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Character Trait of the Month: Tolerance
ADMINISTRATOR’S MESSAGE
Pembina Hills Public Schools’ Regional Office staff, Administrators, and Board Trustees, are in planning sessions involving district priorities for the coming year. In April, Swan Hills School staff will have a planning day during which we will consider how, as a school, we will address the district priorities for our students. School Council members have had some opportunity to comment on the priorities, which include literacy, numeracy, diversity, and relationship-building, and I invite others to attend the March meeting to share ideas. Parents can also contact me at the school to provide input for planning.
Another topic of discussion during planning has been the new concept-based curriculum, drafts of which have been released and made available for public review and comment. This curriculum is the result of Alberta Education’s consultation with parents, community members, teachers, and post-secondary institutions, and reflects, among other points, a desire for greater development of critical thinking skills, and the ability of students to learn and apply facts at higher levels, using what they learn in authentic and real-life situations. Parents and other stakeholders across the province have been instrumental in informing the creation of this curriculum, and I hope many of our community members have had the opportunity to review the initial results.
March appears to be coming in like a lion, so the hope is it will (soon) turn milder and go out like a lamb. We’ve had several indoor recesses during this extended cold snap, and our students would like to get outside again soon. Have a great, and hopefully warmer, month.
UPCOMING KEY DATES
- March 6 – Early Dismissal
- March 8 – No School PD Meeting
- March 12-14 – Book Fair
- March 15 – No School In Lieu of PTI
- March 19 – School Council
- March 20 – Spring Concert
- March 22 – No School
- March 25-20 – Spring Break
PLEASE NOTE EARLY OUT DISMISSAL TIMES ARE 2:33 p.m.
SPRING AHEAD
Don’t forget to “Spring Forward” March 10 for Daylight savings. Set your clocks one hour ahead.
PARENT TEACHER INTERVIEWS
Parent Teacher Interviews are scheduled for March 12 and March 13 from 5:00 – 8:00 p.m. each evening. Interview times for Grade 1 – Grade 4 are scheduled and will be mailed out with the Progress reports.
Grades 6 – 12 are drop-in.
Grades 7 – 12 teachers will host interviews April 23, following the Division 4 progress reports, instead of on the evening of March 13.
WHOOO’S READING
Thank you to everyone who helped their children participate and who sponsored students in the Whooo’s Reading Readathon. The program ended on February 28th. The site will be open for a few weeks to finalize sponsorships, but reading entries posted after that date do not count toward the readathon. If you have sponsored a student with a cash donation, please submit that to your child’s teacher as soon as possible. Although we did not reach our goal of meeting last year’s numbers, those who participated really enjoyed logging their reading on the site and challenging each other. Final numbers and leaderboards will be posted on the website once everything is finalized.
COOL CAMP
Each year a workshop called, “It’s COOL To Know Your Way In A Relationship” is presented to the Grade 8 students. Cool Camp has been successfully presented for many years as a major component of the Grade 8 Health Curriculum. The COOL Camp sessions this year will be held March 13 to 14. Trained high school teen leaders act as role models while leading the activities.
BOOK FAIR
