Nicole's Notes: Volume 10

Happy Monday TOSH Parents and Guardians!

Our new Career and Technical Education Centre (affectionately known here as the "CTEC" building) is officially open! A HUGE shout out to our trades students and staff for hosting such an awesome event. The Premier, Minister of Education, and all in attendance were impressed with your professionalism and passion for what you do each day in this awesome new facility!

There are only three days of classes this week due to Parent Teacher Interviews on Thursday and the provincial PD day on Friday. Please note that there will be no school next Monday, Nov. 12 due to the Remembrance Day holiday.

The next Parent Council meeting is Monday, Nov. 5 in the TOSH Library. All parents/guardians are always welcome! If you were there for the last meeting, remember to bring a friend this time!

VOLLEYBALL PROVINCIALS!

Congratulations to our TOSH Volleyball teams who all won medals during the recent provincial competition:

A Women- Silver Medalists!

AAA Women- Bronze Medalists!

AAA Men- Bronze Medalists!

Dates to Remember:
November:
5           Parent Council Meeting- 6:30 p.m. in TOSH Library
7           Remembrance Day School Assembly- 1 p.m.
             Parent Teacher Interviews (PM)
8           Parent Teacher Interviews- No classes
9           Provincial PD Day- No classes
             TOSH Christmas Craft Fair Begins
10-11    Craft Fair
12         Remembrance Day Holiday- No classes
21         Grade 11 Trip to Tour UPEI and Holland College

ROGERS "RAISING THE GRADE" PROGRAM
The Summerside Boys and Girls' Club has been chosen to receive a grant from Rogers Communication so that they can provide assistance to students who wish to explore and establish their pathway to a meaningful career. Students will be paired with trained student mentors and will be expected to attend sessions for one hour/week (Wednesdays) between 4-9 p.m. at the Boys and Girls' Club. There is the possibility of participants earning a $1000 scholarship toward their post-secondary education if they participate in the program for two years. TOSH students who are interested in participating or would like to be mentors and earn Community Service Bursary hours are asked to see Mr. Donovan in Student Services ASAP!

MATH 421 PBL:  "HOLE IN ONE" (Nov 6th  from 7-9 p.m.)
The Grade 10 Math  "Hole in One"  PBL trade fair night is happening this coming Tuesday from 7- 9 p.m. at the school. Students will need to arrive no later than 6:30 p.m. to get their display booths set up.

Curriculum outcomes this project addresses: Solving problems that involve linear measurement using both the SI (metric) and Imperial systems and converting between these two measurement systems, as well as calculating surface area and volume of three dimensional objects. 21st Century Competencies include: Communication and collaboration, critical thinking and problem solving.

PARENT TEACHER INTERVIEWS 

Parent Teacher interviews will take place this week on Wednesday, Nov. 7 from 3:45-5 p.m. and 6-9 p.m., as well as Thursday, Nov. 8 from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. If your son/daughter has not given you an interview request form to sign, ask him/her for it and send the completed form back to the main office asap. If the form has been lost, simply call the school and request your interview times.

PLEASE NOTE: Interviews are only 10 minutes in duration. If there is an issue you wish to discuss with one or more of your child's teachers in depth, please call or e mail Nicole Haire to request a more intensive meeting about your child's progress: nmhaire@edu.pe.ca.

STUDY SKILLS SESSIONS!

Ms. Peterson and Mr. Higginbotham will be running Study Skills Sessions in the Lecture Theatre on November 5 and 6 for those students interested in learning how to better prepare themselves for assessments like tests and exams. Each session will run from12:00-12:40 p.m. each day and students can choose the date that suits their schedule best!

TOSH CHRISTMAS CRAFT FAIR! 

Believe it or not, it's that time of year again! We welcome everyone to come out to our annual TOSH Christmas Craft Fair here at Three Oaks beginning on Friday November 9, from 4:00 PM - 9:00 PM; Saturday, November 10 from 9:00 AM - 8:00 PM; and Sunday November 11, 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM. This is an excellent opportunity to start/finish your Christmas shopping and/or purchase some holiday decorations for your home. There will be more than 100 vendors from PEI, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Admission is $3. Canteen and babysitting service are available. We also have a debit machine in place this year for your shopping convenience! For more information visit: http://www.toshcraftfair.com/. All proceeds from the Craft Fair go to support student programs, activities, and events here at Three Oaks. 

ROTARY YOUTH EXCHANGE INFORMATION SESSION

There will be an information session for the Rotary Youth Exchange program at Three Oaks Senior High on Nov. 13, 2012 beginning at 7:30 p.m. Contact Jim Donovan for more information: jddonovan@edu.pe.ca.

TOSH BAND FUNDRAISER

Please consider supporting our TOSH Band Program Frozen Cookie Dough Fund Raiser! Just in time for holiday baking! This is our biggest fund raiser of the year and will be especially helpful as we prepare to take the Senior Band to Ottawa for a week in the spring.

 3 lb. pail $10 each

-Scoop and bake directly from the pail.
-Tamper proof pails
-Re-freezable
-Each pail makes 48 1oz cookies.
Chocolate Chip, Oatmeal Raisin, Ginger, Double Chocolate, Rainbow Chip, and Shortbread.

**Orders are due on November 5, and the product will be picked up by each student seller on November 20th. If interested, see any TOSH Band member or e mail: kxcarruthers@edu.pe.ca.**

GET YOUR STORM TICKETS HERE!

Three Oaks Athletics is partnering with the Summerside Storm and will sell $5 tickets for home games this season.  Tickets will be available from basketball players and for sale in both the PE office and the Main Office at TOSH. These tickets can be used for children, seniors or adults.  All money supports school sport at TOSH.

PUMPKIN PATROL THANKS!

We had another successful Pumpkin Patrol event, keeping Summerside's Trick or Treaters safe! Special thanks goes out to the eight Summerside Storm players who joined us on patrol and for celebratory pizza afterwards. We are grateful to the following sponsors for making this event possible!:

Summerside Consolidated Credit Union
Brothers 2 Restaurant

PEI Police Association

Atlantic Superstore Summerside

Transcontinental PEI

Greco

Samuel's Coffee House

Summerside Storm Basketball 

TOSH ROCKS THE PEI ENVIROTHON COMPETITION

...AGAIN! 
The provincial Envirothon competition took place Friday and Saturday of last week. Each team is made up of five students, and this year we had a mixture of students from grades 10, 11, and 12:

Team 1: Rachel Barry, Caitlin Gallant, Zach Phillips, Matt MacNeill, and Damien Paugh.  

Team 2: Andrew Farag, Kristen Pyke, Patrick Steele, Ian Hink and Shobhitha Balasubramaniam. The competition involves tests of knowledge and skills in five areas of study:  Aquatics, Forestry, Soils/Land Use, Wildlife, and Current Issues in Environmental Sciences. They are also presented with a challenge related to the fifth topic and have to prepare and present a solution to the challenge before a panel of judges. The overall winner of the competition was TOSH 2 and this is our school's 9th provincial win in 10 years! The winning team has earned the right to represent PEI at the Canon Envirothon in August 2013 to compete with the winning teams from the other provinces and states.This will take place in Montana, USA this year! Congratulations to all who represented us and to the teacher advisors, Mr. Higginbotham and Dr. Pringle!

GRADE 12 PERSUASIVE ESSAYS TO APPEAR IN JOURNAL PIONEER SOON!

The Grade 12 English 621 students in Mr. Hockin's class have approached our local paper, the Journal Pioneer, about having some of their persuasive essays published in the paper. Stay tuned, as the folks at the Journal have agreed to do this sometime in late November/early December. We'll keep you posted!

UPEI RESEARCH:  ISLAND PARENT SURVEY

Dear Island Parents,

Your roles as caregivers, protectors, and encouragers for your children make for one of the most rewarding, yet challenging jobs ever. At different times and in different ways, parents may need support – but unfortunately, the support some parents need may not be available in the form that makes the most sense and works best for them.

The International Parenting Survey – Canada (IPS-C) is looking into this issue.  The survey is a project which has the potential to enhance services for local parents of children from 2-12 years of age.  The on-line survey will ask you questions about your child’s behavior, how you manage your child’s behavior, the supports that are available to you as parents, and your preferences for how to get support in parenting. In families where two parents are living, we would welcome each parent to complete the survey.

We will develop a local, P.E.I., report on parents’ responses. We will share this report with local policy and practice decision makers.
A few minutes of your time to respond to this survey will be greatly appreciated!
To take part in the survey, visit www.ips-canada.net.
If you have any questions, please contact Elena Buliga (ebuliga@upei.ca) or Dr. Philip Smith (smithp@upei.ca).
Sincerely,
Elena Buliga                     Dr. Philip Smith
BA (Honours) student      Professor of Psychology

THE MURAL PROJECT: 
USING VISUAL ARTS TO COMMUNICATE THE EXPERIENCE OF MENTAL HEALTH
We are proud to be one of two Island schools who will be hosting The Mural Project for two weeks in November. The mural is the culmination of the artistic work done by eight high school students who had experienced mental illness and who worked with an artist to capture their visual perceptions of this. We will be opening the school to parents and community members who wish to view the mural on Monday, November 19 beginning at 6:30 p.m. Mark it in your calendar!

KUDOS TO OUR KIDS!

To Ellen Arsenault, Abbey McQuaid, Becky Clark, Drake Gallant, Lauren Sheidow, and Nathan Stavert for volunteering at the Summerside Storm Slam Dunk game on behalf of Three Oaks Athletics!

To the following Fall athletes who were honoured as Provincial All-Stars in their sport:
A Women's Volleyball- Sarah Thususka and Becca Gallant
AAA Women's Volleyball- Emma Kennedy and Laura O'Neill
AAA Men's Volleyball- James Meek and Alex DesRoches (11)
AAA Men's Soccer- Andrew Richardson and Josh Arsenault
AAA Women's Soccer- Ellen Arsenault and Jill Curley
Field Hockey- Kayla Arsenault and Jaime MacLean

Also invited to attend their respective All-Star games:
A Women's Volleyball- Shelby MacNaught
AAA Men's Volleyball- Tanner Mendoza

To Jordan Black for his excellent volleyball play in provincials during his grade 10 year! Very impressive!

To the members of the Summerside Clippers Football team who are also TOSH students! Excellent semi-final game Friday night! The score was 55-15 when I had to leave with 5 minutes remaining in the game. They advance to the finals this coming Saturday in Charlottetown.

To members of the Pumpkin Patrol and Halloween for Hunger crew who represented us so well while doing such important work on Halloween night!

To the members of the Activities Council for some great Octoberfest activities!

To Millee McKay and Noah Richardson for organizing our "Movember" initiative! Be prepared for some "scary mustache" pictures in the weeks to come! Thanks to all involved for raising money and awareness for prostate cancer.

To our Grade 10 and Senior Concert Bands for their excellent performance with the UPEI Wind Symphony on Sunday afternoon!

To Julia McIntyre for her performances on French Horn with all three ensembles on Sunday!

Challenge:  Make arrangements to come to Parent Teacher interviews, or at least make e mail contact with your child's teachers, to get a sense of his/her progress to date (Staff e mail addresses are available at: www.edu.pe.ca/threeoaks). Your child's success in school depends on a three-way partnership: the School, the Parent, and the Student. Encourage your son/daughter to come along to interviews with you, as it will encourage them to take ownership of their education. Hope to see/hear from you this week!

Quote of the Week:  “Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.”
                                        ~ Dr. Seuss

We are looking forward to hosting you all here on Wednesday and Thursday. Cookies will be provided by our FDS 421 students and those are definitely worth the drive to 10 Ken Moore Ave! :-)

Have a great week!
Nicole