Semester 1 Exams this weekGrades 9 through 11 students will begin exams this week. The exams are an opportunity for our students to display their knowledge in the material they have covered over the first semester. We ask all students to ensure they know their schedule and arrive early for their assessments. Morris School student drop off and pick upThis portion of the blog is for parents/guardians who use Toronto Avenue to drop off/pick up their Morris School student. We would ask you to stop prior to the end of the school building and avoid stopping or parking in the loop at the far east end of Toronto Avenue. By stopping or parking in the loop, your vehicle prevents other vehicles from using the loop and, therefore, from leaving in an efficient manner. Morris School thanks everyone for being considerate of others when it comes to drop off and pick up. If you have any questions or concerns, please see Mr. Watson. Maverick AthleticsThe Varsity Girls Basketball team went 1-2 on the weekend, finishing with a 31-28 win over St. Rose. The JV Girls Basketball team will be in their first tournament of the year this upcoming weekend at Immanuel Christian. The Grade 7/8 Basketball teams start competing this week as well. Good luck to all basketball teams! The #1 ranked Mavericks Hockey team had a great week with wins over WC Miller Aces on our windy Wednesday night and the Pembina Tigers at home on Friday. The team plays at home on Wednesday night vs. the Mountain Mustangs and in Manitou against the Pembina Tigers on Friday night. Both games start at 7:30 pm. The Mavericks wrestling team will be in Winnipeg this weekend at the Grant Park High School Tournament. High School and Junior High (Grades 7-12) wrestlers will be wrestling on Friday (beginning at 4 pm). The Elementary wrestlers (Grades K-6) will wrestle on Saturday (beginning at 10 am). Senior High Exams...the countdown!Our Grade 9 through 12 student body are hopefully busy with their exam preparation. The summative assessment is not only one of their major assessments of the year, it is providing them with the practice they require prior to beginning a post-secondary career at a university of college. The following tips have been gleaned from the "Learning Liftoff" website (learningliftoff.com). Following the tips, you will find our Semester 1 Exam Schedule. I wish all students the best as they continue to work with their teachers to prepare for their exams. The thought of preparing for important school exams will likely fill student hearts with dread. Passing these exams is important, since state tests and other forms of high-stakes testing govern whether a student moves on to the next grade, graduates from high school, or even gets into college. While these exams are not usually fun to take, parents can make test prep bearable—and even fun. 1. Encourage Plenty of ZZZs Sleep deprivation is significant since well-rested students tend to be healthier and more alert. While children should, naturally, get plenty of sleep throughout the year, parents should pay extra attention to sleep patterns when it's time for school exams. According to the National Sleep Foundation, children 6–13 years old require 9 to 11 hours of sleep, and teenagers need 8 to 10 hours. 2. Tie Study Techniques to the Child’s Learning Styles and Interests Make test prep as fun as possible! Kids may have different ways that they prefer to learn, including visual, verbal, social, and solitary, and parents often have a good idea of which learning style best fits their children. It can be effective to match test prep activities to your child’s learning preference. For example, a social learner might benefit more from studying with a sibling and parent rather than the parent alone. Such a child might also benefit greatly from group tutoring sessions. A solitary learner might benefit from reviewing study guides and taking several practice tests at his or her own pace. Tying test prep to interests can also provide an extra boost of motivation. For example, parents can incorporate common state test skills such as reading, math, science, and even history into cooking lessons for a child who enjoys cooking. 3. Seek Out Extra Help Young learners often gain an advantage when parents seek out extra help for state tests. Such help comes in a broad range of possibilities: study groups, tutoring, learning programs, and computer programs, to name just a few. LearnBop is a great online math program to consider. It’s a highly adaptive program for grades 4–12 that simulates one-to-one learning by providing immediate individualized instruction to the child’s needs. With assessments and real-time reporting, parents can identify areas of strength and weakness in their children. View the website for more details. Avenues such as tutoring also help parents assess how prepared their children are, and they are ideal for providing students with the tools and concepts they need to prepare for exams. 4. Remain Calm Parents can convey their anxiety to their children easily, which often tends to increase the pressure that students feel. Naturally, parents do not want their children grappling with issues such as sleeplessness, decreased appetite, and panic as an important exam looms; instead, parents need to project a tone of positivity and encouragement. 5. Familiarize the Child with the Exam and Environment When something becomes familiar, it usually loses its mystique and hold over a student. Students also tend to feel more in control and more empowered when they know exactly what to expect. In many cases, parents can find previous or practice tests online, and teachers can also direct parents to additional resources (as well as serving as valuable test prep resources themselves). Not only should parents encourage their children to take practice exams, whether in one sitting or in chunks, but they also need to discuss the testing environment—for example, if the exam is on paper or on a computer, where the test will be, on what day, and if opportunities for breaks exist. Provincial Grade 12 Essential Math ExamOur Grade 12 Essential Math students will be taking their provincial exam this Wednesday morning. We wish them the best of luck. We are confident that Mr. Stevenson has prepared you well and you will do your part in preparing for this assessment as well as you can. Good luck! Artist in school continues...Our students had a great week with Mr. Jamie Oliviero as he followed a schedule of storytelling throughout our K-8 classrooms. Mr. Oliviero's engaging style had our students on the edge of their seats, participating in the story and learning through storytelling experience. We are fortunate enough to have him back this week as we continue to explore the premise of being good citizens and building our community. We look forward to another great week! Thank you, Mr. Oliviero. Maverick Wrestlers earn some hardwareThe Maverick Wrestling team traveled to Winnipeg on Saturday for their second tournament of the season. The number of Maverick wrestlers competing in a tournament increased by 700% from our first tournament. All of our Mavericks worked really hard and all returned home with medals. Congratulations to gold medalists Daniel E., Taylor J., Kaylee B., and Hannah K.! Silver medals were earned by Rocky T. and Alexis W. William E. was our lone bronze medalist. Our wrestlers are looking forward to competing again and having more Mavericks join them at our next tournament on Feb. 2 at Grant Park HS. Way to go, MAV’s! Maverick AthleticsHockey
Congratulations to the #1 provincially ranked A/AA Morris Maverick Hockey team for their recent 5-3 comeback victory over the AAAA Garden City Gophers who are currently ranked second in the province in the top division in the province. The Mavericks have not beat the Gophers in both of the home and away exhibition games. The hockey team plays in Altona on Wednesday (7:30) this week against the Aces and host the Pembina Tigers at 8:00 pm on Friday. Basketball Our JV boys have played in two tournaments so far, just this past weekend in Steinbach. They are still looking for their first win this week when they play Shevchenko at home on Tuesday at 6 and in Carman on Wednesday at 7:30. They also have one more tournament coming up in Carman at the beginning of February. The JV Girls will play their first league game on Wednesday vs. Carman. Most girls are also playing on our Varsity Girls team as well. They will be headed to a tournament at Immanuel Christian in February. Our Varsity Girls went 1-2 with a victory over Gilbert Plains at the Souris tournament at the beginning of January. In league play they were defeated by Carman, but had a decisive win over MCI 52-14 last week. Coming up, they play RVS at home on Thursday at 6:00 and head to Gimli for a tournament this upcoming weekend. Our 7/8 teams have been practicing since returning from the break. Their first game is this Wednesday at home vs JA Cuddy with the boys playing at 4 and the girls playing at 5. Go MAV's!! Welcome BackOn behalf of Morris School, we would like to use the first entry in this week's blog to welcome everybody back from break. It was great to see our students back with us this week...some not as happy others to be back, but back nonetheless! We look forward to a great first half of 2019 and the end of this school year with our community. parent advisory council meeting - January 21The Morris School PAC will have their monthly meeting on Monday, January 21 at 6:30. Topics to be discussed include possible K-6 lunch programming, length of parent-teacher conferences, and fundraising progress for Urijah Dyck and his family. If there are other items you would like to have discussed, please contact a PAC board member. Semester 1 Exams - coming soon...We are a just over two weeks away from the first semester's final exam (Grades 9-12 students). Please check out the schedule below as there has been a slight change from the first draft (an error with the Grade 9 Math & ELA exam timing (my apologies)). Please call the school if you have any questions or concerns. Artist in our schoolMorris School is very fortunate to have a visitor in our school (K-8) over the next two weeks. Jamie Oiviero is an author, arts educator, and storyteller who has 40 years experience teaching to various groups throughout the world. Jamie will be telling our students stories and will have them build their own story. Jamie will work with our students' social studies curriculum with his overall theme being Community Building and what it means to be a good citizen. We are looking forward to having Jamie work with our students. We must acknowledge Mrs. Johnston for her work in arranging Mr. Oliviero's presence in our school. Wrestlers headed to Winnipeg this week...For a number of our wrestlers, this upcoming weekend will be their first experience at a wrestling tournament. St. Paul's High School is hosting a tournament and we hope to have a good turnout from our students. Parents and students will confirm their attendance with Mr. Watson. He will handle registering student-athletes for the tournament. We need to send in registration information to the host by Wednesday, January 16, so please speak with your student prior to Wednesday to discuss their availability and willingness to participate. If you have questions about the tournament, please contact Mr. Watson. |
Archives
October 2023
|