School District No. 67 (Okanagan Skaha)
RECOGNITION OF STUDENT/SCHOOL SUCCESS
March 9, 2009
School District No. 67 (Okanagan Skaha) extends congratulations to the following students/groups for
these outstanding examples of success for February:
CARMI ELEMENTARY
Carmi staff and students were very busy through February – here are some of their highlights:
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Grade 4 and 5 Basketball practices/games and Open Gym.
Grades K-5 Action Schools every day (student leaders from Div. 2 are now leading the
movement each morning with upbeat music).
Monday morning assemblies and Fridays’ Block X.
Student of the Week awards and class announcements.
Block X Social Responsibility Program (Making Character Count).
Students continue to meet in cross-graded “family groupings” to do social responsibility
activities. February’s topic: Appreciating Differences.
Random Acts of Kindness week (Feb. 9th – 13th) – grade 5 student leaders gave out hearts
to K-5 students to put their names on and put in a draw when they saw them doing acts of
kindness. They reported out on some of the acts of kindness demonstrated and they had a
draw for prizes on Feb. 16th.
Big Sisters and Big Brothers’ Program on Mondays and Multicultural Club on Fridays.
Grades 1-5 skating, grade 3 swimming and grade 5 cross-country skiing events.
Home Reading Program and Stop Drop and Read.
Read In, Spelling Bee and Pyjamas Day. Grade 5 student, Spencer Dutchak, will
represent Carmi at the Canwest, Canspell, spelling bee on Feb. 21st!
Red Cedar Book Club – Tuesdays at noon.
Fun Lunches – Fridays.
Vees visit: Annual floor hockey game - Vees vs Carmi).
PALS - Parents as Literacy Supporters. The event involved Kindergarten students and their
parents. Many thanks go out to Kindergarten teachers, Mrs. Carriere as well as
Ms. Nordal, for coordinating/presenting PALS.
Teachers Professional Development: First Steps in Math (3 teachers have been trained
and two more are currently being trained); Faye Brownlie (Literacy: Two more teachers
attending); Guided Reading, Art & Computer Program (presented by Carmi staff members
Mrs. Hennen, Mrs. Guest and Mr. Smuin, after school on Feb.4th.
Ready, Set, Learn on Feb. 5th – Good turn out of parents/caregivers and 3/4 year olds.
Community partners from Public Health, Dental Health, Public Library, OSNS, Boys and Girls
Club presented, as well as Kindergarten teacher, Ms. Nordal, principal, Mrs. Johnston and
district speech/language pathologist, Maureen Wourms-Larson. It was a very successful
event.
Continued Extended Care visits by grade 3 students.
Many buddy class activities (doing numeracy, reading and computers).
CARMI CARES CARNIVAL and Book Fair on February 26th. Many thanks to Carmi staff,
PAC and student leaders from Princess Margaret, Penticton Secondary, KVR and McNicoll
for helping to provide a fun filled evening for the Carmi families.
VEES vs. CARMI Floor
Hockey Game
Hockey Game
PJ Day and Read In
Spelling Bee
COLUMBIA ELEMENTARY
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Raise A Reader at Columbia - Mrs. Brome’s grade 2/3 class was excited to have
Mrs. Yasmin John-Thorpe from Raise-A-Reader visit their classroom in February.
Mrs. John-Thorpe read them a story that she and her grandson, Eben, have written and
published. Students then got to work creating their own stories. Their inspiration came
from pictures that each student had brought to class to write about. Don’t these people
look like happy young writers?
GIANT’S HEAD ELEMENTARY
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Giant’s Head Elementary held the Show and Share Event on February 18th. Parents were
invited to visit classrooms where there was a wonderful variety of student displays to view.
Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the event.
KALEDEN ELEMENTARY
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The school has wrapped up their cross-country skiing lessons for grades 4 and 5 students as
well as the swimming lessons for grades 2 and 3 students. All had fun and learned so much
from these experiences.
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The school hosted their second of four PALS/Ready Set Learn sessions for 3, 4 and 5 year olds.
Over 20 children and their parents joined in on the sessions. Wow! What a great group.
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Kaleden Elementary wrapped up their inter-school basketball games with grades 4 and 5
students. What great sportsmanship shown by students in all of the schools!
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The social responsibility club held a book sale to raise money for social projects. The focus for
the month was kindness.
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The students have been making jam with their parents to raise money for fieldtrips. It’s been
sweet! They are lucky to be surrounded by orchards!
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The students have also been busy with hands on learning – making machines and working with
friends.
KVR MIDDLE SCHOOL
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Banner Assembly - A school wide celebration of social responsibility took place on the
morning of February 27th where all 17 divisions shared their year themes and goals toward
making the school a great learning community.
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Athletics - Over 160 students participated in 8 different programs for basketball with the grade
8 girls’ team qualifying for the Provincial tournament in March.
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Arts and Science in Harmony Science Fair - Over 45 science fair projects were highlighted at
KVR on February 25th (18 projects in French and English will be involved in the District
Science Fair).
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Fine Arts Night and Winter Band Concert on February 3rd was a wonderful success celebrating over 125 budding musicians making beautiful music and over 75 works of art.
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Health Fair - Feb 18th: Five grade 6 classes enthusiastically participated in the city wide
Health Fair celebrating healthy lifestyle choices.
McNICOLL PARK MIDDLE SCHOOL
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McNicoll Park Middle School just finished its school play, an adaptation of ‘A Midsummer
Night's Dream’ by William Shakespeare. Close to 1000 students/adults enjoyed the show (5
shows shown over two days). Penny Philpotts and the cast & crew are to be congratulated –
the process to get a production to this degree ready took 5 months with hundred’s of hours of
time invested. It was a fantastic week and a very successful production.
A Midsummer
Night’s Dream
Congratulating Penny Philpotts
NARAMATA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
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Naramata School’s Fine Arts Conference - This year the school decided to transition from a
Fine Arts Show to a Fine Arts Conference. Although it may seem like a very small difference, in
essence the focus is now on the artistic process. Students were encouraged to explore their
creativity instead of focusing on the finished product. Nikos Theodosakis started the
conference off with an inspiring key note address and then the young artists from Kindergarten
to grade 5 had the opportunity to discover their artistic passions through a variety of sessions
including watercolour painting (Vivian Lieskovsky, Velma Bateman, Dianne Korsch, Barb
Hofer), acrylic painting (Bev Inkster), cartooning (Sharon Middler), video art (Nikos
Theodosakis), silk screening (Sunette Louw), encaustic art (Thea Haubrich, Jane Bland,
Judy Kato), pottery (James Hibbert), dancing, and drama (grade 4 and grade 5 students went
to McNicoll Park Middle School for a drama performance). Thanks to the staff, PAC, the artist
presenters and Janet Watts for making it happen. Mrs. Watt’s tireless efforts, organization and
vision translated into a very special, inspirational art conference for all students. Well done!
Naramata’s Fine Arts
Conference
PARKWAY ELEMENTARY
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Parkway enjoyed a great student led assembly with two wonderful class presentations.
Parents are also invited each month to join in at the school assemblies.
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The grade 4/5 basketball game against Wiltse was a huge success with over 25 players from
Parkway taking part. The students and fans had a great time!
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The Kindergarten classes went on a trip to the Firehall and were thrilled with the experience.
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Lunch time healthy snack sales have been very successful and will continue at the school
every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. All snacks only cost .50¢.
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The Wed House team DPA session went extremely well and most of the students wore their
new House Team colors for the day. This happened every Wednesday in February. Students
wear their team colors every Wednesday for House Team points!
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The grade 4 classes are starting the FSA exams and they are running very smoothly.
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Talent show practices are taking place at the school. Participants are practicing their routines
at home every evening.
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Mrs Watkins grade 2 class held a very successful "Words Their Way" evening workshop.
Students invited their parents to participate in a variety of activities which are used on a daily
basis in the classroom to promote phonics, spelling and vocabulary development. Parents
and students reported that it was a worthwhile and fun evening.
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The new School Logo was chosen and the winning entry was designed by Selina Spence in
Mrs. Silvius' class. A big thank you to Selina as well as all the families that submitted logo’s –
the response was excellent!
PRINCESS MARGARET SECONDARY SCHOOL
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Scott Myres, a grade 12 student from Maggie has just returned from a week long adventure
in Washington, D.C. He was selected to attend a youth leadership forum as acknowledgment
for his significant interest in international affairs. Further to that Scott was selected as
Penticton's Young Citizen of the year in recognition for his work both in the school and in the
community. The students and staff are very proud of Scott's accomplishments and are
pleased to see him receive the recognition he deserves.
PENTICTON SECONDARY SCHOOL
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Breezeway Murale Project: The Downtown Penticton Association is interested in cleaningup, lighting, and painting murals in the Breezeway in the 200 block of Main Street. The theme
of the project will be in line with the city’s Centennial, soliciting its participants to come up with
concepts that best depict Penticton in the present and 100 years in the future. The DPA will
approach and engage local artists through the school systems in attempt to support a sense
of ownership downtown for youth. This will be a great opportunity for emerging artists to
share their work with the community, as the 200 block breezeway is a very busy corridor
downtown. Where better to look for such a vision than the youth?
We are excited to announce the finalists who will be able to start painting
Monday April 27, 2009.
Congratulations to the following local artists:
Penticton Secondary
Alyshia Olsen
Jenny Lee
Penticton Secondary Learning Centre
Justin Foote
Princess Margaret Secondary
Robyn Lacy
Skaha Lake Middle School
Lindy Warnock & Chelsea Lalor
Stephanie Knoll & Amanda Herner
KVR
Emily Clarke & Teigan Litke
McNicoll Park
Justin Fehling
Ty Moorman
QUEEN’S PARK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
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Grade 4 and 5 students have been recycling the various boxes, pouches, bottles and cans
that student drinks arrive in. They have diligently been collecting and sorting to ensure that
these items do not go to the landfill and that money is earned for a trip that they plan to take.
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Strong Start ‘students’, aged 2-4 years old, have been learning a lot in the program. Over
280 children have been registered in the program and they come on an ad hoc basis to play
while they learn some of the skills that they will need on arrival at school. The class recently
went through a fire drill and did very well.
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Young children also attended Ready, Set Learn (Queen’s Park) on February 19th. This was
another opportunity for 3-5 year olds and their parents to learn about Queen’s Park and the
local community. School and community programs were presented and explained to this
eager group.
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Grade 5 leaders continue to host monthly assemblies. They are the M.C.s for the program
and announce and thank the various parts of the agenda. Speaking in front of the school
(208) and running an assembly is a great opportunity for public speaking.
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The Queen’s Park Alumni Club returned to the school for a meeting to discuss future events.
This group of grade 6, 7, & 8 students also enjoyed the pizza and movie.
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The second Parkway/Queen’s Park Floor Hockey Tournament took place on February 28th.
SKAHA LAKE MIDDLE SCHOOL
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All grade 7 classes participated in the annual Apex Ski/Snowboard program. Students and
their teachers skied and snowboarded on three consecutive Thursdays in February.
Apex
Ski/Board Program
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The grade 9 course selection process has started for the grade 8 students. Maggie
counselors have been at Skaha Lake going over the process. The students also attended an
“elective fair” where students visited elective area classrooms and were introduced to elective
programs by Princess Margaret Secondary teachers.
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The grade 6 classes attended a “Brain Injury Prevention” workshop put on by Clint Panton
who works for the South Okanagan Similkameen Brain Injury Society. Students learned
about brain injuries and their effects as well as how to prevent them from happening.
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Skaha Lake basketball teams participated in district playoffs for grade 8’s and playday’s for
grade 6 and 7 teams. Congratulations to the more than one hundred students who played
basketball for Skaha Lake this year.
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Skaha Lake teachers; Melanie Stephens, Kathleen Robertson and Sandy Dickson attended
the “Leadership for Learning” literacy workshop with Faye Brownlie in Kelowna on February
17th.
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FSA’s have gone rather smoothly and are wrapping up this week.
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Grade 6 classes attended the “Hearts@School” health fair at the Penticton Trade and
Convention Centre on February 18th.
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Dennis Lakusta presented a racism workshop for the grade 6 classes on February 19th in the
library. This workshop was sponsored by the District Aboriginal Education program.
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On February 23rd, Skaha Lake hosted ‘Red Sky’, an aboriginal performing group presented
“Raven Stole the Sky” a play based on a traditional story of the Tlingit Nation.
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The Skaha Lake grade 6 Science Fair took place on the afternoon on February 24th in the
grade 6 classrooms. The public were welcomed into the school to view the wonderful
exhibits by the grade 6 students. The top judged projects will be invited to represent the
school at the District Science Fair on March 2nd and 3rd.
SUMMERLAND MIDDLE SCHOOL
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The Summerland Middle School gym was a beehive of activity with over 95 projects on
display. Students in grades 6, 7 and 8 spent the last few months researching, conducting
studies and preparing their presentations of various projects. The Science Fair was held
February 18th. Projects were judged by the SMS staff as well as over 50 judges from the
community. The day was a huge success with over 25 projects moving on to the district
level.
Grade 7 French Immersion Students
Dane McLellan and Gavin Bremmer with
their project with examined
various detergents.
Grade 7 student Alix Varchol studied
composting of horse manure.
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Grade 6 Spelling Bee - Grade 6 students were recently involved in the annual SMS Spelling
Bee. Each class held a spell off from which three students from each class qualified for the
finals. Congratulations to the following finalists: Emily Okabe the runner up and Richard
Xiang the overall winner
Winner: Richard Xiang
Richard travelled to Kelowna
and participated in the
Regional Spelling Bee.
Finalists: Kevin Greenwood,
Katie Grant, Jordan Bendixsen,
Haley Smed, Nick Wackerbauer,
Brittany Parkinson, Kiran RochonWoitzik, Tanner McNabb,
Nathanael Sacchetti, Richard Xiang,
Emily Okabe and Caitlin Slade.
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Grade 8 Leadership Students Spread “Flowergrams” - Under the guidance of Kevin Bond, the
students recently came up with the idea to spread “flowergrams” to students and staff for
Valentine’s Day. Over 200 carnations were distributed throughout the school to staff and
students. Monies raised at the sales will be used for future leadership projects.
Flowergrams: Hannah Young, Caitlyn Anderson
and Mikala Hughes deliver carnations.
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Summerland Middle “Shredding it up” on the Road to the Olympics - Summerland Middle
School is training for the Olympics in 2010. The school has officially adopted Summerland’s
Kristi Richards, Freestyle Skier and Olympian.
Kristi is proud to be from Summerland and along with the students is extremely excited about
the new partnership. Throughout the year the school will follow Kristi at her various
competitions, send her words of encouragement from the students, as well as work with Kristi
on their own goal setting and “I can” statements.
As they cannot send a student along with Kristi, they have adopted a mascot and would like
to introduce you to Shred. Over Christmas, Shred travelled to see Kristi, trained with her at
Whistler and has returned to be in the trophy case. The school has a smaller version L’il
Shred who will now train and travel to competitions with Kristi as she moves along her road
to the Olympics. Kristi is a great role model for the students and they look forward to her
regular communications with the school. Kristi e-mails the school regularly with photos, her
goals, feelings and in return students e-mail Kristi with poems, motivational sayings and
stories.
Kristi and Shred at the top of the World Cup course with
Air, Sweden in the background (left) and with Big Shred at
Whistler at Christmas (right)
L’il Shred in Voss, Norway
February 19th
Big Shred says
goodbye to L’il Shred
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Le Carnaval de Québec - What a trip! Thirty-one middle school students from Summerland
and KVR were fortunate to have travelled to Quebec City for the Quebec Winter Carnival.
The students and chaperones spent time at the Carnival site, exploring the numerous ice and
snow sculptures, riding the zip line, sledding and rafting on the snow and searching for
Bonhomme Carnaval! Some were even fortunate enough to have spotted him at the Western
Breakfast one morning! Many highlights of the trip included a visit to the Museum of
Civilization, a copper museum, a woodworking museum, Montmorency Falls and St Anne de
Beaupré Basilica. The evening at the Sugar Shack had everyone bring out their dancing
shoes as everyone danced to traditional Quebecois folklore music and had a turn playing the
spoons! The visit was complete with a guided bus tour of Quebec City, where stops were
made along the shores of the frozen Saint Lawrence River and the Plains of Abraham. The
students had a final chance to say goodbye to the majestic Chateau Frontenac as they
sledded down the infamous ice slide on a toboggan!
Before departing for home, the group made their way to Montreal for a couple of days.
Everyone enjoyed the guided bus tour, the visits to Notre Dame Basilica and to the Biodome.
An evening of laser tag had everyone in high spirits after their busy first day of touring in
Montreal. But who could leave Montreal without spending some time in the Underground?
Everyone found some time to wander and spend a little money in the many shops below
street level in downtown Montreal. The Quebec Winter Carnival - where else would you want
to spend a cold, snowy week in February?!
In the Ice Castle
Tube Park
with Group
Working with
Copper
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Me to We the Children and Go Global Awareness - Founded in 1995 by international child
rights activist Craig Kielburger, Free The Children is the world's largest network of children
helping children through education, with more than one million youth involved in the
innovative education and development programs in 45 countries.
Summerland Middle School recently had a full day visit from this organization as a result of
Lise Maurier from National Bank Financial nomination of Summerland Middle School
to receive a fully sponsored speaking engagement with the Go Global speaking tour!
Free The Children and National Bank Financial are excited to launch this exciting initiative,
which has a proven record of success, inspiring young people across Canada to work
towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals. The students received an hour-long
multimedia motivational keynote from Spencer West and Emily Payne. Spencer and Emily
both provided captivating stories from their own experiences from home and abroad.
Spencer’s message was incredibly powerful as he is an amputee in a wheelchair. This hour
long session for the whole school was followed by a workshop for 20. It was an amazing
experience for the whole school and everyone looks forward to continuing with the “Me to
We” philosophy.
Leadership students
took part in the workshop.
Emily and Spencer
provided a little music
SUMMERLAND SECONDARY SCHOOL
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2009 Loran Scholarship Winner - The Canadian Merit Scholarship Foundation grants Loran
Awards to talented young Canadians on the basis of character, service and leadership
potential. A Loran Award includes four years of funding for undergraduate studies and a
comprehensive enrichment program. This year there were 3600 applicants for the award.
After a set of both regional and national interviews 30 students were selected to be finalists.
Summerland Secondary was very proud to announce that student Lindsey Richardson was
selected as a Loran Scholar for 2009. For those of you who know Lindsey and her work
within the community (and beyond) you will not be surprised!
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Chicago - played to a sold out centre stage and standing ovations. The show involved a cast
and crew of 120 (SSS has a student population of 590 - 1 in 5 students took part in the
production). Heather Ayris (the drama teacher) and Jim Redding (band) each dedicated
countless hours to the show and the students who took part in every aspect of the
production. Nick Kast (construction and drafting) also once again dedicated his time to the
development and construction of the set. Every aspect of the production, from costumes to
choreography, were run and developed by students. The students and staff who have made
this year's production of Chicago are to be congratulated for such a great show!
TROUT CREEK ELEMENTARY
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Trout Creek students enjoyed cross-country ski trips for all grade 4 and 5 students on
February 13th & 23rd.
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Everyone enjoyed a PAC Annual Valentine’s Day Dance on February 13th.
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The students participated in skating lessons during the month of February.
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The students had their final Hip Hop lessons for the year – thank you to Jake and the PAC for
all the wonderful sessions.
UPLANDS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
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Grade 2, Mrs. Buzikievich's students made individual power point presentations and invited
their families to view them.
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Members of the Vees visited Uplands promoting Literacy. Here they are with a Kindergarten
class.
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Miss Blumel's grade 3 students and Mrs. Porteous's Kindergarten students celebrated
friendship week by making a friendship (fruit) salad.
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Lego Day was on February 16th to help chase away the winter blues. Students brought lego
and during recess and lunch created their masterpieces.
Pictured left to right are
Matthew Thornton, Connor
Nohr, Jayme Carey &
Aaron Odian.
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Grade 1 classes (Mr. Kopf and Ms. McLean) celebrated 100 days of school on February 6th.
The students celebrated with many math and spelling activities surrounding 100 during the
entire day.
WEST BENCH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
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Students and staff have been enjoying Making Character Count. This program has DVD's
with children actors presenting behaviour scenarios for the students and staff to discuss. The
students have looked at Friendship, Fairness and Truthfulness. The students watch the
video as a school and then as a class discuss the topics. They return to the assembly and
report to the other students what they have discussed. It is a very good program.
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West Bench celebrated Hundreds Day as a school and had an activity afternoon. The
students worked at a number of activities that all had to do with being in school 100 days.
Hundreds
Day
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Mrs. Kay's grade 4 and 5 classes hosted teachers from West Bench and around the District
for the intermediate portion of the Smart Learning Rounds this February. Susan Close, the
creator of Smart Learning, was present for this session. Mrs. Kay's class did a marvelous
job. They impressed all of the teachers and Mrs. Close with their Smart Learning strategies.
It was a wonderful session and teachers felt that they had learned a great deal.
Smart Learning
Rounds
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Mrs. McDowall presented two PALS (Parents as Literacy Support) workshops in February.
Pre-school, students came to enjoy time in the Kindergarten room and parents had the
opportunity to participate and discuss their children's learning with Mrs. McDowall.
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Random Acts of Kindness week took place at the school which culminated in an afternoon of
Random Acts of Kindness and Valentine's Day activities. Cooperative Learning and Art &
Song about sharing and caring was the focus of the afternoon. Wildcats had also been
sending kindness hearts to each other since the beginning of February. The hearts were
given for a Random Act of Kindness that was done to the Wildcat giving the heart.
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Students from grade 2 to 5 participated in a Sport Fit Challenge. Students' fitness levels
were tested in eight different activities. Students from the High Schools and the Middle
Schools helped with the different activities. It was a lot of fun.
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In September, grade 2 students from West Bench approached Mr. Philpotts and read him a
story about a principal who challenged his students to read 1000 books. The principal stated
that he would award that challenge by spending the evening on the school roof. They asked
Mr. Philpotts if he would do the same. Mr. Philpotts said that he would, but that the Wildcats
would have to read 6000 books. Well the children read over 6000 books by the middle of
November. Consequently, Mr. Philpotts challenged them to read 10,000 and he would
reward that challenge with a pizza lunch and noon hour decades dance. The students have
now read over 12,000 books!!! The students will be having their pizza lunch and dance on
February 26th and Mr. Philpotts will be going up on the roof the same day. To say that the
children are excited is an understatement!
WILTSE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
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On February 17th Wiltse School and the community enjoyed a wonderful evening together. The
“Multicultural Potluck and Talent Show” was held in the school gymnasium. Many families
participated by bringing their favourite cultural foods to share. Dishes ranged from French
Cheeses, Mexican Bean Dip, Indian Samosas, German Perogies, and Italian Salads to a
delicious array of authentic desserts. A wonderful celebration it was!
Talented performers included:
Mila Balika
Tarandeep Dhaliwal
Udai Kahlon
Sabrina Tennert
Kristina Zaffino
Kindergarten
Grade 2
Grade 2
Grade 3
Grade 3
Punjabi Interpretive Dance
Martial Arts
Martial Arts
Highland Dance
Dance