At Ecole College Heights Elementary, the recent Scholastic Book Fair was a huge success thanks to Mrs. Martin, Mrs. Leduke and their team of volunteers. Congratulations to Eric in Div. 23. He was the winner of the book draw and won himself and his class $25 worth of books. There were many excited students clutching a new book with smiles on their faces.
Aboriginal Education Worker Mrs. Briscoe and school designated elder, Cheryl Webster, visited some classes and talked about salmon, its importance to the aboriginal culture and then demonstrated to students how to filet a salmon in preparation for smoking. After soaking in a special birch bark syrup brine, the salmon was then smoked and sampled.
This past week parents had the opportunity to participate in parent/teacher interviews during three days of early dismissal. It was great to see so many parents and teachers connecting and talking about student learning.
Finally, intermediate students got into the Halloween spirit early. The recent Halloween dance for Grade 4 to 7 students was a spooktacular event.
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On Monday, October 22, which was National School Library Day, everyone at Ecole Heather Park Elementary celebrated with D.E.A.R: Drop Everything And Read. This 20 minute read-athon was sponsored by the teacher-librarian, Ms. Weisgarber.
The school is starting a School Wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS) approach to enhance student social skills as part of our School Plan for Student Success for 2012-13. SWPBS is the teaching of behavioural expectations in the same manner as any core curriculum subject and focusing on a handful of behavioural expectations that are easy to remember and positively stated. Last Wednesday evening, just prior to the regularly scheduled PAC meeting, parents and all staff were invited to a pizza dinner and an informal round-table discussion about student behaviour priorities, concerns and outcomes/goals.
Mathletics has come to Heather Park full scale this year. This web based math support tool is available 24 hours a day to each and every student and their families. A direct link to Mathletics is now featured prominently on the our web page. From any device, including cell phones and Ipods, students have the opportunity to access current BC learning outcomes set by their teachers at their own individual level and pace. It's a bright, new, innovative and entertaining way of learning math.
No longer do parents have to be afraid of the new math.
Parents: watch for an evening informational session coming soon. We are thrilled to have already had a few students make the Mathletics Top 100 Canadian Students list and, not to be outdone, we have also had several of our classes appear on the Mathletics Top 50 Canadian classes list. We are proud of our staff and community for supporting this school wide initiative. If you are curious, check out the lists, updated weekly, at www.mathletics.ca. A special thank you goes out to Mrs. Procter, LAT for all her hard work behind the scenes with Mathletics.
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The Safer Schools Livebinder is now available online at sd57.bc.ca Although focused on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questiong = LGBTQ, it is an inclusive resource for the entire community. The resources and links in this binder are meant to help support schools, students, parents, and communitties to create inclusive learning environments.
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