Superintendent’s Update

Dear Parents and Caregivers:

This past week has been a wonderful time of learning, playing, and practicing for upcoming celebrations. We have been enjoying stories that show the importance of the core values of Relationships/Connections and Well-being, and the Grandfather Teaching of Wisdom in our 2022-2027 District Strategic Plan.

Valleyview Secondary School – December 6, 2024

Principal Kirschner and I visited Mr. Turner’s Precalculus 12 class who were studying varied problems about how temperatures of objects change based on Newton’s Law of Heating and Cooling. Griffin (Mr. Turner’s cat) was the object of the class problem where students predicted how long it would take Griffin to increase his body temperature to 101.2 degrees Celsius when he burrows underneath blankets and increases his temperature 0.01 degrees Celsius/minute. As they worked collaboratively at their white boards, everyone was sharing and writing ideas. The high level of engagement was not only due to the fun content of the problem itself, but also because students were standing up, collaborating and sharing, and had a time limit on solving a problem that they knew they would see multiple approaches to working through it.

We visited the Life Skills Program Teacher, Ms. Kehler, and Certified Educational Assistants, Ms. Harnett, Jones, and Robertson, who were working with students in the room. A student, Jaxon, shared how their class cafe involves students in taking on roles such as barista, banker, and server. They plan what to cook, price items, and shop, then bring back and store ingredients needed for Friday’s cooking day. They shared how they choose countries to study such as Mexico and make related dishes such as nachos.

Mr. Holbrook was working with a student, Xander, on his drawbridge. Mr. Holbrook assisted Xander to explore different drill bits to be able to create the correct sized hole in the metal for the pieces to interlock in construction.

I then met with a student, Dominique, who shared her doll-head candelabra creation. She explained, “I got the idea by walking through the Spirit of Halloween” store. As Dominique worked on the project, she shared that she was inspired to consider a career as a psychologist. Another student, Ben, was working on shelves for his guitars. He shared a picture of his guitars and looked forward to finishing the shelf. He walked me through his digital presentation that showed his journal of all projects and the competencies that he focused on developing through them. Daniel, another student, shared his motorbike. Mr. Holbrook concluded our visit by showing his website of resources for students, complete with video-recorded steps for different tasks and projects.

We ended our visit in the library, where Ms. Bell shared how she had created an Outdoor Education Breakout box project, where students had to learn facts related to curriculum to uncover and solve clues to get into multiple locks of a breakout box. She shared how she was inspired by Ms. Baillie who had created her own breakout boxes as part of teaching civilizations. The power of the strategy was how it gamified learning, making it like a puzzle to solve.

Beattie Elementary School – December 10, 2024

Principal Mangell and I met Vice Principal Perkova who was supporting reading groups and joined us later in the visit. Principal Mangell and I started our visit in Ms. Bouchard’s Grade 1-2 class who were making Christmas cards and writing. Chizzy shared his drawing of a tree that had specific items from their tree at home. Ms. Baker’s K-1 class was engaged in Show-and-Tell, where each student shared their questions and comments about what the student shared.

Ms. Hunter’s Grade 2 class were focused on their Food Bank project where they shared what to bring (e.g., fruit juice, pasta, pasta sauce, crackers) and celebrated how to keep collecting to help families in the community. We stopped to meet Grayson, a Grade 4-5 student, who shared his robot (Ozobot) that he had programmed to follow a self-designed pathway. He was invested in continuing to grow the length and complexity of the pathways that the Ozobot could follow. Coding and designing developed skills of analytical and creative thinking.

Ms. Ratuski’s K-1 class was engaged in writing, drawing, painting, and building holiday stories. Ms. Ratuski had students gather to share positive feedback about the stories developed in different ways, and to reflect on ideas that they got for how to create stories. One student at the building centre shared, “I made an Easter story using the eggs” and “I made a house for the rest of the story”. Elements like plot and setting were vocabulary words that students used and understood during story building play.

Ms. Bailey was helping different classes in the gym to practice for the upcoming concert about “Christmas Around the World”, and she was working with Ms. Mattson’s class. We met Ms. Simpson’s Grade 7 class and students were planning, designing, and building bridges. We then met Ms. Greer’s Grade 6-7 class who had been working on preparing for the concert. Ms. Bymoen’s Grade 2-3 class were creating and colouring Christmas pictures and Ms. De Jardin’s class was reading Polar Express.

Parkcrest Elementary School – December 12, 2024

Principal Gorman, Trustee Karpuk, and I met Vice Principal Nesci who was preparing to set up in the gym for the school practices for the winter concert. We started our visits in a Grade 2-3 yoga class that was happening in a flex space near the gym that is used as a staffroom, extra movement room, or space for gathering. Ms. Gorman shared, “It has been a wonderful space for many uses, especially now with the gym being used for winter concert practices and preparation.”

After that visit, we met up with two Grade 7 students, Waylen and Sydmer, who were delivering milk and oranges to classes. In Mrs. Lee’s/Mrs. Blais’ Kindergarten class, Mrs. Blais shared how the class was learning how to do up their own zippers and had formed a “zipper club”. They are each learning to zip up their coats for five days, and when they reach 20 points, the class will have earned a class party. The goal is to build and celebrate independence within their class community.

Ms. Dhaliwal’s Grade 1-2 class practiced listening and writing sentences. Ms. Quast’s Grade 2 class was participating in “body break”. Ms. Sarrasin’s Grade 3 students were working on writing, and Ms. Mccrea’s Grade 7 class was in the gym for the first time to organize their dance routine for the “holiday” song in preparation for the winter concert.

Ms. Boyer was helping a student, Liam, complete a painting that he was doing of an eagle. She then shared what she had developed for the school to study and use templates of all animals from the seven Grandfather Teachings to use them for writing, painting, and other learning activities. Ms. Boyer was excited to share, “There will be over 200 decorations made by students throughout the school.”

Ms. Nelson’s Grade 5-6 class had their own cafe, where they explained how they take orders for hot chocolate, coffee, and tea from staff, parents, and students. Students take on various roles from doing announcements, planning treats, baking them, taking orders, preparing the treats, and delivering them. They have raised over $700 towards their class field trip at the end of the year. 

We visited Mrs. Tondevold’s class who had a Flemish Giant Bunny named Mr. Carl, and they shared how they take care of Mr. Carl by changing his water and refreshing his food, cleaning his bed and litter, and finding grass for him to play in.

Ms. McDaniel’s Grade 5-6 class were working on “cracking the code” math problems and stopped to perform their concert song, John Lennon’s “Happy Xmas”. They were great! We ended our time with Ms. Kicia’s Grade 5-6 class who had made gingerbread cookies a few days before, and next week, they looked forward to making pumpkin pie using the pureed pumpkin from a very large pumpkin that a student had brought into the classroom some weeks before. They were excited to share treats with the school community.

Secondary Students Discover Careers in Engineering – December 6, 2024

On Friday, December 6, 2024, 15 secondary students from across the District attended Discover Day: Day in Engineering hosted by Molycop. This career exploration event offers students the unique opportunity to learn about career pathways in engineering from various engineers in the field, tackle real-world problems, and have fun completing hands-on activities with like-minded peers. Read more.

Kamloops Thompson Honour Choir Shares Music and Holiday Joy – December 9, 2024

Student performances hold a special place on the public agenda for the Board of Education each December. At the Regular Public Board Meeting on Monday, December 9, 2024, the Board was delighted to experience a special holiday performance from 60 Grade 3-8 students in the Kamloops Thompson Honour Choir. The choir performed three songs including Turn, Stretchy Pants, and A Christmas Medley. Read More.

Students Champion Holiday Giving with Annual Food Drive – December 12, 2024

On Thursday, December 12, 2024, students and staff from Westsyde Secondary, Sa-Hali Secondary, South Kamloops Secondary, and Valleyview Secondary schools participated in the 6th Annual High School Food Drive – a friendly competition between schools where students are encouraged to collect as many food donations as they can to help support the Kamloops Food Bank. Read more. 

Sníne Elementary Community Engagement

With the District’s newest school, Sníne Elementary, currently being built and anticipated to be opened in the Fall 2026, we are engaging with school communities who would be sending students to the new school. We’ve enjoyed connecting with Sa-Hali Secondary, Aberdeen Elementary, McGowan Park Elementary, Dufferin Elementary, South Kamloops Secondary, and Summit Elementary staff and parents, and held webinars on December 4 and 10. To see the maps of the proposed catchment change, watch the webinar presentations, and explore FAQs, please go here.

Enjoy your weekend and take time with those you love.

Rhonda Nixon, PhD
Superintendent