The Warrior Weekly

I Love to Read Month - All Month!

Feb 19 - Louis Riel Day - No Classes

Feb 21 -

• Day of Wonder #3 (P6/P7),
• Indoor Track Team at U of M (pm),
• Theory of Flight Participants @ Harv's Air (pm, weather permitting)

Feb 22 -

• Grade 8's at SRSS in am,
• Gr 6's Festival Learning Trip

Feb 23 - HTA Professional Development Day - No Classes

Looking for Basketball Practices and Game Schedules?

Check our school calendar by clicking here

Well, we blinked, and Term Two is almost at an end. Students who have missing or incomplete assignments should be working hard to submit those assignments before Friday, March 1. Parents and guardians are encouraged to be in contact with your child's homeroom teacher if you have any questions about your child's progress thus far in Term 2.

Our students brought home information forms about our upcoming school wide learning trip to see the Manitoba Moose as part of Project Eleven School Day. Permission to attend this event needs to be completed on the Parent Portal by Wednesday Feb 21. Students who wish to pre-order concession items need to submit their money and form to their homeroom teacher by Wednesday Feb 21 as well.

Click here to see the information form that was sent home earlier this week.

Our Phys Ed Classes will be going skating again this year at the Mitchell Arena on February 27 and 28. Parents please complete the permission for this activity found on the Parent Portal by Tuesday, February 20. Thank you to Mr. Penner for organizing this opportunity for our students!

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.
• 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.

After an extended period of spring like temperatures, we were reminded this week, that it is February, and February is cold! Regular recess breaks outside are beneficial for student growth and development, and our students go outside for 3 recess breaks each day. They also have a scheduled Outdoor Education Phys Ed class once a cycle. It is important that all students come dressed to be comfortably outside each day. This means making sure they bring:

• a toque
• a scarf or neck warmer
• winter jacket
• winter pants
• winter boots

Families, please remind your child to come to school fully prepared for the winter weather every day.

Indoor Recesses may be considered in certain circumstances. Please click here to review HSD's Cold and Hazardous Weather Guidelines.

No one is surprised to hear that strong reading comprehension skills are foundational to student learning. That's why we are excited to again celebrate February as I Love To Read Month! Throughout the month, our students will participate in a wide range of classroom based literacy activities intended to provide enjoyable opportunities to read, and reminders that reading is a life long learning AND recreational skill. Thank you to our ELA teachers for their collaborative work to plan these activities for our students!

The MMS Book Fair is coming again this year, on February 26 - Feb 28. On the evening of Feb 27, the Book Fair will be open to families to browse, purchase, and order books from 4:30 - 7:00 pm.

MMS receives a percentage of sales back from the proceeds of the Book Fair that we use to stock our library and our classroom libraries.

Keep watching the Warrior Weekly for more information on the Book Fair as we get closer to the end of February. Thank you Ms. Doerksen for your work in organizing the Book Fair for our students!

On Wednesday, Feb. 22, MMS Grade 8's will attend the half day orientation at SRSS, and in the evening there will be a Parent Orientation and Open House new Grade 9 parents.

The Days of Wonder activities were a regular part of programming at Mitchell Middle prior to the pandemic, and we are excited to offer them again this year! Students chose an activity of interest to participate in, and will join others from different classes and grades as they learn more about the different activities. A wide variety of opportunities have been developed by our teaching staff including Track and Field Skills, Indigenous Beading, Geocaching, Chess, Making Paper Mache Puppets, and MANY more. Days of Wonder are scheduled on the following school days:

• Weds Feb 21 - P6/P7
• Thursday Feb 29 P4/P5

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.

School fees at MMS are used to support the different programs, learning experiences, and learning trips that are 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.

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.

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