Ecole Meridian Heights School 4119 - 43 S treet, S tony Plain, Alberta T7Z 1R2 Phone: (780) 963–2289 Fax: (780) 968–2193

M ARCH 2016 Message from the Principal Well, it’s been a mild winter! Thank goodness for that. It has helped us spend more time outside being active. Physical activity is important to Meridian. Basketball winds up soon. Badminton and track will start soon. We run a spring floor hockey league with staff and students. But physical activity doesn’t just include organized sports. Our PE teachers work hard each day to develop fitness skills, and our classroom teachers make time for “brain breaks” throughout the day. Thank you for supporting our decision to have K-6 students leave their devices in their backpacks at recess we want to see them on the new playground and playing. March is also Nutrition Month. Our Grade Ones and Twos are enjoying taste-testing each week where they enjoy a new fruit or vegetable; we have Save-On Foods to thank for their donation. An interested group of parents is working with our Health Champion to develop some nutrition changes for our school, starting with our Hot Lunch program. Our snack vending machine is doing well, and our Breakfast Program is thriving; thank you for your donations. PSD will be hosting a Food for Change event at our school this month. Eating healthy is a great goal for everyone! Mental health and social well-being is also a goal for our school. Staff are learning about behavioural strategies and ways to help students recognize and regulate their own moods. We tried a few clubs this winter to include students who weren’t involved in sports. We encourage leadership with everyone in the school. Staff will discuss their own wellness and that of their students on the March PD day. We are fortunate to have a counsellor, Mr. Kinney, and an Inclusive Education Lead, Mrs. MacKenzie, who work hard every day to help teachers meet the needs of students who encounter social difficulties or mental health challenges. STUDENT SUCCESS AND WELL-BEING are our ultimate goals. Everything we plan and everything we do comes back to that. We’d like to thank you for all that you do as parents to support education, and for allowing us the privilege of working with your children every day. C. Johnson

Scholastic Book Fair March 21-23 We will be holding a Scholastic Book Fair on March 21-23, 2016. The book fair will be open Monday to Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. On the evenings of parent teacher interviews the hours will be 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Come and see the great selection of books. There should be something for everyone?

We Day Option The We Day Option class would like to thank all those who generously donated items towards our food drive for the school breakfast room and the Parkland Food Bank. These are tough times for many families and it was great to see so many people stepping up. We were able to amass over 600 items and the local food bank is so thrilled with Meridian's great contribution.

Register Now for Kindergarten September 2016 We are accepting registrations in our kindergarten programs for September 2016 (English & French Immersion). Children must be 5 years of age by

February 28, 2017.

A birth certificate /Canadian passport is required upon registration.

Kindergarten Information Meetings: French Kindergarten Meeting March 16 at 6:00 p.m.—Library English Kindergarten Meeting April 13 at 6:00 p.m.— Library

Elementary Results from the 38th Annual Running Room Indoor Games On February 17th the Elementary Relay Teams did Meridian proud by competing valiantly at the University of Alberta's Buttterdome. The three girls teams finished 82nd, 173rd, and 245th out of 290 teams. The two boys teams finished 118th and 260th out of 310 teams. Unfortunately, only the top 60 teams move on to the Finals Saturday in March. Mr. Kinney would like to thank all the boys and girls for all of their hard work they put in training for this special event. You should all be very proud of the amazing effort you put in and your excellent results. You truly represented Meridian well. Way to go Meridian Magic! Check out the Relay Team Rosters below:

Grade 4—Alex Walker, Mackenzie Parno, Jackson Ward, Isabelle Paquette, Jenna Duff, Riley Shanmugam, Jemma Bendall, Bryn Verge, Darby Verge. Grade 5—Liam Crooks, Riley Pinner, Eric Mercredi, Parker Schriever, Andrew Hunter, Sameer Ejaz, Kyryn Hamilton, Cael Harris, Seth Doering, Kai Kilkenny, Brianna Hurren, Malyka Trojan, Selena Parrott, Ella Kern, Avery Nichol, Samantha Meier, Lara Smith, Jayda Kirk. Grade 6—Nathan Pomerleau, Ben Wilson, Ethan Miller, David Domingues, Bronwyn Owen, Ginger Miller, Jessica Clark, Keesza Gonzales, Ava Doige, Nicole Elhafid, Sarah Hill, Jacqueline Peterson, Thylana Armstrong.

Hair Massacure 2016 The grade 8 students of Meridian Heights, along with a few others from various grades, took part in the Hair Massacure event that raises awareness and funds for the Stollery Children's Hospital Foundation and the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Northern Alberta. As part of a volunteerism project in their Health/Life Skills class, grade 8 students raised awareness and collected pledges online and from family and friends. In addition, most students raised even more pledges by organizing various sales throughout the months of January and February contributing all of the money towards their pledge packages. As a result, the grade 8 students, and the select few who also contributed, managed to raise $10,707.01 that will all go towards helping children with life-threatening illnesses. Also, it is important to note that some students not only donated their time, but also donated their hair which will be used to make wigs for those children who experience hair loss due to their illness/treatment. A number of students shaved their heads to help raise awareness as well. These students are truly making a difference in the world. Mr. Kinney and Mme. Herd would like to thank everybody for their hard work on this very meaningful learning project. You truly are Magical people!!!

That’s a wrap! Another season of Leclub des neiges, Meridian Heights’ ski club, has wrapped for the year. Over the past 5 weeks, we took over 50 students in grades 4-9 to rabbit Hill for some fun evenings of learning to ski and snowboard. Students had a wonderful time and were well behaved for their teachers and instructors. Thank you to all parents who supported this great opportunity for kids! See you next season! Mlle Huot, Mlle Longpre & Mrs. McGhan

Hot Lunch Menu for March Mar 2 - Booster Juice Mar 3 - Edo Japan Mar 7 - Subway Mar 9 - Booster Juice Mar 11 - Pizza 73 Mar 14 - Dairy Queen Mar 16 - Booster Juice Mar 18- Freson Bros Mar 21 - Bings Mar 23 - Booster Juice Mar 24 - Servings Hot lunch website: https://mhsaa.hotlunches.net All cheques made payable to MHSAA The codes you need to sign up: Access code: MH2011HL System password: hotlunch

Francofete is here!! Francofête is here! Monday, Feb.29 - Thurs., Mar.3! Students will enjoy a presentation by Carissa Hendrix and Company on Monday. On Tuesday, the Canadian Parents for French will be bringing a little taste of maple to all students. On Wednesday, students will sample a French pastry and the K-3 FI students will do some singing! On Thursday, students will enjoy a French film in the big gym. There are a few other activities going on between classes, too! It will be a fun week! Vive le français!

French Book Fair During Francofete we will be hosting a book fair in the library. Come and check it out!!

Is TV watching after supper a regular event for your family? Talk to your family about replacing one show per night with an active healthy habit to get you all on the move. A family walk, bike ride or swim after supper is a great way to activate your evening!

Quebec Trip Fundraiser A group of students from grades 7 and 8 are planning a trip to Quebec in May to expose themselves to French language and culture. They have been fundraising to help with the cost of the trip. There is a weekly snack shop that they run, as well as things like bake sales, popcorn sales and bottle drives will all be happening. Help them out if you can!

Parent Teacher Interviews March 22 & 23, 2016 Families can now sign up for Parent Teacher Interviews on line. We have opened up the on-line registration so you can go ahead and register your child/children on the system. You simply state your child’s name on the online registration, select the teacher (up to six teachers at a time) and select convenient times for yourself for your records! Here is the like http://emhs.schoolappointments.com/.

MHSAA Update KITCHEN RENOS UPDATE We are excited about our potential new kitchen reno. The initial design has been submitted to the School Division and we are waiting for word on next steps. As far as we know we are still on the list to be done this summer. The new expansion will give the Junior High Food Option the ability to double in the number of students in the program and give a much more functional kitchen for hot lunch too. Thank you to a couple of parents for stepping forward to help with the next stage of kitchen and electrical design, if requred from the PSD. We will keep you posted as we hear more. WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR SPINNER? You may have noticed that for about a week in early February, the Astro Spinner (the big diamond shaped spinner), was missing. No it was not stolen or vandalized as some asked. Late last fall we had problems with it not spinning properly. The manufacturer was contacted and our supplier was on site several times to figure out the problem. This was not something the manufacturer had ever encountered before with this equipment. They could not solve it, so decided in late December to fabricate us a new spinner. That new equipment arrived in early February. The old equipment was removed in two stages and the new spinner installed on Feb 21st. The new spinner looks great and should give us many years of service. All this work was performed under warranty at no cost to the school or MHSAA. HOT LUNCH: Three of our parents have attended food safety certification, bringing us one step closer to making in-house hot lunch. A couple of other schools were visited for ideas too. Keep posted for notice of the first meals. MEALS AT PARENT TEACHER INTERVIEWS Like in the past, we will be offering up families the chance to grab supper in the gym on PT interview nights (March 22 & 23). This time we will be adding pizza slices to our regular hot dog offering. Hope you come and join us. We will be needing parent or student helpers those evenings. Money goes towards our kitchen reno and other upcoming projects like a school digital score board. CAMPBELL’S SOUP LABELS AND BOSTON PIZZA RECEIPTS Do you want an easy way to help out the school? If you use Campbell’s soup, save the labels and bring them into the school (put them in the large soup can in hallway between office and main school). We can apply them towards supplies for the school. Do you dine at BP? If you ask them to stamp your receipt and then bring it in to the office (or in the box by the giant soup can), we can get a small percentage of money back towards the school from the receipts.

Our Vision: Parkland School Division is a place where exploration, creativity, and imagination make learning exciting and where all learners aspire to reach their dreams.