Not sure where January went but I apologize for the absence of One91 posts for the first month of 2013.  This post’s title picture is courtesy of Mr. Wilejto’s LDSS art class that is working on paintings and sculptures. This money tree used $35 in pennies!

I’m sure that it’s not just me but I’m amazed how much quicker each school year goes by.  We have reached the 1/2 way point of this year and it seems  just a short while ago that I was asking you to think about your hopes and goals for the first 5 school days in September.

Educators understand that REFLECTION is a necessary step in the instructional process but how often do we help our students and parents to also reflect on how the school year is going.  Some key reflective questions for different constituents of our school communities might include:

Teachers:

• What specific instructional strategies / assessments worked well in the first half of the year that I can replicate or modify for students in the second half?
• Now that I have a good understanding of the individual strengths of each of my students, how am I differentiating instruction and assessment sufficiently to help each of my students be successful this school year?

Support Staff

• What parts of my daily interaction with students are  helping with student learning and school engagement?
• Can I articulate what is working well and what may need some adjustment / modification?

Administrators

• In reviewing our school goals for this year, are we on track and how do we know?
• How are we communicating progress of our school goals to our school community?

Parents

• Do I know what my child has accomplished this school year?  
• How have I supported my child’s learning?
• Have I had conversations with my child’s school / teacher that go beyond the report card?

Students (need teacher support to work on these…)

• What have I learned this year?
• Can I tell others how I know that I have learned specific skills / knowledge?
• What have I learned about my learning style?

November / December CHALLENGE Winner and February Challenge:

Thanks to all of you that posted on what your classrooms / schools are doing to connect globally (Kelley, Travis, Tina, Lynn, Kim, Jeannie).  Tina Giesbrecht of Decker Lake has been drawn to win either a pizza party for her class or $100 towards a class field trip.  Congratulations Tina and thank you for sharing about the webinar with country superstar Taylor Swift!

FEBRUARY CHALLENGE:

Post an anecdote about how your students are beginning to understand their specific learning strengths and how you have supported them in gaining this understanding.

Sharing from across the district:

During a recent visit to Grassy Plains School I was invited by principal Donna Ablin to visit her senior PE class in which they were using an X-Box and the Dance-Dance game to get their hearts beating.  I couldn’t help but ask if I could shoot a video to which all the students eagerly agree.  Enjoy and look closely at a dancer that ‘moves like Jagger’ in the back row!

More school websites go live in January:

• Decker Lake Elementary   (Thanks Val!)
• Grassy Plains Elementary  (Thanks Anna!)
• WKE Elem  (Thanks Bruce and team!)
• NVSS Secondary  (Thanks Gordon & team!)
• WL McLeod  (Thank Libby!)
• Sinkut View  (Thanks Jill & Wade!)
• David Hoy  (Thanks Pat & Craig!)

Kindergarten PREZI (contributed by Eileen Bennison at David Hoy Elem.)

These David Hoy Kindergarten students were working on a writing response and have utilized PREZI technology to capture their thinking.  Thanks for sharing this Eileen!

click HERE

School and District Science Fairs

Thank you to the continuing hard work of Candice Little (Francois Lake) and  Dianne Raymond (Mouse Mtn) we continue to have a variety of school science fairs in the next few weeks and culminating in the District Science Fair at Muriel Mould Elementary School on Feb. 20th.  Please take time to get out to a local school science fair and to Burns Lake on the 20th if you can.

Visiting Winter Camp Students

NVSS is hosting some of their Chinese sister school’s junior secondary students for a Winter Camp.  The students are enjoying a variety of northern BC winter activities including downhill skiing, dog mushing, and tobogganing.  We would like to extend a very big THANK YOU to all the families that have opened their homes up to host these students and their adult chaperones.  I had the opportunity to attend a recent lunch where the students sat at tables with their Canadian buddies and it was evident from the teenage conversations that were occurring that this will be an outstanding lifetime memory for both groups of kids.

Student participates in Project Clean Sweep

contributed by LDSS…thanks Darlene!

Kyle Burt, a grade 10 student, is Lakes District Secondary’s new Clean Sweep employee. He is an aspiring snowboarder and bike rider (BMX and Mountain Biking).

Although Kyle has only been on the job for five days, he has received many positive comments from students and staff.

One teacher described Kyle’s work as “meticulous”. A member of the custodial staff mentioned a noticeable difference in the cleanliness of the hallways since Kyle has been on the job.

 So far, Kyle is enjoying his job and looking forward to his first pay day.

If you’ve made it to the end of this post, thank you for taking the time to read about what is happening in Nechako Lakes SD.  Please feel free to post your comments, thoughts, observations and questions directly to this post.  Remember to think about entering the February challenge and as always, thank you for the daily work you do on behalf of our students.