Superintendent’s Update

Dear Parents and Caregivers:

We started the week by acknowledging Earth Day on April 22 and Administrative Professionals Day on April 23. Students took part in the Junior Fire Crew Workshop from April 23-26 and Battle of the Books on April 24. These events enable students to explore possible career pathways and to engage in reading alongside others in the District. Intellectual Development and Career Development are key priorities in the 2022-2027 District Strategic Plan.

Bert Edwards Elementary School – April 24, 2025

Principal Edstrom and Vice Principal Wiebe showed how they have students exploring their identities in a new project highlighting countries of the world on the wall. “We plan to have a Cultural Diversity Day and to have students share who they are—their families, traditions, celebrations, and histories. We aim to have this become a community in which we learn and share about our identities,” explained Ms. Edstrom. “The idea stemmed from having students in the school share who they are and where they or their families are from to feel welcome and included.”

She also shared the salmon run wall display, which involved everyone engaging in an activity about “respect” on the Day of Sucwentwécw on April 7, focused on the theme, “The Bonds of Respect that Bridge Us Together”.

Principal Edstrom said, “Students shared what respect looked liked and sounded like to them. Some drew pictures because the goal was to understand what respect means to our community.” This day is specific to our District and the intent is to recognize and celebrate the history of the Secwépemc people and other Indigenous people residing within the territory of Secwepemcúl’ecw. The students also learn a Secwépemc word of the day, which was also on the wall near the salmon run bulletin board.

We discussed a bulletin board done by the Kindergarten team, Ms. Bowden and Ms. Farber. They showed pictures and captions about their students’ learning in STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Their students were collaborating to solve real world problems about shadows (how they are made and what happens when different objects are used to block light), and how to make a catapult. “This team engages their students in outdoor learning as part of being a science-focused school,” shared Ms. Edstrom. “They are always accessing the outdoors to have students explore key concepts in Science and other subjects.”

We visited Ms. Denison’s Grade 1 class. Ms. Denison differentiates students’ reading choices by not only the difficulty of texts students read but also by who they read with (students read with her, the Learning Assistance Resource Teacher, and independently), and students are exploring texts that range in genres and topics.

Ms. Adams’ Grade 1 class was practicing “Roll and Read”. Liam, a Grade 1 student, shared how the activity works—he rolled a die and the number that showed was the column of words he was to read. Once he read the word, he placed a rock on it. “Sometimes we just draw a circle around the word,” said Liam. Ms. Maposa, a student in TRU, was assisting students with this strategy. Ms. Adams shared her views of the value of the University of Florida Literacy Institute (UFLI, pronounced “you fly”) reading resources for teachers and students which are designed to improve literacy outcomes for children learning to read. She explained. “The value of the program is that it is systematic, based on reading research, and it enabled her to develop her own resources (e.g., sentence strips that students write and then read at school and home). Before I left her class, Anneaka (Grade 1 student) read words on her magnetic board.

Mr. Wood’s and Ms. Unsworth’s Grade 6-7 students were studying crystallization by dipping wooden sticks in sugar and then predicting by drawing before and after pictures of what they thought would happen when they dip their sticks in water. Students shared their drawings and discussed why some of them predicted different shapes of the before and after pictures.

The students were engaged in considering what water would do in terms of the “after” effects. Mr. Wood said that they take time to predict before doing the experiment to ensure that students are curious about the process.

Mr. Hummel’s Grade 4-5 class was working with Mr. Donnelly, a TRU teacher candidate, who was helping students to study how many times numbers go into whole numbers (division and multiplication) using a “Dungeon and Dragons” game concept. The students were very engaged because Mr. Donnelly had set the context for this lesson with compelling visuals and music. The TRU teacher mentor, a former principal, was also observing the lesson.

This was a wonderful visit with Principal Edstrom and Vice Principal Wiebe, and I was glad to have had this opportunity to learn about the vibrant learning in their school community.

Raft River Elementary: Leading the Way in Sustainability on Earth Day – April 22, 2025

Raft River Elementary School in Clearwater, BC is taking some exciting steps toward sustainability (one of the core values in the 2022-2027 District Strategic Plan). This year, staff and students launched an Eco Club. Under the leadership of Ms. Elizabeth Shook and a dedicated team of teachers, including Ms. Victoria Cooke, Ms. Christina Scrivner, and Ms. Jayanthi Saravanan, the school is working toward achieving Platinum Certification from Eco Schools Canada. One of Raft River’s standout initiatives is the Goose Paper Drive, an innovative project that encourages the reuse of partially used paper. Read more.

Board Meeting

To learn more about the 2025-2026 Preliminary Budget, watch the presentation from April 9, 2025 here. Results from feedback on this preliminary 2025-2026 Budget will be shared during the Regular Public Board Meeting on April 28, 2025 at 7:00 pm. Please watch it here.

I hope that you enjoy your weekend as we come to the final week in April and start May. Hopefully, you will find some time to enjoy the warm weather.

Rhonda Nixon, PhD
Superintendent