The Gr. 1-2s have been learning all about the Arctic and created dioramas filled with incredible detail and imagination. They were encouraged to focus on at least two animals and what they ate. Using all kinds of materials, the scenes really come to life!

WEEK AT A GLANCE

FRI. JAN. 15 – Coding Option: Gr. 3-9 at school

FRI. JAN. 8 – Action Friday: Hiking @ Heart Creek

The weather looks like it’s going to be above seasonal for Friday so we are going to take advantage and take the kids hiking at Heart Creek (near Lac des Arcs). All departure and arrival times from the school are the same as normal (7-11’s in the morning, 1-6’s in the afternoon). Please ensure your son is dressed to be outside for a few hours.

MON. JAN. 18 – Healthy Hunger: Edo

TUES. JAN. 19 – Coding Option: Gr. 1-2 @ Coding Ninjas Dojo

PEP Hockey @ Outdoor Rink

Unless we send out a note indicating otherwise, the outdoor rink will be our hockey arena until the facility ban is lifted. Happy Skating!

Checkpoint Meetings: Feb. 9 & 10

We will hold our next round of Checkpoint Meetings on February 9 at 4:00pm – 8:00pm and February 10 at 8:00am – 4:00pm. This means that there is no school on Feb. 10 for students to accommodate the meetings. This is a change from the previously published calendar. We have moved the dates ahead one week so that they fall right before the Teachers’ Convention days (Feb. 11-12) which are non-instructional days and the Family Day long-weekend (Feb. 15). This will give our families an extra-extra long weekend. They system to book your Checkpoint Meeting timeslot will open on January 26 @ 6:00am.

Checkpoint Meetings are an opportunity for parents and students to meet with teachers to discuss progress and address questions/concerns. This second checkpoint meeting will give you a chance to update your son’s Individualized Development/Program Plan. We strongly encourage one/both parents from each family to attend. Using the online software, Grades 1/2 and 10/11 should sign up with their Homeroom teacher. Grades 3-9 should sign up with their cohort team of teachers. Both of these teachers will be in the Checkpoint Meeting. Book online at nps.schoolsoft.com

What I Did On My Winter Break

Student Perspective By Riley Chapman

My break started on the last day of school. There were so many things to do! Some kids had brought their consoles into play, and there was hot chocolate, it was amazing! The next couple of days my family and I didn’t really do too much, mostly because of COVID. COVID ruined everything. I think we all could have had a better break, and year if COVID didn’t happen in the first place. But enough about that. In the following days, we went for a long walk around sandy beach (more like rocky beach) with my family. 

Just after break started I had my brown belt test, (I do Karate), that’s one away from black! Fortunately I passed! So the next day we walked down to the dojo and grabbed the belt and the certificate. My parents were very proud of me, and I was so excited! We went sledding the next day, and of course, throughout the week I had to play video games. 

Then… Christmas!! I got some really cool gifts, and it was awesome! The next couple of days I did a little bit of walking, and called my friends, and… TV. The next weekend we went skating on the Glenmore skating rink. It was so much fun! I’m not the biggest hockey guy, or the best skater, but it was still a lot of fun. We also went sledding, twice. Then we had New Years. We had a little celebration with my household family and had a great time.

Then we had our big skiing trip to Panorama. This was definitely the highlight of my break. The day we got there we just chilled in the hot tub and went skating on their little rink. The next day, of course, we went skiing the entire day. The first day we didn’t go to the top of the mountain, since it was our first time skiing this year.  I’m a snowboarder and so is my dad, but my sister is a skier, and she’s still just learning. So My dad and I had to wait a little bit longer for her. But the next day we went to the summit twice. It was awesome! At Panorama, there are a lot of downhill roads, like Madisons Mile or Sunset Road, so they were pretty easy. Those were the runs that we took down the mountain. After that, we went to the candy shop and hopped in the car, and went home. 

Then I started online school. It was fun and all, but it wasn’t the same as seeing my friends and teachers in person. I am a pretty lucky kid though, to be able to go skiing for a couple of days and have an awesome Christmas celebration. All around I think it was a pretty good holiday.

Stay tuned for my next article!

NAVIGATOR SQUAD POINTS

Contact Mr. Fagan to get your books counted.

VOLLEYBALL

We have seen huge growth from all our athletes and are looking forward to our season-ending tournament on Friday, January 22, where all our athletes will get to compete to see which team comes out on top and which individual students walk away with some cool awards.

FLOOR HOCKEY

We will begin Floor Hockey sign-ups for students in Grades 3-11, for our next intramural and sports-based program. Floor Hockey will finish in a season-ending tournament with prizes and food for all our participants. The date will be announced based on the number of students who sign up and once we get all the participants finalized.

YOUR KIDS WILL HAVE A BLAST 

LEARNING TO CODE!

At Code Ninjas Calgary (Marda Loop), kids learn to code by building their very own video games. Our flexible coding programs for kids make it easy on parents with convenient drop-in hours on weeknights and weekends. Visit website for more information.

UNLEASH YOUR INNER NINJA

• Learn to code and have a blast while building awesome video games.
• Create, play, and learn at your own pace as you gain ninja skills in coding, robotics, and problem solving.
• Advance from white to black belt and receive color-coded wristbands to mark your achievements.
• Get support and encouragement from Code Senseis® in our state-of-the-art dojo.
• Drop-in at your convenience during weeknight and weekend student hours.

PROBLEMS WE ARE SOLVING

• Schools don’t have time or resources to meet demand for quality coding education.
• Existing after school programs are boring and parents have to drag kids there.
• Existing online materials are too hard for kids to understand by themselves.
• Kids like to play and have fun, while parents want to see real results.
• We want our kids to be social, but screen time at home is a solitary exercise.

CODE NINJAS SOLUTION

• Provide a place where gaming is celebrated as kids gain confidence along with problem solving, critical thinking, and STEM skills.
• Create a high-quality, continuous curriculum that offers an easy-to-follow system so kids can grow and learn, no matter where they start.
• Build their favorite games, like Roblox®, as part of the curriculum.
• Enable kids to learn by building video games. They aren’t aware they’re learning – just having fun.