March's bus passes

March's bus passes have arrived. You can come to my office at your convenience to pick yours up.

Students may request for a bus pass if they a) are in a distract program; b) live more than 4.8 km from the school, and c) have a financial need. A proof of address and documentation supporting financial need must accompany an application for a bus pass. If you have submitted an application for a buss pass but are not receiving one, please see Mr. Mustapich. If you wish to obtain an application form for a bus pass, please come by my office to obtain one.

There has been a growing concern of students losing their bus passes and wanting the school to replace them. Unfortunately, the school is NOT able to replace a lost bus pass. Like other personal properties, it is your responsibility to take good care of your bus passes.

Course Planning 2011: FAQs

Below are the top 10 common questions that students have asked me during course planning sessions. After each question you can find a brief answer - for more details, please don't hesitate to come in and see me. Thanks!

Question #1: Can I take Planning 10 online?
Answer: The short answer is: yes. Keep in mind, taking online courses require tremendous discipline. Do not sign up for planning 10 online because you think it will be "easier;" instead, sign up for planning 10 online only because you and your parents feel this would be a more suitable educational option for you to acquire the credit for this graduation requirement course.

Question #2: Can I take other online courses and/or summer school courses to "get ahead?"
Answer: Yes. Vancouver Learning Network (or VLN) as well as summer school offer credited courses for students in grades 10, 11, and 12 that may not be offered here at Templeton. Students take credited courses for a variety of reasons, including "getting ahead." Discuss with your teachers, your family, and myself for your best educational options.

Question #3: Can I get a "spare block" if I am taking an online course, or if I have completed a summer school course?
Answer: No. Students in grades 8 to 11 are expected to take a full course load (i.e. 8 courses) at Templeton. Students in grade 12 with a heavy academic load may request for a study block.

Question #4: Which of the two math 10 courses should I sign up for?
Answer: The two math options both fulfill the math 10 requirement for graduation. Your choice for your math 10 course may have post-secondary implications. Your math teacher would have a better idea which math course would be more suitable for you. You may also use summer school courses to keep your options open - please see me or your math teacher for details.

Question #5: Do I need to take a language course in order to graduate?
Answer: There are no language requirements for graduation. Credits earned from language courses can be used towards your elective credits. Some post-secondary schools require students to complete a modern language class up to the grade 11 level. It is important for you to find out what the admission requirements are for the specific program(s) you are interested in.

Question #6: I want to take more elective courses - what do I need to do?
Answer: Templeton offers a number of outside-the-timetable courses that you can take before or after school as an additional elective. If you are taking (or have completed) one of the required grade 10 courses (e.g. Planning 10) online or during summer school, you would have one more slot for an elective course.

Question #7: Do I need to sign up for a course if I am planning to take the course in the summer or online?
Answer: Generally speaking, I would suggest all students to sign up for courses that they require. When you have completed a summer school/online course, I can change your timetable based on your summer school/VLN report card.

Question #8: Can I sign up for PE 10 Boys/Girls AND PE 10 - Outdoor Education (MPE--10YOE) at the same time?
Answer: No. Since the outdoor education option would give you PE 10 credit, you only need to sign up for either PE10B/G OR PE 10-YOE, not both.

Question #9: I don't know what I want to do after graduation yet. What courses should I be selecting?
Answer: Many of us are not sure what we want to do in the future. Try to identify area(s) that you are interested in, and keep as many options open as possible, for as long as you can. That said, you can always go back and take additional credited courses (online, summer school) to "make up."

Question #10: Can I change my choices for electives?
Answer: Yes. But please consider your choices for elective courses carefully before choosing them. Once all student requests are entered, the school would determine the actual number of blocks to assign for each course. Late changes may result in you not being able to take a course that is full.

Course Planning 2011: Math 10 Options

As a result of changes made to the math curriculum, students heading into grade 10 now have two different math courses to which they can choose from: Apprenticeship & Workplace Mathematics 10 (MAWM-10), or Foundations of Mathematics & Pre-calculus 10 (MFMP-10).

Apprenticeship & Workplace Mathematics 10 (MAWM-10) is generally the course that students who are currently in Math 9 Adapted would take in their grade 10 year. Students in Math 9 regular may be recommended by their teachers to take this math course. The curriculum of this course can be considered "less challenging" than Foundations of Mathematics and Pre-calculus 10, and focuses on mathematical applications in one's daily life and work. The course naturally leads to Apprenticeship and Workplace Mathematics 11. Together, these two courses would satisfy the mathematics requirements for graduation.

Foundations of Mathematics & Pre-calculus 10 (MFMP-10) is generally the course that students who are currently in Math 9 and Math 8 Challenge would take. This common course splits into Foundations of Mathematics 11 and Pre-calculus 11 at the grade 11 level, and, depending on the specific program requirements, are required for post-secondary admission (please check with the post-secondary institutions for details on admission requirements, which may change regularly).

Math teachers will be making recommendations to counsellors regarding course recommendations in mathematics. Please do not hesitate to let me know if you have any concerns.

Course Planning 2011: New Courses

There are several new courses that are offered for students entering grade 10 next year.

Basic Car Care 11: Open to students in grades 10 to 12, this is a general interest course directed towards anyone with limited knowledge about cars. The course will deal more with the maintenance rather than the repair of your car, and may be of special interest to those who are thinking about purchasing a vehicle. Topics covered in this class includes: vehicle ownership, maintenance practices, power train, body and chassis, as well as electrical and electronic systems. For more information, please contact Mr. Cameron.

Astronomy 11: This course is an introduction to astronomical techniques, theories and features in the universe. Topics covered include: night sky observation, solar system components, stellar and planetary formation, evolution and classifications of stars, star clusters and black holes, galaxy structure and formation, extraterrestrial life, etc. The course has a significant math component in it. Students considering signing up for this course should have completed science 10 and foundations of math and pre-calculus 10, or should at least be taking these courses concurrently. For more information, please contact Mr. Hengeveld.

PE 10 - Outdoor Education Option: This course gives students the physical education 10 credit required for graduation. The emphasis of the course is to introduce students to alternative physical activities outside of traditional PE programs, with an additional focus on environment and sustainability. Activities in the course include: backpacking, kayaking, orienteering, rock climbing, Nordic skiing, snowshoeing, trail running, etc. A willingness to be in the outdoors is a requirement for admission. Students must be willing to challenge their physical and emotional self. For more information, please contact Mr. Kuniss.

The "Raise Your Voice" video contest

The Environmental Youth Alliance is kicking off a new competition designed to get youth thinking about pressing environmental issues and sharing their ideas for a better future. This year they are asking youth aged 16-24 to submit a short video essay in response to the question: “Should bananas be available in Vancouver in 2025?”

They want to hear your thoughts on the future of this popular fruit and how its inclusion in our diets impacts the health of our environment and communities.

Grab a camera and start to debate your plate!

The contest winner will be awarded a $1000 scholarship to support their entrance into a post-secondary program with an environmental focus. Submissions can be made by youth aged 16-24 who are BC residents.

The contest runs from March 7th - May 7th 2011.

For more information about this contest you can visit E.Y.A.'s website (click here). You can also call Claire at 604-689-4446 for more information.

Course Planning 2011: The "Typical" Grade 10 Timetable

While no timetables are 100% identical, the grade 10 timetable is actually more "rigid" than that of the grade 9s. A "typical" grade 10 timetable would contain the following 8 courses:

• a Language Arts 10 (regular, enriched, adapted, mini, modified)
  
• a Social Studies 10 (regular, enriched, adapted, mini, modified)
• a Science 10 (regular, adapted, mini)
• a Math 10 (Apprenticeship and Workplace Math 10, or Foundations of Math & Pre-calculus 10)
• PE 10 (PE 10 Boys, PE 10 Girls, or PE 10 - Outdoor Education option)
• Planning 10 (Planning 10, Planning 10-Drama)
• Language or Elective
• Elective

Students who are taking a course outside the regular scheduled time (e.g. jazz band) may take an additional elective course (i.e. a ninth course). Students who sign up for online course(s) are expected to take a full 8-course load at Templeton as well.

For students in the challenge program. Successful completion of your course (Science 9 Challenge or Math 9 Challenge) would give you the course credits for grades 9 and 10 science and/or math. Therefore, when signing up for courses, you would choose a science and/or math course at the grade 11 level. For science, the options include physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, and science and technology 11. For mathematics, the options include apprenticeship and workplace math 11, foundations of math 11, and pre-calculus 11. Each of these courses have different post-secondary implications - it is very important that you consider them, and plan ahead. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask me.

Course Planning 2011: Graduation Requirements

It is important to understand the graduation requirements as you plan to choose your courses for grade 10 and beyond. Therefore, I have decided to go over this information first before talking about actual courses available for you to choose, and how to choose these courses.

To graduate with a dogwood diploma, all students are expected to complete 80 course credits. At Templeton, all full-year courses are worth four credits each, which means, in order to graduate, you have to complete 20 required and elective courses at the grades 10, 11, and 12 level. The required courses include the following:

• Language Arts 10, 11, 12 (12 credits)
• Social Studies 10, 11/12 (8 credits)
• Science 10, 11/12 (8 credits)
• Mathematics 10, 11/12 (8 credits)
• PE 10 (4 credits)
• Planning 10 (4 credits)
• Applied Skills or Fine Arts 10/11/12 (4 credits)
• Graduation Transitions (4 credits)

In addition to the above 52 required credits, students need to complete 28 elective credits (i.e. 7 full-year courses). Of those 28 credits, 12 credits (3 courses) must be grade 12 courses, while the other 16 credits (4 courses) can be grade 10 or grade 11 courses.

Students who are taking academic courses at the grade 11 and 12 level can use one of the courses towards their elective credits. For example, if a student takes biology 11 in her grade 11 year, and biology 12 in her grade 12 year, Biology 11 would count as her science 11 credit, while biology 12 can be used as one of her grade 12 electives.

For more information about B.C.'s graduation requirements, you can visit the Ministry of Education's website (click here).

Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions and/or concerns regarding this.

Course Planning Information

Starting next week, I will be coming into your science class to begin course planning work with you for the 2011 - 2012 school year. Please make sure you are present for these very important classes.

You may notice that the course planning calendar has already been released at the Templeton's website. If you want to view ahead of time what courses are available, and prepare questions for me ahead of time, that would be super.

The course planning calendar can be found by clicking on the following link:
Click here

March's Lunch Envelopes are Due

Lunch envelopes for the month of March are due Thursday, February 17. Please have your completed lunch envelopes ready, and drop them off at the box in the main office.

Late submissions may result in you not having a lunch card on March 1. Please submit your lunch envelopes as soon as possible.

Hot lunches for the month cost $70. For students in families with financial difficulties, a $35 fee is recommended. If you have any questions, please talk to me, or Mr. Mustapich, the vice principal in charge of the school lunch program.

Parent-teacher Inteview forms due

This is a reminder that parent-teacher interview request forms are due tomorrow morning (Thursday, February 3) at 10:00 a.m. Completed forms can be placed into the big box located in the waiting area in the school office.

Alternately, you can fax the form to the school. The school's fax number is 604-713-8983.

Appointment schedules will be returned to students on Tuesday, February 8.

On February 9 (Wednesday), students will be dismissed at 1:44 p.m. Teachers may be available in their classrooms until 3:00 p.m. for informal meetings. If you want to schedule a meeting during this time, please contact the teacher directly to schedule for a meeting.

Parents who are not scheduled to meet with the teachers can still attend the parent-teacher interviews. The school will try to work to allow you to meet the teacher you wish to see.

Principal's List and Honour Roll

The student lists for Term 1's Honour Roll and Principal's List have been released! Grade 8 and 9 students who wish to check whether you were on the honour roll or principal's list can come to check for your names. The lists have been posted on my door.

In case you are not aware, the following are the criteria for students to be on the principal's list and the honour roll:

Principal's List: students who achieve a 90% and higher average, with no marks below 60%, on all eight (or more) courses.

Honour Roll: Students who achieve an 80% - 89% average, with no marks below 60%, on all eight (or more) courses.

Congratulations to Templeton's young scholars! Keep up the great work!