Yearbooks are Flyin’

Yearbooks Are Flying Off the Shelves!!

Have you purchased your yearbook yet? Unsure?! Visit us in the Atrium during the month of December; we will be handing out order forms and you can check to see if you have already bought a book at our booth.  Yearbooks cost $35.00. Order forms should be returned to Mrs. Bakker by December 18^th – the last day of school before vacation!

Don’t miss out on this memorable piece of DTS history. See our booth in the Atrium next week and don’t miss out!

Talking to Space

Our Live Chat with International Space Station

The school was abuzz last Friday afternoon as we hosted an Open House for parents and students.  To mark the International Year of Astronomy, NASA selected schools to host live chats with the International Space Station.  We were one of a few Calgary-based schools given this extraordinary opportunity.

As the space station passed over Argentina, ten lucky grade six students asked questions of Dr. Robert Thirsk (a Calgarian!).  About 150 parents, staff and students sat in rapt attention as the questions were asked and answered.

After the initial set up through NASA in Argentina, over the phone line in the PE office, we were told that NASA in Houston and Australia would be listening in too.  Finally, we heard Bob Thirsk answer the first question from Morgan D.  Both parents and staff reported this as a thrilling sound – a voice from space which sent chills down the spine for some and brought tears to the eyes of others.

Dr. Thirk’s responses were well thought out.  One highlight included a description of inertial forces after he was asked if it would hurt as much getting punched in the face in space.  He replied that it would hurt the same and likely take longer to heal.  He also indicated that he is honouring the International Year of Astronomy by taking the opportunity to learn the constellations of the southern hemisphere.

In the end, it was all over in 9 minutes and 45 seconds.  We said goodbye to Bob as the space station passed out of range on the eastern coast of Argentina.

This was simply an extraordinary experience for all who were present on Friday.  A big thanks to Brian Jackson and his team for setting up the contact which required several visits to the school (we were the first school to do it over a telephone line).  Additional thanks to Dr. Phil Langill of the University of Calgary for introducing the opportunity to our grade six students and leading the presentation on Friday.  A special thanks to Elizabeth Scott, a Thirsk family friend, for bringing the “Flat Bob” cut-out for the photographs.  And finally a thanks to the staff who made this possible: Ms. Epp for the hours she invested in this, Mr. Eitzen, Mr. Bailey and his crew (Ronnie and Chris),  Mr. Baustad, and the supervision volunteers who made the day run smoothly, and Mrs. Kovic, who provided snacks and lunch for those staying late on a Friday afternoon.

If you were present, please don’t forget to record your extraordinary Galileo Moment for the Canadian Space Agency.

Our Man, Thirsk

Robert Thirsk, as many of our students know, is about two thirds the way through a six month stay on the International Space Station. As you read, he’s up above a few hundred kilometers, circling Earth every 90 minutes or so.

Here he is just before Launch:

Here’s the really really cool thing: our students will have the chance to talk to Thirsk. Live. And ask him all sorts of questions.

On Friday October 30, we are hosting an open house, and inviting any students (parents too!) to watch as ten of our grade six students talk live to the ISS.

If your student is to stay and observe these procedings, you need to sign and return to school the permission slip that was recently brought home by your student.

Entertain Yourself

Yep, Entertainment Books are back for another fun filled year.

In a return to tradition, we are sending sample books home with every student who is willing. Books cost $40, and the school is able to reap half of that. If every student in the school were able to sell one, that would mean about $12 000 for use in our programs, field trips, new technology, and other good stuff ™.

For example, there are $80 in Safeway coupons alone. It practically sells itself!

PLUS – act now, and receive these benefits:

• first 50 kids to sell 2 books (paid) receive Zoo Animal
• top selling class with 100% participation out of 5 & 6’s get pizza party
• top selling class with 100% participation out of 7, 8 & 9’s get pizza party
• top 2 students from grade 5/6 group get Calgary Hitmen Tickets
• top 2 students from grade 7-9 group get Hitmen Tickets
• top selling school gets Hitmen to play floor hockey and sign autographs

Students can either sell the one book they have, and return the proceeds to the office, or use the book as a sample, collect payment, and then distribute new books a few days later.

Easy peasy. And profitable, too. As we said; it practically sells itself.

World Skills

If you were wondering what all the fuss was about, and why we started school a week early, wonder no longer… this was it.  World Skills.

“WorldSkills is a powerful means for building a global skills respect culture. It enables the best of the world’s young skilled people to motivate and inspire successive generations to see that vocational skills can lead to secure and fulfilling lives in a fast-changing competitive world.” – Jack Dusseldorp, President of WorldSkills International

DTS teachers accompanied almost all of our grade 9s down to Stampede Park to take in the first day of the event.  There was a surpising amount of stuff going on in addition to the competition.  For example, in the Try-A-Skills tent, students were able to try a skill.  Bricklaying, tire changing, e;ectronics, stamping and plumbing – these activities were all part of the fun.

Four of my students compted in a Tire-Change-Off  event, using pneumatic hamemr drills to remove lug nuts and replace a tire.

Competition was friendly, but fierce, a lost nut (which rolled under the car) the only thing separating the winner from second place. In the end, Wyatt walked away with a new iPod Nano for his efforts, winning the otherwise friendly event.

Team Canada

Team Canada paid David Thompson School a visit today in advance of the World Skills Competition being held in Calgary. DTS and Acadia students welcomed the team at a Pep Rally, and  number of dignitaries spoke to the assembly, wishing them good luck.

The event was ably MCed by Chantal and Lauren.  They even made it to the local news!

And the kids seemed pretty excited.

The day began with the pep rally, but continued with a rotation of student through a mini skills competition in the areas of math, construction, design, technology, and foods. The morning ended with a BBQ lunch for students…

… and then an impromtu bridge building competition between teachers.

Please take a look at the DTS Flickr page for larger versions of these, and more photos form the day’s events.

Welcome Back

Hello, and welcome back!

It is with great pleasure that we usher in another school year at David Thompson – the official host for Team Canada for the upcoming World Skills exhibition, being held here in Calgary. It draws positive attention to our city and school.

With a number of new initiatives, we are in the midst of continually evolving into an environment that is prepared to cater to the 21^st century learner.  A myriad of new options will be available to expose students to new interests.  In addition, the most advanced technology has been integrated to enhance learning needs and meet the demands of an ever-changing society.

On the staff front, we are pleased to introduce a number of highly qualified teachers.  Mr. Rhys Pugh has returned to our community and will replace Ms. Wendy Buck will be exploring new horizons.  Ms. Shauna Murphy will continue to dedicate her professional focus to mathematics at our school.  Rachelle Ormiston will be filling our need for a music professional for Wendy Freeman who will be on maternity leave.

Mr. Jeremy Hill will be meeting our needs as Ms. Cindy Rowley (formerly Kwan) will soon be on maternity leave.  Mr. John Lopez offers a depth of Spanish experience and will take the place of Ms. Carlotta Carr who has recently gave birth to a lovely baby boy.  And, finally, Mr. Daniel Grunbaum will be a tremendous addition in our technology initiatives as he replaces Ms. Peggy Bailey.

We continue to make the interests and intellectual development of your sons and daughters our main objective.  A trip to school should be a positive experience.  If you should require any assistance, please do not hesitate to call either of our administrators.

Thank you for your ongoing support and we look forward to serving your family’s education needs.

Andrew Bews & Tony Bromhead

ROPES 2009

DTS is shy about 220 kids this week. We’ve off and run most of the grade 6s and 7s to the YMCA Camp Chief Hector, in K Country, for the rest of the week.

For the record, ROPES stands for Rocky mountain Outdoor Pursuits and Experiential School. We simply call it outdoor school.

For over 25 years, the Camp Chief Hector YMCA has been running residential outdoor schools experiences that provide unique opportunities for enhancing curriculum objectives, building communication and cooperative group skills, and providing a shared experience for students of different backgrounds. All of our programs are centered on the four core values of the YMCA: Caring, Honesty, Responsibility, and Respect. Using the beautiful area of the Bow Valley, the skills of dynamic staff, and carefully selected learning activities, we have a legacy of building strong kids who become community leaders in years to come.

Students will be returning on Friday May 15 at around 2:00pm.

Ms. Clark wanted veryone to be able to check the weather forecast (which for Canmore, can be found here).

Science Café – May 1

Science Cafés are interactive, fun, and social events intended to bring people face to face with real live scientists.  They happen all over the world (there’s even one happening tomorrow, Tuesday, on the topic of  NDD – Nature Deficit Disorder).

And now we have one at David Thompson.

Our featured guest is Dr.Phil Langill, Director of the Rothney Observatory.  His topic… SPACE.

Students who are interested need to see me (Mr. Buracas) for a permission slip, and parents who would like to attend with their students are asked to RSVP with me (mister.buracas@gmail.com) so that I can track numbers and such.\

Hope to see you all there!

Siftables are cool!

Siftables are cool. They’re small, block-like, wireless, and interactive computers. They look like this:

And you can do many things with them beyond playing games… like sequencing music, or creating interactive stories. I introduced my grade 6 students to siftables during my InfoTech classes recently, and they were very impressed by the cool things they can do.

So impressed, in fact, that many of them chose to write David Merrill, the inventor of Siftables, a short email note letting him know as well. Many of my students received a response from David Merrill, including David B, in grade 6.

Here’s his response:

Hi David, Thanks for your message. I have been hearing from many of your classmates also — it seems like my video was a bit hit. I invented Siftables because I thought that the world needed a more physical, hands-on way to use computers.

It took a few days to come up with the specific idea, but I have been thinking about this kind of thing for a long time. Here is a longer answer, that I wrote in response to an email interview request: http://tinyurl.com/dh4oog We are working to make them available to the world, so please stay tuned! I’m not sure yet how much they will cost.

Take care, -David

Hey… technology works. I love it when stuff works!