January 2011 Newsletter

SOUTH EAST CORNERSTONE SCHOOL DIVISION NO. 209
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And from
Volume 2, issue 5
January 2011
S t u d e n t s a r r e s t e d at S p ru c e R i d g e
f o r o u t s ta n d i n g , p o s i t i v e b e h av i o u r
Mary Parker and a few of her
friends were working on decorations for a dance at Spruce Ridge
School in Estevan when a squad
of COPS walked into the room
and arrested her—for outstanding
behaviour.
“Our school is kind of weird anyway, so I didn't think much of
it,” the Grade 8 student said,
“but it was kind of cool.”
Parker was one of five students who was recognized
recently by the COPS program. COPS, or Catching
Outstanding Positive Students, is made up of a group
of staff members who dress
up as police officers and
about once a month, recognize students who have been
caught doing something very
nice for others or who demonstrate some act of kindness or
positive behaviour that goes well
beyond the regular expectations.
Parker was recognized for helping
her peers in many areas, including
teaching a dance for an assembly.
“It’s cool they’re doing that because there are so many things
people are doing in our school
that are really good, and it is good
that people are getting recognize
for it,” said Parker. “I feel really
good about (being recognized).
Sometimes people don’t see that I
try to help people and it’s good to
get recognized. It feels good.”
COPS is based on a similar initiative
at the Estevan Comprehensive
School called DORKS, or Dynamic
Organization Recognizing Kids’
Success, explained Leslie Chapman,
Students Dana Wilbraham and
Mary Parker
a Learning Support teacher involved in the COPS program.
Some Spruce Ridge teachers heard
about DORKS during a session at
last year’s teacher’s convention
and wanted to try something similar starting this year. With many
students doing positive things at
the elementary school, COPS was
just one of the ways teachers could
recognize that behaviour.
Teachers nominate students when
they see them doing something
positive. When a large enough
group has been nominated, the
officers, accompanied by music, go
and give the students their awards.
Students are given a certificate,
get their picture taken with the
officers, receive a treat and
have a letter sent home thanking the student for their contributions to Spruce Ridge.
“It’s a quick thing we do that
students see, that we’re recognizing student behaviour. It
doesn’t take too long to do so
we’re not taking away from
their academic time,” Chapman
said. “It’s to help with our
school community and our
school spirit. I think it is a very
good thing.”
With a student population of 420,
it won’t be hard to find a student
to recognize, Chapman added.
Instead, it will fall upon the teachers to find the appropriate student
to nominate for the initiative.
“I think people will try and do better things so they can get arrested,”
Parker said. “People will try to be
better students. (COPS will make
the school better) because then
there won’t be as much bullying or
harassment.”
D O R K S c e l e b r at e s t u d e n t ac h i e v e m e n t
DORKS, or Dynamic Organization Recognizing Kids’ Success,
is a group that was formed at
the Estevan Comprehensive
School (ECS) to celebrate the
achievements of ECS students.
These achievements range
from academic to extracurricular, to good deeds in the school
in community. DORKS is a
group of positive-minded teachers who felt the need to spread
positive energy throughout
their school. Periodically
throughout the school year, the
group generates a list of students
based on recommendations from
other staff members.
These students are then recognized in an event known around
the school as a “DORKing.” The
DORKS don capes and masks and
burst into each student’s classroom to their theme song,
“Mission Impossible.” Once the
student is located in the room,
the DORKS introduce themselves,
the student accomplishment is
explained to the class and the
student is presented with a
chocolate bar or candy that
represents their achievement,
such as a Mars bar for being
“out of this world.”
The DORKS take a picture with
the student, which is then used
to generate a certificate that
details his or her accomplishment. The certificate is mailed
home to the student’s parents.
The DORKS program is in its
sixth year at ECS.

Jan. 1—
Happy New Year!

Jan. 6—
Welcome back to
school

Jan. 20—
Assessment Day

Jan. 27—
Family Literacy
Day

Feb. 7-11—
French Second Language Education
Week
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E s t e va n s t u d e n t s c o n t r i bu t e m u s i c a l ly at G r e y c u p
Band students in Estevan had the opportunity to provide some entertainment at the Grey Cup in Edmonton.
On Nov. 26, the Estevan Junior
Marching Band, under the direction
of Shauna Meek, left on their trip to
Edmonton to participate in the 2010
Grey Cup parade. Band members consisted of students from all schools in
Estevan.
Stacy Grunert also joined the Estevan
group with her band students from
Lampman, Macoun and Bienfait. Seventy students in total made up the
marching band, which consisted of
band students and flag carriers. Doug
Stallard worked with students on their
marching and Brenda Blackburn
taught the flaggers their routine.
Other staff members and parent chap-
erones also carried various flags from
Saskatchewan. Ten other bands from
across Canada were also in the parade,
but only two were from Saskatchewan.
they started. They were so focused
and knew what they had to do and
did it.
“They played amazingly well and
kept good steps.”
To ensure they performed flawlessly,
the band practiced once a week for
10 weeks. The one song the group
played was “Louie Louie,” which
Meek said with a laugh they played
probably 15 times as they walked the
streets of downtown Edmonton.
“It was pretty cool,” Meek said. Almost
the entire crowd was made up of Rider
fans, and as the students walked by,
they were cheered on by the crowd.
“The kids were very excited and nervous,” she added. “They weren’t sure
what to expect. You could see it when
As for the overall trip, “it was quick,”
Meek added. They got to Edmonton
Friday night, performed Saturday afternoon, left and made it to Warman
Saturday night and got back home
Sunday, in time to watch the game.
To see the group perform, visit the
division website for a video.
G o “ G r e e n ” b y t u r n i n g o f f yo u r e n g i n e w h i l e wa i t i n g
The Ministry of Environment invites
everyone to reduce vehicle idling by
going green and supporting antiidling initiatives in the province.
The Government of Saskatchewan
is working hard to ensure environmental education, conservation and
sustainability are taught in schools
as part of the curriculum. Further, it
is important that Saskatchewan’s
environmental and natural resources are protected to maintain a
high level of environmental quality,
ensure sustainable development
and provide economic and social
benefits for all.
Saskatchewan has the highest per
capita greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions rate in Canada. GHGs are released when we use energy derived
from fossil fuels. We release GHGs
into the atmosphere when we use
coal to produce electricity, oil and
natural gas to heat homes and
gasoline and diesel to run vehicles.
One study found more than onethird of parents idle their vehicles
while waiting to pick up their children from school. A vehicle idling
for 10 minutes per day uses more
than 100 litres of gasoline per year,
releasing GHGs and other harmful
emissions.
By turning engines off at schools,
parents can be part of the solution
and experience substantial financial
savings as well.
For free resources and more info,
visit www.environment.gov.sk.ca/
school_idle_free.
Fa m i ly L i t e r ac y day e n c o u r ag e s p l ay i n g g a m e s
Family Literacy Day takes place annually
on January 27 to celebrate adults and
children reading and learning together. It
also encourages Canadians to spend at
least 15 minutes enjoying a learning activity as a family every day.
In Thursday, Jan. 27, 2011, Canadians
will Play for Literacy! Playing games that
encourage literacy and numeracy—such
as board games, card games and word
games—is a great way for parents and
children to practice their literacy skills and
have fun. On Jan. 27, grab your family
and play at home, attend a local event or
host an event in your community.
Playing is a great literacy activity for families because it creates a strong family
bond, promotes language comprehension and improves reading skills.
Literacy-enriched play settings can result
in at least short-team gains in young children’s knowledge about the functions of
writing, ability to recognize play-related
print and use of comprehension strate-
gies such as self-checking and selfcorrection.
Research suggests that story reading,
providing materials for scribbling and
‘writing” in pretend play, and participating in extended conversations, are
among the activities that promote emergent literacy skills.
For more information about Family Literacy Day, visit http://abclifeliteracy.ca/en/
family-literacy-day, where you can also
find helpful resources.
VOLUME 2,
ISSUE
5
PAGE 3
January Greetings from the Board Chair
Happy New Year from the Board of
Education! We are looking forward to
working with all of you in 2011.
At the close of 2010, we celebrate the
“almost” completion of the new Oxbow
Prairie Horizons K-12 school, the introduction of a new assessment and reporting system to better align with the
Ministry’s outcome-based curriculum,
the many successes of our students and
staff who have won numerous awards
and competitions, and all the day-today achievements of students and staff
which often go unnoticed.
The Board will continue to work in
2011 with its partners to enhance communications and understanding of the
new assessment and reporting system,
and will continue to build relationships
to ease the implementation of everchanging demands. The Board also
sends our sympathies to those of you
who have lost students, colleagues and
friends of your schools this past year.
January is an appropriate time for the
Board to reflect on the past year’s successes and challenges and a time to
move strategically forward. The Board
will be reviewing its policies in January
and making any changes necessary to
better reflect the current governance
reality. We will also be conducting our
annual Board/Director evaluation.
On Monday, Jan. 17 at 7 p.m. in Wapella, the Board will host its final meeting on responses to Conversations with
the Board. We appreciate staff from that
area attending this meeting to dialogue
with us. Please note
that our annual meeting date has been
changed to Thursday,
Feb. 17 at 1:30 p.m.
at the division office.
We would welcome
your attendance at
that meeting as we
will be unveiling our
three-year education plan.
I have spoken to a number of staff from
many areas in our school division who
have wonderful stories to tell about
activities happening in your schools.
Please share those with everyone by
sending your stories to Jason Antonio
to include in the upcoming newsletters.
Thank you! Carol Flynn, Board Chair
S p o rt s s p o rt s s p o rt s s p o rt s s p o rt s s p o rt s s p o rt s
We are always looking for information
on how teams or individuals did during
season-end championships. If your team
or athlete won a medal during a district,
regional or provincial tournament, we
want to hear about it! If we missed your
team, let us know and we’ll include the
info in the next newsletter.
Volleyball

Redvers Senior Boys won bronze at
3A Provincials in Maidstone.

Oxbow Senior Boys won silver at
4A Provincials in La Ronge.

Manor
Junior
Boys
won first at Districts in
Fillmore.

Gladmar Junior Boys placed
second at Districts in Fillmore.
Redvers
Senior Boys
Manor
Junior Boys
Gladmar
Junior Boys
Pa rt i c i pat e i n 1 5 t h y e a r o f S a s k . Yo u t h h e r i tag e fa i r
The Saskatchewan Youth Heritage Fair
Association is celebrating its 15th year of
honouring Canadian heritage, and the
time to register your school for this
year’s Heritage Fair is fast approaching.
The Association’s website,
www.saskyouthheritagefair.com, provides resources and related documents
to help educators integrate Heritage
Fair projects into the Grades 4-9 Saskatchewan Curriculum. The website also
provides information on how to participate in the next Fair.
the commitment to promote the Historica Fairs Program in the province.
Wednesday, Jan. 15 is when all Intent to
Participate Forms are due. Registration
forms for the Class/School/Division Fair
are due Tuesday, March 15.
The Program is an education initiative
designed to increase awareness and
interest in Canadian history. Students in
Grades 4-9 are encouraged to investigate a heritage project, person or seek
out the living history surrounding them.
Students can display their projects threedimensionally, in creative writing and
performance or through multi-media.
“Giving our Past a Future” is the theme
of the Historica Fairs Program, which
was initiated in 1993. In the spring of
2000, the Saskatchewan Youth Heritage
Fair Association was established, with
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F ro m Va n c o u v e r to L a m p m a n, d r a m a t e ac h e r g i v e s
t h e g i f t o f m a j o r l i v e t h e at r e to ru r a l s t u d e n t s
From Vancouver to Banff to Regina, Christine Branyik-Thornton has been involved
in numerous live theatre productions over
the years and worked with many wellknown theatre players.
For 12 of the past 15 years, BranyikThornton has been using those theatre
skills to direct major live theatre productions at Lampman School. The quality and
professionalism of her productions attract
students from Stoughton, Carlyle, Arcola,
Oxbow and Alameda.
Over the years, the school has won 28
trophy awards and many certificate
awards. In 2009 the school won a silver
medal at the provincial level of high
school theatre. This year’s drama producSeussical,
tion,
takes place on
Friday, Jan. 21 and
Saturday, Jan. 22.
The
production
combines
eight
Dr. Seuss stories
into a musical and
weaves them together around the
Dr. Seuss story Horton Hears A Who. Forty
students from all six schools will be participating in the play.
“I love to work with students because
they’re fearless. They’ll try anything.
They’re willing to go out on a limb and
learn new things. And it’s that energy that
I love,” she explained. “I have worked with
adults. I worked in professional theatre.
That was great too, but I always come
back to teenagers because I just really
enjoy working with them. I like their energy ... (and) their commitment.”
Although no one else in her family
worked on stage, Branyik-Thornton was
drawn to the theatre because she liked to
sing. Her first involvement in live productions was in elementary school, where
two science teachers wrote musicals specifically for the students’ voices and interests. Those teachers were the impetus for
her involvement in theatre, she said.
From elementary school to high school to
university, Branyik-Thornton stayed involved in live productions. Her passion for
theatre led her to pursue a Bachelor of
Fine Arts in theatre production and design
from the University of Victoria, a Masters
Certification (not the same as a Masters
degree) from the Banff Centre of Fine Arts
and a Bachelor of Education in arts education from the University of Regina.
Branyik-Thornton worked at a number of
famous theatre locations, including the
Vancouver Playhouse, Vancouver Firehall
Arts Centre, Vancouver Opera, Salisbury
Playhouse in Victoria, The Banff Centre in
Alberta and the Regina Globe Theatre.
Putting on live theatre productions for six
schools is a great feeling, BranyikThornton said, but it’s even better for her
drama students. They are able to gather
with other students who share the same
interests, which can provide more motivation and allow them to draw energy from
other students while on stage.
“Theatre is a team and collaborative artwork,” she added. “You need to have new
people to keep it fresh.”
This will be the first year Lampman is doing
a full-fledged kids’ show, compared to previous years. Last year the drama production
was Little Shop of Horrors, which featured
four versions of a man-eating plant. Branyik
-Thornton said with a laugh their motivation now is how they can top last year’s
production. But when they have a walking
and talking 80-pound plant on stage, “it’s
kind of hard to top that.”
Branyik-Thornton receives plenty of help for
her productions, from teachers and students in school to community members.
Even with the help, though, it can still be
tiring as the director.
“It’s a full-time job. You (would) have a fulltime job directing the show if you were to
do this as a career. And when we do our
shows we try to do them as professionally
as we can. Except I have another full-time
job teaching,” said Branyik-Thornton. “So
it’s tiring, but yes, it’s a good tiring. But I feel
that way about teaching anyway, so it’s not
really a job as far as I have to make myself
go to work.”
Branyik-Thornton’s work extends onto the
Internet as well. She is the creator and
owner of the largest drama teacher egroup currently on the ‘Net. There are over
700 drama teachers from all over the world
who represent the largest cross-section of
theatre educators online.
The e-group has been recognized as one of
the top sources for drama educators by PBS
online, Education at the Getty Center and
American Alliance of Theatre Educators.
T i p s to s u b m i t i n t e r e s t i n g s to r i e s , g r e at p i c t u r e s
Think you have a story you want to
submit but aren’t sure how to put it
together? Have a picture to share but
don’t know how to make it look good?
Here are a few tips to get the best results when submitting one or both.
Story Writing 101
 Answer the five Ws: Who, What,
Where, When and Why. And if it
explains your story more, also answer How. Those are the basic
building blocks of a story.
 Keep your paragraphs short. Large
masses of text are hard to read.
Picture Taking 101
 If necessary, use the flash!
 Get up close to your subject. Faces are
good.
 Don’t shoot facing into the sun. Your
subject will be in shadows.
 When e-mailing your pictures, send
them as large as you can. If your
computer asks you to shrink the
picture, don’t. Bigger is better.
 Get to know your camera. Changing
some of the settings can make your
pictures look better.
 Less posed, more natural shots.
And there you have it. If you follow
some of these suggestions, you too can
write and take pictures like a pro.
SOUTH EAST CORNERSTONE SCHOOL
DIVISION NO. 209
South East Cornerstone School Division No. 209 serves over
8,000 students in 38 schools across southeast Saskatchewan.
80A-18th Street Northeast
Weyburn, Sask.
S4H 2W4
Stretching from Ogema in the west, to Maryfield in the east,
Phone: (306) 848-4795
Fax: (306) 848-4747
E-mail: [email protected]
covers nearly 31,000 square kilometres. With a mission of pro-
to Estevan in the south, to Rocanville in the north, SECSD
viding passionate and committed leadership and a vision to
ensure success for all students, South East Cornerstone School
Division is a leader in instructing students and showcasing
We’re on the web!
cornerstonesd.ca
and utilizing technology to enhance education in all schools.
C a r ly l e E l e m e n ta ry f u n d r a i s e r s e n d s c i t i z e n s to ja i l
SMART Boards will soon be a permanent fixture in every classroom at Carlyle Elementary School (CES), after a
recent community fundraiser raised
more than $16,000.
CES’s School Community Council held a
Jail ‘n’ Bail fundraiser on Oct. 29 for the
very first time, with the goal of raising
at least $5,000 to purchase a SMART
Board for all 12 classrooms in the building. Previously, there school had only
one portable Board and projector for
the whole school. Whenever it is
needed, it is moved from place to place.
The community responded “very well”
to the initiative, said principal Shelley
Sargent. The school’s SCC would have
been happy raising the original goal,
but to receive over $16,000 “exceeded
their expectations and hopes.”
“And because the whole community
got behind it, that’s what made it a huge
success,” she added. “When you see everybody pull together to make it a huge
success,” it’s very encouraging. Without
the community’s support, the fundraiser
might not have gone as well.
Twenty-eight people were “arrested” by
the local RCMP during the course of the
event, with 27 serving time in the prison.
The bail, set by the person who took out
the warrant against the accused, ranged
from $200 to $400.
Of the 28 “criminals” in jail, two managed to raise $2,500 each for a quick
$5,000.
Having a SMART Board provides different opportunities for students to learn in
the classroom, Sargent explained. It
reaches all types of learners, such as
those who learn visually or by touch.
The biggest thing about the equipment
is it is hands-on and allows students to
interact with their work, as opposed to
having a teacher stand up at the front of
the classroom all the time, she continued. Carlyle Elementary is also looking at
putting up dual touch screens so two
students can be up at the front working.
During the previous school year, the
school purchased five projectors and the
mounting hardware for the SMART
Boards, in expectation of eventually having the classroom equipment. In the
new year, the goal is to purchase five
more projectors for the coming SMART
Boards.
“To me, (the fundraiser) was a huge success,” Sargent added. “To be able to
raise that much money in one day, it
was a huge benefit for our students and
that’s what the fundraiser was for.”