The Warrior Weekly

• June 24 - HSD Soccer Day
• June 26
• MMS Awards Ceremony (10:30 - 11:45ish)
• PAC Pizza Lunch (12:00ish - 1:15)
• Gr 8 Farewell Lunch and Activities
• June 27 - Activity Day (Last day of school)
• June 28 - Report Cards available on Parent Portal @ 4:00

As we enter the last week of school, many families have plans that include requiring an early pick up of their child, or perhaps an early end to the school year. Please remember to contact your child's homeroom teacher to make them aware of these situations. Thank you for your help with this!

MMS Families, please click on the link below to see a message from the Mitchell and Area Fun Days committee, and an invitation for students to join the bike parade.

Click here to see the message

Our Grade 7 and 8 athletes are headed to the Steinbach Soccer Park on Monday to participate in HSD's annual Soccer Day! Permission forms must be handed in before getting on the bus on Monday morning (and not all forms are in yet). Click here to see the permission form if you child has not brought one home.

A cash canteen will be available on site. Once again, there is currently some rain in the forecast (can't believe this year for our outdoor events - rain has been in the forecast for every single one!), so please encourage your child to come prepared for the weather:

• dress in layers
• bring
• a hat
• sunscreen
• sunglasses
• umbrella
• water
• a lunch

Click here to see the event schedule

We are looking forward to celebrating the achievements of our students on Wednesday June 26 at our annual MMS Awards Ceremony. Students will be recognized for their high level achievement in academics, athletics, arts, and citizenship.

Families of students who are receiving awards received email notification on June 19 and/or June 20.

The awards ceremony will begin at 10:30 am and continue until approximately 11:45.

Following the awards ceremony, all families are reminded to join us for our annual PAC Pizza Lunch! Pizza orders have already been collected. If you missed out on ordering Pizza from the PAC, you are still welcome to bring your own picnic lunch and join us!

Grade 8 families, please be reminded that our Grade 8 students will not participate in the PAC Pizza Lunch - they will have their own farewell lunch and activities that will be planned by the Grade 8 teachers.

We are looking forward to celebrating the 23/24 school year with you on June 26!

Our Lost and Found remains quite full - items left in the Lost and Found that are not claimed by the end of next week will be donated to charity. Please take a look for your child's missing belongings if you are in the building next week.

Our Learning Commons has been well used this year, and our students signed out 15,007 books to read. Wow! Way to go Warriors!

Once again we will be allowing students currently in Grades 5-7, to sign out books over the summer break. If you have a child wishing to sign out books, contracts are still available to be picked up from the library on Monday and returned to Ms. Doerksen on Tuesday.

At this point, all library books should have been returned to school. Signing out for the Summer Reading Program will happen on Monday and Tuesday next week. This is a great opportunity to support your child's literacy skills over the summer, and all students are encouraged to take advantage of this opportunity.

Parents, please check the parent portal to ensure your student has received permission to participate in our Activity Day trips on June 27. You can contact your child's homeroom teacher for more information.

Families, if you are planning a move over the summer, please remember to contact us at the school to update your address and contact information.

As well, families of students who use HSD buses and are moving are asked to contact the transportation department at hsdtransportation@hsd.ca or 204-320-2347 to confirm continuity of bus service as well. Thanks!

School fees at MMS are used to support the different programs, learning experiences, and learning trips that our students benefit from while they are here. A reminder that school fees can be paid online on the Parent Portal, or by cash or cheque at the school office. Our school office is open between 8:00 and 4:00 pm daily. Please make every effort to ensure student fees are paid before the end of the school year.

Parents and students are reminded that MMS has a number of students and staff who experience very negative health effects when exposed to strongly scented products. These strong scents can include perfumes, colognes, body and hand lotions, spray and stick deoderants, as well as hair products. Students should not bring these types of products to school and definitely should not use them at school.

We often see an increase in the use of these types of scents as the weather warms in spring time, and respectfully request families to work with their students to ensure they are not used at school. Thank you for your help and support as we work to maintain a safe and healthy environment for all members of our school community.

Families, recently we have observed an increase in the number of students wishing to leave the school grounds at lunch time.

Please be reminded of the following MMS policies for our students at lunch time

• students who go home for lunch each day are dismissed at 12:20. They are expected to remain home for the lunch break, and return for 1:10 pm to rejoin their classes.
• please be reminded that afternoon classes start at 1:15 pm
• students who wish to go off school grounds at lunch require a note or email from their parents that is given to the homeroom teacher in the morning. MMS requires new permission each time a student wishes to leave at lunch time. When they leave, they should sign out at the office, and sign in when they return. These students are also expected to be back at school by 1:10, and in their seats Ready To Learn at 1:15.
• parents please be reminded to send a note or email to your child's homeroom teacher to communicate whether your child will eat lunch at school or at home. This helps us account for our students in the event of a lunch time emergency.

With the return of warm temperatures, manystudents choose to ride their bikes or walk to school. It is always important to review the safety practices for coming and going from school.

1. Remember to use the sidewalks when they are available.
2. The crosswalks are to provide safe crossing for all walkers. In addition, the crossing guard is on duty before and after school on Highway 52 to assist students in crossing safely.
3. Drivers, please watch for the crosswalks, school zone speed limits, stop signs, busses and walking students.
4. Always watch for and follow stop signs. Remember when the lights are on and the stop sign is out on busses to please stop to ensure the safe pick up and drop off of bus students.
5. Parents, for those of you whose children use bicycles, please remind your child to follow the rules of the road when cycling. Here is a link to MPI's Cycling 101 to help you have this conversation.

In addition, we would like to remind parents that the drop off zone immediately in front of the school should not be used as a parking area. This area becomes very congested and it is safer if we keep these areas clear. Thanks for your help in this endeavour to keep our kids safe. Parking is now permitted on the east side of Willow street from Stanway Ave N to Morley.

Parents, please be reminded that, for the safety of all students, if you would like to volunteer with our students you need to complete a Child Abuse Registry Check, and a Criminal Record Check, along with some other related forms. These checks need to be approved and on file with Hanover School Division before you begin to volunteer with us. The time frame for these checks to be processed can be lengthy (weeks or months of wait time) and so we encourage you to complete these forms well in advance. Our secretaries are available to help you with this process.

The canteen sells drinks and snacks each day of the week. Pizza from Santa Lucia will be sold on certain days again this year as well. A gluten free pizza option will be available for those who need it.

Students will continue to make their weekly pizza orders with Mrs. Enns in the office during their lunch recess.

A reminder that work on our 4 - classroom addition continues at MMS. For their safety, students are reminded to:

• avoid entering or exiting the school grounds from Neufeld Drive
• stay out of the parking lot
• stay well away from any area where construction work is happening

Parents, please remember to check the Parent Portal for any updated permissions that may need to be provided. These permissions include

• Responsible Use of Technology Agreement
• Permission to walk to events
• others

These forms can be located in the parent portal and can be approved digitally on that site.

If you need help accessing the Parent Portal, our secretaries would be happy to help you. Please contact them at the school office.

Parents please take note of Mitchell Middle Schools Cell Phone Use policy.

Grade 5/6 students

• cell phones and devices are not needed during the school day
• all Grade 5/6 students are asked to keep their devices at home
• if they do bring a device to school, it should be kept in their locker all day. Please be advised that there are no locks on our lockers so items are there at your own risk.

Grade 7/8 students

• cell phones and devices may be used with permission for educational purposes
• devices should be kept away (pocket/bag/locker) at all other times

All grades

• cell phones and devices are not permitted to be used in the hallways or on school grounds
• cell phones and devices are not permitted to be used in classrooms during breaks and at lunch time
• if cell phone and device use becomes a problem, teachers will confiscate the device for a period or for the rest of the school day. Should the problem continue, the device will be confiscated by school principals and returned to the parents of the student.

At MMS we take our responsibility to supervise student online activity seriously and this policy allows us to ensure that students are interacting with the internet safely during school hours.

School volunteers play a valuable role in the life of our school and we appreciate your gifts of time and energy very much. To ensure the safety of our students, all volunteers must have the following documents approved and on file before working with our students:

• Criminal Record Check
• Child Abuse Registry Check
• Pledge of Confidentiality
• Respect in Sport (if coaching)

Please contact us at the school office for more information

Good information on the school website

To stay on top of everything MMS please follow these sites.

• School Calendar (find school wide events, schedule of practices and games)
• Bell Schedule

A 5-8 middle school located in Mitchell, Manitoba. Part of the Hanover School Division #hsdlearns #warriorshsd

Email: mms@hsd.ca
Website: http://mms.hsd.ca
Location: 203 Willow Street, Mitchell, Manitoba R5G 1H7
Phone: 204-320-9488
Twitter: @mmshanover