EMS Admin Weekly Update

Hi Everyone,

🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃 HAPPY HALLOWEEEEEEEEN 🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃

Thanks to all of the staff who chaperoned the Fall Spirit dance and to the staff that organized the Fall Spirit Assembly this week...we really appreciate everyone giving of their time. Our Leadership Team did a tremendous job decorating and supporting the event through their volunteerism.... We appreciate the hard work it takes to put on events of this nature.

As of now we do not have the official CUPE announcement but it does appear that we will be going online if there is no deal reached over the weekend. STan, Osama and some staff will be distributing the chromes on Monday if things are not resolved. There will be 3 times during the day and one in the evening so all students/ parents can recieve the devices. We will have the names of each homeroom populated on spreadsheets, record their numbers and have each review the acceptable use policy via a handout and acknowledge understanding of and acceptance of the chrome before trhey leave

Thanks to Mr Smith for organizing such a large group of Volleyball athletes this year. We have a record number of players and limited coaches. Thanks to Mr Lowe, Mrs Capern, Mr Riggs, for agreeing to coach our first 2 groups.. Thanks for all of the time committed to making this work and for providing another great experience for our students. Having said that, we still need people to run other teams/ Intramurals after school, to support all athletes that want to participate.

We are so thankful for Carla Sherman, Meghan Tanner, Amy Redden, LoLo Lowe and the team of PTA parents that have been planning around-the-clock for the past few months to make our school-wide craft fair a success. Join me in thanking the PTA/SAC, all of the leaders, the volunteers ( students and family)and the patrons for making this newly minted "ANNUAL EVENT" such a huge success!!

We will update you on the CUPE situation as soon as we know. We have all of the bussing information for our LC students and we will have the full day Monday and a delayed start on Tuesday if things progress as it appears as of now!

We hope you have a great weekend

Stan and Osama

Monday November 2nd

1:00- Darmac & Rafuse TT

2:00 Larade/MacLeod TT

2:00 EA TT

Tuesday, November 3rd

Grade 7 Math Outreach - 11:10am - 12:00pm

1:00- Teacher Support Team Meeting (Whole team After School If needed)

Wednesday, November 4th

9:45 -TT Deveau / Thibeault

11:30- TT- Watson/ Turner

Exploratory 1c (1-3pm)

Thursday, November 5th

8:45 -Robertson/ Paquet

1:30-Harvey/ Eyoma

2:00- Office TT

Friday November 6th

11:00- Lothian / Bungay

Upcoming Events

• Nov 2nd - Fire Drill
• NOv 3rd - Photo Retakes
• Nov 4th - TYKTWD
• N0v 5th - Early Dismissal
• Nov 9th - Staff Meeting
• Nov 9th - PTA Meeting
• Nov 10th - Remembrance Day Ceremony
• Nov 12th - Admin Meeting
• Nov 20th - Marking Day
• Nov 23rd - Report Cards Due
• Nov 23rd - Staff Meeting
• Nov 23rd - Climbing School Begins
• Nov 26th - Holiday Social
• Nov 27th - Report Cards Sent Out
• Nov 30th - Ropes COurse Sessions begin
• (Link to EMS School Calendar)

EMS concert band is off to a fantastic start, and we are beginning to learn music for our first concert of the year on December 8th. Student instrumentalists are stepping into new leadership roles in the band, and we are excited to start welcoming grade 6 students to concert band in January.

The EMS choir is sounding amazing, and just participated in a workshop with internationally renowned choral conductor, Scott Leithead. Lots more in store for our choir including Craft Fair performance, EMS Remembrance Day Assembly, and of course, our December 8th concert. New members are always welcome!

Thanks

Kimberly

CLEVR conversations will be happening for everyone in year 3 of their evaluation process. Osama and Stan will be reaching out to those teachers in this year's cycle of formal evaluations and all Term and new teachers. Everyone should have their self-evaluation completed by the end of the month and their goals set regardless of where they fall in the evaluation process. If you have any questions about those items please reach out to us ASAP.

We have a volunteer that has requested a placement for her practicum through the Community Development Program at Acadia . She will be able to support students in class and with targeted support. She is interested in being in Grade 6, 7 & 8 ELA, Learning Centre and PED. Please touch base with me if you would like to have her in your room for a period of time during her

practicum (Feb 22nd-Apr 16th) and we can schedule this for you...let Stan know ASAP.

Please look at the ED TECH WEEKLY NEWSLETTER. Courtney are Mark are doing some amazing work!! They are free to come in to your classrooms: Paula, Tim, Denise and Digital Citizenship Week team will fill you in on more awesome activities and news about Digital Citizenship in our EMS School Community in the article below ...

Our first dance of the year was a HUGE success...thanks for all of the staff and student support....

Exploratories

Our next exploratories will take place this Wednesday between 11am - 12pm.

• Wednesday November 4th - 1:30pm - 3:00pm

Please see your exploratory slideshow lists,

Here are the sign up lists.

Grade 7 Math Outreach is back! It will take place in the science lab on Tuesday from 11:10am - 12pm.

Mi’kmaw History Month (MHM) 2026

Theme: Mi’kmaw Traditional Games & Sports

● Oct. 1st is Treaty Day

Here’s a link for the poster for MHM and other relevant information.

● https://mikmaqhistorymonth.ca/

This website has been developed to share information and increase awareness of Mi’kmaw culture, history, and heritage, specifically Treaty Day and Mi’kmaw History Month.

The official launch for 6 new educational videos is Sept. 27th, 2024. Please take a few minutes to checkout the videos. They are awesome! : )

Due to increase traffic of AVRCE/EMS support Teachers in the buildIng we needed to ensure that everyone has a consistent space to go to with the priority going to those that are in the building more consistently.

The atttached: EMS OFFICE SPACE SCHEDULE is there to provide guidance and information to staff at EMS and our AWESOME supporting teachers we have coming into our building.

The scheule is also linked in the attached image

1. Routine work requests, ventilation changes, etc. must be completed online in the Property Services through the main office.
2. Emergency/urgent items are to be called into the office ASAP. Stan, Osama and Carol are your contacts for this

EX: If you have an event in the evening you could request the ventilation be turned on while you have spectators in the gym

• Key fobs and codes are on their way for new staff

Thanks for signing up for duty. Here is the DUTY SCHEDULE for the year. If something changes in your life and we need to adjust things, please let us know :)

Hi Folks, Here is the Link for the MSS Document for the 2026-2027 school year

Due Dates :

• October 16th-- COMPLETED...
• January 15th
• May 14th

Please complete items in the 2026-2027 Staff Google Classroom

EMS GOOGLE CLASSROOM

1. CORE MAZE/UFLI

• Core Maze, Core phonics programming through UFLI
• Completing 4-5 timed partner readings throughout the school year to monitor the reading progression and complete the ORF ( based on the students that are low ) from the timed partner reading

Here is the information from Ashley Rice Regarding the above :

“Reading screener assessments. The CORE Maze has been our go-to for the past couple of years. Note that there has been a small change in the scoring of this assessment in the 2nd edition that aligns more with assessments like DIBELS and Acadience( Elem reading assess) S

Students' scores are calculated by subtracting half their errors in 3 mins from their total correct in 3 mins. Jenna is working on a video that models this for teachers, but it is pretty straightforward, albeit slightly annoying. Scoring has been updated on all Maze passages found in this folder:”

CORE Maze Assessments 6-10 (Retyped)

1. WRITING ASSESSMENTS

• We were in-serviced a while ago and Ashley shared this in her yearly plan we gave folks ( Also on Her website on the Launchpad) about the implementation of writing to a prompt activity to be completed at the beginning of the year and then revisited throughout the year to help determine each students growth and development in the writing process.

Here is the information from Ashley Rice Regarding the above :

• Baseline writing assessments. “Collecting an early writing sample is good practice anyway, but since most schools have SSP goals related to writing, the trends found in these assessments should be the drivers of early SSP goal-setting for this year. Jenna and Ashley have created some common assessments using TIDE/CSPACE that can be completed in approximately two 45-minute classes and assessed using our AVRCE TIDE and CSPACE rubrics. Alternatively, teachers are welcome to use their own writing assessments. In that case, please use the Nova Scotia Analytic Writing Rubric to assess.”

Fall Grade 6 Benchmark Writing Assessment - P/O Organizer

1. Fall Grade 7 Narrative - Common Assessment

1. Fall Grade 8 Narrative - Common Assessment

Neither of these assessments are collected by Jenna and Ashley but they should be viewed as drivers for next steps in instruction, further assessment, October MSS entries, and Cycle 1 SSP goals. They will be scored on the morning of September 25th to review the assessments and note trends for goal-setting purposes. Jenna and Ashley will be in schools that day, but obviously cannot be at all of them, so the first task for literacy lead team teachers would be guiding these discussions with ELA teachers at your respective sites. Time on the 25th would be used to:

• Collaboratively score a series of writing samples to calibrate expectations and identify broad trends/needs in student writing.
• Review Cycle 1 SSP goal based on the needs of students.
• Review next steps for instruction and assessment.
• Reach out to Jenna and Ashley to book coaching cycles around selected goals, if desired.

Thanks so much for completing these assessments at the beginning of each year and supporting students throughout the process and the academic year as we periodically track their progress

Literacy Links

• Ashley Rice's Homepage - Includes shared writing links and all Literacy Needs
• EMS CORE MAZE SPREADSHEET and Timed Partner Readings- Please enter your data here
• AVRCE TIDE and CSPACE rubrics
• CORE Maze Assessments 6-10 (Retyped)

Calendar Links:

EMS Staff Calendar ( Internal)

https://calendar.google.com/calendar/u/0?cid=Z25zcGVzLmNhXzNwYWM4OHFjcWgybGRmbHZucW9yYXFxOWMwQGdyb3VwLmNhbGVuZGFyLmdvb2dsZS5jb20

EMS School Calendar

https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=gnspes.ca_1tcvdmhe0r7l847g1s1uroe628%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America%2FHalifax

Diversity / Special Events Calendar--Under construction

https://docs.google.com/document/d/16-UoncR4ZfiJ3cK7KKwOzrsscOj0CcGm7MxZafOaBNo/edit?usp=sharing

Osama 902-385-7452

Email: ems@avrce.ca
Website: https://sites.google.com/gnspes.ca/ems
Phone: 9026814910
Facebook: facebook.com/Group-EMS