Eugene Reimer Middle School - Abbotsford School District

Eugene Reimer Middle School
3433 Firhill Drive ~ Abbotsford, BC ~ V2T 6X6
Phone: 604-504-5343 ~ Fax: 604-852-0465
Principal: Mr. R. Gabriel
Vice-Principal: Ms. M. Jurcic
Principal’s Message:
Welcome to the home of the Ravens!
Hello to all our parents, students, and staff members! We have had a wonderful start to the year. Christmas is right
around the corner and report cards are coming out very soon.
SPECIAL GUESTS AT REIMER’S DIVALI
At our recent Divali Celebration, we had the honour of having many important guests to our school to join in our
Celebration of Lights.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Hon. Peter Fassbender – MLA-Minister of Education
Kevin Godden – Superintendent, Abbotsford School District
Dr. Angus Mackay – Assistant Superintendent, Abbotsford School District
Cindy Schafer – Trustee and Chair, Abbotsford Board of Education
Shirley Wilson – Trustee, Abbotsford Board of Education
Deputy Mayor – Abbotsford City Counselor John Smith
Moe Gill, Abbotsford City Counselor
Les Barkman, Abbotsford Counselor
Prem Singh Vinning – President World Sikh Organization
Jatinder Sidhu – President Fraser Valley Indo-Canadian Business Association
11.
Dr. Robin Arden – Former Superintendent, Abbotsford School District
Kevin Godden – Superintendent
A huge thanks to Jatinder Brar, our Punjabi language and music teacher who once again organized a fantastic event that
showcased our students and their talents. THANK YOU MR. BRAR!!
ACADEMICS
Please ensure you contact your child’s teacher to make an appointment for Parent-Teacher Interviews. A reminder that
you can always log into checkmymark.com to see your child’s progress. Your child has their own password for you to
use.
CHARACTER EDUCATION AT REIMER: RESPECT, RESPONSIBILITY, INTEGRITY, EMPATHY, COURAGE,
SERVICE
As term 1 comes to an end, one student from each class will be recognized by their peers and teachers as a role model for
RESPECT. This student will have their picture and a brief write up displayed in the front lobby. Our focus for Term 2
will be RESPONSIBILITY. We will be sending home, sometime soon, every family a copy of the virtues – the same
virtues promoted by the City of Abbotsford. You can check out the city’s website at abbycharacter.com
EUGENE REIMER MIDDLE SCHOOL WEBSITE
Please visit our school website for regular updates and school information:
http://eugenereimer.sd34.bc.ca/
Reg Gabriel
Proud Principal of Eugene Reimer Middle School
Hon. Peter Fassbender
Minister of Education
Important Dates
November
27 – Term 1 Ends
27 – 1 hour early dismissal
27 – Parent/Teacher Conferences
28 – No School for Students
Parent/Teacher Conferences
29 – Non-Instructional Day – No
School for Students
December
10 – Report Cards go home
12 – PAC Meeting 7pm
18 – Recognition Assembly
20 – Last Day of School
23 – Jan 3 – Christmas Holidays
January
6 – School Re-Opens
This is an important notice, please have someone translate it.
September Students of the Month
Grade 6
Taylor Gibbons
September’s grade 6
student of the month is
Taylor Gibbons. Taylor
is a role model students;
she is respectful, kind
and helpful. Taylor
always tries her best and is eager to
help others. Taylor’s enthusiasm for
learning makes her a pleasure to teach.
Grade 7
Tejveer Atwal
This conscientious
student is a leader at
Eugene Reimer in a
myriad of ways. He is a
technology helper, an
intramural helper and a
crew member. Additionally, he is a
perennial favourite in our grade wide
math competitions as he has won 6 of
the 8 competitions that we have held,
including our addition challenge held
on October 18th. Tejveer is a model
student in all academic areas. He uses
his class time wisely and routinely
assists his classmates with their work.
Tejveer was the student of the year for
grade six and is off to an inspiring
start in grade seven. Congratulations
Tejveer on being an exemplary Raven
and a very worthy recipient of the
student of the month for September.
Grade 8
Audrey Banez
Audrey is a student who
exemplifies trust,
integrity, determination
and respect. Audrey has
shown her determination
to do her best in all
activities including the Crew, the
grade 8 girls Volleyball team, the
technology person for division 2 and
recently she joined the grade 8 girls
Basketball team. Audrey continues to
pursue academic success as well. Keep
up the great work, Audrey!
October Students of the Month
Grade 6
Hamza Mahmud
Each month, teachers at
Eugene Reimer Middle
School select a student
from their pod whom
they feel represents the
best personal and
academic qualities for students at the
school. Early on, Hamza stood out as
a student others could respect and
emulate. Hamza is a quiet thoughtful
young man. He works very hard at his
studies, participates in class willingly
and earns top grades. But there is
more to Hamza than just being an
excellent student. Hamza treats his
classmates with respect. He is kind to
others and likes to help his classmates
and teachers whenever he can. Hamza
has a quiet, trustworthy and
dependable personality and we are
pleased to have him represent Division
13 & 14 as student of the month for
October.
Grade 7
Arjun Sharma
Arjun is hard working
and dedicated student.
He is kind and helpful to
his classmates and
teachers, and is always
willing to offer a helping
hand. Arjun has a great sense of
humour and can always be seen
smiling. He is an excellent role model
to his peers.
Grade 8
Gagan Khehra
Gagan is our grade 8
Student of the Month.
As one of our student
Computer Tech Helpers,
she put in a lot of time at
the beginning of the year
preparing the mobile labs for use. She
is a Raven Crew member who is
always on the forefront of keen
involvement when it comes to getting
things done. She displayed great
sportsmanship and drive on the girls
volleyball team. In the classroom she
is hardworking, respectful and helpful.
She is a much-deserving Student of
the Month.
Athletes of the Month
September
Karn Minhas
Karn has been selected
as athlete of the month
for September. He is the
captain of the Ravens
football team. He is an
inspirational leader and
an excellent player. He plays outside
linebacker and tight end. He is
regarded by many of the coaches
around the league as one of the best
defensive players in BC for grade 8.
Sukhreen Samra
Sukhreen became an
instant leader on the
team. She was always
on time, worked
extremely hard at
practice to refine her
skills, always asked her coach if she
could help, and always motivated her
team at games. Sukhreen's serving
and all around defense helped her
team with some wins.
October
Anthony Phan
Anthony joined the
Ravens football team in
September. He plays
running back and
linebacker. Anthony has
been instrumental in the
Ravens success this year. He is a
dominant tackler and runs the ball
very hard. He has scored over 6
touchdowns and continues to lead the
Ravens into playoffs. He is one of the
best players on the Ravens squad.
Jenny Nguyen
Jenny worked hard
throughout our first
month of volleyball.
She initially struggled
with serving but did not
allow that to dictate her
volleyball season. She spent any
moment she could practicing her
serving skills and soon became one of
our top servers helping her team post
some wins.
Grade 6 News
Grade 7 News
Grade 8 News
The Grade Six students
continue to work
diligently and adjust to life as a middle
school student at Eugene Reimer. We
are proud of their progress.
With report cards just
around the corner, both
parents and students should ensure
that all assignments are completed and
any missing examinations have been
completed. To facilitate success for
the upcoming terms, please make sure
that students are using their planners
on a daily basis. This helps reduce the
amount of missed or incomplete work
and ultimately lead to a better
academic achievement.
November is here!
November brings many
things to Reimer Middle! It is time for
parent teacher interviews, term end,
report cards, and gearing up for the
Christmas season.
At our school, we stress the importance
of having good character. In Grade Six,
we have been focussing on Respect,
Manners and Goal Setting in the
classroom. We expect our students to
demonstrate etiquette, follow the Golden
Rule and leave a situation better than
they found it.
Two students who have emulated good
character are our two Students of the
MonthSeptember’s SOM - Taylor Gibbons
October’s SOM - Hamza Mahmud
Congratulations!
We continue to stress Reading, Writing
and Mathematics as well. Our students
are learning how to use reading
strategies to help them further their
understanding of the text as well as
write a proper, detailed paragraph.
Teachers suggest having your child read
daily for at least 30 minutes. Likewise,
please ensure your child is completing
their Math homework every day and
practicing long division and their
multiplication tables.
In Physical Education, we will be
walking with our students to Centre Ice
on either December 18th or 19th in the
afternoon. There, the students will
enjoy one hour of skating.
As Term One draws to an end, we will
be having Student Led Conferences on
November 27th and 28th. Please join
your child to celebrate their progress.
We look forward to seeing you all.
Sincerely,
the Grade 6 Team
Allergy Alert
As a few students and staff members have
severe peanut allergies, we request no
peanuts in specific classrooms’ or in the
office. We also have staff members who have
severe allergic reactions to perfumes; do not
bring perfume / deodorant body spray / etc. to
school. Thank you for your cooperation as we
endeavor to make this school building safe
and healthy for all who attend.
At Eugene Reimer we are committed
to helping our students reach their
academic potential. To do so we have
been teaching students numerous new
concepts in all subject areas. As well,
we have been reviewing previous
learned concepts to ensure that
students have a firm understanding of
previously learned curriculum. This
includes working on basic facts in
mathematics. To motivate students we
recently had a grade wide mad minute
competition focused on addition.
Students were required to complete 50
questions correctly in the shortest time
possible. After an exciting
competition, the following students
were the top four finishers:
Addition
1st Place – Tejveer Atwal
2nd Place – Jasjeet Khaira
3rd Place – Hannet Gill
4th Place – Arvin Aujla
Our next math competition is slated
for early December and will feature
subtraction. It will also be our first
ever competition which will be done
online. All students will be
participating in an online game called
‘Ducky Race’. It can be found at the
following link:
http://www.arcademics.com/games/du
cky-race/ducky-race.html
As well as academic challenges, all
students from grade seven also
attended a field trip to White Rock.
The purpose of this trip was to give
students an up-close look at water
based ecosystems. Despite thick fog,
students were still able to make a
number of exciting discoveries
including eels, crabs, jelly fish, clams,
oysters and sculpins! Thanks to all
students for their excellent behaviour
to make this field trip a success. A
huge thank you is also extended to our
parent volunteers who also
accompanied us on this trip.
Lastly, congratulations to division 7,
Mr. Piper’s class, who was the
champion of our intramural volleyball
championship during term one.
Parent/Teacher Interviews
On November 27th, the students at
Reimer will be dismissed at 1:15 pm for
parent/teacher interviews. The 28th is
also a day for interviews and the
students will not be in session on that
day. Please note that your child will be
bringing home a letter asking you to
pick a date and time for your interview.
Please bring your child to the interview
as it is a valuable time for the teacher,
the student and the parent(s)/guardian(s)
to meet and discuss any areas of concern
and success!
Homework and Report Cards
Your child should bring home
homework every night. If they have
completed their assignments at school,
they always can review and/or silent
read.
Term 1 ends on November 27th and all
term marks should be in “Check My
Mark” shortly after. Report cards will be
sent home on December 10th.
Collaboration
One of our grade 8 wishes at Reimer is
for teachers to collaborate together and
join forces when re-teaching a specific
PLO. Our grade 8 Math teachers have
recently done this with much success!
All grade 8 Math students were placed
in specific classes with specialized
teachers who taught at the level of those
particular students. There was also an
enriched class for those who had
successfully mastered the task the first
time.
The grade 8 English teachers have also
begun to work on common assessments
and have had the opportunity to have
Mrs. Nerlap Sidhu help in our
classrooms with the Reading
Comprehension Toolkit and the
Academic Vocabulary Toolkit. Great
things are happening at Reimer!
Black House News
Silver House News
ATHLETICS
Team Black consists of 2
grade 8 classes -Mr.
Bamara, Mrs. Himmel and 2 grade 6
classes - Mr. Arnold and Ms. Taylor.
To reinforce what we have been
learning about the character - Respect,
Team Black organized an activity to
help the grade 6’s and grade 8’s get to
know one another. The activity took
place in the gym and focused on
brainstorming and discussing ways
they can show respect in our school, in
the community and at home. Teams
of 8 to 9 students enjoyed relay races,
an art project and snacks as they got to
know one another outside of a
classroom setting.
Silver house has had a
great start to the year.
Our first activity as a
group was a scavenger hunt. Students
were placed into mixed groups of
grade 6, 7 and 8’s to gather various
materials from around the school.
They worked together extremely well
and had a great time. The students of
silver house also did an amazing job
raising money for the Terry Fox Run.
As a house team we raised $825, and
as a school, we raised close to $2000.
We have also planned a trip to
Extreme Air Park for December 11th.
The floors and walls in this facility are
trampolines…they have basketball,
dodgeball, jump courts and foam pits.
Another great activity for students to
bond with friends from other grades in
an active environment!
Football
The Ravens football team has locked
up second place in their division with
a record of 4-1. They are heading into
the playoffs in hopes to win their first
championship in AA. The Ravens
will be taking on Notre Dame of
Vancouver in their semi-final game on
November 18th. The Ravens have
dominated their opponents all year.
The wins were against Mission, GW
Graham, HD Stafford, and Colleen
and Gordie Howe. Their only loss
was to Abby Middle. The Reimer
Ravens also defeated HD Stafford for
the first time in history. Harjot
Dhaliwal leads the team on offence
and Karn Minhas leads the team on
defence. Great job guys!
Team Black has also taken on a
service project for the month of
December. We have signed up to
sponsor a needy family in our
community and will be raising funds
and gathering donations to help give
this family a special Christmas.
Students will also be making and
selling rice krispie squares to raise
money for their project during the first
week of December.
We look forward to other fun and
rewarding activities in the future that
will enable us to build stronger
relationships across the grades.
Red House News
As the school realigned
itself to facilitate our new
house system, the lower
East wing of Reimer
gave birth to the Red
House. It is comprised of Mr. Piper,
Mrs. Craven, Mr. Whalley and Mr.
Dhaliwal. There are approximately
120 students who belong to the Red
House from grade 6, grade 7 and grade
8. To ensure that all students feel a
connection to the red team there have
been a number of initiatives
undertaken. These include a field trip
to the Greater Vancouver Zoo, a
potluck breakfast and two afternoons
devoted to interacting with students
from different grades.
At this point we are very happy to
report that the Red House is leading
the school in house points. This is due
in large part to the points earned for
bringing in money for our Terry Fox
run. As well, the Red House has been
earning lots of points through lunch
time intramural competitions.
Looking to the future, students will
further be developing relationships
with their peers, through more shared
meals, activities and field trips.
Current Points per House:
Black: 1092 points
Silver: 1470 points
Red:
1616 points
Black – Mr. Bamara, Ms. Himmel,
Ms. Vinning, Mr. Arnold, Ms. Taylor
Silver – Mr. Twele, Mrs. Goertzen,
Mrs. Moffat, Ms. Jurcic, Ms. McPhee,
Mrs. Duggan, Ms. Olfert
Red – Mr. Dhaliwal, Mr. Whalley, Mr. Piper,
Mrs. Craven
Terry Fox Run
Eugene Reimer participated in their
annual Terry Fox run on September
26, 2013. The Students and staff
members run in the “Raven Run”,
which is a 4.5 kilometer challenging
running route. More importantly,
together as a school, students and staff
members raised over $2000 dollars
this year. A special recognition was
given to Sapna Parshad, Shanice
McIntyre and Pavittar Grewal for
their efforts in raising monies on their
own for the Terry Fox Organization.
Volleyball – Grade 8 Girls
The grade 8 girls volleyball season
was full of skill development. The
volleyball season started with a great
group of girls who were eager to learn
the game of volleyball as well as
refine their skills. The girls proved to
be hard workers with a great work
ethic. They were great representatives
of Eugene Reimer and always
displayed sportspersonship. The girls
had a good season; however a three
way tie in league play did not allow
them to advance into the playoffs.
Volleyball – Grade 7 Girls
Our Reimer Grade 7 Girls Volleyball
team finished in 3rd place at the
District Playoffs. The girls started off
the pool play with 3 straight wins over
Abby Middle, Chief Dan George, and
Fraser. They then lost to Clayburn in
the final game of pool play. This
created a 3 way tie between Fraser,
Clayburn and Reimer. The girls then
lost in the semi-final against Fraser
(who went on to win the Districts).
The game for third place was action
packed and very close. Our Reimer
Girls won the final game 27-26 after
coming back from a score of 22-24.
What a great season of play.