Volleyball, mustaches, reporting, math, and music capped off a great week at cole College Heights Elementary School this past week. Our volleyballs teams enjoyed the tournament atmosphere of their recent playday hosted by Vanway Elementary and look forward to wrapping up their season this week at their final playday hosted by CHSS. All players and coaches have had a real "ball" this season. Special thanks our coaches, Mr. Nipp, Mme Little, Mme Hiscock, and Mr. Truant, who gave so much of their time so students could have this memorable experience. Intermediate teachers began their process of writing report cards. Term 1 Report Cards will go home Dec. 12th. Leadership's 10 day Movember campaign was celebrated with a special "Mustache Day" last week.. There were many interesting "staches" worn, and all monies raised during this campaign will be donated to the BC Prostate Cancer Association. Mrs. MacDonald was back this week for a second session of Action Schools with 4 of our Intermediate classes. Students experienced a full body workout with the indoor circuit training course set up in the gym. Bodies were moving, hearts were pumping, and students were smiling. We, again, thank Mrs. MacDonald for her leadership with students and staff. The spirit of Christmas came alive this past week for both our choirs as they performed at the recent Christmas Night of Music at Vanier Hall. Our own Mme Shaw was the Master of Ceremonies which showcased choirs from around the city. We congratulate our choristers on their beautiful singing and thank them, and Music Teacher Mrs. MacDermott, for such dedication to our choir program. The recent District wide Professional Development Day was really a family affair. The College Heights Family of schools got together to at CHSS for a 1/2 day of math engagement in such topics as math trends, teaching strategies, and assessment. It was great to collaborate and converse with colleagues from neighboring schools. We thank the staff at CHSS for hosting this first, of hopefully many more, family learning opportunities.
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At Foothills Elementary rehearsals are underway for our Christmas Concert "Once Upon a Housetop". It is a wonderful story of chimney sweeps who discover how people observe their different customs and beliefs during this holiday season. All of our eight Primary divisions take part. We are thrilled to have a music teacher as wonderful as Mrs. Neumann to lead them. She also has our choir of 56 students from grades 3 - 7 performing at the Christmas Concert. Mrs. Neumann has been teaching music at Foothills for 9 years and she is truly giving our students a love for music.
We are very fortunate to also have a resident dance choreographer in Mrs. Helfrich to step in and teach every class some choreography. She is turning our students into true performers. Thank you also to Foothills mom Mrs. Lenora Winnig who has been the accompanist for our Foothills choir for many years and is always assisting in rehearsals and performances.
The Foothills Band will also be performing at the concert led by our band teacher Mr. Hannigan. Mr. Hannigan is a wonderful musician and a dedicated leader for our band members to look up to.
The concert is a team effort at Foothills and there are many staff members behind the scenes who make it all work.
There is a fabulous tradition of music at Foothills. It is a part of our school culture and you can often hear students singing in the halls. Our administration has always supported the music and other fine arts endeavors at Foothills, and families are reaping the benefits. The concert will be on December 17th.
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November has been a busy month for Highglen Montessori. On November 12th we hosted an open house at our new Gladstone location for parents, students and friends of our school. Everyone was welcome to tour our beautiful classrooms, talk with teachers and see how we are continuing to rebuild our program.
On November 22nd Highglen Montessori participated in a Canada-wide walk to raise awareness for the UN Rights of the Child Day. Intermediate students, our PGSS high school program and preschoolers from the Montessori Early Learning Centre walked from Knox United Church to the Civic Centre where students and dignitaries presented speeches, displayed flags from around the world and sang songs of peace.
The Montessori Fall Fair was held at the school on November 23-24th.
On November 26th we will celebrate Mrs. Jody Maher's 35 year teaching career. Mrs. Maher has been instrumental in developing the Montessori program in PG. An assembly and retirement tea will be held for her in the afternoon and we look forward to hosting Mrs. Maher's former students and their families as they join us in thanking her for her excellent service to our community.
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The Prince George Secondary Dance Classes Presents our Winter Dance Performance! Thursday December 12, 7 pm in Vanier Hall. Family, friends and community members invited to attend. Performances will feature PGSS junior and senior dance classes as well as some guest performances from Polar Performing Arts Students. Admission is by donation and proceeds will be split 50/50 between the PGSS Dance Program and the Salvation Army.
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McBride Elementary's Christmas concert will be held Tuesday, December 10 at 6:30 p.m. and Wednesday, December 11 at 1:15 p.m.The concert is about an hour long.This season's play is called "A Starry Valley Christmas" and was specifically written by Sharon Stearns, a local playwright, with the 100th anniversary of the coming of the railroad to the Robson Valley in mind (1913 - 2013). The grade 6/7 students were also given an opportunity to have input into the play itself. There will be drama and music.
For our McBride Centennial Reads challenge this year we recorded 224,153 pages read and raised $1164.05. We have already purchased some outdoor games with some of the funds - outdoor checkers, outdoor snakes and ladders, and outdoor tic tac toe.
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The Southridge Elementary students filled Christmas Shoeboxes again this year-77 in total, and students and staff contributed $225 for postage. WOW!Mrs. Fisher and the Intermediate choir have been practising their songs for our upcoming concert next week. As well, the students sang beautifully at the annual Christmas Nights of Music at Vanier Hall last week. Thank you to everyone for all of your hard work! SRDG staff and classes have adopted several local families to support at Christmas again this year. We also encourage you to bring in your food donations when you come for the Christmas Concert performances or afterwards. Mrs. Brand is also setting up her mitten and hat tree again in the front foyer. We thank you in advance for your support! Christmas concert ticket requests have been sent home this week with students, and if you have missed the form, please contact the office for your tickets.
