Photography Club

Photography club will begin on Wednesday, October 3. We are hoping to welcome back returning members. New members are always welcome. Photography club normally meets every 2nd Thursday, from 2:45-4:30. However, we will meet again on Wednesday, October 10, to do our annual photo walk around Kent’s Pond. Permission slips will be given out at our first meeting. Any member who cannot make the first meeting but wishes to go on the photowalk can pick up a permission slip from Ms. Quann in room 220.

MDJH 2018-2019 Student Council Elections

Student council elections for president and vice-president was held on October 5. Congratulations to President Daniel Blackmore and Vice President Ahmad Saadi.

Elections for homeroom representative will take place the following week.

Candidates should have strong leadership and communication skills. They should also demonstrate a good work ethic, respect for school policies and a commitment to student council activities. Meetings will be held the second half of lunch on Day 4. Students who are up for this commitment are encouraged to put their names forward.

Parent Newsletter

Dates to Remember:

October 3—Photography Club October 8—After School Cricket Club October 19— Walk to Breakfast October 19—Children’s Wish Fundraiser at Bridie Molloy’s October 19—Jamarama Day October 22— Intermediate Closeout Day—District PD October 26 and November 2—RNC Presentations for Grade 7 November 6—Remembrance Day Assembly November 9-12—Remembrance Day Long Weekend

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MDJH

October 5, 2018

Canadian Student Leadership Conference 2018

Eight students from MDJH attended the national leadership conference for grade 9-12 students in Edmonton, Alberta from September 26-September 30, 2018. This was a wonderful experience and provided opportunities for students to participate in leadership workshops and activities. The theme this year was Leadership Through the Looking Glass.

Team Pictures

Team Pictures are needed for this year’s yearbook. Please submit pictures to Ms. Quann at colettequann@nlesd.ca. If sending from your cell phone, please select actual size so the quality will not be altered when uploading to the yearbook site.

2017-2018 Yearbooks

The 2017-2018 yearbooks have arrived and been distributed. They have been delivered to Gonzaga and Holy Heart for distribution. There are 10 extra yearbooks available for purchase, if you would like one, please email colettequann@nlesd.ca

.

Welcome to WE

https://www.we.org/

WE is a movement that brings people together and gives them the tools to change the world. Get involved with your family, school, company or as an individual. WE makes doing good, doable.

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Celebrating Student’s Successes

We want to acknowledge and celebrate the accomplishments of the students of MDJH. We have a wall of celebration where we will place a certificate of acknowledgement highlighting participation and success in a variety of activities. We want to know if your child has participated in any plays, musicals or has been on a team that has won some title or has been recognized in any individual competition. We need your help with this. Please let us know so we can proudly display this on our wall. Please email colettequann@nlesd.ca with Celebrate YOUR CHILD’S NAME in the subject line.

Always COME TO Class Prepared You need… Something to write with Something to write on, like an exercise book, or loose

leaf Other class materials, like textbooks, calculators,

geometry sets, rulers, erasers

Our first Bus Evacuation Drill on Monday October 1 was a success! Thanks Chris Duke from City Wide!

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POWERSCHOOL! Have you signed on to POWERSCHOOL lately? Keep informed, keep up to date!

Sign in…

Walk to Breakfast

TD Walk to Breakfast will happen on October 19, at our school. Our breakfast club is up and running and ensuring every child has breakfast when they arrive at school. Donate online to our school at www.kidseatsmart.ca or donate breakfast items to our Breakfast Club.

WISH

MacDonald Drive Junior High is striving to become one the very first Children's Wish Schools in St. John's. This initiative is founded by the Children's Wish Foundation and we are hoping to grant a wish to a child by the end of June 2019, maybe even earlier! We began last May and are on our way to doing just that however, we need your help! Our students are being encouraged, on-going throughout the year, to donate left over recess or lunch monies in their wish jars located in every classroom in our school. Homeroom tallies are taken with prizes being awarded to the top fundraising classes. Our school teams and groups will also be participating by donating one of their team fundraisers to the Wish School program. As you can see, this is an entire community initiative. We all want to do our part! Parents are encouraged to also participate by making a donation at any time to MDJH Wish School. Please ensure that SCHOOL WISH along with your name and child's name is located on the front of the envelope so that your child will get additional points for the supplementary donation. Please help us grant a child their wish! We can do this and we will do this! Thank you in advance for your on going support! If at anytime you wish to speak with the Wish School Coordinator, please contact Mme Stacey at carolynstacey@nlesd.ca

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After School Cricket For grade 7 boys and girls Dear parent/guardian, My name is Arif Shaikh. I am a parent of Grade 7 student and would like to introduce the game of Cricket for Grades 7 boys and girls at Macdonald Drive Junior High School. Cricket is a very widely played sport in many countries and is gaining popularity in Canada too. I am a member of Cricket NL which is the official body that organizes cricket league in St John’s and have represented NL in Eastern Atlantic Cricket Tournaments. I invite new members to participate in learning this sport. The gym at the school is available to us on Mondays from 02:30 pm to 04:00 pm. We will practice batting, bowling and fielding activities during our sessions. We will also have brief sessions to introduce the fundamental rules of the game. Students who would like to play only need a pair of gym shoes. No experience with the sport is necessary as we will begin with basics. The purpose is to have fun while developing Cricket skills, I also intend to develop a team that would play matches with teams from other schools and participate in interschool tournaments in future. In order to gauge interest and to get a sense of numbers beforehand, I would appreciate if you could email me if your child is interested in playing. Please respond to arifkfupm@yahoo.com. I would like to begin the sessions on Monday, October 8, but the registration is open until October 19, 2018.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions in the meantime. Arif Shaikh

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MDJH Community Garden

MDJH would like to extend a big thank you Mr. Nahat, Mr. Ramadan and Mr. El Mheimed, the hard working gardeners who revitalized our community garden this summer. They added new gardening beds, built a greenhouse and produced some beautiful vegetables and beans! The beginning...

Success!

We hope their families enjoyed many delicious meals and that their skills will continue to improve our community garden during the coming year. If you are interested in participating or donating to this project please contact the office.

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16th Annual Skills Canada Intermediate Challenge Skills Canada Newfoundland and Labrador (SCNL) has invited schools in the province to participate in the 16th Annual Skills Canada Intermediate Challenge taking place on Saturday, November 24, 2018 at College of the North Atlantic, Prince Philip Drive Campus.

The Skills Canada Intermediate Challenge will feature several of the competitions SCNL offers on a provincial level to students in grades 7 to 9. SCNL is proud to be the only province in the country to offer this event and competitions to this age group. The Intermediate Skills Challenge follows the same format as the Skills Canada Provincial / National Competitions, however, projects are simplified to be completed in 4-6 hours. The event will close with an Awards Ceremony where gold, silver, and bronze medals are presented. WHY GET INVOLVED? Skills Canada Competitions: Offer a friendly competition atmosphere where students can showcase their abilities in

technology and employability skill areas Features hands-on Try-A-Trade® Demonstrations in several skilled trade and technology areas

for parents, students and educators to explore Increase awareness of skilled careers and encourages students to develop their skills and

discover their talents and interests sooner Gold medalists are often invited to participate at the Skills Canada Provincial Competitions

against high school students For the opportunity to represent Newfoundland and Labrador at the Skills Canada National

Competition AREAS OFFERED (Individual Competition Unless Otherwise Noted) 2D Computer Animation (Team of 2) 3D Computer Animation (Team of 2) Graphic Design Public Speaking Job Search Job Skill Demonstration The Pitch (Team of 2) IT Network Systems Admin (Team of 2) IT Office Software Applications Website Development Lego Robotics (Max 10) TV Video Production (Team of 2) Workplace Safety Model Wind Turbine Challenge (Team of 2) Photography Junior Chef Challenge (Team of 2) Hairstyling Challenge (Team of 2) Coding Challenge

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NEXT STEPS --- INTERESTED IN GETTING INVOLVED? In the next few weeks as more information comes available from Skills Canada, Teacher/Mentors at MDJH will be looking for students to join the “MDJH Skills Canada Team” to compete in this year’s competitions. If we have more students interested in competing than we have spots we will determine a selection process for that competition area ... for example, we will have a Junior Chef cook-off. The students who will represent MDJH will have to pay a $10 registration fee once we get to that stage. Students will receive a T-shirt and morning snack. The teacher contact for Skills Canada is Mr. Gillard, who can be found in the Tech Ed Lab - Room 119. (wadegillard@nlesd.ca)

WE Scare Hunger Thanksgiving Food Drive This year, MDJH collected 1610 items for local food banks. This surpassed what was collected last year. Big thanks to all our school community for your generosity.

Jamarama Friday, October 19, is Pyjama Day at MDJH—Wear your pyjamas to school in support of the Janeway. Students are asked to bring in a donation of $2 or more to donate to the Janeway Foundation.

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Congestion in Bus Lanes As you enter the school parking lot, please ensure that you keep to the left lane if you are dropping your child off in front of the school. Also please make sure that our buses can enter our lot on the right.

Student Drop Off / Pick Up Student Entrance Procedures

For student drop-off, stay in the left lane in a single line as you enter the school grounds.

When you turn left in front of the building, proceed as far as possible to the right (closest to the cement divider) before dropping your children off. Please wait for the vehicles in front of you to drop off students before proceeding.

Through traffic stays to the left in front of the student entrance.

Busses will enter the school grounds in the right lane and proceed to the far right closest to the building.

Note: Only staff and alternate transportation should travel in the right lane to proceed around the building.

Ms. Pike and Ms. Hardy will be out each day, rain or shine, to help direct traffic.

For ALL the latest news please visit our web site @ http://mdjh.info OR download our APP—

It’s Free!

Be Safe online! Check out

these resources….

http://www.nlesd.ca/families/socialmediasafety.jsp

PLEASE DO NOT PARK AT CROSSWALKS STUDENTS CROSSING ARE NOT ABLE TO BE SEEN

To let your child out, please stop and park after the crosswalk

PARENT NEWSLETTER

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Attendance Matters

If a child in your household misses school, please contact the homeroom teacher and/or use the MDJH App and send a note.

Absent / Late Please send an email or note to your child's Homeroom Teacher if your child is going to be absent or late. All students who come late are to check in at the office.

CHECK OUT ALL Policies https://www.nlesd.ca/about/policies.jsp

DRAFT—Assessment & Evaluation Policy, Attendance Policy, Use of Instructional Time

NEW Regulations for Honours, Honours with Distinction, update available mdjh.info

We’re on the web!

http://mdjh.info

REMINDER:

In keeping with our Safe and Caring Schools Policy…

ALL visitors MUST check in at the office!

Allergy Alert We have students/staff with life-threatening allergies. Products containing

the following will not be permitted in the building:

Latex, Fish, Nuts, Shellfish, Peanuts

*Please send all updated allergy sheets to homeroom teachers.