Clara’s Big Ride

On Saturday May 24, Olympian Clara Hughes will ride into Nelson with Clara’s Big Ride for Bell Let’s Talk, the 110 day, 12,000 km journey around Canada to help raise awareness and action for mental health and help end the stigma around mental illness. The community is invited to welcome Hughes to Nelson in the afternoon downtown or at a more formal event in the evening.

Before Hughes rides out of Nelson she will visit L.V. Rogers Secondary on Monday morning to talk about her experiences overcoming depression. There will be 1,000 high school students from Nelson, Slocan Valley, Salmo and Kaslo in attendance. Hughes will then begin the next stage of her ride through Balfour, Crawford Bay and into Creston.  PCSS students will join the festivities in Creston.

Please join the community in welcoming Hughes to Nelson on May 24th by participating in the parade or cheering when she arrives at Hall Street or attending the evening event.  Click here to see the Press Release regarding this event:  Press Release_April 24%2c2014_CBR_Nelson

Emergency Services Camp at L.V. Rogers

L.V. Rogers Secondary hosted over 50 students from around the West Kootenays for the inaugural Emergency Services Camp. The ES Camp was created to provide opportunity for students to explore future careers in this rewarding field of work. The weekend involved workshops by the Nelson Police Department, the RCMP, the Nelson Fire Department, Nelson District Community Complex, and BC Ambulance Services. A big THANK YOU to all those professionals that took time out to be a part of this fantastic weekend! Photos courtesy of Sherry-Lynn McGregor.

ATLAS Program Highlighted in Award Winning Film by Former LVR Student

Bailey Repp, a former LVR Student entered a short film that she made regarding the ATLAS program in the U19 Rossland Film Festival.  She won the event!  This is great exposure for Bailey and also for the ATLAS Academy.

If you would like to see the film, click here:  http://vimeo.com/69194799

Redfish Students Participate in “Lights Out Canada”

“Lights Out Canada” is an initiative started in 2005 by a Canadian teenager who wanted to make a difference in the world.  She encouraged her local schools to turn out all unnecessary lights during the school day on Earth Day.  This year, over 400 schools across Canada participated in Lights Out Canada.  Redfish School also explored the theme of environmental awareness by participating in multi-age group activities on Earth Day. The students really enjoyed making “Litter Bugs” using recycled and upcycled material, played Environmental Bingo, and shared their commitments to the earth.  Attached are two pictures from the event.  For more information about Lights Out Canada, visit their website here:http://lightsoutcanada.tpweb.ca/

Litter Bugs from Lights Out Canada Day

South Nelson School Salad Bar Initiative
Mrs. VanAlstine’s class received a Healthy Schools grant to plan and deliver a salad bar day for students and staff at South Nelson Elementary.  Leading up to this “Go Greens Day” the class visited the Lakeside Greenhouses and helped harvest the greens.  They learned from the volunteer Senior Citizens about planting, caring for and growing greens.  In preparation for the salad bar/Go Greens day, students presented an informative assembly to our school community.

During a typical week the volunteers at Lakeside Greenhouses harvest and donate bags of mixed greens to the local food cupboard.  This week students helped with the harvest, included the greens in the salad bar and accepted cash donations to donate back to the Greenhouses.  $175 will be forwarded to Lee Reid, the coordinator of the SEEDS program.

Thank you to Louise Poole, Healthy Schools Coordinator, for initiating this event.

A Picture Tells a Thousand Words

These pictures were sent to us from Adam Robertson Elementary School.  There was no accompanying story so we’re not sure WHAT was happening…but it sure looks like fun!

Blindsight

Looking for a fun family night out? Kootenay Project Adventure for the Visually Impaired (KPA-VI) is hosting a movie event at the Castle Theatre in Castlegar. The event will feature the movie “Blindsight”, an inspiring documentary of a mountaineer who is blind set out to guide six visually impaired teens up  the 23,000 foot Lhakpa Ri.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMs97VVEvFs

Date: Friday May 9^th.

Venue: 185 Columbia Ave, Castlegar.

Time: Doors open at 6, show starts at 7.

Price:  Tickets are by donation

More: Lots  of door prizes to give away

All proceed will go to KPA-VI, a unique program that brings together Kootenay students who are blind or visually impaired and their families to participate in recreational adventures.

Join us for a fun family night, watch an amazing movie and support a good cause at the same time.  See you on May 9^th at the Castle Theatre!

For more information contact Sofeya Devji at sdevji@sd8.bc.ca

SD8 Students Shine at the Regional Science Fair

The Regional Science Fair was held at LV Rogers Secondary School on Saturday.  Students K-12 had the opportunity to share their scientific knowledge with the community, celebrating their academic success and articulating their learning to over 40 staff and community volunteers.

A number of awards were handed out at the Fair – please see the attached list to celebrate the special recognition awarded to our students.  Two SD8 (Kootenay Lake) Students will now represent our Region at the Canada Wide Science Fair.  We’ll keep you posted!  

Thanks to all of the volunteers who made this event happen, and special thanks to the teachers from our District who bring their skillset and passion to the planning committee:  Ann McDonnell, Daphne Van Alstine, Jeremy McComb, Tara King, Wendy West, Jill Gingrich, Kathy Speirs

Crawford Bay Students and Communities Working Together

The 5th round of community mentorships started last week at Crawford Bay School, with 15 mentors and 33 students involved. Some of the learning projects that are happening this time are EOS ballooning, heavy equipment/landscaping, photography, baking, outdoor education, creative writing, forge work, guitar, making chainmail, plumbing/wiring, cooking, bow making and graphic design.

Student Exchange with Bordeaux, France a Great Success

You may remember seeing that several SD8 students travelled to Bordeaux, France as part of an international exchange opportunity for French Immersion students.  Now, after weeks of waiting our friends from France have been welcomed into the homes of our students.  What a treat to watch these students reconnect.  Although they met just over a month ago, they have become fast friends and many kept in daily contact through social media between the trip to Bordeaux and the visit of the French students to our community.  For pictures and more information, please visit the whole story at https://sd8learns.sd8.bc.ca/bordeaux/2014/04/15/welcoming-our-friends/

Student Innovation at Winlaw School!

 As part of their ‘Student Innovation’ grant project, students at Winlaw Elementary participated in a ‘Stop  Motion Animation’ workshop this month. The creative animators at Winlaw opened up their workshop to  students from across the Slocan Family of Schools and collaborated with other keen animators as they  worked on their projects. Students used a variety of programs and tools and were deeply engaged in the  creative process. We look forward to seeing their completed projects soon!

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Comes to Life!

Intermediate students at Hume Elementary shared their creativity and imagination with the community through ‘Willy Wonka Kids’, an energetic, exciting musical production!

With four shows in a short timeframe, the students and staff showed amazing resilience, bringing their best to each performance.

Truly a collaborative venture, this production was put together by students, staff, parents and community, each sharing their talents of production, set management and prop creation to make this a success.

Thanks for bringing ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ alive through our students!

Board of Education Approves Preliminary Budget for 2014-2015

At the Regular Open Board Meeting on Tuesday, April 22 the Board of Education gave third reading to the Preliminary Budget for the 2014-2015 School year.

Some highlights of the Preliminary Budget for the 2014-2015 school year are categorized in three broad categories:

Focus on Student Learning
A total of $495,000 dollars has been committed to early learning for teacher, noon hour supervisor and education assistant time, and the purchase of assistive technology where required. These funds will also support the continuation of the Read by Three initiative in the district.

$565,855 Community Links dollars continue to be focused on attending to the specific needs of our vulnerable learners.

$168,750 to attend to achievement gaps with initiatives such as technology to support learning, leadership development, inquiry/project based learning, capacity building and curriculum implementation.

Independent learning initiatives to further an inclusive, comprehensive framework to support students with special needs while benefiting all students include Mandt training, erase bullying and capacity building for case managers.

Human Resources
An effort to maintain current levels of teacher staffing, even though we continue to project a decline in student enrolment of 155 FTE. A reduction of 5.0 FTE teaching staff throughout the District is included in the Budget. Over the next few months we will be adding back in staffing for targeted funds, such as Aboriginal Education and the Learning Improvement Fund among others.

Clerical Staffing will be increased in schools throughout the District as we adjust reductions made in the 2013-2014 fiscal year.

Commitment to Capital Investments
The Board of Education recognizes that it is important to responsibly maintain our capital investments, and to make further investments in areas where we are challenged.
$200,000 Technology Evergreen Fund to replace and enhance technology for work and learning throughout the District

$78,818 to maintain the Operations Crew to better attend to aging and deteriorating facilities and to support learning environments for students

$40,000 to support our vehicle fleet, which includes the courier van, maintenance vehicles, snowplows, etc.

$72,100 to support upgrading aging shop equipment throughout the District

Quick Facts
Projected Enrolment decrease: 155 FTE students

Ministry of Education Operating Grant decrease: $791,507

Previous Year Surplus Projection decrease $1.4 million

Budget By-Law decrease: $1.4 million

For more information about the Budget process, please visit our website at:  http://www.sd8.bc.ca/?page_id=1834 

SD8 Student Wins Gold at BC Skills Competition

Congratulations to ACE IT Hairdressing student Amber Beckjord, who won Gold this week at the BC Skills Competition.  Amber is top of her class at Selkirk College.  She had the opportunity to work with her uncle, Anthony Crossfield, in Vancouver for her two week Practicum in March.  She also worked with instructor Bonnie Piderman to fine tune her skills and prepare for the competition.  Amber now qualifies to attend the National Skills Competition in Toronto this June.  Way to go Amber, we’re proud of you!  Thank you to all staff, students and community members who have been Amber’s cheerleaders and support!

Kootenay Lake Bus Drivers Strut Their Stuff at the School Bus Road-e-o!

The 2nd Annual SD8 (Kootenay Lake) Buss Road-e-o  took place on the Professional Development Day April 7, 2014. It was an action-packed day that tests the skills, judgement, knowledge, attitude and safety precautions that our Professional School Drivers use on a daily basis.  This was the only event of this kind taking place in the province!  We had great results from our drivers and School District #8 (Kootenay Lake) can be proud of the quality of drivers we employs.

There were 18 participants, who were put into random teams, encouraging drivers to learn together, when normally they work at different sites of the district.  Drivers from the Maintenance crew who from time to time help School Bus Drivers also participated.

The day ended with two teams in a tie, therefore both coming in first. The Purple team consisting of Danny Babin, Shana Braden, and Bill Zarchukoff; and the Red Team consisting of Carol Morton, Cyril Esovoloff, and Al Krause. (Featured respectfully in the photo we have shared from left to right.)

The Driver who had the highest overall points was David Hearne.  (He had to leave before we could get a picture, he was called out as a volunteer fire fighter for the Salmo area).

Michelle Lohrey, Janet Robinson, and Dan Blanchard would like to thank the Maintenance Management Team for helping  educate and re-charge our drivers.

We also would like to thank the volunteer judges who helped make this a great event.

Learning At Adam Robertson Elementary School

Staff, Students and the Community know that students learn in many ways.  It is important to be engaged, and to feel safe.  Recognizing that a picture tells a thousand words – here’s a video montage of learning at ARES.

Summer Trip to Tianjin China – A Gracious Gift of a Lifetime

The Tianjin Open University, under the leadership of Professor Li, wants to honour the relationship between SD8 (Kootenay Lake) and Tianjin by inviting a Kootenay Lake delegation to Tianjin this summer from July 18-28, 2014.  This 10 day relationship building event will be funded by the Tianjin and Federal  Government of China and will include:

• Accommodation – University Residence (shared room with one other person)
• Airfare
• Meals
• Sightseeing to the Great Wall, Culture Street, etc.

The participant is responsible for medical and the Chinese visa and a fee of $50 per day for 10 days.

This is truly an incredible opportunity to build our individual  cultural intelligence through relationships with our Chinese colleagues.  This opportunity will be realized by 18 very fortunate school district employees across all stakeholder groups – Senior Management, Principals and Vice Principals, Teachers, CUPE, and Trustees.  It is hoped that individuals with an interest in building cultural competence in our District will consider going.

If you are interested in this trip, please email sprentice2sd8.bc.ca with an expression of interest.  The selection process for this will be determined in the next week and conveyed to the district through the district website and by email.

 

Destination Imagination Rocks!

District students had the opportunity to share their creativity and problem solving during the Regional Destination Imagination event hosted at Rosemont School. The adjudicators and parents were treated to an awesome array of presentations from Circus Acts to Extreme Environments to Structural Wonders!  A huge thank you to all the volunteers that made the day possible, especially Brent Cross, Marion Hunter and the WKTEP contingent.

The Aboriginal Voice

The Aboriginal Voice is a publication highlighting the stories about the wonderful activities that take place throughout our District to support Aboriginal Education.  Have a look at the most recent edition:  AB ED Newsletter – April 2014

Check out the Second Edition of DESK.Sribe

A Grade 8 DESK (Distance Education School of the Kootenays) students has coordinated and developed a digital magazine called DESK Scribe.  The magazine is a compilation of DESK (Kindergarten to Grade 12) student projects, art work, essays and poetry.  Click the link here to have a look at this masterful creation!  DESK.Scribe Issue 2

Students from Wildflower and L.V. Rogers schools Team Up for An Intercultural Experience!

As part of the LVR Dance Academy’s ArtStarts grant which involves bringing dance to our local community, 2 LVR students visited Cheryl Grant’s Wildflower Elementary class where they taught the children a choreographed dance, facilitated an art project which integrated culture and dance, and videotaped students as they explored questions relating to how dance reflects a community’s culture.  In addition, one of the LVR students took the project to a global level over Spring Break where she worked at a Children’s Camp in Thailand and exploring with the Thai children how dance impacts culture.  As a culminating activity, both the Wildflower class and the Thai class will have a chance to watch the videotaped interviews and dance in order to learn more about one another’s culture.

Building Professional Networks – Innovative Practice Grants

Building professional networks focussed on student learning in the areas of creativity and imagination, academic success, resiliency and citizenship is the focus of the Innovative Practice project initiative.  Across all of our Families of Schools, teachers and support staff have created collaborative teams to work on a personalized ‘problem of practice’.  They have met throughout the year to learn together and support each other.

As part of the project, teams committed to posting their learning on SD8Learns, our professional learning portal.  Stories are beginning to come in and it is exciting to see the variety and the depth of learning demonstrated by our staff as they work together to support our students.  Check out what is happening at https://sd8learns.sd8.bc.ca/innovativepracticegrants/and connect to the work by posting a comment!

Congratulations Deanna Holitzki

Deanna Holitizki is our Director of Human Resource Services in the Kootenay Lake School District.  Our District can be very proud of her, and her most recent accomplishment.  Let’s celebrate with Deanna, who has officially earned the Certified Human Resources Professional designation.  “The Certified Human Resources Professional (CHRP) designation is a nationally recognized level of achievement within the field of human resources. It reflects a conviction that the professional practice of human resources management can safeguard the interests of employers, employees and the business community. The designation represents continuing recognition of the bearer’s professionalism.”  (CHRP Website).  This is a significant achievement, and demonstrative of professional commitment and capacity.  It is very rare that school districts are privileged to have human resource professionals who present both a background in Education AND professional training/background in human resource services.

Well Done Deanna!  We are proud of you!

Credit Unions Step Up -To light Up the Pedestrians

Heritage Credit Union and Kootenay Savings Credit Union have partnered with the Winlaw Fire Dept.’s WHAMS ( Winlaw Highway Accident Management Society) to sponsor the production and distribution of 2000 highly reflective slap wrist bands.

The purpose of these reflective wrist bands is to raise awareness to pedestrians and hitch hikers that they need to make themselves more visible to motorists, and, and to give them a tool to do this. Pedestrians wearing light coloured clothing or something with a reflective material will probably be seen in plenty of time to give them enough space.To the pedestrian blinded by headlights it might seem obvious that they can be seen, but to the driver, black on black just isn’t seen. If there are oncoming headlights and a driver switches to low beams, the driver may not see the pedestrian at all until they are passing them. If the pedestrian is walking facing the traffic, they have the option of ditch diving or
moving farther off the road. But, if they are dressed like a ninja and walking facing the wrong way, good luck!

These slap bands can be kept rolled up in a jacket pocket or wrapped around a backpack strap, for whenever someone is out on the roads after dark. Winlaw Fire Dept. members are distributing 1000 to the valley school students and staff from the Junction to New Denver. An additional 600 were distributed at the credit union branches from the junction to New Denver as well as 400 through retail outlets
throughout the valley. Reflective wrist bands are also available at the the Nelson dollar store, cycle shops and safety supply stores or on line.The generous financing and sponsorship by the credit unions made this program possible.

BE SEEN AND BE SAFE!
WHAMS

SD8 Celebrated Education Week!

SD8 celebrated Education Week with the inaugural edition of SD8 Kootenay Lake E-News.  This publication is intended for our larger community, to help them know more about the great opportunities being provided for children and youth in our communities.  It is meant to educate the many members of our community who may not otherwise know about SD8.  Find the E-News from the front page of our website, or click here:  http://www.sd8.bc.ca/Publ/Supt/E-news%202014%20March.pdf

On display across Baker Street in Nelson, our banner proudly flew!

Congratulations SD8!  And, Happy Education Week.

SD8 Schools Receive Healthy Activity and Healthy School Inquiry Grants!

We had 8 successful schools get activity grants of $200 for a health related activity.  If you go to the link below they are listed except for the first few, in numerical order and you can see who received them from our district.

http://www.healthyschoolsbc.ca/media/16698/activity_projects_-_march_3.pdf

We also had six schools (including the Whole School) get healthy school inquiry grants and here is the link for those.

http://www.healthyschoolsbc.ca/media/16701/inquiry_questions_-_march_3.pdf

Crawford Bay Is Inviting Applications for a full-semester “Full Cycle Food Program”

Plan A Night Out!!!

Board of Education Approves School Growth Plans!

At its regular meeting on March 4, the Board of Education approved the School Growth Plans that have been submitted.  Our District is doing some amazing work!  Each school’s plan will soon be available for you to see on our Web Site.

SD8 Students Participated in FSA’s

Many thanks to the teachers and administrators who supervised and marked the FSA’s.  These pictures are of the marking session, held Friday, March 7.

LVR Hosts One-Woman Play

The one-woman play, Dissolve, stopped at LVR on Monday morning for a performance for Grade 10-12 students.

Find out more at this link:  http://thenelsondaily.com/megaphone-blast/one-woman-play-dissolve-hits-home-lvr-students#.UxosnfldX0-

Diverse Learning Opportunities at Adam Robertson Elementary School

Grade seven students culminated an integrated First Nations study, novel study and art project with a paddle carving and painting under the guidance of Michael Price, Master carver.

British Columbia Teachers’ Federation Province-wide Strike Vote

A total of 26,051 teachers voted yes in a province-wide vote conducted March 4–6, 2014. In all, 29,301 teachers cast ballots, of whom 89% voted yes.

In releasing the results, BCTF President Jim Iker stressed that there is no immediate action planned. “There will be no job action tomorrow, there will be no job action next week,” Iker said. “Teachers now have 90 days to activate the strike vote with some sort of action. There is no set timing for when we will begin.”

For further information about the bargaining process and this strike vote, please visit:

•  British Columbia Public School Employers’ Association (BCPSEA) – http://www.bcpsea.bc.ca/bc-teachers/default.aspx
•  British Columbia Teachers Federation (BCTF) – http://bctf.ca/NewsReleases.aspx?id=32281

Share Your Good News Stories!

Just a reminder that if you’re keen to share events & activities happening in your classroom or program with the rest of the SD8 community you can send pictures and a summary to newstoshare@sd8.bc.ca.  This publication is also available publicly; our readership includes many members of our communities beyond our School District.

Have a terrific Spring Break and Closure Week.  The Weekly Update will be published again on April 4, 2014.

Kindness Changes Everything!

Over the past 2.5 years, South Nelson’s growth plan has been in the realm of Social/Emotional learning, specifically on building and maintaining healthy relationships.  A foundational belief within our school community is that “Kindness Changes Everything”.  We have always used Pink Shirt Day to support our year-round focus on Kindness.  This year our Student Council created a movie using the school’s iPads where members from the school community were filmed sharing what kindness means to them.  The backdrop for the filming was a bulletin board in our main hallway where students created a rainbow of Helping Hands where every student pledged to be kind to others.  Below the rainbow were smiling faces where people were encouraged to write specific messages of thanks to individuals who had shown them kindness.  For example, one student sent a message to another saying “thank you for playing with me”.  Ripple Kindness cards continue to be circulated in the school in a Pay-It-Forward manner where if you receive a card, you are to say or do something kind for someone else then pass a Ripple Kindness card on to that person.  On Pink Shirt Day, Student Council held an assembly where they showed the Kindness movie and shared a couple of skits that focus on the power of being kind.  The assembly ended with the entire student body singing the song “Kindness Changes Everything”.

A Performance Worthy of an Oscar from South Nelson!

Carnaval in the Kootenays!

On Friday, February 21, the students of French Immersion Leadership 12 helped put on Carnaval at Trafalgar Middle School. Over one hundred people attended this local celebration of Francophone culture. Participants were also joined by the famous and much-loved Carnaval snowman, Bonhomme. DJ Colin Steel provided music, the AFKO singers sang Québecois folk songs, children made crafts and played games, and maple syrup taffy was spread on snow and wrapped on a stick for a treat for all (yummy!). A tremendous ‘Merci’ to those folks that attended and supported this event!

Balancing Our Minds Conference

On February 11th, Mrs. Morrison, Mr. Francis and 12 leadership students traveled to Vancouver to attend the “Balancing Our Minds” Conference at Rogers Arena in Vancouver.  The day was organized by the Kelty Mental Health Institute in partnership with the Vancouver Canucks.

There were many guest speakers and most of the speakers were students that had dealt with a mental health issue while in high school or university.  The leadership students were very touched by the stories that were shared.  We will now be working on an awareness campaign for our school the week that Clara Hughes is schedule to speak at LVR.

Everyone Learns Differently

On Feb. 13, 2014 at Crawford Bay School a one hour presentation entitled “Everyone Learns Differently” was made to senior students in grades 7-12 and school staff.  Participants learned about and experienced having a sensory, hearing, reading, memory, attention or written output learning difference.  All participants gained a greater appreciation for the difficulties of having a much different learning style than the average person.

Background information was shared on a number of famous and very creative people who have Asperger’s or Dyslexia.  For example, both Darryl Hannah and Dan Aykroyd have Asperger’s.  Dan Aykroyd created the movie Ghostbuster’s out of his very narrow and intense interest in law enforcement and the spiritual world.  This intense focus is a common trait of someone on the autism spectrum.  Many more examples were given for successful people who have a significant difference in their learning style, namely dyslexia: Tom Cruise, Agatha Christie, Albert Einstein, Walt Disney, Leonardo DaVinci, Cher, and many others.

“Imagine a world where everyone was identical, same hair, face, eyes, personality, thoughts, strengths.  Now, picture our world: different hair, eyes and skin colours, different sizes, languages and cultures, different learning strengths and abilities.  This diversity brings dimension, interest and novelty to our world.  Today we will try to experience what it might be like to have different learning styles.

 Let’s look at the areas of diverse abilities and learning differences.  We have autism spectrum abilities such as autism and Aspergers.  Approximately 1/88 people are on the autism spectrum and we’ll look at some very famous and highly creative people who have autism.  We’ll also look at learning differences in writing, reading, math, processing or thinking speed, memory, focus and attention.  Dyslexia is a learning difference in reading where it is difficult to read words quickly and smoothly.  We’ll do some activities that will let you experience this.”

Wildflower School Vision Day

The Wildflower Middle School spent a day exploring the anatomy of an eyeball, vision impairments and what life is like for those who do not see the world as most do. Sofeya Devji, visually impared specialist for SD8, facilitated the day and began with a morning of dissecting cow eyeballs. For most it was a valuable hands on learning experience and for those who could not bring themselves to slice into a once used eyeball they learnt all about braille. Here’s what some of the students had to say about the dissection –

“The dissection was sticky, smelly and quite enlightening – the fact that the eye
is so intricate is amazing! Eyes are my favourite body part.”

 “The cow eye dissection was cool! I learnt about how we create images and what the brain does with those images.  I did not know that we see things upside down and our brain puts them righside up!”

 “I loved doing the dissection. We should do dissections of other organs, like hearts and lungs.”

 Perhaps the most meaningful part of vision day was listening to the experiences of three of Sofeya’s vision impared students. Having left their respective schools for the day, the girls spoke of what their life is like with limited vision, how they percieve the world and the science behind their unique impairments. Wildflower School students were humbled by the girls and listened quietly as they shared.

“I still can’t imagine what a world without colour would be like.

I love the idea of describing colours to someone with a vision impairment –

Red = strawberries/anger.

Blue = blueberries/sadness

For the afternoon Sofeya and her students took the Wildflower students down to the gym for a game of Goal Ball, a team sport designed specifically for people with visual impairments. Each player is blindfolded, regardless of the severity of their visual impairment, and the three person teams defend their goal with their bodies; the sense of sound is huge in the success of this game and referees make sure the crowd is silent during matches.

“When it was first announced that we were going to play a game blindfolded I was frightened.  

I had no idea what we were going to or what it would be like without vision.”

“I found Goalball really fun and funny to watch because it showed how dependent we are on our sight and playing a sport without it changes everything…I found I was very self conscious [when playing] about what I was doing and actually pretty scared.

It was a fantastic immersion day and the students of the Wildflower School would like to acknowledge Hans Davina and Sofeya Devji for their efforts in organizing this as well as a big thank you to the three students who came in to share their knowledge and experience of visual imparment.

BC Proclamation Making February 26 “Anti Bullying Day”

In the Province of British Columbia, February 26, 2014 has been officially designated as “Anti Bullying Day.”  Click this link to check out the official proclamation:  Bullying Awareness Day 2014

To learn more about what bullying looks, sounds and feels like, visit the Ministry of Education’s  Erase Bullying website.  Many valuable resources are available on the site.  As well, there is a reporting tool, for students to report bullying in their schools. http://www.erasebullying.ca/

FEBRUARY 26, 2014 IS “PINK SHIRT” DAY!

In conjunction with our official Anti Bullying Day, February 26 has been designated as Pink Shirt Day.

Some Pink Shirt Day Tips from Brent Kennedy Elementary School …

At Brent Kennedy we work with our children to work with managing conflict in our school.  Pink Shirt day is a reminder for us to be aware of what Bullying Behaviour looks like and how we can build our defenses against others who display these behaviours.  It is also a reminder for us about how Pink Shirt Day started by speaking out against those who pick on others.  We encourage students to wear pink on this day, but don’t feel you need to go and purchase a shirt.  Anything pink works.  It could be a ribbon or something that’s close to pink.

We Don’t Play That Bully Game Here!

Bobby Boogaloo singing a fun and instructional song that can be shared in our schools:

What Makes a Bully?

To This Day Project – Shane Koyczan

Find more videos and resources at:  http://www.erasebullying.ca/

Adam Robertson Elementary School Takes an Appreciative Approach

The ARES staff committed to participating in an inquiry throughout this school year. Teachers, support staff and school administrators gathered on two professional days this fall to pursue their central inquiry question: “how can we nurture belonging, calmness, joyfulness and responsibility throughout our school community?”  Read more about their project on the front page of the Dalai Lama Centre website!  http://dalailamacenter.org/blog-post/elementary-school-takes-appreciative-approach-change

Reflections from the First Nations Education Steering Committee Conference

Meet, Inspire, Learn, Engage’ was the motto of the First Nations Education Steering Committee Conference held in December.  Attended by a number of staff from School District #8, this conference provided an opportunity to explore and share the stories and the history of the Aboriginal peoples in our schools.  Take some time to listen to some reflections.

International Students Get a Taste of Winter – Trafalgar Middle School

January 6 until 24, 21 Brazilian students from the International program attended classes at Trafalgar Middle School and participated in various activities in the Nelson community. Here are photos of the Brazilian students having fun at the Winter Safety and Survival Program at Camp Busk sponsored by Wild Voices for Kids cbeen.org

Canada’s Outstanding Principals Award

SD8 (Kootenay Lake) is very pleased to congratulate Principal Dan Miles for the recognition he has received as the recipient of a Canada’s Outstanding Principals Award, from The Learning Partnership –  a national charity dedicated to building stakeholder partnerships to support, promote and advance publicly funded education in Canada.  Dan is currently the Principal of J.V. Humphries and Jewett schools in Kaslo and Jewett.  This award is a very prestigious and important acknowledgement of Dan’s work as an educator and educational leader.

The Learning Partnership has recognized forty exceptional principals, representing every province and territory across Canada, with Canada’s Outstanding Principals awards.  These exemplary individuals will receive their awards at the 10^th annual Canada’s Outstanding Principals gala dinner event and awards ceremony on February 25, 2014 in Toronto, Ontario.

As part of Canada’s Outstanding Principals program, winning principals will participate in an executive leadership training program at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, between February 23 and 27.  The program will introduce them to leadership and management practices and theories presented by current business leaders and instructors at one of Canada’s leading business schools.

Canada’s outstanding Principals are nominated by their peers, school staff and community members in every province and territory.  Nominations are reviewed and final winners selected on a representation-by-population basis by a National Selection Committee made up of a distinguished group of Canadian education, community and private sector leaders.  Candidates are chosen using the following criteria:  characteristics of outstanding principals; evidence of partnerships with parents and community; a personal story illustrating successful change and innovation that resulted in improved student achievement; and corresponding letters of support.

SD8 (Kootenay Lake) is proud of all of our Principals, and believe that this important acknowledgement represents the best characteristics of educational leadership.  We are very pleased to congratulate Dan on this important recognition.

Adam Robertson Elementary School Principal for a Day

MacKenle Sieler became “Principal for a Day” at Adam Robertson Elementary School.  This student had a terrific time and made the job look easy.   He “caught” lots of students being responsible and gave them a healthy candy, extended recess for students,  and did a safety inspection.

Budget Presentations

As in previous years, on February 4 the Finance Committee will be hearing a number of presentations to inform important decisions about aligning our resources to meet student needs.  This is one important way that the District receives input from stakeholders to inform the development of our budget.

The presentations will be shared with the Finance Committee and will address student learning, and demonstrate alignment with Board Student Expectations and District Achievement goals in the areas of:

• Academic Success
• Citizenship
• Creativity and Imagination
• Resiliency
• Social/Emotional well-being
• Early Learning
• Technology to support learning and work
• Infrastructure
• Closing the gender achievement gap
• Transitions
• Higher order and critical thinking skills
• Personalized learning
• Innovative Practice

Collaborative Marking

A collaborative marking session was held this week for Grade 5 teachers.  As a part of the District Assessment project, Grade 5 teachers have been meeting to deepen practice around ‘Reading for Information’.  Together we have looked at strategies, created and administered an assessment based on the B.C. Performance Standards and looked closely at our student work.  The afternoon of marking gave teachers the opportunity to go deeply into the Performance Standards, discuss and debate the interpretation of student work within the framework of the Performance Standards and recommend strategies for increasing student achievement in this area.
We had a great afternoon  – lots of reflective conversation and quite a few laughs!

Thank you to our Grade 5 teachers for your thoughtful collaboration, making a difference for all students in School District #8 (Kootenay Lake).

Help Us Tell Our Good News Stories

Please send your good news stories about students and staff to newstoshare@sd8.bc.ca!  We have so much to share.  Your stories can be shared in this Weekly Update, through Twitter, and on our SD8 Facebook Page.