Signal Hill Circular - October 7th, 2022
October 7th, 2022
It certainly doesn't feel like it if you consider the weather, but it's October! September sure flew by didn't it?
Today we hosted assemblies to discuss some upcoming options for lunch break time for our students such as gym time and an art and games room. We hope this continues to provide other opportunities for our students to play and socialize. Chief Adams and Captain Malpus from the Pemberton Fire Department also joined us to promote fire safety week and a contest they are hosting that encourages our students to create a fire escape plan with their families. Prizes include an iPad and a pizza party for their class! Your child will be coming home with a planning sheet.
On Wednesday, for World Teacher Day, we celebrated all of our educators and staff that work so hard to make Signal Hill the wonderful learning community that it is. Donuts from The Cheese Pusherman Roadhouse were delivered by some of our smiling students. A small but tasty token of our appreciation!
Thank you very much to everyone who shopped at our Scholastic Book Fair. It was a resounding success! We earned $1325 worth of books for the Signal Hill Library and $1250 to put towards author visits and special library events. WOW!!! The time put in by the fantastic Grade 7 student volunteers, generous staff, and amazing parent volunteers is greatly appreciated, we couldn't have done it without all of your support. Books that were ordered at the fair will be delivered to students' classrooms on Friday, October 7th or Tuesday, October 11, 2017. Thank you for encouraging your child to read. We look forward to seeing you at our next book fair!
A Few Reminders for Parents and Students:
Parking is at a premium here at drop off and pick up times! Please do not park in the bus lanes, on the sides of the driveways or block other drivers. For safety reasons, do not park in the staff parking lot on the right when you drive onto the school property. Please do not do U turns in the parking lot! We ask that you pick up your child and leave immediately so others have a chance to park. For those who have primary students, you can park in the Tiyata Roundabout too! Thank you for your understanding. 😊
Dogs are permitted on school grounds only with a leash and under the control of their person. Please do not tie up dogs on the school grounds and keep them with you on leash at all times. Please clean up after your dog. 😊 If your dog is nervous around children or crowds we ask that you keep them at home. Thank you for your understanding!
News, Updates, and Reminders:
BUS ROUTE CANCELLATIONS NEXT WEEK – October 11-14th
Due to a shortage of school bus drivers, we will be unable to run the following Pemberton area bus routes:
Tuesday, October 11, 2022:
· Bus Route 2 PM only: Pemberton Meadows Rd
Wednesday, October 12, 2022:
· Bus Route 2 PM only: Pemberton Meadows Rd
Thursday, October 13, 2022:
· Bus Route 1 AM & PM: D’Arcy, Birken, Poole Creek
· Bus Route 2 AM & PM: Pemberton Meadows Rd
· Bus Route 5 AM & PM: Owl Ridge, Reid Rd & Mt. Currie
Friday, October 14, 2022:
· Bus Route 6 AM & PM: Lillooet Lake Rd., Mt. Currie, Plateau
We understand that the bus cancellations due to the shortage of bus drivers continue to inconvenience the daily routines of our families, and we appreciate everyone's understanding while we navigate these challenging times. We are actively looking for innovative solutions to help resolve the issue at hand.
If you have concerns regarding the bus driver shortage, please go to the following link:
Community Reading Helpers
Signal Hill is looking for volunteers to read with students for an hour once a week on a regular basis.
If you are interested or know others that may be interested, please contact Katherine Read [email protected]
You will need a criminal record check to volunteer at the school.
TruEarth Fundraiser for Breakfast and Lunch programs
Signal Hill is fundraising for our breakfast and lunch program for our students! Check out the TruEarth products – free shipping, all eco-friendly and all packaging is completely recyclable! TruEarth is a Canadian company and the school receives 20% of all sales. If you are interested, please check out our online campaign at:
CROSS COUNTRY RUNNING
Any grade 3 to 7 students interested in joining the cross country running team, please sign up in front of room 220 where there is a signup sheet posted on the door. The first practice will be on Tuesday, September 27th after school.
SCHOOL SUPPLIES
We encourage you to go online to the link below to purchase your children’s school supplies! We have purchased supplies for all of the students – Grades K to 3 (primary) cost $45 and Grades 4-7 (intermediate) cost $55. This is for the whole school year!
If you do not yet have an account, you can also set up your child’s account through the link below.
Please use the following link: https://sd48seatosky.schoolcashonline.com
Thank you for taking the time to open an account and purchase your children’s supplies. Our district is trying to move to cashless and paperless systems as much possible!
IMPORTANT FORMS TO SIGN ONLINE
You will be receiving emails from our Cash Online Program today to sign forms online that are required by the school district. We apologize if you receive more than one email, you will only need to sign in once to complete all of the forms.
These forms include the Walking Field Trip form (Off-Site Activity Consent for Local Low-Risk Day Trip), Self-Identification of Indigenous Ancestry (First Nations, Metis or Inuit) form, Annual Student Personal Information, Technology and Media in School Consent form, Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation Consent form and the G-Suite Consent form.
Please go to https://sd48seatosky.schoolcashonline.com and sign the forms. If you have not yet set up an account, please open one. You can also take this opportunity to pay for your child’s school supplies if you have not yet.
Thank you for your patience and understanding while we set up our students and families for this school year!
Upcoming Important Dates:
Monday, October 10th - NO School – Thanksgiving Day
Friday, October 14th - Fall Harvest Pit Cook - Families are invited to join us for a ceremony at 9am
Friday, October 21st - No School – Professional Day for Teachers
Tuesday, October 25th - Grade 6 Immunizations – information to go home soon
Monday, October 31st - Halloween Dance for Intermediate (Gr 4-7) Students
Truth and Reconciliation
Truth and Reconciliation Month:
We will be celebrating our garden’s harvest this year with a traditional Pit Cook Celebration on Friday, October 14th. There are a number of preparations that will be underway leading up to this day, including preparing the vegetables from the garden, making bannock and T’aqsa7, which means to barbeque salmon.
On the day of the event, we will begin the day with a school-wide Pit Cook Celebration at 9:00am at the Pit Cook. It will be located in our sand pit out front. Classes will gather around the pit where we will drum and sing while each class lowers their vegetable platter into the Pit Cook. Families are invited to join us at this time.
During the day, each class will be invited out to see and learn about the Pit Cook.
The cooked vegetables, some salmon and bannock will be delivered to the classes in the afternoon – once all of the classes have had a chance to visit the pit cook.
Downie Wenjack Fund, and the Wenjack Walk
Our school is learning about the story of Chanie Wenjack, born Jan. 19/54 in Northwestern Ontario. At 9 years old he was sent to Indian residential school with his sisters. When he was 12, Chanie and 9 other children ran away from the Indian residential school trying to make it back home, 600 km from the school. However the other children were caught and brought back to the school. A week after he escaped, Chanie died near the train tracks. He died of hunger and exposeure on Oct. 22/66. He was 60 km away from the residential school.
Gord Downie (The Tragically Hip) wrote ‘The secret path book and song, in hopes to create a path in making Canada a better country and towards reconciliation."
In 2017, Gord Downie died of cancer, but his story about Wenjack hopes to ignite a passion in each of us to “Do something." The Downie Wenjack Fund Legacy School program helps to bring awareness to schools with some history of Canada’s residential school system . They both joined the spirit world in October, which is the reason for the ‘Walk for Wenjack" in the month of October.
We are hoping to plan our own Wenjack Walk - more information to come.
The Gordi Downie & Chanie Wenjack Youtube channel:
What Parents and Students Need to Know
It can be hard for adults to know what to say or do to ease a child’s worries, especially during times of change and uncertainty. As the most important big people in their world, parents and caregivers can help children feel safer and soften the sharp edges of whatever is making their worries grow.
To help support learning across environments, EASE K–7 lessons have been adapted for use by parents and caregivers to help children manage worries and everyday anxiety at home.
Please have a look at this website and see some of the resources available: https://healthymindsbc.gov.bc.ca/ease-at-home/
POPARD Family School Liaison workshops (FREE) – designed for parents & families of students with ASD
· Oct 11 (330-430pm) & Oct 14 (12-1pm) Promoting Functional Skills in the Home Environment
· Oct 18 (330-430pm) & Oct 20 (12-1pm) Autism in the Teen Years
· Oct 25 (330-430pm) & Oct 27 (12-1pm) Supporting Autistic Girls
All POPARD training events (and registration links) are posted on our website at https://autismoutreach.ca/upcoming-training-dates/
FamilySmart Monthly Events: Every month, FamilySmart hosts online events for parents & caregivers who are parenting a child or youth with mental health and/or substance use challenge called “in the know.” We watch a video and share experiences and strategies that help in the hard moments and focus on strengthening our understanding and connection with our kids. For more information on this helpful resource, please click here.
Skícza7ul's Words of the Week
T’aqsa7 is BBQ’d salmon. It refers to the salmon that has or is being BBQ’d.
T’aqsa7 (Ucwalmícwts) - kloksha7 (phonetic)
(the “t’” has a click sound like the “cl” in clock)
(The 1st “a” is the same long sound as the “o” in fog)
The last “a7” sound is short like the “a” sound in cat”
(the “t’” has a click sound like the “cl” in clock)
(The 1st “a” is the same long sound as the “o” in fog)
The last “a7” sound is short like the “a” sound in cat”
French Words of the Week
harvest - récolter
Parent Advisory Committee
Health and Safety