What a great beginning to the school year - far better than the last couple of years! We’re feeling like we can get back to some normalcy, focusing on academics, playing some sports, and having some fun!

We also have some new staff members. Welcome to Mrs. Kovach transferring from Bjorkdale School and who teaches grade six and seven phys. ed. (along with other classes), Ms. McPhee has transferred from T.E.S. and is a grade seven homeroom teacher, Ms. Thompson teaches high school in the bio lab. We welcome back Mr. Dancey, but this year, he teaches the grade nine students, and Ms. Tiegan Desrosiers, our Outreach worker, has returned from her maternity leave. Finally, Mr. Ofukany is mentoring a University of Regina intern, Mr. Goudy, in his grade eight classroom.

At this point in the school year, we are under no Covid-19 restrictions, but we continue to be a mask-friendly facility. We offer disposable masks and hand sanitizer in each room. We also have Rapid tests for those families that may want some at home. Just send your child to the office to pick some up. It is still very important that students stay home if they are ill. The Daily Screening Questionnaire includes symptoms such as: fever, cough, headache, and muscle fatigue. We are now managing Covid-19 like we manage several other communicable infections.

TMSS staff will be using Edsby to communicate with families. Parents can use the mobile app to excuse your child, to communicate with teachers, to find out what’s happening at our school, including Tornado athletics, and to check grades. This platform will also be used to view report cards at the end of each term with the first report card becoming available in November. All parents and students are encouraged to download the app on to your phone to stay informed.

Thank you to the TMSS families that attended our Open House and Awards program on September 20th, as well as the career fair the following day. It’s nice to be able to welcome families back into our school again. Some families have been hesitant to come into our facility worried about protocols that we have. Our only request is that while students are in classes, come to the office, not their classrooms.

It's going to be a great school year!

Carmen Messer

It's that time again... Student Led Conferences! This is a great opportunity to connect with your child's teachers and get more involved in their education. Conferences are held on October 5th and 6th from 4:00pm to 7:30pm.

How do you book a time slot?

It's EASY!

Log into your Parent Edsby Account and check your mailbox. There will be an invitation there to book a Parent-Teacher Interview. Clicking the link will take you directly to the booking schedule. It's that easy!

If you are not yet on Edsby, please contact the office at (306) 873-2352, or email your child's teacher directly.

This is the second year for using the Edsby App, which is designed to offer tools for parents to review their child's academic progress, stay up to date on school and classroom announcements, as well as communicate with their children's teachers.

Edsby has a helpful step by step guide to using its features. To learn how to:

Activate your Edsby Account

Logging In

Setting up Notifications

Scheduling Absences

Viewing your child's Assessments, Grades, Classes and Calendars

Accessing Groups

Messaging and Communication with Teachers

Many more instructions

click the link: https://edsby.com/help/parents/parent-quickstart/

For help resetting your password:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1q0yYtkmP_U8o25nTSCdl-NArY5DsQObU/view

For help logging in:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_VP7rzJiNXGc3c6fsJE3fSO8mprg7tg5/view

Office Hours: 8:30am to 12:15pm

How Does Information from Mrs. Lee Get to Me??

You need to check the Daily Announcements, even if you have a spare because Mrs. Lee always has important information in there. Information will also come to your school email account, so again you need to check it daily.

How do I get to see Mrs. Lee?

There is a sign-up board outside of the main office on the glass. Please sign up there and she will call you down. Or, please feel free to email questions: lee.kristin@nesd.ca

TMSS Career & Guidance Website

We have been working hard to make this a one stop shop for most things. Please take some time and go through the information. The timeline contains important dates. https://sites.google.com/nesd.ca/tmss-academic-career/home

Grade 10s

• It’s never too early to start planning your future. Mrs. Lee will be in to your classes in the upcoming months to ask you some questions about areas you are considering. You will register for grade 11 classes in the spring.

• Nov. 7 - SEE Your Future- Virtual Career Fair- Saskatoon 9:45-3pm. You need to register online: (www.seeyourfuture.ca) Tons of schools from all over North America!

• MyBlueprint is an excellent tool for students to use to explore possible careers, schools, create resumes, etc. The account belongs to the student for life; be sure to utilize the knowledge it has to offer. https://myblueprint.ca/

Grade 11s

• Mrs. Lee will set up a schedule to meet with you about post-secondary, etc. in the upcoming months. Watch the announcements for your time. If you cannot make it, you must see her to reschedule. Many of the times will be in your spares. The purpose of the meeting will be to check your credits and discuss areas & programs & locations you are considering for post-secondary

• Nov. 7 - SEE Your Future- Virtual Career Fair- Saskatoon 9:45-3pm. You need to register online: (www.seeyourfuture.ca)

• MyBlueprint is an excellent tool for students to use to explore possible careers, schools, create resumes, etc. The account belongs to the student for life; be sure to utilize the knowledge it has to offer. https://myblueprint.ca/

Grade 12s

• MyBlueprint is an excellent tool for students to use to explore possible careers, schools, create resumes, etc. The account belongs to the student for life; be sure to utilize the knowledge it has to offer. https://myblueprint.ca/
• You should be completed or completing post secondary applications. SKPoly FQFA applications need to be asap. Competitive applications opened Oct. 1. Please be sure you have also ordered transcripts. Please sign up to see Mrs. Lee if you need assistance
• Make sure if you have applied for SKPoly, let Mrs. Lee know.
• Start going through scholarships and applying

Drew Lucas is our Grade 6 GRIT winner this month. Drew displays GRIT each day when he is at TMSS. He is a hardworking student, who is always willing to help others and listen to his peers and teachers. He is part of the Cross Country team and gives his best effort at practice and at meets. Drew is a responsible, kind member of the TMSS student body. Keep up the great work Drew!

The recipient for this month’s Grade 7 GRIT award is Pepper Roy. Pepper shows GRIT daily by including all of her peers and helping new students feel welcome in our classroom. She is continuously cooperative with anyone she works with and does a great job of listening and sharing when working in groups. She works hard to maintain a high level of academic standards and makes sure to stay caught up in her work. Pepper is willing to put in extra time in order to master a skill, which takes a lot of resilience.

The Grade 8 monthly GRIT award winner is Kylie Tanner. Kylie is an honest and conscientious student, who chooses to learn and can use multiple strategies to become a better learner. She puts in a determined effort, no matter how challenging the task, and works well with others. Congratulations Kylie!

The Grade 9 GRIT award goes to Blake Partyka. During the short time Blake has been in grade 9 he has already shown GROWTH. He is respectful, punctual, and is always willing to participate in art activities. Blake is willing to challenge himself in all activities including drama as well as written assignments. Good job, Blake!

This month’s Grade 10 GRIT Award goes to Lakeshia Skoglund. Lakeshia demonstrates a willingness to learn by asking questions and demonstrates perseverance when working on assignments. Well Done Lakeshia.

L-learner characteristics

A- attention to detail

K- kind

E- emulates resilience

S- shows continuous growth

H-hard working

I-independent worker

A-always a joy to have in class

The Grade 11 GRIT shout-out goes to Tomas Baptist. Tomas consistently does the right thing. Tomas excels in hands on learning tasks and is a leader in classes like Phys. Ed. And Construction. Tomas is also a dedicated athlete. In football, Tomas always shows up with a strong work ethic and a willingness to take feedback and improve his craft. Tomas is a pleasure to have in any classroom and on any sports program.

This month’s Grade 12 GRIT award goes to Ava Marcelino. Ava personifies GRIT in a number of ways. She is a diligent student who ensures that her work is always done to the best standard. She is a writer who connects to her audience through her honesty and articulate writing style. She is respectful of her teachers and fellow students. She always works towards doing her best work and for that she is more than deserving of this month’s award! Congratulations Ava!

TMSS participated in the Terry Fox Walk on September 16 and collected Toonies for Terry until September 23, and our students raised $1186! Our staff also participated in a Staff Dress down Day for Terry Fox on Friday, September 23 and raised $244. Way to go, TMSS!

TMSS golfers Jack Bechard, Owen Myrhe and Brett Spedding finished with Gold, Silver and Bronze respectively at the NESSAC golf championship in Melfort on Sept 12.

With these results, all 3 boys advanced to the SHSAA Provincial Golf Championship at Jackfish Lake on September 23-24. The boys had a strong showing on Friday but had a bit of trouble on the course on Saturday. Along with Cole Taylor (Nipawin) the boys finished provincials in fourth place overall as a district team! Well done!

Congratulations to all of our junior golfers for a great showing at the Junior NESSAC Championship held at Pasquia Park last week (Gage Boxall, Rylan Little, Ben Anderson, Sawyer Pollon, Noah Kuny, Oliver Homstol, and Walker Carlson)

Congrats to Nixon Coleman and Sophie Sawchuk for placing second and taking home a silver medal.

We have a very large team competing this year. Some days our team is even too large for our GRIT mobile. It’s a great problem to have.

The grade six runners have competed in a race in Nipawin already this short season and then they have meets in October in Zenon Park, Hudson Bay and we host our own at the Kinsmen Park. There is a great learning curve in grade six for traveling with teams, looking after your own items, and representing TMSS as a respectful Tornado, but one stop at a DQ makes it all worth it!

The grade 7-12 teams have also had a lot of success already this year. We have hosted our own meet and travelled to MUCC’s meet at Wapiti Ski Resort and to LP Miller’s meet at Rolling Pines. As you can well imagine, these are challenging courses and force our athletes to dig deep and find their GRIT, especially when a bear was spotted while running! What an exciting start to our season!

Let’s talk about back to school anxiety.

First of all, feeling anxious about a new school year is normal. With every new school year there are elements of unknown or uncertainty. What will my class schedule look like, will my friend be in my class, what if I can’t get my locker open, will the work be too hard? A natural response to uncertainty is feeling anxious. A little bit of anxiety can be helpful. For example, if there is an upcoming test that you are worried about you may take more time to study and prepare. However, too much anxiety can send us in a tailspin and not be at all helpful.

It is not just students who get anxious about back to school. September can be an anxiety ridden time for parents as well. You might be dreading the early morning routine or the homework battle. Maybe you are worried about your child achieving their credits or making friends. So here are some tips on how to support your child and implement some healthy habits to manage your own back to school anxiety.

• 1. Create a fun back to school ritual or routine. For instance, you could go for ice cream on the first day, or shop for a new outfit before school starts. Have your child give some input on enjoyable ways to mark the beginning of a school year.
• 2. Do not avoid talking about the school start up with your children. I know it is tempting to avoid the topic that is anxiety inducing. But an open dialogue will allow you to better support your child. Talk about your child’s worries in terms of what they can and can’t control. Then you can help them problem solve. Come up with ideas together of how they are going to handle their uncomfortable feelings when they show up. The plan is not to avoid the unknown, but to tolerate the uncomfortable/scary feeling that comes with the unknown.
• 3. If your child has difficulty making friends, they may have trouble relating to others at school. It is really hard on parents to watch their child struggle with feeling lonely and there is unfortunately no easy fix. You can help provide opportunities for them to connect with peers their own age with similar interests. Again, if they are more introverted you can help them brainstorm things they can say when meeting someone new.
• 4. Start encouraging good sleep routines before school starts. Emotions are already running high with back to school and lack of sleep will only make handling these big emotions more challenging. Anxiety can obviously make it difficult to sleep at times because our anxious thoughts seem like they will not turn off at night. Regular exercise, staying away from sugary foods and eliminating screen time before bedtime can help.
• 5. Regular attendance is important. A mental health day here and there is ok, and sick days should be taken when needed. However, a consistent routine of attending school every day will not only help them be successful in class, but also build up their tolerance to feeling uncomfortable and handling their big feelings.
• 6. Don’t make such a big deal about academic achievement. Yes, marks are important, and you should certainly support your child to do their best. But putting pressure on them to achieve certain marks can actually create more anxiety in your child. This pressure actually gets in the way of achieving those desired marks. Instead make sure to tell your child out loud on a consistent basis the things you appreciate/love about them outside of the marks they achieved or the big games they win. Children need to know your love is not conditional on their performance. Praise their creativity, sense of humour, kindness. Make sure they know you love them for who they are not what they achieve.
• 7. When it comes to homework, give your child some autonomy. Let them choose when they prefer to do homework (ie. Morning, right after school, evening). Help set up a space that they find best for getting work done. If you are the type of parent who takes control of the homework, checking it over to make sure it is done correctly and completed neatly, stop doing that! Children need to make mistakes and it is beneficial to let them struggle with new tasks they are learning. It also encourages them to learn the important skill of asking their classmates or teacher for help. You can be supportive by brainstorming with them how they might ask someone else for help.
• 8. Finally slow down. When we worry, we tend to speed up and our reactions are quicker. Be patient and let your child adjust to the new school year. If they do not settle in after some time or you feel like anxiety is having a real negative impact on your child’s school success, reach out to their teacher or school administrator and ask them about available support.

If you are interested in more information about supporting your child with managing anxiety check out therapist and author Lynn Lyons. Find her website and podcast at https://www.lynnlyons.com/.