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Message to Parents - May

From the Principal
It is hard to believe that there are only 2 months of school left! Where has the year gone? The weather has been tolerable, even with the hint of rain/snow now and then. Let’s hope the sun continues to shine so we can enjoy the great outdoors even more.

The months of April and May are busy times of year where we begin making plans for the remainder of the year and also begin planning for our future. As always, we at Midnapore School will be allocating our resources carefully to continue providing engaging and rigorous learning opportunities for all students. Please know that we put students first and remain committed to ensuring that Midnapore students are provided with the best learning opportunities possible.

Our "Evening of Math" (held the evening of April 25) was a fun learning event for our students and their families. The students completed individual math projects and shared their learning with peers and families. As math is our year-long school focus, the student’s shared evidence of how they "think about their thinking in math" and the various ways they can "make their thinking visible". For the next two months, students will continue to increase their use of mathematical language and continue to connect math to real life situations, through rich and authentic learning tasks.

Our math focus will take us on another journey as we participate in the "Quest Theatre – Drama Residency" called ‘Mathemagics!’ This exciting theatre/drama event will take place at Midnapore from April 29 – May 3, for all students in grades K – 6. Parents are invited to our final presentation on Friday May 3, at 9:30 in the morning.

This month, our grade 5 and 6 students are also involved in a Free the Children project called We Walk 4 Water - an event where Canadian, Spencer West, will be walking from Edmonton to Calgary to raise awareness of water issues around the world. Watch for more information coming home with students about our Midnapore We Walk 4 Water Event!

We invite all new Kindergarten parents to our "Welcome to Kindergarten", orientation night, the evening of May 23. This would include parents in both our Regular and Mandarin Bilingual Programs. This is an ideal opportunity for parents to meet the teachers and to see the classroom and hear about the exciting events that will be happening for your child as they embark on their first year of public education. This evening presentation will begin at 6:30, in the gymnasium. Personal invitations will be sent to parents who have registered their child at Midnapore School.

Our Mandarin Bilingual Program continues to grow. Next year we will be providing Mandarin instruction to students from Kindergarten to Grade 3. Limited spaces are still available in the Kindergarten and Grade 1 classes, as those are the two entry points for enrolling your child in the program. If you have a child entering grade 2 or grade 3, and you would like to consider the Mandarin Bilingual Program, please contact the school for further information.

Although May is a busy month of organizing and planning for the future, there are many exciting events happening at our school to celebrate Academic Success, Personal Development and Citizenship and Character Development. Please refer to our school web-site, classroom D2L Shells and student’s agendas to keep you informed. This is also the time when we begin our discussions about next year’s classroom configurations. Teachers and administrators invest a great deal of time and energy into creating class scenarios for the upcoming year. Our goal is to provide heterogeneous classrooms with a balanced number of boys and girls who have varying academic abilities, achievement, work habits, and students who require additional, intentional intervention. The intent is to create equitable classes that are organized in a manner that facilitates an excellent learning environment. If you feel you have additional information that will assist our decision making you are encouraged to share this information with me, or with Ms. Cartwright, in writing by Thursday, May 16.

Sincerely,
Jean Hugill