Nicole's Notes: Volume 23 (March 3, 2014)

Happy Monday TOSH Parents and Guardians! 

Gotta love 8 a.m. rehearsals!

Monday again and February is in the books. Wow! Strap on your seat belts, because Semester 2 is generally a pretty speedy ride! There is a lot of good work and learning to be done before June, so we encourage all our students to attend all classes and complete all assignments on time. There is definitely a direct connection between those two things and academic success! If your son/daughter is doing both these things and still finding a class too difficult, please encourage him/her to ask for help sooner rather than later!

Our staff participated in a Collaborative Learning Day on Friday that saw people working in small learning groups with colleagues from all over the Island. This was a continuation from the work these groups did during the Collaborative Team Day in November, and the feedback from staff has been very positive. This is a new professional development experience for those of us in the former "West", but it has allowed staff to identify what their personal professional development needs are, and then seek out folks who are willing to journey with them in the pursuit of that. We will be participating in a School Effectiveness Day this coming Friday, as well, prepared by our TOSH School Effectiveness Committee, consisting of our two Department Heads, Sarah Jane Barrett and David Ramsay, as well as Beth Peters and myself. We look forward to the important learning it will provide for our TOSH staff and I will report back to you about that day in next week's post. Please know that it is time well spent collecting more "teaching tools" we can use as we strive to meet the needs of all our student learners.

CONGRATULATIONS are extended to Rochelle Sullivan and her husband on the safe arrival of their new baby boy, Calvin, last week! We can't wait to meet him!!

THANK YOU to all parents and guardians who contributed food items to the Parent Council Staff Potluck last week and for all the treats the week before! We very much appreciated being "loved up" in this way, and you brought a lot of smiles to our faces. Thank you!

COURSE SELECTION 2014-2015!

It's that time of year again! All current Grade 10 and 11 TOSH students should have received a copy of the Course Selection Handbook for 2014-2015 from homeroom teachers last week. Mr. Jason Gallant and Mr. Jim Donovan will be speaking with every homeroom individually between March 4-14 to go over a few key "look fors" and answer any questions students may have as they choose their courses for next year. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT STUDENTS CHOOSE THEIR NEXT YEAR'S COURSES CAREFULLY in order to avoid disappointment later. Here are some things for parents to consider as they help their son/daughter make these important academic decisions:

1.  Students should be choosing courses that truly reflect their academic ability vs their work ethic. We want all our students working to full potential so that they will have the maximum number of options available to them after graduation. Please encourage your son/daughter to take courses at the highest academic "level" possible for him/her. They will thank you later!

2.  Grade 12 students planning to attend university need AT LEAST 5 "621" level courses on their transcript at graduation time. Please note that not all "621" courses (i.e. FAM 621) are necessarily accepted by every university. It is important to know entrance requirements for the specific university and program your son/daughter wishes to attend. Choosing a rigorous Grade 12 program will help keep options open later on.

4.  Please read the section about Math courses CAREFULLY! There are two "streams" after Grade 10: "Arts" Math (521A and 621A) and "Science" or "Enriched" Math (521B, 621B and 611). A student can not take MAT 521A and 521B and receive two credits because the curriculum outcomes are too similar, so please only choose ONE of these. Also, MAT 521E should not be taken with MAT 521A. It is an elective credit meant for students in the "Science Math" stream.

5.  Students in Grade 12 are only allowed to choose one Study Period in their Grade 12 year.

6.  "Full Time Status" means a student is registered in at least 7/8 courses in a school year.

If you have any questions about your son/daughter's course selection, please do not hesitate to call Student Services (Mr. Donovan) or the Main Office (Mr. Gallant) to ask! The Homeroom Teachers will be helping students complete their registration forms, as well.

GRADE 9 PARENT NIGHT~ MARCH 4!

We have been hosting tours at school for the Grade 9 students from our feeder schools these past few weeks, give or take a few snow days! A huge thank you goes out to Mrs. Sheridan and her awesome crew of TOSH Tour Guides for organizing and facilitating this first "welcome" to our Class of 2017! Please help spread the word that there will be an important meeting at Three Oaks on Tuesday, March 4 from 7-8 p.m. for the parents of current Grade 9 students. We will be reviewing the registration process, and parents will have the opportunity to ask questions of teachers in the following areas: English, Math, Social Studies, Science, Trades, Fine Arts, and French Immersion. There will also be the option to take a tour of the school at the end of the evening if they wish.



UPCOMING DATES TO NOTE:

March:
4       Course Registration for 2014-2015 Begins (due March 14)
5       Band Days 
         Principals' Association Meeting-Nicole Out      
7       School Effectiveness Day-No Classes
10     MADD Assembly
         Parent Council Meeting- 6:30 p.m. in Library
17-21 March Break-No Classes

April:
3      Parent Teacher Interviews (Evening)
4      Parent Teacher Interviews (Day-No Classes)
7-11 DELF Testing (Grade 12 FI Students)
18    Good Friday-No Classes
21    Easter Monday-No Classes
24    Principals' Meeting-Nicole Out

Vanora rocks pink head to toe!

PINK SHIRT DAY CELEBRATED FEBRUARY 26!

THANK YOU to all students and staff  who showed their support for the positive treatment of others during "Pink Shirt Day" last week. In 2007, David Shepherd, Travis Price and a couple of their friends wore pink shirts to their school in Nova Scotia as a show of support for a Grade 9 boy who had been bullied simply for wearing a pink shirt. Our Climate Crew took the lead in our school's support of this national initiative and our Crew Chiefs spoke very well to a PEI government film crew about why "Pink Shirt Day" needs to be EVERY DAY!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESFi717ohLs  Enjoy some pictures from Wednesday!

Not Mr. Oulton's shirt...can you tell?!

Saw Aidan's shirt when I visited his class and just had to take a pic! :)

Pink "fry line"!

Mitch and his boys!

Pink head bands ROCK!

Pink Shirt Day smiles

Besties!

Pledge Banner #climatecrew

Jason representing!

PEISAA BASKETBALL PROVINCIALS!

Our four TOSH basketball teams are finishing good seasons with some still playing for provincial medals this coming week. All games take place at the Holland College Gym in Ch'town. Here are the standings as of Sunday evening:

AAA Men: Defeated Bluefield in the quarter final and then lost to Rural in the semi-final game. They play for Bronze TUESDAY @ 4 PM.
AAA Women: Defeated Rural in the semi-final game and play for Gold (for the 3rd season in a row) against Colonel Gray on TUESDAY @ 6 PM.
**There will be a Fan Bus leaving TOSH at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Cost TBA. Permission forms are available in the Phys Ed Office.** 
AA Men: Defeated Montague in the quarter final and then lost to KISH in the semi-final game. They play for Bronze on MONDAY @ 4 PM.
AA Women: Lost their quarter final game against Souris. Their season ended last Tuesday.

CONGRATS TO OUR TOSH PROVINCIAL BASKETBALL ALL-STARS!:
AAA Men: Tanner Mendoza and James Meek
AAA Women: Julie Campbell, Jessica Gillis, Charlotte Thompson, and Ashley Simmons
AA Men: Colton Wadman and Zach Mallett
AA Women:  Rebecca Parnham

Charlie keeping us all "patched"!

KUDOS TO OUR KIDS!

To Charlie Steele (pictured above) for the awesome, DAILY work he does keeping our TOSH Tube (in house tv's) current and interesting!

To Justin MacEachern, Brandon Worth, Kaitlyn Taylor, Maria Dalton, Rebecca Drummond, and Page Gallant (pictured above) for representing TOSH at the Learning Partner Review on National Student Dialogue on Canada's Education System last Wednesday! 45 students took part from several Island high schools, UPEI and Holland College. 

To Colton Profitt and Millee McKay (pictured above) who are representing TOSH this week at the Forum for Young Canadians in Ottawa, Ontario!

To Rachel Barry for representing us at the Forum for Young Canadians last week!

To Brandon Costain for representing our school at Encounters with Canada in Ottawa this coming week!

To Vicki Gallant for taking the time to make fudge for our teachers during Teacher Appreciation Week!

To Hannah Taylor for being nominated as Sport PEI's Junior Female Athlete of the Year!

To our TOSH basketball players who have been recognized as Provincial All-Stars for the 2013-14 season:

AAA Men: Tanner Mendoza and James Meek

AAA Women: Julie Campbell, Jessica Gillis, Charlotte Thompson, and Ashley Simmons

AA Men: Colton Wadman and Zach Mallett

AA Women:  Rebecca Parnham

To the following students who are participating in the Skills Canada competition at Holland College this week:
Auto Service- Scott Richard, Cody Cole
Workplace Safety- Jordan MacLean
Welding- Bloyce Walfield, Travis Glover
Aerospace Essential- Christopher Gallant
Carpentry- Jake Cormier, Russell DesRoches

To the following students who helped run Welcome Tours for our incoming Grade 9's these past couple of weeks:
Scott Richard
Bloyce Walfield
Ashley White
Jake Cormier
Bruce Ramsay
Millee McKay
Shalynn Buss
Brittan Turner
Maggie Finkle-Aucoin
Bronwyn Bridges
Nicole Gallant
Kelsey McIsaac
Breann Hastings
Jill MacIntyre
Justin MacEachern
Logan Maddix 

Anthony Chaisson

Challenge:  Ask to see your son/daughter's Course Selection Handbook and have some good conversation about what courses he/she would like to schedule for the next school year. Help him/her make a course plan that ends in graduation!

Quote of the Week: "Start with the end in mind."~ Stephen R. Covey

Have a wonderful week!

Nicole