JANUARY 2013 . Issue 5 . Volume 10
The Calgary Science School
Principal’s Message ‘Tis the season of gift giving and my gift to you is to provide you the briefest principal’s message yet. I wish you and your family all the best of the holiday season. I hope you find rest, rejuvenation and good health over the winter break. Season’s greetings, everyone. Darrell Lonsberry Principal Cover photo and immediately above: Scenes from the musical production Once On A Housetop, presented by grade 6 students. More in this issue!
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Comprehensive Wellness
By Denise Kitagawa
JANUARY 2013
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In early October, the Alberta School Boards Association hosted the first national conference on student wellness. Attendees were mostly school board trustees, along with superintendents, principals, teachers, and representatives from Alberta Health Services and Alberta Education. Two students and ten parents (school council representatives) also took part. It was my good fortune to be one of those parents.
in this issue
Three informative and inspirational keynote speakers and three workshops later, I returned home with the understanding that comprehensive wellness is a balanced state of emotional, intellectual, physical, social and spiritual well-being. Wellness is not a short-term program, one-time event, or add-on to your life. It’s a life-long process and it involves all aspects of living and lifestyle.
Comprehensive Wellness............................................................ 3 Student and Staff Wellness at CSS........................................... 5 Parent Volunteer Expertise Makes a Difference ................. 6 Transportation Committee Update......................................... 6 Take Me to the Math Fair! ........................................................... 8
I had the opportunity to share this perspective, along with highlights from the keynote presentations and workshops, at the December School Council meeting. The parents who attended that meeting asked me to share the key conference messages with the rest of the school community via The Spectrum. Let me start by asking:
Once On A Housetop.....................................................................10 Winter Concert.................................................................................12 Masters of the Mat..........................................................................14 January Calendar.............................................................................15 February Calendar...........................................................................16
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The 3 essential components of wellness
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Did you know that it wasn’t until 1994 that obesity was recognized as increasing at an alarming rate in North America? Thirty years ago, one in ten Canadians was obese, while one in four Canadians is obese today. The number of obese and overweight children in Canada jumped 300% between 1981 and 2001.
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Did you know that high fat, high sugar, high salt foods are more addictive than tobacco and alcohol and only slightly less addictive that cocaine, crack, meth and heroin?
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Did you know that students who have lived through traumatic experiences or are under constant stress have a harder time learning at school or paying attention at home?
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Did you know that there is a direct link between the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and obesity? By sugar-sweetened beverages I mean things like soft drinks (pop), sports drinks, sugar-added fruit beverages and those o-so-delicious fancy coffee concoctions available at your neighbourhood coffee shop.
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Did you know that just 18% of Canadian youth between the ages of 10 and 16 get the recommended 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity on a daily basis?
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And did you know that only 19% of Canadian youth between the ages of 10 and 16 meet the Canadian Sedentary Behaviour Guidelines, which recommend limiting recreational screen time to no more than 2 hours per day and limiting sedentary behaviours?
The 2012 Active Healthy Kids Canada Report Card is a great place to start if you want to do some more reading on physical activity and sedentary behaviours. There are also lots of resources on healthy eating. Two books that taught me a lot about how the food and restaurant industries make it harder for us to make healthy eating choices are “The End of Food” by Paul Roberts and “The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable North American Appetite” by David A. Kessler, M.D. The headlines, facts and statistics can be overwhelming, so as the conference wound down I asked myself, “So what?” What steps can I take to try to improve the wellness of my family, of the school community, of the world at large? Here are a few things to consider on the home front: •
Do your children have TVs, DVD players, computers, cell phones or video game consoles in their bedrooms? Students with one electronic device in their bedrooms
are 1.47 times as likely to be overweight as kids with no devices in the bedroom. Also, night-time screen habits negatively affect sleep. •
Get real – parents, on average, overestimate the physical activity of their children by 147%. Are you being a positive role model, actively encouraging your children to participate in physical activity? One recent study shows the more active parents are, the more active their children are likely to be. This is especially true when both parents are physically active. The Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines and Canadian Sedentary Behaviour Guidelines can be found here. Recent research suggests that short intervals of vigorous exercise can prevent weight gain, obesity and its adverse health consequences.
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There are some great resources on the Alberta Health Services Website including this listing of single serving packaged foods and this listing of take-out / fast food lunches that we can use to help make better, convenient choices. If a single serving packaged food or fast food menu item does not appear on these lists, then it’s a “don’t choose” item in the context of the Alberta nutrition guidelines for children and youth.
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Try to set a good example when it comes to screen time. As tempting as it is to check emails, respond to texts or spend some time playing Angry Birds when we have a few minutes of “me time”, instead try asking your child(ren) to join you for a short walk, a couple of runs down the neighborhood tobogganing hill or a bike ride to the nearest park. Not only will everyone get a little exercise and fresh air, but you might be surprised at just how much your children enjoy some one-on-one time with you.
As for the Calgary Science School Community, there’s a lot going on to support comprehensive student wellness. The December School Council meeting included a great roundtable discussion about many of the initiatives. Darrell offered to write a newsletter article to share some of the highlights with all of you. Just as comprehensive wellness is a life-long process, comprehensive student wellness is an on-going process, with new ideas coming into the mix as we learn from experience and collaborating with others. If you have any questions about the conference, want to share your “family wellness” success stories, or would like to comment on what’s happening at CSS in terms of student health, please email: schoolcouncil@calgaryscienceschool.
Student and Staff Wellness at CSS Our exemplary learning and teaching frameworks specify that wellness is a critical component of being an effective student and teacher. More specifically, the exemplary learning framework states that being an exemplary student requires that students, “develop our minds, bodies, feelings and creative spirit to learn and grow as a whole person.” At a recent school council meeting we talked about how we are promoting wellness as we define it in the exemplary documents. I want to share the highlights of that discussion here. Wellness of Mind Primarily, it is the high standards that we set and the supportive classroom environments that are the main means by which we promote wellness of the mind. A balanced program including core subjects (which includes physical education), fine arts and electives are central to academic wellness. Students report that they have access to academic supports if and when they need it. Physical Wellness Students get a minimum of 40 minutes of physical activity every day. They are taught physical education by our physical education specialists every other day, with daily physical activity on the intervening days. There is an emphasis on moderate to intense physical activity. Our physical education team supports a philosophy of promoting an active lifestyle; their program is designed to expose students to as wide a variety of physical experiences as possible, with the intent that they will find what they like and continue it outside of school as well. Fencing, paddling, cycling, cross country skiing, judo, hip-hop dancing, as well as the more traditional sporting activities are the basis for our physical education program.
water fountains) that have increased the amount of water students and staff are consuming. We also installed a healthy vending machine, with the choices having been vetted by a committee of teachers and our school nurse. The menu for our overnight camps has changed in the past year as well to include more fresh foods and a better balance of food groups. We also published recipes for healthy snacks that parents can access when required. Social and Emotional Wellness As a middle school, the emotional wellness of our students is paramount. Adolescence can be a very challenging time and we all need to be cognizant of the challenges young people face and how we can support them in facing them. Our teachers work through the health program to inform our students about the components of emotional and social health. Our counselor, Mrs. Paxton, works with individual students and often their families to provide support through some difficult times. This year we initiated a slot in the timetable called family groupings, where each teacher is assigned a cross-graded group of students, where each group works to make more connections between students in different grades to strengthen the fabric of our school community – the more connections people have with each other, the stronger and more resilient our community. There are many, many other facets to our student and staff wellness efforts – certainly more than can be readily summarized here. I encourage you to talk with your child about their sense of their own wellness and what supports they may access in the school. As always, I welcome parents’ thoughts and ideas in improving our school, so please feel free to contact me at darrell.l@calgaryscienceschool.com Darrell Lonsberry
We are focusing more and more on healthy eating also. Last year we installed 4 new water coolers (chilled and filtered
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Parent Volunteer Expertise Makes a Difference
Grade 4/5 Electives Student electives were introduced for the first time in grade 4 and 5 this term. On occasion, our students have the great fortune of sharing some time with a professional who brings his or her career to life in the classroom or off campus. During these invaluable opportunities, students discover a whole other world of possibilities, questions and interests that teachers are not always equipped to provide. One such instance took place this past month in the grade 4 and 5 architecture elective in Ms. Trudel and Mr. Neufeld’s classroom. In the hopes of peaking the interest of future architects and innovative designers, architecture students enjoyed an incredibly engaging presentation by Mr. John Harrop, architect and CSS parent volunteer. Students independently took notes in a variety of forms as Mr. Harrop explained some of the evolutionary transitions and inventions of architectural design (starting in 7,000 BC!). Questions,
discoveries and hands-on experience seemed to bring awe to many young minds. As Aria S. from 4.1 said, “Mr. Harrop’s presentation was fun. We got to learn a lot of stuff! We learned about buildings of the past like the ancient Greek ones and that there are a lot of washrooms. There are buildings at the bottom of mountains and on top of mountains.” Spencer K. from 4.1 added, “Architects do a lot more than I thought they did. They do art, make contracts, and use a lot of tools”. To all of you who donate your valuable time to enlighten Calgary Science School students with your knowledge and skill -Thank You! You make a BIG difference! Ms. Trudel and Mr. Neufeld
Transportation Committee Update As we say goodbye to 2012 and hello to 2013 here are a few reminders from the CSS Transportation Group: Dress for the Weather Send your children to the bus stop dressed appropriately for the weather conditions (boots, hats, mitts, etc.) Be On Time Please be at your stop 5 minutes before the designated time, ready to board the bus. Any delays, such as waiting for the bus to pull up before exiting a vehicle, cause further delays for other children waiting for the bus. This is especially difficult in cold weather conditions. Have A Back-Up Plan Although we have been very lucky to have such reliable drivers, delays can happen! Whether they are caused by bad weather, road conditions or bus (mechanical) troubles you need to have a back-up plan in place for your child. Never leave a child at a bus stop unattended, especially in cold weather without them being aware of your back-up plan.
Peace Festival
2012
January, 2012
Sign Up For Bus Delay Notifications Although we have mentioned this in past Spectrum articles, it bears repeating. Please sign up in order to receive bus delay notifications (either through email or text message). Please go to the following link and follow the directions at the bottom of the page: http://www.calgaryscienceschool.com/transportation Contact Information Please ensure your personal contact information is up-to-date. For queries regarding a delayed bus, please contact Southland Transportation @ 403-287-1335. For questions regarding bus routes or stops please contact us @ transportationatcss@gmail.com and include your route number in the subject line. We hope you and your family enjoy the Christmas break! Bus service will be resume on Monday January 7, 2013. Happy Holidays from all the Parent Volunteers at CSS Transportation Group
It would not be the final week of classes before the Winter Break, without CSS students and staff celebrating the annual Peace Festival! The Peace Festival is a CSS tradition that seeks to open our minds and hearts to the needs of others. It’s about accepting the differences in the people around us, and celebrating the diversity of everyone, not just the people we look or sound like. And in many ways this year is no different. Our theme this year is wellness. But not simply just the wellness of others, which should always be a theme in our lives. This week, we are focusing on the wellness of self. It is not selfish to want less stress, or to be physically well. It is not selfish to want to be happy over the holidays. “The last couple weeks of school before a break is always filled with getting things done. It can be stressful,” explained Maitri P. of 8.4. Students participate in events, such as yogam for the mind and body, tai chi for the body and spirit, and laughing
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therapy for the soul. Other events range from cross-country skiing lessons (using the brand new school ski equipment) and skating and hockey on the neighbouring Lakeview Community Centre rink to learning the Brazilian art of capoeira and meditation. Alex K. of 8.4 participated in a meditation session and came away with an appreciation for the discipline. “The last two weeks have been pretty stressful for me, going to bed late and getting up early,” he shared. “It just relaxed me. Completely.” 8.1’s Katie W. took part in the capoeira session. “Knowing that there’s a different martial art that people practice but actually looks like dancing is really cool. The music that goes with it makes it really spiritual,” she described. The premise of our focus on wellness lies in the idea that the best gift we can give the world is our healthiest self. In body, mind and spirit. Jason Publack and Chris Dittmann
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Take Me To The
MATH
FAIR!
7.3 students Simone P., Danielle, V. and Jovana G. created a grid challenge called “Santa’s Speed Sleigh” in which participants had to figure out a pattern based on set increments in order to move Santa’s Sleigh around the grid and return it to its original starting place. “We chose the problem because it’s interesting and challenging,” shared Jovana. “It makes you think and has many possible solutions,” added Simone. They clearly enjoyed the challenge. “It’s a nice change to create the Math Fair project,” stated Jovana. “We’ve had a lot of choice in the project,” piped in Simone. “We chose the problem and how we presented it.” Grade 6 classes toured the fair and judging by the amount of excitement surrounding each booth, were clearly engaged. And parents, fear not. Ms. Shaw and Mrs, Armstrong are looking into hosting an evening in January for parents to see the students’ work and try their luck at the problems.
GRADE 7 students take math problems to creative and engaging places A trip down the grade 7 hallway on Wednesday, December 19 found a plethora of math games and activities jammed into the classrooms, beckoning passersby to try their luck.
One of the resources students used was the Galileo Education Network, a partner of CSS, which created a website with a variety of levels of math problems.
Of course, the annual Science Fair is a famous event at CSS, and for good reason. We’re used to seeing students test hypotheses and come to conclusions while bringing their evidence to life. But a math fair is a less well known quantity. Grade 7 Math/Science teacher Ms. Shaw shed light on the origins of the Grade 7 Math Fair.
“They were tasked with finding a meaningful, deep problem that has more than one possible solution or more than one way of solving the problem,” she described. “Of course, students had to solve the problem on their own and essentially become experts in the strategies and possible solutions of the problem,” she concluded.
“The student teachers with Mrs. Armstrong and I actually came up with the idea,” shared Ms. Shaw. “I had actually participated in a math fair in university where students came in and worked through the problems. The challenge is to create problems that showcase your math understanding in a fun, interactive way. Most of the problems students presented included manipulatives and were engaging and interactive,” she reflected.
Students created a main problem which a range of people with differing math backgrounds could solve. Basically, the problem needed to allow for a range of strategies to solving it and had to include “extra levels” or restrictions on solving it to ensure that it was challenging for a broad audience.
At the beginning of the process, students formed into groups of 2 to 3 and researched and chose a specific math problem.
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To get away from restricting students to simply regurgitating a problem that they found, students needed to create an original story to frame the problem and its purpose for their audience and, most importantly, to engage participants into actually wanting to solve it.
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Simone and Jovana showcasing Santa’s Speed Sleigh
7.2 Students Amanda C. (top) and Catherine M. (wearing hat) challenge 6.2 student Carlin S. to their math problem
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS! CLASSES RESUME MONDAY, JANUARY 7, 2013 www.calgaryscienceschool.com
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Once on a Housetop After weeks of preparation, Monday, December 17 saw the lights go up on 28 grade 6 students, starring in Once On A Housetop, a musical celebrating the holiday season. Under the tutelage of Mrs. Drage, Mr. Bolen, Mrs. Kelly and the technical leadership of Mrs. Armstrong, matinee and evening performances saw audiences enchanted with the exploits of the chimney sweeps and the musical sounds of different holiday traditions. Bravo grade 6!
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CSS Annual Winter Concert This year’s annual Winter Concert saw the CSS Concert, Jazz and Grade 6 Beginning bands, led, as always, by Mr. Bolen, entertain both a matinee and evening audience on Wednesday, December 5. Traditional Christmas numbers, such as Jingle Bells, Let It Snow and Angels We Have Heard On HIgh made their place alongside other songs ranging from How the Grinch Stole Christmas to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. The matinee performance had a special surprise in store as the CSS Concert and Jazz bands were joined by the concert band from Westmount Charter School. The winter Concert always feels like the kick-off to Christmas and this year was no exception.
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MASTERS
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OF THE
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january 2013 1
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winter
MAT 6
DAY 1 8
7
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break
DAY 2 9
DAY 3 10
DAY 4 11
DAY 5 12
DAY 1 16
DAY 2 17
DAY 3 18
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Classes resume
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DAY 6 15
LASERS WRESTLERS TAKE TEAM TITLE AT CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS MEET
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Monday, December 3rd saw our Lasers wrestlers end the season on a triumphant note, taking the overall team title as hosts of the C.A.A.A. Championship Finals Meet. It was a close battle with Almadina Charter School which saw our Lasers come out on top by a narrow margin of 2 points. In the words of coach Dean Schmeichel, who was assisted by Mr. Neufeld and student-teacher Mr. Chase, it was a fitting end for a group that showed a lot of growth over the season.
events including the provincial championships in March. With Nationals being held in Saskatoon in April, there is a chance that some of the Lakeview wrestlers will earn their way to this most prestigious tournament.
“The CSS wrestling team is in a rebuilding phase after having many of the previous year’s wrestlers move on to high school. I was very pleased with the competitive spirit shown by the Grade 7 and 8 wrestlers who won the CAAA Championship team title without any Grade 9 wrestlers,” he reflected.
Bronze - Dylan P.
The CSS team competed in 4 tournaments including the Championship Finals and we won many individual medals throughout the season. Many of these wrestlers, as well as the grade 4-6 wrestlers who were not eligible to compete in the school tournaments, will carry on competing under the Lakeview Wrestling Club banner, also coached by Mr. Schmeichel. In the new year, Lakeview will compete in 5
Geno K. Will K. Ben K.
Winter camp 6.1
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C.A.A.A Championship Finals Results
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Silver - Ethan B.
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winter camp 6.3
Winter camp 6.2
Gold - Mackenzie L., Tate K., Alec F., Mac C., Ty F.
PD Planning day no classes
Lasers Wrestling Team/Lakeview Wrestling Club Ethan B.
Allan C. Mac. C
Alec F.
Ty F. Logan J.
Callum K.
Brandon K.
Reuben K.
Tate K. Liam L. Mackenzie L.. Ethan M. Malcolm M.
Claire M.
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DAY 3
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DAY 4
winter camp 6.4
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DAY 5 31
DAY 6 1
2 PD Planning day no classes
Dylan P. Logan W. Grace W.
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FEBRuary 2013
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PD Planning day no classes 3
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DAY 2 6
DAY 1 5
DAY 3 7
DAY 4 8
DAY 5 9
School council meeting 7:00 pm Anne Tingle Library
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DAY 6 12
DAY 1 13
DAY 2 14
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Staff Retreat no classes
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Organizational Day
School Closed
no classes
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DAY 6
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DAY 1
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DAY 3 21
DAY 4 22
DAY 5 23
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DAY 2 28
DAY 3 1
DAY 4 2
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