Our school was bustling with excitement on Tuesday, October 25th, as ARES students ventured outside to our giant pumpkin patch created by PAC. Thanks to Wloka’s Fruit stand, who donated a variety of 300 gourds, each student was able to personalize and name their pumpkin, which they chose from the selection scattered around the school yard.
We grateful for the many community members that contribute to Erickson School. The week of October 24-29 is the celebration of Diwali (Festival of Lights). Some of our families celebrate this every year and part of their celebration is giving back to the community. This year we were gifted 8 crates of peaches and 5 large bags of apples to distribute to our students. The staff was also treated to Samosas. We cannot thank the donors enough for the continued positive contributions to the school. The students and staff truly enjoy the abundance of food.
At Erickson School we cherish and respect all the various cultures that help make us a great school to attend.
This month our Be the Change group is organizing the annual We Scare Hunger food drive. We are collecting donations of non-perishable food items that will be delivered to our local food bank at the end of October. This is part of Canyon-Lister Elementary School's UNESCO school commitment to taking action to help others and support food security for all.
This month we have had trips out to local farms to learn about growing, processing, and harvesting food. One activity students did was to make fresh juice from items picked or pulled straight from the soil or the tree. At this farm we also visited with the very cute little farm cat that is pictured! Our regular visits to the local library have also started up and students are enjoying the visits around their neighbourhood.
Kootenay River Secondary is excited to host the Junior Volleyball East Kootenay Championships on November 4 and 5 with eight teams participating from Jaffray, Fernie, Golden, KRSS, Mount Baker Secondary in Cranbrook (MBSS), Laurie Middle School in Cranbrook, Selkirk Secondary in Kimberley, and Parkland Middle School in Cranbrook.
Basketball will be starting in mid-November, once volleyball has ended and more information will be available shortly on the KRSS school website: krs.sd8.bc.ca.
On October 14th, 32 determined and enthusiastic Salmo Elementary students went to Lakeside Park for the 2022 Cross Country Run. This was the first run in 2 years and the students certainly rose to the occasion! The team had trained for multiple lunch recesses each week up until the race, and while some were more enthusiastic than others, the practices showed the grit and dedication of our students.
On Oct 26th, Salmo Secondary hosted the Kootenay Zone Cross Country Championships. This was a first for Salmo Secondary who had never hosted the Zone Champs. The meet was used as a provincial qualifier for the B.C. Championships to be held in Victoria on Nov 5, 2022.
In Mrs. Crosland & Ms. Long's Grade 1 / 2 classroom we have been working on building relationships, getting out into our community and teaching core competencies. Our aim is to help students develop intellectual, personal, social and emotional learning while connecting to space and place (their community) in hopes of helping students to engage in deep, lifelong learning. This fall, we visited Kokanee Park to learn about the life cycle of the Salmon, and we also visited our local Library where each student got their own library card. We have plans in the next coming weeks to visit the Fire Department, Police Station and the Chamber of Commerce. As well as getting out into our community we also play outside daily where we are practicing social skills like sharing how we feel, using kind words and being active listeners.
On October 14th, 2022 we had the annual Elementary Cross-Country Running meet at Lakeside Park. We had around 300 students participating, 10 schools, staff, and parents out to support the day. A ton of fun, great races, and really well run. A thank you to Les Chirico, who help to coordinate and host the event. Shout out to all the parents and staff who supported on the course. Tony Musa, a legend in Elementary extra-curricular sport, was recognized for his unwavering support and advocacy for elementary athletics.
Redfish staff welcomed UBC’s West Kootenay Teacher Education Program (WKTEP) teacher candidates back to our school on October 5 when we held our annual Fall Into Nature for which WKTEP has been joining us for more than 7 years.
On Monday, October 24th, the entire Rosemont School community "Dropped Everything And Read" together. We lined the halls of Rosemont School with readers big and small and all enjoyed the joys of reading together!
The students took part in learning about early art making through investigating about pictographs and petroglyphs. Through an inquiry lens, the kids were curious to know more about what was used to make the paint in cave paintings. With this spark, the class dug deeper into their learning and went further to explore mark making with plants we found in our school garden. The class then worked collaboratively to make their our own "cave painting." It is a beautiful and creative way to demonstrate hands on learning.
Our first Halloween occasion in three years was a hit! Families from the community enjoyed games, dancing, and cake walks, and, of course, the fireworks finale was amazing.
Trafalgar students competed in the Kootenay Zone Cross-Country Championships hosted by Salmo Secondary at the Salmo Ski Hill on October 26, and as in past years, everyone did a great job representing our school.
Race winners included Dawson Abraham (Junior Boys) and Aleah Smith (Junior Girls). Fleet-footed competitors included Keira Badry and Avran Fisher (both Provincial qualifiers), Tiago Pentacost, Gala Thomas, Islei Jaillet, Kaedon Crosland, Samuel Pentacost, Kian Turner, Olivery Whitehead, Ren Hebert, and Ayaan D'Souza. Well done everyone!
Trafalgar Student Council is up and running for the first time in years. They planned crazy sock day, are planning a school dance, have started weekly announcements on our public address system and hosted a massive Halloween celebration including a door decorating contest, costume parade and bingo for 617 students. Teacher Stephanie Davina has taken this group on as teacher sponsor and allows students plan, execute and review their amazing plans for this school. We are lucky to have such leadership both at teacher and student levels!
Congratulations to the LVR Senior Girls Volleyball Team who placed 1st in the Division 2 Finals at the Best of the West tournament in Kelowna October 15-17, and placed 2nd in Kimberly October 21-24. LVR placed second in their pool after beating DP Todd from Prince George, Louis St Laurent from Edmonton and then narrowly losing in 3 games to AA 4th ranked Fulton from Vernon 14-16, which was their only loss of the tournament.
Read about the great things happening at Blewett Elementary in the October 27th Principal's Blog including - our book fair was a huge success and we sold $4100 in books over 3 days. Wow! We can now use our reward money to purchase more books for the library. Thank you to those of you who helped support this cause!
Students and staff alike enjoyed the warm, fall days in October with many opportunities to take their learning outside. I thank Grade 1/2 teacher Andrea Nielson and Gr. 2/3 teacher Marina Eglis for their class highlight this month.
Mount Sentinel students showed endurance and determination on October 26 at the Kootenay Zone Cross-Country Championships hosted by Salmo Secondary School at the Salmo Ski Hill. Chase Lake, Jaxon Morris, Lee Caldwell, and Rebecca Metcalfe all ran their hearts out with Chase and Rebecca qualifying for Provincials. Thanks to Coach Carly Christy, Mt. Sentinel staff and families for working with our athletes and kudos to all the race volunteers who made this an excellent event for Kootenay runners who, thanks to our terrain, are accomplished hill runners!
I was outside the other day and enjoyed walking around the school. Here’s what I saw:
Then in the gym here’s what I saw:
Students were everywhere. All of them doing something, skateboarding, on the pumptrack, on the playground, in the forest, at the bike jumps and in the gym. So much for our children to choose to do at school!
As part ongoing professional development, the Kootenay Boundary Compassionate Systems Leadership cohort deepened our understanding of the concept of Compassionate Systems Leadership. Some incredible takeaways, and for me a realization that there are 75 other school system leaders who share my interest in compassionate systems, and leading through deep listening, understanding, patience and caring. And a re-connection to aboriginal ways of seeing and knowing that have assisted me to develop my own work along a compassionate path.
Some concepts that will undoubtedly influence my work in the schools for some time:
Over the last few weeks, at Crawford Bay School, we have been busy building skills and confidence, while continuing to strengthen school spirit and culture.
Elementary students were meeting with Liam Fitzpatrick from COIN every Wednesday to hear stories and learn from and through the land. His final visit marked a highlight for many students with archery being the focus of the learning.
We were also very fortunate to have the amazing team from Kootenay Mountain biking bring a morning of biking excellence and fun to us. A special thank you to the team from the students that learned how to ride their bikes that day. There were smiling faces, pride and confidence, and zero tears.
Our new middle and high school girls’ volleyball team is tirelessly practicing to refine their skills, and compete within the region. It is wonderful for our students to be able to connect with other schools and teens.