Happenings
- March 18: School Council (TEAM LINK)
- March 21: La Cabane à sucre à Branton School
- March 21-22: School Conferences
- Next Newsletter will be after Spring Break on Friday April 5. Please enjoy your break.
We want to remind all parents that students are not allowed to order and deliver food to Branton school (Doordash, Skip the Dishes, …). Thank you for your understanding and support.
Alberta Education Assurance Survey
Next Year Planning
In planning for enrolment numbers for next year, please let us know if your child is NOT planning to return to Branton (except Gr 9’s going to high school) for the 2024-25 school year. Please email bcrustad@cbe.ab.ca Thank you.
Music Notes
Grade 8 & 9 band camp forms are due in by Tuesday, March 19. Those are the blue/green papers to me only. I am still looking for a male and female chaperone with a CBE clearance. Please let me know if you can help.
Grade 7 Band camp forms are due no later April 5, sooner is better. Again, I am looking for volunteers for both days!! Please.
Gourmet Perogies fundraiser closes Tuesday at midnight. Remember, you make $9/box and that comes off of your band camp.
Any questions, please email me at jlbaird@cbe.ab.ca.
School Planning Survey
We would like parents input as we start to plan the 2024-25 school year.
The purpose of this survey is to gather feedback from families on school planning, which includes the school development plan, school budget, and school fees. When students, staff and families work closely together, students experience greater success.
Please access the survey at the following link between March 8 and March 22: Branton School Planning Survey 2024-25.
Cafeteria and Menu 11 mars au 15 mars 2024
Please see our Cafeteria & Menu page.
Francophone Month Film Festival
Madame Moussa
Grade 9 ELA with Ms. Moussa has learned and worked on the following since term 2:
- Open Mic responses: as a counterpoint to Of Mice and Men, we read a contemporary short anthology of humorous YA works from diverse authors. Students reflected on the themes therein and responded analytically, personally, and creatively.
- Vocabulary building: students selected seven new vocabulary words to learn.
- Creative writing: Upon the return of our student teacher, Mr. Lederhouse, students have been learning about creative voices and are tasked with writing their own short story. They received a random theme, genre, and object, and were challenged to incorporate the three.
- Fundamentals: We have also continued with our weekly lessons on grammar and punctuation, though have wrapped up just this week!
- Reading: We have continued to explore reading for pleasure, with students taking over book promotions, telling each other about a book they’ve enjoyed.
Phys Ed Department
A Note on Athletics: The volleyball season is in full swing and the four Branton Tiger teams are performing very well, being in first or second place in all standings. Good luck to the teams in playoffs! Go Tigers!
Badminton tryouts will begin the first week back from March break. Tell your students to keep their eyes open for the tryout schedule in the gymnasium and on the daily bulletin.
Media Lab CTF Update
Grade 9 Multimedia – Grade 9s started their semester with a Photoshop challenge, making clones of themselves interacting with each other in a staged picture. They have moved on to begin the
Calgary-wide Minecraft Challenge for the next several weeks, reimagining a public space in the city as an urban planning and design project. Some students are also participating in the Your Voice Is Power Challenge, which uses Python code to remix beats and tracks from Indigenous hip hop artists, and they will be able to submit their track to a Canada-wide competition later if they wish!
Continuing Humanities
In Grade 7 Continuing Immersion Humanities, students picked a Famous Black Canadian and explained their contributions to Canadian History and culture. They also watched the documentary about the experiences of Alberta's first Black settlers between 1905 and 1912 and they filled in a chart and then reflected upon the shocking realities they faced upon coming here.
In order to be aware of their own perspective, they wrote paragraphs about their values and used personal experiences as evidence. They have been practicing present tense and continue to put it into practice.
As part of the First Nations unit, we studied the creation legends and the traditional knowledge that was passed orally through them. The students are preparing a presentation where they retell the story in a respectful way.
Moving forward, we will celebrate Francophonie month by listening to French music and voting for their favorite choice between two options.
ELA 8 (Ms. Cohen & Mrs. Fisher)
This term, students wrote a memoir that explored their own experiences, challenges, and resiliencies drawing inspiration from the Diary of Anne Frank story. They then further investigated character development by creating exploratory portraits for the main characters in the film Hunt for Wilderpeople. Students are currently reading the novel The Barren Grounds by David A. Robertson and developing their comprehension and analytical skills with dialectical journals. They are expanding their writing skills with a 5 paragraph essay on the main characters’ responses to adversity. They are working towards organizing their ideas in structured introduction, body and concluding paragraphs and supporting their ideas with evidence from the text.
Spring Break / Non-Instruction Day
There is no School on Friday March, 22, 2022 for a PD Day. Spring Break starts March 23, 2024 to April 1, 2024.
Returning to School on Tuesday April 2, 2024.
Volleyball Finals
Come Support Our Volleyball Teams at: Sir Winston Churchill School on Friday, March 15, 2024.
Senior Girls: 4 PM
Senior Boys: 7:45 PM
Junior Girls: 5:15 PM
Junior Boys: 6:30 PM
Ramadam
Art
Science
Team C FLA
Students in Team C FLA 8 and 9 classes with Mme Collier did a research project on a famous Francophone individual and their contribution to Canadian identity. Then, students made laminated trading cards and participated in small group discussions followed by a card trading session. We will continue exploring these individual's contributions to Canadian and Bilingual identity.
Students are working on a "Journal de lecture" in which they are tracking their minutes read in French and are aiming for between 400-500 minutes in a 5 week period. Grade 9's watched and discussed videos and songs about Algonquin-French rapper, Samian, prior to the March 6th presentation at William Aberhart school. They have a song list of Samian in D2L they can listen to with their family. Students will create their own poetic/spoken word piece in collaboration with a Social studies research project on refugees and immigration. Students are also participating in “Manie musicale” with their Math teacher to celebrate "Le mois de la francophonie", where they listen and vote on their favorite songs.
Grade 9 Science
IMPORTANT!!! Parent Volunteers needed
We are happy to announce the return of our field trip with RiverWatch this year. This exciting day on the Bow River is a central part of our Environmental Chemistry Unit in the Grade 9 Science Program. Student will be rafting on the bow river and learning the environmental chemistry by doing several water tests in different location on the bow river.
Only one teacher will be attending the following trip:
Mr. Savoie with 9-1,9-2 and 9-3 (MAY 6th) (MONDAY) Mr. Abbott with 9-4,9-5 and 9-6 (MAY 7th) (TUESDAY)
Therefore, this experience requires that we have enough parent volunteers to meet the Calgary Board of Education supervision guidelines for field trips. So, to ensure the day runs smoothly, we need a minimum of 6 parent volunteers (one parent per boat - Teachers will circulate from boat to boat throughout the day).
Please note, that new police clearances usually take between 2 and 3 weeks to complete. As such, volunteers who have already completed the police clearance make the process much quicker, but we welcome any parents who are interested to start the process ASAP if you’d like to come. Volunteer interest has traditionally been high from parents in the past, so selection will be first-come, first-served based on returning this form of interest AND having a security clearance in place.
If you are interested in volunteering, please know that each raft will have a professional river guide who is trained in first aid and will be responsible for teaching rafting safety, leading discussions and coordinating paddling and such. Your primary role would simply be in a supervisory capacity. Our goal is for you to also enjoy the day and maybe learn a bit too and therefore, teachers will address any discipline or group management issues that arise during the field trip.
Please, email the following teachers accordingly to the homeroom that your child is with. Mr. Savoie (josavoie@cbe.ab.ca) 9-1, 9-2 and 3 MAY 6th (MONDAY) Mr. Abbott (crabbott@cbe.ab.ca) 9-4, 9-5 and 9-6 MAY 7th(TUESDAY)
Foods
Journee International des Mathematiques 14 Mars
March 14 is Pi Day also referred to as the International Day of Mathematics. Our students across all the grades had a fabulous day celebrating Mathematics this past Thursday! Students wrote Pi-Ku’s, played dice games and trivia games as well as created works of art all of which had their connections to that infamous number pi! Happy 3.14 Day to all!
