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Staying Connected
N E W S L E T T ER
December 2014
Holiday Greetings from the Director
I would like to wish each of you the very best
this Holiday Season! I am pleased to have the
opportunity to pass greetings through our school
division newsletter, Staying Connected. Thank
you to Sr. Executive Assistant/Communications
Coordinator Shannon Lessard for producing
another wonderful edition.
Looking through this edition of Staying
Connected, I am so pleased and impressed with
our students and the many ways they find to
engage in authentic learning opportunities that
enable them to not only grow as students and as
individuals, but to demonstrate their generosity
and caring for others. Through things such as
fundraising to support others in communities
near and far, achieving provincial recognition for
sportsmanship, or even national recognition for
being a “Caring Canadian”, we have so much to
be proud of when it comes to our students. This
giving of themselves is even more meaningful for
us this time of year as we reflect on our own
good fortune and engage in the spirit of giving. It
is a time to demonstrate our caring and we
certainly see examples of this in our schools and
communities.
Regarding
communities,
our
newsletter
highlights several community partnerships that
benefit
our students. Whether these
partnerships result in learning opportunities
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such as scuba diving at Battlefords Co-op Aquatic
Center, or cooking programs at North Battleford
Comprehensive High School, or even Christmas
lunch for our students, they are all very highly
appreciated by our students and staff. Our
schools need the support of our communities,
and as we offer congratulations to Hafford
Central School on its 100 year anniversary as
noted in the newsletter, we are reminded that
the school-community partnership is invaluable.
Community members whether it be in Hafford or
elsewhere recognize how valuable education is
to our children and youth, and this high regard
for education is something we must never take
for granted in light of the struggles faced by
parents and care-givers in some parts of our
world to secure safe and healthy learning
environments for children and youth. We are
fortunate to have the support of many generous
and thoughtful individuals and organizations in
our communities. Thank you!
Let me conclude by thanking our staff members
across Living Sky School Division for their
commitment to our students. Through your
support and regardless of your role, students are
afforded the opportunities they deserve to learn,
to excel, and to give. Thank you. Have a great
Christmas break!
Randy Fox
Director of Education
Cando Students participate in a
Discover Scuba session
Submitted by Mark Coleman, Teacher at Cando Community School
Through a grant from BATC and
their partnership with the
Battleford Scuba Club, eleven
Cando students recently had
the exciting opportunity to
participate in a Discover Scuba
Session. Scuba began with a
short introduction from Dennis
McCullough. He then showed
students a short video about
Scuba that focused on the
basics. After the movie Dennis
highlighted the important parts
of the movie. In particular,
students were taught the scuba
sign language for under the
water. Progressing, Dennis
introduced the pieces of
equipment necessary for scuba diving. Students were engaged in learning the scuba techniques and
were active participants. The classroom instruction lasted approximately an hour and twenty minutes.
Towards the end of the classroom session the students were getting fidgety and anxious to get in the
water to try out what they had been learning about. The students had a short lunch in the classroom
and went out on the deck early to try on the scuba equipment. After getting all of the students
equipped, Dennis taught students the basic safety techniques in the shallow end. Students excelled at
picking up the techniques and soon after some had to be reminded to slow down as they were ready to
explore. With the safety knowledge mastered, Dennis and his crew had students slowly progress down
the pool to the deep end. Most students were able to make it to the bottom of the deep end with only
3 students getting out early due to the pressure on their ears. In the deep end students were given free
range to play (lego and an underwater missile) and explore. The students had a blast in the deep end
(one described it as completing a Black Ops mission underwater). After their free time was completed,
students took off their gear and went off the diving board a couple of times before heading to the hot
tub to warm up. On the way back to school the students couldn’t stop taking about their Scuba
experience.
STAY CONNECTED BY FOLLOWING US ON
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Battlefords Co-op Staff Members Serve
Christmas Lunch at Lawrence School
Submitted by Christine Gibson, Principal at Lawrence Elementary School
Lawrence Elementary School has
hosted a Christmas lunch which
consists of turkey, potatoes, stuffing,
vegetables, buns, etc. for their
students for the past three years. For
the last two years, Battlefords Co-op
has generously donated all the food
for the Lawrence Community School
Christmas lunch. This year they even
sent over a group of men to serve
everyone lunch. The Lawrence School
staff and students would like to thank
the Battlefords Co-op for their
continued support and generosity and
wish them and their families a very
Merry Christmas!
Battleford Central Supports the
Humane Society
Reprinted from BCS Newsletter
On November 14, students and staff at
BCS were allowed to wear hats in
classes for the donation of $1. This
simple activity raised $171.55 (thanks to
some spare change donated), which the
Student Leadership Council used to
purchase a number of large bags of dog
food for donation to the Battlefords
Humane Society. Great job, BCS!
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McLurg High Students Give Back
Reproduced from the McLurg High Newsletter
The Christian Ethics students in Gr. 9 at McLurg High were asked by their teacher, Mrs.
Delainey, and EA, Mrs. Veit, to think of ways they could give to others. They decided to have a
Wake-a-thon to raise money for the less fortunate. They chose Operation Smile and Gifts of
Compassion as their two charities.
The students collected pledges for two weeks and raised a grand total of $2,147.00! The Wakea-thon was held at the school from 8:00 pm until 6:00 am. The students watched a movie then
held a group meeting to discuss how the funds should be distributed. This is what they came
up with:
• $750 to Operation Smile (3 children will receive operations to repair their cleft palette)
• $140 (4 communities in Uganda will receive clean water)
• $93 (3 playgrounds for children in Ethiopia)
• $360 (3 classrooms for children in the Peruvian rainforest)
• $237 (3 goats for three poor families in Rwanda)
• $222 (3 chickens will be given to single moms in Guaranda, Ecuador so they can start a
small animal breeding business and provide for their family)
• $200 (will go towards buying a share in building a home for a war-torn family)
• $40 (4 mosquito nets which protect babies and children in Tanzania from Malaria)
Bready School
Participates in
Stack Up Challenge
Submitted by Rhonda Simon, VP at Bready
The Stack Up Club at Bready Elementary School
started in mid-October. Students in grades 1 to 7
were invited to try sport stacking. Not only is this a
fun activity which all students can be successful at,
but it also promotes hand-eye coordination, fitness,
teamwork, reaction time, concentration and focus.
It’s easy to learn, but challenging to master. The club
will continue throughout the year, but the first big
activity was the Stack Up Challenge on November
13th. During the course of this Guinness World
Records Day, sport stackers from all over the world were up stacking and down stacking various
pyramids in prescribed patterns as fast they could for 30 minutes, all combined with a variety of
fitness activities. Last year’s record of 555,932 stackers was surpassed by over 35,000 stackers!
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Congratulations to our new Treaty
Catalyst Teachers:
Rachelle Zyznomirski
Charles Jedlicka
Reina Leith (Intern)
Larissa Matechuk
Kevin Gyori
Robert Demencuik
Michelle Kuntz
Kelly Waters
Shannon Caffett (Intern)
Kim Primas
Ryan Beattie
Treaty Catalyst Training for Teachers is a
four day intensive course on
understanding the history of treaty
making, contemporary issues and
teaching in the classroom.
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Mrs. Sack’s Calculus 30 Class at NBCHS got in the
Christmas Spirit by decorating their classroom door!
Cargill partners with NBCHS to
support their After-School Cooking
& Breakfast Programs
Submitted by Brian Quinn, Communications Support
Burt Benoit, General Manager of Cargill in
North Battleford, presented a cheque for
$3,750 to North Battleford Comprehensive
High School in support of their after school
cooking program and breakfast program.
Cargill’s Regional Manager, Ames Leslie said
the support provided through Cargill Cares
focuses on their three goals of nourishing
people, educating them about food and food
safety, and being environmentally
sustainable.
Janice Staff, Commercial Cooking Teacher
and Cafeteria Manager, says the program is
well supported by the students, some of
whom had little or no experience preparing
food. “Even turning on our gas stoves was
an experience for them,” said Mrs. Staff.
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The students have shown an increased sense
of self-confidence and belonging to the
school community, many of them continuing
to volunteer their time to help serve at
noon. Among the things they have learned
to prepare are dips, stir fries, casseroles,
cookies, muffins and crisps, all from scratch
with nutritious ingredients and no additives.
The skills that are developed through the
program revolve around sanitation and safe
food handling, tools and equipment used in
commercial and home cooking, and cooking
skills. The program has been very successful,
and will resume in semester two at NBCHS,
says Amber Kotzer, School Liaison Worker,
who helps coordinate the program.
HomeLogic – Have You Signed Up Yet?
HomeLogic software enhances communication and provides
parents and students access to information regarding class
announcements, upcoming assignments, in class work, marks
for assignments, and report card marks and comments. If you
have not signed up to use HomeLogic yet, go to the Living Sky
home page at: http://www.lskysd.ca/ and click on the
HomeLogic tab at the top right hand corner of the home
page. Click on New User and follow instructions to set up
your account. If you have multiple children attending school,
you will only need to set yourself up for one child. Don’t
forget to provide the school with your current email address.
This is the address where your new user login information will
be sent. Please contact your local school if you are having
difficulties signing up or if you have any questions about
navigating HomeLogic.
Medstead Student represents
Saskatchewan at Global Institute
Reproduced from “Medstead Mirror” Newsletter
For the first time, Canada was invited to
send delegates to the World Food Prize
Global Youth Institute in Des Moines, Iowa.
Along with more than 150 exceptional high
schools students and their teachers from
across the United States and other
countries, four Canadian students were
selected to participate in this prestigious
event. Student delegates presented and
discussed their findings with a “faculty
panel” of international experts and their
peers, connected with other students from
around the world, toured cutting-edge
industrial and research facilities, and took
part in discussions with global leaders in
science, industry and policy.
Mackenzie Seidle’s research paper on
Sustainable Agriculture in Namibia and her
recommendations for future food security
were well received by the panel of
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international experts. Along with
participating in the Global Youth Institute,
Mackenzie and her teacher, Mrs. Audrey
Jones, were able to attend the sessions of
the World Food Prize on Global Food
Security where they heard from a range of
international leaders from the scientific
community as well as government officials
from various countries.
Mackenzie’s experience in her own words:
Throughout the symposium there were
many great speakers. The ones that stood
out for me were the 2014 World Food
Prize Laureate, Dr. Sanjaya Rajaram, the
president of Sierra Leone, H.E. Ernest Bai
Koroma, who addressed us via skype due
to the Ebola Outbreak, Dr. Emma
Naluyima Mugerwa of Uganada and Strive
Masiyiwa, chair of Econet Wireless. These
speakers all had different topics but were
focused on one main goal: Increasing the
food security in developing countries and
educating the youth on how to continue
farming in a sustainable way.
The 2014 World Food Prize Laureate
spoke to us on more than one occasion.
He spoke about his research pertaining to
increasing the world wheat production by
plan breeding technology. Luckily, I had
the chance to speak to him personally,
and we had a discussion about how
important it is to promote the world of
agriculture to the younger generations
and to increase the awareness of the
world food security question.
In addition to Dr. Sanjaya Rajaram there
were multiple experts who interacted
with the student delegates pertaining to
our research papers. In my group session,
I had two experts from Iowa State
University and also an African expert from
Kenya. After my presentation, we
discussed the potential solutions that I
had identified in my paper, including the
involvement of the farmers themselves in
the creation of the solution as well as the
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the creation of the solution as well as the
possibility of growing genetically modified
crops that are resistant to drought and
pests. Among other papers, a common
limiting factor to increasing the food
security in the chosen countries of focus
was education and the lack of access to
technology. All the papers were accepted
by the experts and were elaborated upon
by fellow students in the room, discussing
the potential of each indicated solution.
This entire event was an incredible
experience to be a part of. I’m very
grateful for the opportunity I was given by
the school division for letting me be a part
of this and also the Saskatchewan Ministry
of Agriculture for funding my trip. This
entire experience would not have been
possible without the help of my advisor,
Mrs. Jones. I can’t thank her enough for all
of her guidance throughout the
application process and advice on writing
my paper. I encourage all students who
are interested in anything to do with
agriculture to consider applying for future
opportunities such as this one. It truly is
an eye opener and you meet many new
friends that you will continue to keep in
contact with throughout years to come.
As for me, I will continue to look for ways
that the world of agriculture can address
the biggest challenge of human history:
Can the world sustainably feed the 9
billion people that will inhabit the earth
by 2050?
If you are interested in viewing footage
from this event, visit
http://www.worldfoodprize.org/
Maymont Receives SHSAA Sportsmanship Award
Maymont Central School has been awarded the Saskatchewan High School Athletic
Association’s (SHSAA) 2014 1A Boys Soccer Sportsmanship award. The presentation was made
December 10th following a pancake breakfast hosted at the school by the School Community
Council. Many community members attended the function in addition to school staff and
students. Superintendent Jim Shevchuk brought greetings on behalf of the Living Sky School
Division. SHSAA Representative Lyle McKellar outlined the award criteria which is based on
sportsmanship, positivity and helpfulness. He noted that the award is not only for the Boys
Soccer Team but also to the school and community that supports them.
Congratulations to School Principal Sean Lockwood, Coach Ryan Nickell, Intern Chase Fouhy and
the members of the boys soccer team.
Thank you to the Sask Milk Marketing Board for their continued support of the SHSAA
sportsmanship award.
Try-a-Trade 2014
The Northwest Career Development Partnership
held a Try-A-Trade Interactive Career Fair on
November 19, 2014 at the Nations West Field
House in North Battleford. Students from Living Sky
School Division had an opportunity to try a trade in
a hands-on environment and get the opportunity to
decide if that could be a future career.
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Hafford Central School Celebrates 100 Years!
On December 12th during the annual Carol Night, Hafford Central School celebrated their
100th Anniversary. Congratulations!!
Perseverance Conquers All
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Congratulations to Rhayne Thomson,
KCS Student, who was awarded the
Caring Canadian Award
Submitted by Candice Kraft, Teacher at Kerrobert Composite School
The Caring Canadian Award is given to Canadian volunteers for their time and energy in service of
others. This honour was presented to youth along the We Day tour on behalf of the Governor
General his Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston. Rhayne Thomson from Kerrobert
Composite School was one of ten Saskatchewan students to receive the Award. The Award is an
exciting opportunity to highlight youth that have been actively involved with Free The Children
contributing their time to help causes both in Canada and abroad. The Award celebrates individuals
who volunteer their time to help others and to build a smarter and more caring nation. The award
also highlights the fine example set by these volunteers, whose compassion and engagement are so
much a part of our Canadian character.
Kerrobert’s SLC members and advisors were also invited to the “Evening of Champions” put on by
Free the Children for the efforts they have put in to building a school in Kenya.
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CKES & CKHS Partner to Create
Christmas Cheer Hampers
Reproduced from the Cut Knife Elementary School Newsletter
Once again both Cut Knife Elementary and Cut Knife
High schools, all four community churches and many
local businesses have come together to create
Christmas Cheer Hampers. The community would like
to thank Ron and Staff of Sobeys in North Battleford
for their very generous donation. It took a large
crew of volunteers to put together the hampers
and deliver them. The We Scare Hunger Group
collected more than 400 lbs. of non-perishables at the
end of October.
Last Day of Classes: December 19, 2014
(Early Dismissal: 2:30 pm)
Christmas Break: Dec. 22nd-Jan. 2nd
Classes Resume: January 5, 2015
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Final Summary by the UCHS Journalism
Class of the Russia vs. Team Canada East
World Jr. A Exhibition Game in Unity
on December 12th
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Who We Are
Living Sky School Division is situated in
Northwest Central Saskatchewan.
It
encompasses a wide geographic area including
the Battlefords, many communities, villages,
first nation communities and hutterite
colonies.
We are located in the heart of wheat and oil
country. The recreational and outdoor pursuits are
plentiful from camping, fishing, hunting and water
sports in the summer to downhill and cross-country
skiing, snowmobiling and ice fishing in the winter.
The area offers a rich historical and cultural
experience that is reminiscent of our past.
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Living Sky School Division’s 30 schools are located
in 18 different communities. Its PreK-12, K-12,
elementary, high school, and alternate schools
provide educational services to 5700 students. Our
diverse school population is reflected in a wide
variety of programming that exists to meet the
needs of every student and to provide an engaging
and relevant educational experience for all.
________________________________________
Vision Statement
Growth Without Limits, Learning For All
It is a statement that represents an environment
where staff and students flourish. It is what the
Living Sky School Division looks like when we follow
our belief system.
________________________________________
Living Sky School Division No. 202
509 Pioneer Avenue
North Battleford, SK S9A 4A5
Phone: 306-937-7702 Fax: 306-445-4332
www.lskysd.ca
A
KEN ARSENAULT
Board Chair
Subdivision 1
Leoville, Meadow Lake,
Medstead, Spiritwood
B
H
D
I
BOB FOREMAN
Board Member
RICHARD HIEBERT
Board Member
E
KIM GARTNER
Board Member
Subdivision 5
Macklin
F
RON KOWALCHUK
Board Member
Subdivision 2
Hafford, Maymont
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JACK SNELL
Board Member
Subdivision 6
Kerrobert, Luseland,
Lakeview Colony
J
City of North Battleford
UPCOMING BOARD MEETINGS
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Tuesday, January 28, 2015
TODD MILLER
Board Member
Subdivision 3
Cando, Scott Colony,
Wilkie
Town of Battleford
-
GARTH LINK
Board Member
City of North Battleford
RONNA PETHICK
Board Vice-Chair
Subdivision 4
Cut Knife, Unity,
Hillsvale Colony
C
G
GLENN WOUTERS
Board Member
City of North Battleford
K
RANDY FOX
Director of Education
L
LONNY DARROCH
Chief Financial Officer