wireless—Facilities is now up-grading the physical network wiring at Hughenden School and will be finished this week. New access points will be installed on Tuesday, February 18. Next school up is Provost.
Mediasmarts has released new data on young people’s life online in January.
What does online life look like for the average young Canadian?
Almost every student surveyed has access to internet outside of school.
Internet access is universal with 99 percent able to access the internet outside of school.
How are they connecting?
They use their own desktop comput-er, a portable computer, a library or community center computer, a cell/smart phone, game console and an mp3 player.
Boys are more likely to have a de-vice to personally access the inter-net.
From grade 5 on stu-dents are more likely to connect to the in-ternet with a personal portable device over a desktop.
Cell phones and smart phones are the primary device for internet access.
Half of grade 4 stu-dents have access to a cell/smart phone on regular bases.
Boys and girls share equally in having a cell phone access.
24% of grade 4 stu-dents, 52% of grade 7 students and 85% of grade 11 students have their own phone.
This data shows that the idea of internet is not an up and coming new
technology but is now ubiquitous with our younger generation. How does this change how you see your students and learning in your classroom?
GAFE Statistics
5,681 GAFE created accounts
2853 authenticated accounts
50.2% of accounts ( .2% growth since Jan 20th)
2003 actual operating accounts (person has actually been working with it)
35.3 % of accounts (3% growth since Jan 20th)
Helpdesk
Email volume has been light. Please remember to contact us with any prob-lems you are having.
Email us at [email protected] tech problems
[email protected] for PowerSchool PowerTeacher problems
Phone 780-806-2053
Text 780-806-9228 GO BACK
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“Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try!” - Dr. Seuss
Support Staff : Some support staff may receive letters from Alberta Pension Services (APS) about service that is available to be purchased. If you wish to do so, you may contact Donna Rozka at [email protected] and ar-range to have this done by payroll deductions.
A copy of the letter indicating employee and employer cost must be forwarded to Pay-roll, along with authorization from you for this deduction. Please pay special attention to the deadline dates indicated on the letters. If Payroll is notified by February 14, 2014, arrangements can be made to have deductions made on the February payroll.
Teacher: Please be advised that if you are due for a February increment it will be on your February Statement of Earnings & Deductions. To check whether you received your increment, compare your January statement to your February statement to see if there was an increase in the Step (years) on your statement. Individual notifications will not be sent to those teachers that receive an incre-ment salary adjustment.
To access your pay statements, please click here: http://buffalotrailess.bellamysoftware.com. GO BACK
From Learning Network
Mental Health, Sensory Processing and Challenging Behaviour (presented by Kim Barthel)
Please note date change to May 27, 2014
Location: Lloydminster Agricultural Exhibition Associa-
tion- Prairie Willow Room - 5521- 49 Ave Lloydminster
Sask/AB
About the workshop: Increasing numbers of children and adolescents are presenting with dual diagnosis of both a developmental disability with accompanying men-tal health challenges. Sorting through these overlapping complexities with diverse behavioural outcomes is often a dilemma for the many professionals serving this popu-lation. Join this one day workshop developing your "detective skills" evaluating these merging influences. Discover the addition of sensory processing intervention to your mental health toolbox. This workshop is designed for a broad audience of clinicians, psychologists, thera-pists, social workers, psychiatrists and special educators.
Register here.
Becoming a Behavioural Dectective: Understanding, Supporting and Surviving Challenging Behaviours (presented by Kim Barthel)
Please note date change to May 26, 2014
Location: Lloydminster Agricultural Exhibition Associa-
tion- Prairie Sage Room - 5521- 49 Ave Lloydminster Sask/AB
About the session: This introductory course is designed to assist parents, teacher, caregivers, one-to-one work-ers, and professionals involved in the educational & men-tal health field learn to support children with behaviour-al challenges and learning problems. The sensory pro-cessing approach assists caregivers and professionals in “looking beyond the behaviour” and into the nervous system. It helps with understanding how the child’s be-haviour is a manner of coping.
Strategies in adapting the environment, altering interac-tion, and providing appropriate supports for children who have difficulty with processing sensory information will be provided.
Many children with different diagnoses experience chal-lenges in the manner in which they process sensory in-formation. (For example, learning disabilities, develop-mental coordination disorder, ADD/ ADHD, autism spec-trum disorders, cerebral palsy and emotional/behavioural disorders.)
This workshop is designed to assist in evaluating behav-iours and learning based on observations that look be-yond the label.
Register here.
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PAYROLL & BENEFITS
STUDENT EDUCATION SERVICES
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COMMENTS ABOUT
THIS NEWSLETTER?
Please send your comments or suggestions to [email protected]. 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
In connection with the $60,000 Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Non-fiction, students currently in grades 9 through 12 are invited to submit to a new contest for young writers, which offers:
a grand prize of $2,500, plus $1,000
for the winner’s school
publication of the winning work on
Macleans.ca
a trip to Toronto in fall 2014 to be recognized at the Hilary Weston Writ-ers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction gala presentation, and the chance to meet es-tablished authors and publishing industry professionals at a VIP reception
an opportunity for students to have their writing evaluated by a jury of professional authors
the chance to add a prestigious achievement to any resume or scholar-ship application
Submissions must be in the form of literary nonfiction, between 1,000 and 2,000 words, and in English. Literary nonfiction includes, but is not limited to, works of personal or journalistic essays, memoirs, commentary, both social and political criticism, history, and biography. The winning work will demonstrate a distinctive voice, as well as a persuasive and compelling command of tone, narrative, style, and technique. There is no fee to enter this contest; the deadline to submit is March 31, 2014. Students are asked to include a completed contest submission form with their entry, available at writerstrust.com/students.
DCB/Dancing Cat Books and our authors would like to invite you to intro-duce students to an opportunity to show their creative talents: Now Run with
It. Now Run with It is a series of contests for young peo-ple from across Canada who have an interest in writ-ing or art. In addition to the chance to showcase their work, top entrants will receive some great prizes, in-cluding publication. There are four contest for two
different age groups: grades 5 to 8 and 9 to 12. What is our motivation? It’s twofold. First, we want to encourage and celebrate creativity and literacy among young Canadians. Second, we want to make people aware of some of the authors we’re proud to be working with. While all the authors have new books out, no one who wishes to enter the contest is required to buy or even read any of the books. The authors have prepared new stories that are related to their books, and those are available for reading, free of charge. Contestants need only to visit our contest site at www.nowrunwithit.com, closely read the story they’re interested in, and follow the entrance instructions. All entries will be reviewed by a juries consisting of authors Richard Scarsbrook, Christine Walde, Meaghan McIsaac, R.S. Fleming, and the team at DCB/Dancing Cat Books. GO BACK
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The Superintendent’s Memo will be taking a break the
week of February 18—21. An abbreviated
version of the Memo will be released the
afternoon of February 24.
