January 8th, 2015

With the cold weather coinciding with our return to school, our Mavericks are keeping busy to stay warm!  In the gym, Coaches Zister and Falco are working hard to prepare our boys’ and girls’ varsity basketball teams for their upcoming games and Athletic Council is planning dodge ball intramural games for other interested students.  In the library, Mr. Lip continues his work with our Sharpshooters – their wonderful photos grace our hallways and help us to produce our vibrant yearbook.  Our special ed team continues to offer a daily homework club for all students grade 7 first break and grade 8 second break.  Ms Dicsi is offering Design and Tech challenges to teams for both grade 7 and grade 8 students.  The Euchre Club continues to enjoy regular games with Ms Wyman who also opens up the Art room on days 2, 4 and 6 during second nutrition break.  Mrs. Hernden is continuing with supper club  and a new group will be starting soon.  Mrs. Molnar is continuing her leadership of W.A.Y.V.E.  Mrs. Breckles and the MTeam are planning a pajama day in January and candy grams and a Valentine’s Day dance in February.  We are very fortunate to have staff and students with such strong school spirit.

For safety, we encourage our students to dress warmly  for the cold weather and monitor the outdoor temperatures on a daily basis.

We are missing Mrs. Giannopoulos’ leadership with our video newsletter  – stay tuned though as we have more to share and are trying to publish one shortly!  Both she and Mrs. MacTavish appreciated the Stay Strong banners that were signed by everyone in the school.

Thanks to Tammy Dahms, one of our School Council co-chairs, we will be once again offering a yearbook if there is sufficient interest from our students.  More details will follow.

As a staff we are collaborating to deepen our understanding and use of learning goals and success criteria to improve student learning.  We are fortunate to have teachers involved in Innovative Practice professional development with the WRDSB in both Language Arts and Mathematics. Our Literacy Support Teacher, Sherri Bowman, supports us in the innovative practice and here at school.  We are learners too!

The new year is also a time of planning for transitions.  Our grade 8 students are applying to magnet programs and will soon be making course selections for high school.  This year most of our Margaret Avenue students will be going to Bluevale and KCI with a few going to Cameron Heights and magnet schools. We are also planning to welcome the students who will be joining us in grade 7 in September.

As always please do not hesitate to contact us with questions, concerns and celebrations.  Let’s work together to make 2015 a wonderful year for learning and growth!