Every child shines!

January 11, 2011

School Goals Update The start of a new year is an excellent time to set some new goals and to revisit some existing ones. At the end of last school year we developed a goal for the current school year that helps to make up our School Improvement Plan. Goal : To continue and maintain focus on environmental education, implementing ideas across the curriculum. Objective 1: To continue integrating environmental education into both the formal curriculum of classroom learning and the organizational and operating procedures of the school. Objective 2: To continue to implement new strategies for decreasing our school’s carbon footprint. We continue to believe that it is our social responsibility to model and promote environmentally - responsible learning experiences for students at Grief Point Elementary School. Our main goal is reflected in that belief. Some of the strategies that we are using to help achieve our goal are listed below:

Continue recycling paper, plastics, and glass items to PR Recycling Collection Service; continue to recycle ink cartridges to Staples; continue with the BC School Fruit and Vegetable Programme, and continue to use CFL standard light bulbs.

Our Grade 7 Leadership Group “The Lima Beans”

will continue to take part in Year #2 of Destination Conservation. The team decided early in the year where they wanted to focus their energies on water conservation, reduction of waste, and power reduction. They will also continue to improve our student’s understanding of lowering energy (heating) needs. The team will continue to expand their role of making the student body aware of sustainability issues and drive the change needed to continue to lower our school’s carbon footprint. They will continue to educate students and staff through; awareness campaigns, theme days, videos, and public service announcements.

Grief Point has been granted one year of Project Wild’s Science in Action professional development (ProD) without any costs to the school, and this fine programme is touted to be a hands-on, fun, easy way to teach the science curriculum!! This includes a teacher workshop (K-7) on ecosystems, that was presented by Wild BC facilitator, Dianne Sanford; theme-based units for K-7; a school science kit; and more teacher resources.

We are very pleased with how we are proceeding with our goal. Our students are taking it very seriously and are learning a lot about a variety of aspects of environmental education. We will continue to provide updates throughout the school year using our newsletters.

Students

making

recycled

newspaper

gift bags.

PRESS RELEASE

NEW ELEMENTARY SCHOOL NAMING

Following extensive consultation and a

collaborative community process to help search

for a new name, the Board of Education has

short-listed the following names for the Grief

Point Elementary replacement school:

Robert Thirsk Elementary

Salish Sea Elementary

Westview Elementary

These names will go to a school vote in early

February. The board would like to solicit

community feedback for the shortlisted names.

Please send your feedback to info@sd47.bc.ca by

January 28th.

Rationale given with nomination submissions:

Robert Thirsk Elementary

Dr. Thirsk is a famous Canadian, with ties to

Grief Point which is where he was first

introduced to the idea of space travel and was

inspired to make his dream become a reality.

By naming the school in his honour, students

will also be inspired to dream their dreams,

and reach their goals.

Dr Thirsk has visited the school and the

community and has made significant

connections and educational contributions to

the students of Grief Point.

Salish Sea Elementary

The school will overlook the Salish Sea

(Georgia Strait was renamed in 2010). This name will recognize our local saltwater

as a vital resource and will honour the

historical use of these waters by the

aboriginal people of the area.

Westview Elementary

The school is being built in Westview and

most students will come from this area.

This name will also provide an historical link

to the original Westview School which was

burned down in a fire.

Submitted by the Board of Education

School District #47 (Powell River)

Family Literacy Day Family Literacy Day takes place annually on January 27 to celebrate adults and children reading and learning together, and to encourage Canadians to spend at least 15 minutes enjoying a learning activity as a family every day. For more information please check out the following website: http://www.abclifeliteracy.ca/en/family-literacy-day Stay tuned for more information about an event at our school!

Pro D Day Monday, January 31st is our District Professional Development Day. There will be no school for students that day. Teachers from all of the schools will be attending sessions on teaching and learning.

Basketball Season Basketball season officially begins on Tuesday, January 18th. Grief Point will have a Girls and a Boys team made up of students in Grades 6 & 7. Games will be on Tuesdays for both the boys and girls. We will be relying on parents and guardians for rides to and from the games. As always, we stress the importance of good sportsmanship and teamwork. Students were reminded that in order to participate they had to make sure they were demonstrating good work habits at school. We are looking forward to a very rewarding and successful basketball season.

Games are on Tuesdays (3:15 – 4:30 pm)

Girls at Assumption School Boys at Ecole du Soleil

Basketball Practices

Girls – Tuesday and Thursday mornings 8:00 a.m. Boys – Tuesday and Thursday at lunch 12:00 p.m.

Foundation Skills Assessments (FSA) The Foundation Skills Assessment is an annual province-wide assessment of British Columbia students’ academic skills and provides a snapshot of how well BC students are learning foundation skills in Reading Comprehension, Writing and Numeracy.

The main purpose of the assessment is to help the province, school districts, schools and school planning councils evaluate how well students are achieving basic skills and make plans to improve student achievement. This year the assessment will happen between January 17th and February 25th. The reading comprehension and numeracy portions of the assessment consist of multiple choice questions and open-ended questions. The writing component consists of first drafts of two writing pieces. The students’ results will be mailed directly home to give parents and guardians an opportunity to discuss results with their child and the school. FSA is designed and developed by British Columbia educators. The skills test are linked to the provincial curriculum and provincial performance standards. The assessment is administred each year to Grade 4 and 7 students in public and provincially funded independent schools. You can access more information about the FSAs at: http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/assessment/fsa Or please feel free to contact Mr. Burt at the school (604-485-5660).

More FSA Information A lot of questions exist around the FSA tests. To help parents better understand what the FSA is about the BCCPAC (British Columbia Confederation of Parent Advisory Council) has deceloped a kit full of information for parents. The document can be accessed at: http://www.bccpac.bc.ca/UserFiles/file/Resources/BCCPAC_FSA_InfoKit_Jan2010.pdg or you could contact Mr. Burt at the school for a paper copy.

What Every Babysitter Should Know

St. John Ambulance is offering the above course on Saturday, January 22

nd. The cost of the course is $46 + HST. Please

contact St. John Ambulance (604-483-2250) to register.

January Assembly Draw Winners Primary Swim/Skate Pass Devin Rivest Breakwater Books Elle Agius A&W Lunch Kyle Hollinshead Candace Kristensen Intermediate Swim/Skate Pass Sydney Brown Breakwater Books Bryson Cecconi A&W Lunch Jayce Shelton Sawyer Dunlop Teacher Ms. McLean

Reading Heroes Congratulations to our latest Powell River Kings “Reading Heroes” recipient for January.

Phoebe Schur Kindergarten

PAC NEWS

Our next PAC meeting is on Thursday,

January 20th at 6:30 pm in the Library.

Ms. Shannon Behan, Vice-Principal of Brooks,will join

us to speak about and gather feedback concerning

eventual transition of Grade 8 students to Brooks

Secondary.

Don’t forget to check out our website at: www.sd47.bc.ca/school/gp The up-to-date calendar is very useful!

Winter Fun

Ms. Romanica

Counsellors Six Ways to help Your Child Deal with Anger Teaching these strategies to our kids is one of the best ways we can prevent the development of aggressive behaviour. Modelling assertive behaviour and collaborative problem solving assure that our message agrees with what we are teaching our kids.

1. Model calmness. Suppose you get a phone call from the mechanic saying your car estimate has now doubled. You’re furious, and standing nearby is your child now watching you very closely. Muster every ounce of calmness and use it as an instant anger control lesson for your child: "I am so angry right now" you calmly tell your child. "The price for fixing the car just doubled.” Then offer a calm-down solution: "I’m going on a quick walk so I can get back in control." Your example is what your child will copy. 2. Exit and Calm Down. The next time your child is angry and wants a quick solution, you might say, "I need a time out. Let’s talk about this later" and then exit calmly and don’t answer back. Refuse to talk about the issue until he is calm, even if you have to lock yourself in the bathroom! Only talk about the problem when he is in calm and in control. 3. Develop a feeling vocabulary. Here’s a few: angry, mad, frustrated, furious, irritated, ticked off, irate, and incensed. Write them on a chart, hang it up, and practice using them often. When your child is angry, use the words so he can apply them to real life: "Looks like you’re really angry. Want to talk about it?" or "You seem really irritated. Do you need to walk it off?" Then keep adding new emotion words to the list whenever new ones come up in those great "teachable moments" opportunities throughout the day. 4. Create a calm down poster. Here’s a few ideas a group of fourth graders thought of: walk away, think of a peaceful place, run a lap, listen to music, hit a pillow, shoot baskets, draw pictures, talk to someone, or sing a song. Once the child chooses his "calm down" technique, encourage him to use the same strategy each time he starts to get angry. 5. Develop an awareness of early warning signs. Help your child recognize what specific warning signs she may have that tells her she’s starting to get upset such as, "I talk louder, my cheeks get flushed, I

and I breathe faster." Once she’s aware of them, start pointing them out to her whenever she first starts to get frustrated. "Looks like you’re starting to get out of control." or "Your hands are in a fist now. Do you feel yourself starting to get angry?" The more we help kids recognize those early angry warning signs when their anger is first triggered, the better they will be able to calm themselves down. It’s also the time when anger management strategies are most effective. Anger escalates very quickly, and waiting until a child is already in "melt down" to try to get her back into control is usually too late. 6. Teach anger control strategies. Talk to your child about what you do to stay calm and in control. Deep breathing is a strategy that works well. Positive self talk; “I can handle this”, “I’m in control of me” helps to bring emotions under control.

Final Thoughts: Teaching children a new way to deal with their anger constructively is not easy-- especially if they have only practiced aggressive ways to deal with their frustrations. Research tells us learning new behaviours take a minimum of 21 days of repetition. The recommendation is to choose one skill your child needs to be more successful and emphasize the same skill a few minutes every day for at least 21 days! You can make a difference! © 1999 by Michele Borba. Adapted from Parents Do Make A

Difference: How to Raise Kids with Solid Character, Strong Minds, and Caring Hearts. Jossey-Bass Publishers, 350 Sansome Street, San Francisco, CA 94104. 1999. $18.00 paperback, 320 pages. ISBN 0-7879-4605-2 Order: www.parentingbookmark.com. Call: 916-939-8246 or fax 916-939-8246..