Wednesday nights meeting was very informative with the teachers giving their classroom updates and the principal, Mrs. Bobenic, showing the grade 6 Provincial Achievement Test (PAT) results from last year (2016/2017). The highlights from the meetings can be found below.
For the first time, there was babysitting offered to parents who brought their children to the school so that they could attend the School Council & Fundraising Society meetings from 6:30-8:30 pm. Babysitting will be offered again at the November meeting but it is required to RSVP for the babysitting service.
Teacher's report
Ms. McLean and Ms. Stephenson gave a slide show showing the activities the grade 2 and grade 2/3 students are doing in their classroom. The presentation showed the individual works from the ABC's of Land project, the amazing lobster art from the elements of the land studies (displayed in front entry of the school), math pattern exercises, and the rocks and minerals science unit where students are examining rocks from the kits provided by the Glenbow museum.
For guided reading, the students from grade 2 and 3 classes (rooms 3, 4, and 7) are divided into groups of similar ability level. They spend one hour each day from Monday to Thursday to work on various guided reading activities.
Ms. Stephenson talked about the grade 3 students working on the Student Learning Assessment (SLA) tests. The results from the tests are used only within the school for teachers to help assess their students' learning and identify the students' strengths and areas for growth.
Ms. McLean mentioned the students in her class are making their own diary, called "Diary of a Learner". In the diary, the students answer questions about what and how they learned. On Fridays, Ms. McLean's class has a "Genius hour" where students take one hour to work on a passion project and research topics that interest them (eg. space, Titanic, swimming etc.).
The next Rosemont Day will occur on Friday, October 27th and the multi-grade groups will discuss what it means to go to Rosemont School.
Principal's report
Here is a summary of Mrs. Bobenic's principal report:
- Rosemont Day is an opportunity for multi age groups to get to know one another and build community. The next Rosemont Day will be on Friday, October 27.
- Last week at Rosemont School, the Calgary Fire Department participated in the fire drill. It was fire prevention week and the Fire Department demonstrated what they do to rescue people in a fire. They also discussed with the students the importance about fire escape plans.
- The grade 5/6 students participated in Student Votes the week before the Calgary civic election. Global news video taped the students voting in their Student Votes election.
- Class improvement funding is being used to increase staffing levels. Mrs. Arseneault, the resource teacher, will be increased from a part-time to a full time position at Rosemont School. She will spend part of her time with classroom learning to assist teachers. For example, Mrs. Arseneault will help with the grade 6 class for 1 hour every day since this is a very large class of 33 students.
- The naturalization area construction is almost complete. There is plans to remove the gate and add a shrub in the area.
- The proposed budget for the improvement to the Library Learning Commons area is around $30,000. This could be rolled out in two phases: roll out $20,000 now and $10,000 in 2 years. The top priority is to replace the existing stationary bookshelves. The new shelves will be lower with wheels to allow the shelves to be moved to create a more flexible space.
- There are plans for construction to occur in the inside of the school to prepare the common areas for painting. The work will be performed outside of regular school hours (4pm-midnight and weekends).
- Halloween celebration at Rosemont School will consist of a costume parade at 1:30 pm and a Mad Science Fire & Ice presentation to follow in the gymnasium at 2:00 pm.
- The Christmas concert this year will be held on December 20th from 6:00 -8:00 pm. The concert will be a different format than previous years. There will be 4 smaller performances (based on grade groupings) during the evening to allow for parents to come and go throughout the celebration. Families can take part in community building activities while they are waiting to attend their child's performance time.
- The 2016/2017 results showed the students scored higher than the provincial average in all areas. Congratulations to the former grade 6 students and teachers at Rosemont. Well Done!
- The standard of excellence percentage increased in all subjects compared to the previous 4 year average.
- The school development plan, to be developed in November, will continue to focus in math but build on the high complex problem solving, specifically problems that address algebraic reasoning.
The remaining vacant Volunteer Roles have been filled for the 2017-2018 school year:
- CBE Key Communicator - shared by Dan C. and Sumyu N.
- Farm to School Fundraiser - Kirsten P. and Kim H.
- Movie Night Coordinator - Maren K.
Home Alone and Babysitting courses are being organized by the Rosemont School Council. The babysitting course are offered to grade 5/6 students and the Home Alone course is offered to grade 5/6 students plus any siblings in the school. The courses will be offered during lunch time or after school and are to be paid by parents who register their children. A minimum of 15 participants are required for the courses to be offered at the school.
Here are the recorded minutes from the October 18th Rosemont School Council (RSC) Meeting:
Rosemont Fundraising Society
The society nominated Diane Myers and Samir Kayande to audit the financials dated for the year end October 31, 2017.
The Treasurer's report showed the Mabel's Labels fundraiser generated $59. In addition, the society received two donations totaling $338: 2016 RBC donation for John Hsu's time and $150 from Suncor for Dan Collins time
In September's meeting, babysitting was approved for only the October and November Council/Fundraising meetings. It was suggested to extend the babysitting service for future meetings but this topic will be put on the agenda for discussion at the November Fundraising meeting.
The Fundraising Coordinator mentioned the master meats fundraiser this year will be using a different butcher. The owner of Master Meats is having family medical issues and cannot fulfill the fundraiser order this year. Jill is looking to use another butcher, possibly Balzac Meats.
Kirsten P. and Kim H. volunteered to organize the Farm to School fundraiser which occurs at the same time as the Master meat fundraiser in November.
The casino coordinators gave an update about the success of the casino on October 10/11 and lessons learned to make improvements for the next casino. The paper work has been filled out for the Fundraising Society to participate in the next casino, 18-24 months from now.
The Naturalization coordinator is currently writing up a RFP to get an architect to design a master plan for the school yard and naturalization area. Hanna is also working on a parks foundation grant application (up to $5000) to fund the design.
Here are the recorded minutes from the October 18th Rosemont Fundraising Society (RFS) Meeting:
