We’re a month into 2025, and it’s so exciting to see snow! In schools right now, schools are offering ski trips and other opportunities for outdoor activities with great support from our bus drivers and other transportation staff who make sure children and youth get where they are going and back again safely during and after school hours.
Learning and connecting outdoors is in full swing now that the long-awaited winter weather has arrived. Schools also provide numerous opportunities for children to engage in indoor activities and athletics through clubs, classes and more, especially when temperatures drop.
You’ll find children engrossed in chess games at Brent Kennedy and Blewett Elementary, aspiring target archers drawing their bows in the gym at Salmo Elementary and Applied Design, Skills and Technology (ADST) classes at Hume School crafting buckets to travel down ziplines or building “Scribble Bots” that can be instructed to draw lines and shapes.
Learning from doing is so important to young minds. So is slowing down to ponder ideas, allowing insight and creativity to be kindled. This is the case for Canyon-Lister Elementary students who have learned about the connections between ancient fossil remains and modern plastics and thought deeply about how the natural world underpins most of what we produce and use today.
Tying together the wide variety of learning, connecting, caring and culture happening throughout our district in January and through February, are the communities we all live and learn in. One upcoming community event that all schools are invited to take part in is the 12th Annual SD8 Youth Pow Wow happening at the Creston and District Community Complex on May 16th. It starts with a poster design contest for grade 8-12 students this month. The annual Youth Pow Wow celebrates Indigenous students and families and connects Indigenous and non-Indigenous learners and communities in a wonderful day of dance, performance, music and food. This year’s theme is “Empowering Future Generations.”
Enjoy this February report, and thank you to all SD8 students, families, staff and communities whose actions empower children to learn and thrive.
Warmly,
Trish