Signal Hill Circular - April 14th, 2022

April 14th, 2022

Dear Signal Hill Families,

It's been a nice short week here at Signal Hill. On Monday, our grade 2, 3, and 4s were joined by author Sara Leach for a chat about writing children's stories. On Wednesday our staff was grateful to have an afternoon to collaborate. An example of some of the collaboration that took place was some of our teachers and support staff working with SET-BC to learn about a powerful literacy software called Clicker.

On Wednesday, April 20th, our students are excited to welcome their caregivers for Student-Led Conferences. Please see below for more information.

Please see below for two free workshops that our school is hosting for families. We hope you will attend.

A number of Grade 4/5 students chose to participate in the Reading Link Challenge, a program offered by the Pemberton Public Library with the support of the Signal Hill Elementary School library. The Reading Link Challenge requires students to read as many as possible of six novels from November until April and then they participate in a series of Jeopardy style games. The students are placed into teams where they answer a variety of questions about the books that they have read. Our first challenge was held in the Signal Hill library on April 14th. The winning team will participate in the final challenge against La Vallée, Pemberton’s francophone school, on Tuesday, April 19th at the Pemberton Public Library. Good luck!

Reading Link Challenge Mission

To encourage reading as a fun and recreational activity that allows Grade 4 and 5 students of all reading abilities to engage in the sport of reading.

An update that our Grade 7 Leaving Ceremony will be on June 28th. We look forward to celebrating all the hard work of our senior students!

We hope you and your family have a great long weekend!

Please see below for some new upcoming events.

News, Updates, and Reminders:

STUDENT LED CONFERENCES – Wed. April 20th

You can now go online to https://she.schoolappointments.com/admin/ and book your children’s Student Led Conferences. Attached are parent’s instructions on how to register and book online. If you registered last year, you can do a password recovery if you can’t remember your log in.

All conferences are booked online or directly with your children’s teachers. If you can’t book online, please email your children’s teachers directly.

There will be no supervision at the school after 12:10 pm. All students are expected to go home at noon.

Free Workshop at Signal Hill - Student Anxiety and Building Student Resilience - Wed. May 4th

Please join Registered Clinical Counsellor Greg McDonnell (www.mcdonnellcounselling.ca) for a free workshop for caregivers on May 4th at 6pm at Signal Hill Elementary to address the topics of Student Anxiety and Building Student Resilience. Greg will discuss current research on childhood anxiety and will present relevant strategies. Refreshments and childcare will be provided.

White Hatter Internet Safety and Digital Literacy for Parents and Caregivers Presentation

Signal Hill Elementary and the Parent Advisory Council is hosting a free online presentation from The White Hatter about internet safety and digital literacy for parents and caregivers on Wednesday, May 18th from 7-9pm. This will be an online virtual event, but will be a live, interactive broadcast for our community. Families will be able to watch and interact from home. Details about how to log-in will follow closer to the event.

Please see here for more information: https://www.thewhitehatter.ca/programs/internet-safety-and-digital-literacy-for-parents-and-caregivers

Our grade 4-7 students will also be attending presentations on Tuesday, May 17th and Wednesday, May 18th during school.

We are excited to have The White Hatter join us as they come highly recommended! We hope you will join us.

Grade 7 Fundraiser

The grade 7 class is sponsoring another fundraiser for their graduation festivities. You can support the grade 7 class and buy some beautiful flowers for your garden this spring! Please click on the link below for information and to order! Thank you for supporting our grade 7 class this year! To order please go to:

https://signalhill.growingsmilesfundraising.com/home

Kindergarten Registration for 2022-23

Kindergarten (children born in 2017) registration continues. Please come to the school to pick up forms and register your children. We also need their birth certificate or passport and their care card to register.

Planning for 2022-23 School Year

Are you planning to move to another school for the next school year? Is your child planning to leave the French Immersion program? Do you plan to enroll another child that’s not in kindergarten? Please inform our office so we can plan for our next school year.

Important Upcoming Dates:

Friday, April 15th - Good Friday – NO SCHOOL

Monday, April 18th - Easter Monday – NO SCHOOL

Wednesday, April 20th - Student Led Conferences – Early Dismissal at Noon for Students

You can go online to https://she.schoolappointments.com/admin/ to book your children’s conference. All students will be expected to go home at noon, there will be no supervision at the school.

What Parents and Students Need to Know

The resources below provide tips for teachers and parents that we hope are helpful for our students and families to discuss the crisis in Ukraine.

How to Talk to Kids About Violence, Crime, and War: Common Sense Media gathers tips and conversation starters to help you talk to kids of different ages about the toughest topics.

Resilience in a time of war: Tips for parents and teachers of elementary school children: This article from the American Psychological Association can help adults guide their young children beyond fear and to resilience.

Resilience in a time of war: Tips for parents and teachers of middle school children: The American Psychological Association breaks out tips and strategies for parents and teachers of middle school-aged children.

National Child Traumatic Stress Network provides resources that can be filtered by topic or keyword and by audience with a focus on how adults can identify traumatic responses in young people and how to support them.

Truth and Reconciliation

Some examples of our continuing journey from this week:

Please check out this amazing video produced by one of our cultural support workers, Tanina. It features a puppet co-host and an interview with our school district's Superintendent.