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School Newsletters 109
School Newsletters

Nouvelles du département de français

March 21, 2017

some exciting things are taking place in the French department this semester.

 Concours d’art oratoire

This year, we have eight students who will be participating in the Concours d’art oratoire.  This is a public speaking contest open to students in both Core French and French Immersion. In addition to the tradional prepared speech category, an exciting new improv category was developped this year in which students are given a visual prompt and then fifteen minutes to prepare.

 

The following students will be representing NHS on March 28th at Tommy Douglas S.S..

 

Core French

Roxanne Brown
Mitchell Vendrov (Improv)
Tulsi Rajani

 French Immersion
            Neha Deshmukh 
            Sanam Shokoohi
            Nelson Mahmoudi  (Improv)
            Lindsay Toffolo 
            Ana-maria Garniceanu

 
Nous leur souhaitons la meilleure des chances au concours!
 
Field Trip
We are pleased to offer a fantastic opportunity for students to practice their listening skills in an aunthentic Francophone setting. Students in selected French classes will be given the opportunity to watch the play Jeune femme cherche homme désespérément by Carole Tremblay, in a performance by the theatre department at École Secondaire Étienne-Brûlé in Toronto.  Details will be provided by classroom teachers for those who are interested in attending.
 

 

Inquiry-Based Learning

March 19, 2017

​The Geography Department is continuing our inquiry-based learning journey this semester. We will be developing inquiry skills through guided and independed inquiry.

The skills developed through inquiry will assist with collaboration, critical thinking, and problem solving. As a focus, we will be working on:

  • ​Formulating questions that guide the focus of our inquiries
  • Gathering and organizing information from a variety of sources
  • Interpreting and analysing data, evidence, and information
  • Evaluating and drawing conclusions
  • Communicating decisions, conclusions, and predictions
There are many entry points into inquiry and we will support students based on their levels of readiness.

Thinking Like a Geographer

March 19, 2017

​Our focus in all Geography courses will be learning to think like a geographer by applying the concepts of geographic thinking to our understanding of regional and international events and issues. These concepts will also support the inquiry process and the completion of course expectations.

In Geograp​hy, we focus on four concepts:

SPATIAL SIGNIFICANCE

​​This concept requires you to determine the importance of a place or region. Explore the connections that exist between the geographical location and physical characteristics of a site and analyse the unique relationships that exist in and between the natural and human environments in a particular place. The goal is for you to come to understand that the significance of the same place may be different for humans, animals, and plants.

PATTERNS AND TRENDS

This concept requires you to study characteristics that are similar and that repeat themselves
 in a natural or human environment (patterns) and characteristics or traits that exhibit a consistent tendency in a particular setting and/or over a period of time (trends). The characteristics may be spatial, social, economic, physical, or environmental. You may analyse connections between characteristics to determine patterns; or, analyse connections between those characteristics over time to determine trends.

INTERRELATIONSHIPS


This concept requires you to explore connections within and between natural and human environments. The interconnected parts of an environment or environments work together to form a system. The goal is for you to understand the relationships that exist within a system and then critically analyse the relationships between systems in o​rder to determine the impact they have on one another.

GEOGRAPHIC PERSPECTIVE

This concept requires you to consider the environmental, economic, political, and/or social implications of the issues, events, developments, and/or phenomena that you are analysing. In order to solve problems, make decisions or judgements, or formulate plans of action effectively, you need to develop the ability to examine issues from multiple perspectives.



New Course Offering

March 19, 2017

The Geography Department is pleased to offer Grade 11 Forces of Nature: Physical Processes and Disasters for the 2017-2018 school year. In this course, students will explore physical processes related to the earth’s water, land, and air. They will investigate how these processes shape the planet’s natural characteristics and affect human systems, how they are involved in the creation of natural disasters, and how they in uence the impacts of human disasters. Throughout the course, students will apply the concepts of geographic thinking and the geographic inquiry process and use spatial technologies to analyse these processes, make predictions related to natural disas- ters, and assess ways of responding to them.

Prerequisite: Issues in Canadian Geography, Grade 9, Academic or Applied​ 

Special Education Compliance Paperwork

March 7, 2017

There are several documents that need to be reviewed by parents and returned to school as the year unfolds. Some are mandatory and others are advisable.

  • Annual IEP Update Form - Advisable - Sent home in September or with a new identification, it summarizes the home's view of changes and growth since the last Individual Education Plan was sent home (likely last year). Return immediately to be included as part of the current year's IEP.
  • Individual Education Plan (IEP) - Mandatory - Sent home in October, it lists the school's commitment to supporting the student. A "living document" it is always open to updates. Parents, teachers, students are encouraged to have regular input to maintain its currency. Parent/Guardian countersigns below the principal and the Special Education Resource Teacher (SERT) then returns a copy to be stored in the student's permanent record (OSR).
  • Statement of Continuation - Mandatory - Sent home in February when a student is remaining at the same service level in the following fall. For instance, a student in GLE1O (grade 9 learning strategies) selects GLE2O for grade 10. The service is continued and the parent acknowledges this on the Continuation form. Stored in the OSR.
  • Letter of Invitation - Mandatory - Sent home in January when a student is changing service level. For instance, dropping Learning Strategies or picking it up from year to year. Another example: the conclusion of the formal Gifted program at the end of grade 10. SERT will discuss program options before sending the Invitation home. Parent has a short period of time to request a meeting to discuss the service level with an administrator. Family may also decline the invitation and accept the decision, usually this happens as a result of the discussion before the Invitation is sent home.
  • Statement of Decision - Mandatory - When changing service level, as explained above, a follow up to the Letter of Invitation is sent home to confirm the change in program. (Parents are, of course, welcome to attend the meeting and can sign in person.) Review the decision sheet and send back to the school. Stored in the OSR. It is very important that this is returned promptly so that the planning for next year's program is comprehensive.
  • Consent to Review OSR - as required, Mandatory for provincially regulated health professionals - On occasion the school may involve any or all of our health professionals to support our students. Their Regulatory Colleges require consent to review a student and the Education Act requires your consent for them to review the student file (OSR). Health professionals include: psychologist, occupational therapist, physcial therapist, social worker, public health nurse, mental health nurse, speech-language pathologist, communications specialist. Teachers (Ontario College of Teachers members, including our adminstrators) are not required to have this form completed if they are in a position to support the student in the regular course of their position, e.g. guidance counsellor. These forms must be returned immediately in order for us to act quickly.

If you have any of these forms at home, please return them as soon as possible.

Looking Back As We Move Forward

February 22, 2017

It’s been an exciting semester for many of our teachers and students who’ve had an opportunity to work in collaboration with our Teacher Librarian, Ms. MacIsaac to create various media projects using the green screen and Aurasma.  Exposing our students to various forms of technology to communicate meaning for different purposes is an important skill, especially in a fast-changing digital world.  The English department hopes to continue providing such meaningful opportunities to our students.
 
Many of our students go on to experience much success with their future endeavours.  One such student is Nat Bourgon, a former NHS student who graduated in June 2006.  This fall he reached out to Ms. Hallworth who taught him The Writer’s Craft course to thank her “for running such an inspiring, creative class.”  Nat has gone on to publish his first book, Overcast Back Talk, which was released online via Amazon and Barnes and Noble on September 8, 2016.
 
And for your entertainment pleasure, here are some samples of twitter fiction posts and micro-fiction composed by our future potential writers from the Grade 9 Academic class.
 
I dreaded my mom getting Twitter because I knew she would embarrass me. Her last tweet was, I got more followers than my daughter, #Awkward!
– Helia D
 
There was one piece of turkey left. Father vs. daughter. The fight for the turkey was about to commence. FFA-dad yelled-Fend for yourselves!
– Eden D
 
My parents always tell me about the importance of compromise in a family. So one day I asked if I could get my ears pierced. “Not a chance.”
– Camryn M
 
Dad said, Make a wish & toss the penny into the well. As I watched the penny fall, I did too. My dad yelled down, Bet that wasn’t your wish.
– Sydney Y
 
Don’t talk to me about skin colour! My two year old brother felt the need to colour his face with brown marker to look like the rest of us at 4 AM.
– Ameena S
 
“Okay honey, let’s go.”
“Come on Mom, 5 more minutes! Just let me finish this game on my phone real quick.”
“Sweetie, your father told us to visit him.”
“Well, it’s not like he’s going anywhere. God, you’re as demanding as a dictator.”
“Here honey, just take these roses.”
“Dad already has so many. I don’t want to drown him in a sea of roses.”
“Hurry it up, you two! The cemetery’s closing in 10 minutes,” the gravedigger yelled from afar.
– Burhan S
 
My cousin is a paramedic, but she isn’t what most people picture. As the song goes, “she’s 5’2” eyes a blue.” One day, she was at a call for a man who cut himself on a dirty nail. After many attempts to calm him down, in a perky voice she said, “Don’t worry, a little dirt don’t hurt!” This instantly calmed him down. She delivered him to the hospital. Later that evening to her horror, the man had gone septic! Reluctantly, she turned around. From across the room he stared into her eyes and angrily proclaimed, “Apparently, a little dirt does hurt!”
– Nicole R


 

Trustee Greeting

January 26, 2017

Message from our Trustee

 

We are now halfway through the school year.  This is a good time to reflect on all that your child has learned and to look at setting goals for the rest of the school year.

 

Our Board believes that student well-being and achievement go hand-in-hand.  One of our goals set out in the Board of Trustees’ Multi-Year Plan is to “continuously increase student achievement and well-being through a culture of caring and learning.” 

 

The Ministry of Education has recently identified four priorities for well-being: positive mental health, safe and accepting schools, healthy schools, and equity and inclusive education.  As a Board of Trustees, we will continue to further work in all of these areas to support student well-being in line with these priorities.

 

There are many resources on the Board website to help support student well-being, including tips for talking about mental health, managing stress, packing healthy lunches and addressing incidents of bullying.

 

Creating a healthy, safe and welcoming learning environment is key to helping our students reach their full potential.  All of us have an important role to play in creating an environment that enables our students to thrive.

 

I wish you all the best for a healthy, happy and successful 2017.​ 


Martin Van Beek

 
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