“Excellence is not a skill. It is an attitude.” - Ralph Marston Success Stories Forr the he March 10, 2014 ~ Board Bo d off Educ ucatio ion n Mee eeti ting Recognition of Student/School Success School District No. 67 (Okanagan Skaha) extends congratulations to the following owing students/groups for these ese outstanding examples of success for: or: Columbia Elementary Students Donate Columbia Elementary School, Division One prepared little toiletry bags with; toothbrushes, tooth paste, shampoo, conditioner, lotion, deodorant, make-up, shower caps and if they had children little toys were included. All of these items were donated by students at Columbia (thanks for those who donated). Three lucky girls were chosen to drop-off the bags; Kayla Auclair, Dariene Bucknell and Gina Larsen. Enormous thanks go to Mrs. Schneider for putting her time and effort in to making things a little easier for these women. Try to put yourself in their shoes. If you had to leave your house for some reason and you came to the shelter with nothing, not even a tooth brush, how happy you would be if you got one of these bags. Now think how lucky you are to not even have to worry about little things like that. We would like to thank everyone who helped to make this possible. Written by: Vanessa McLennan and Kayla Auclair, grade 5 students at Columbia. Columbia Elementary Continued... Columbia’s Olympic Day Success Stories On February 19th Columbia Elementary celebrated the Olympics with their own indoors Olympics. Students and staff all dressed in their Canadian gear creating a sea of red and white! Students were then divided into four teams for active fun and awesome cheering in the gym. To make this work (and ensure students were able to have as many opportunities to participate) all of the primary students used the gym in the morning and intermediates in the afternoon. Student leaders helped organize and demonstrate the different events for their peers. Some of the fun events were the: wiggle bike bobsled, the scooter board skeleton, the mogul bounce and so much more! The best thing… Team Canada won every event, as they were all part of team Canada! It was a fun special day for the students as it showed what great school spirit they have at Columbia! Bully Prevention Month Giant’s Head Elementary February is anti-bullying month and Giant’s Head is using this opportunity to educate the students. First and foremost, the best way to combat bullying is to be inclusive and act kind towards one another. Mrs. McIntosh and Mrs. Robertson created a Friendship Wall with their classes. Students were encouraged to share kind things other people have done for them. It was a huge success! Ms. Fedorak also trained the Grade 5 ambassadors on “Bully Stoppers”. The students presented the concepts in dramatic performances to all of the classes over the course of a week. On February 25th, former BC Lion Angus Reid talked to the students about ways to prevent bullying in schools. The Bully Prevention month culminated in Pink Shirt Day on February 26th. Pink Shirt day also coincided with the Student Led conferences, so parents were invited in to see much of the great work that has gone on at Giant’s Head. KVR Middle Success Stories Kenzie Tarbet, an Army Cadet and grade 8 student at KVR Middle School, wrote a poem for the 2013 Remembrance Day Ceremony. Kenzie’s poem described the horror and impact of war. She presented this poem to the entire school, as well as guests, at KVR’s annual assembly. Then, Kenzie submitted her poem as part of the Royal Canadian Legion Literary Contest, and won first place for a poem in the area, along with $100.00! A group of grade 8 students, led by Mia McBryde, were the successful recipients of a $400.00 Youth Initiative Grant from Telus, the United Way and Interior Savings. The students application was a proposal for a mural, to be displayed in a public area that illustrates and has the saying “Strength lies in differences, not in similarities”. This proposal was completely student initiated and led. Parkway Elementary The Hot Lunch was wonderful! Kelly Alva and her crew did another super job. Thank you very much to all of the volunteers for all of their time and work! Breakfast Club had three great turn outs. Thank you to the fabulous cooks!!!!! School sing-a-long was a great success - loud and fun! Thank you to Mrs. Silvius. The students and staff had a great time! The two recycling teams did another terri ic job at Parkway. Thank you! Parkway has a Facebook presence – check it out for information on what is happening at Parkway. Thank you to Kelly Alva for doing such a super job with this! The Choir continues to practice on Tuesdays and Mrs. Zaugg mentioned the students are getting better and better every week! The Multicultural Club met again in the Library at Parkway. They had another super session! The grade 4/5 basketball teams played two games and the boys and girls had great games. Thanks to the coaches and to all of the parents that came out to support the teams!! The grade 4’s inished their FSA exams and look forward to the results in the spring. The Earthquake drill went very smoothly and all of the kids participated. Success Stories Parkway Elementary Continued... Parkway held their own winter games on Thursday and the students and staff had a wonderful time taking part in all of the different winter sports. It was a great day. Huge thanks go to Mrs. Silvius who organized the event. Go Canada!!! Thank you again to the Penticton Speedway for their very generous donation to Parkway Elementary and the Breakfast Club!! Summerland Middle Students Travelled to Quebec City In early February, fifty students from SMS and KVR travelled to Quebec City to attend the Winter Carnival. During the seven day visit to ‘la belle province’, the students visited a number of museums, basilicas, shopped in the boutiques of Old Quebec, went dogsledding, snowshoeing and cross country skiing. The students also had an incredible visit at the Valcartier sledding village! The highlight for many was the visit to the circus school! The students participated in a four hour circus workshop with trainers from the Cirque du Soleil. Fun was had by all! The teachers and chaperones would like to thank all the students on the trip for making this experience an adventure of a lifetime! Success Stories Summerland Middle Continued... Summerland Middle Continued... Success Stories Ski Day and Tubing Days February saw lots of Winter Fun with the Grade 6’s visiting Apex Mountain to Tube and the Grade 7’s venturing to Crystal Mountain three times to ski and snowboard. The Grade 8’s had a ski day at Apex as well. Thanks to all of the teachers and parent volunteers for enabling these memorable activities for the Summerland Middle students. Summerland Middle Continued... Success Stories Crystal Mountain I was fortunate this past month to par cipate in the grade 7 ski days up at Crystal Mountain. This turned out to be an opportunity to get to know the students in grade 7 a bit be er and to have some interac ons outside of the school building. I was amazed to see how quickly some of our brand new skiers and snowboarders learned to get down the mountain! By the end of the first day almost everyone was off the prac ce hill and onto the T-bar or even the chairli ! I saw kids push past fear and apprehension and embrace the experience, despite repeated set-backs. On the second day, I was inspired by one student who demonstrated a kind of courage and enthusiasm I don’t think I will ever forget. Her name is Heather McDonald. Heather is a sparkly, smiling person, who also happens to have cerebral palsy and consequently spends the majority of her days si ng. It seemed at first that the ski days were not an op on for Heather… that was un l her mother Lorraine, as well as Mrs. Carter and Mrs. Delaquis put their heads together to find a way for Heather to experience the hill. The answer? An experienced ski host and a sit ski! And it was a hit! Never could I have expected the thrill of skiing behind Heather and her host as they sped down the hill, Heather in sit ski – squealing and laughing and hoo ng and hollering – I could hear her so clearly! Very cool! The ski days (thanks so much to our grade 7 team of teachers for organizing!) that our grade 7’s experience, provide so much more than a couple of days break from the regular classroom. Students get to challenge themselves, build resilience, experience being ac ve, and overcome fear, and have fun. Heather McDonald was a perfect example of this! WriƩen by: Vice Principal, Andrea DeVito Heather McDonald Success Stories S Suc Skaha Lake Middle Feb 11 Shelley Green, President of the BC Principals and Vice-Principals Associa on visited SLMS. The visit highlighted Aboriginal Educa on and Leadership programs. Feb 12 The grade 6 classes went swimming at the Community Centre Pool for the morning as an extension of the PE program. Feb 18-19 Parent Teacher Interviews were held at the midpoint of Term 2. This allows the school and parents me to build a plan before report cards go home at spring break for students who are struggling academically. Feb 21 SLMS held their annual Spaghe Bridge Building compe on for all the grade 8 classes. Top designs will go to Kelowna to compete at the Valley level at Okanagan College. Feb 21-23 The grade 8 boys and girls basketball teams are compe ng in the South Zone playoffs. Feb 27 SLMS is hos ng the annual Grade 6 Science Fair for all grade six students. Top science projects will go to Summerland Secondary to compete at the District Science Fair on March 3rd. Feb 28 Duffle Bag Theatre performed their version of Robin Hood to the student body. Skaha Lake Middle Continued... Success Stories Spaghetti Bridge Building Competition - Grade 8 Swimming at the Community Centre - Grade 6 School District No. 67 (Okanagan Skaha) RECOGNITION OF STUDENT ARTWORK March 10, 2014 McNicoll Park Middle School Grade 7 School District No. 67 (Okanagan Skaha) extends recognition and appreciation to the following students/groups of McNicoll Park Middle School for the artwork they submitted to be displayed in the boardroom for the month of March. Kayla Sande A ‘Line, Shape, Depth, and Colour Study’ of doodles, musical notes, squares, stripes large pathways, rainbows, waves, polka dots, with three balloons in a beautiful array of bright colours. Purples,, pinks, orange, green, yellow, teal ink and outlined in black felt pen. Grade 7 Emma Hopley A ‘Line, Shape, Depth, and Colour Study’ of doodles, circles, leaves, triangles, arrows, swirls, rainbow stripes, triangles with fine lines, a little Narwhal blue fish, infinity sign as well as a pocket watch. Various colours in bright and soft pastels. Pinks, lime green, reds, orange, mauve, yellow and blues outlined in black felt pen. Grade Grad Gr ade de 8 Ethan Finlayson An ‘Active and Static Line Design Study’ of random black lines and designs in black ink. A selection of zig zags, triangles, stripes, solid circles, pathways, playing cards, criss-cross lines, brick patterns and the number 91. White paper with a black construction paper background creates this dramatic effect. Grade 7 Rylie Cutler A ‘Line, Shape, Depth, and Colour Study’ of doodles, boxes, numbers, webs, flowers, little apples, smily faces with mustaches, fish, mushrooms, arrows and hearts in a beautiful array of bright colours. Pinks, reds, orange, light blue, yellow and purple ink. Outlined in black felt pen. A ‘Line, Shape, Depth, and Colour Study’ of doodles, hand shapes, musical notes, playing cards, hearts, a compass, dots, zig zags and swirls in a various selection of colours - pinks, orange, black, pink, teal and yellow. Outlined in black felt pen. Grade G d 7 Anastasia Seaman An ‘Active and Static Line Design Study’ of random black lines and designs in black ink. Various random pathways, zig zag and criss-cross shapes of all sizes complete this detailed ink drawing. White paper with a black construction paper background creates this dramatic effect. Grade 8 Nash Moog Grade 8 An ‘Active ‘Ac Acti tive ve an a and nd Static Line Design Study’ of random black lines and designs in black ink. Various vein-like maze pathways, tiny stick men and criss-cross shapes of all sizes complete this detailed ink drawing. White paper with a black construction paperr background creates this dramatic effect. g Shawn Reid Eliska Krtil Grade 8 An ‘Active and Static Line Design Study’ of random black lines and designs in black ink. A unicorn’s dream full of shapes, images, symbols, hearts, stars, triangles, dots and musical shapes. White paper with a black construction paper background creates this dramatic effect.