JUNE 2014 NEWSLETTER # 10 2390 JUBILEE ST., ROSSLAND BC WWW.RSS..SD20.BC.CA

Kindergarten OrientationRossland Summit School would like to invite you and your child to Kindergarten Orientation on Thursday, June 5th from 9:00 – 10:00 a.m. in the Rossland Summit School Auditorium. 

Calendar of Events

June 2 NO SCHOOL - STRIKE ACTION School Site Plan presentation to the Board of EducationJune 5 Sept 2014 Kindergarten Orientation 9-10am PAC 7pm LibraryJune 6 Happy Day Assembly k-9June 11 Fruit and Veggie DeliveryJune 19 Recognition and farewell to our gr 9’s assembly (K-9) 1:30June 20 Last day of classes gr 6-9June 25 Gr 7 district dinner June 26 Report cards issued, last day of classes K-5 (11 AM dismissal)June 27 No school – Administrative Day

June CalendarThere are many individual class activities going on in June that are not on this calendar, please ensure you are communicating with classroom teachers regarding these events, dates and times.

CAREERS

June Newsletter

ROSSLAND SUMMIT SCHOOL

New Vice Principal

School District No. 20 (Kootenay-Columbia) is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Bud Gregory to the position of Vice Principal with an initial placement at Rossland Summit School effective August 1, 2014. Mr. Gregory started his teaching career in 2005 at Stanley Humphries Secondary School. During his 9 years teaching in our district, Bud has taught of variety of subjects including most of the sciences and leadership. Bud has been a department head, teacher-in-charge and was acting Vice Principal at SHSS for almost a year in 2010/2011. Bud earned a Bachelor of Education from UBC (WKTEP program) as well as a Bachelor of Science degree from Okanagan University College. In 2009 he completed his Masters of Arts in Leadership and Administration from Gonzaga University. Congratulations to Bud in his new role with the district.

Let’s Be Happy Sports Day

On Friday, June 6 (weather permitting), all students at RSS will participate in a series of activities developed and organized by Ms Nelson’s Health and Careers 8/9 class.

We will start the day at 10:00 by watching the movie of everyone in the school dancing to “Twist and Shout”, which makes everyone happy.

Multi-grade teams will then take part in numerous fun activities (including eating watermelon!) and the day will end at the regular time of 2:15. Lunch time will be as usual.

PAC (Parent Advisory Council)

Our next meeting is June 5th in the school library at 7pm. All parents/guardians are welcome. Feel free to come late or leave early, but we would love to hear your voice and have you involved.

MEXICAN DAY

What are BC performance Standards?The BC Performance Standards have been developed for voluntary use in B.C. schools. They describe the professional judgments of a significant number of B.C. educators about standards and expectations for the following key areas of learning:

• Reading (English, French Immersion and Francophone)• Writing (English, French Immersion and Francophone) • Numeracy (English and French Immersion/Francophone) • Social Responsibility (English and French Immersion/Francophone)• Information and Communications Technology Integration (ICTI)• Healthy Living• Ordering Information

The standards focus exclusively on performance assessment. In performance assessment students are asked to apply the skills and concepts they have learned to complete complex, realistic tasks. This type of assessment supports a criterion-referenced approach to evaluation and enables teachers, students, and parents to compare student performance to provincial standards.

For more information at links to the actual docuemnts please visit:http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/perf_stands/

Swimming K-9 June 2014

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

2

3 4 5 6

9 10 11 12 13

9:00-9:45 grade 2 (Bergen) 10:00-10:45 grade 1 (G-Jones) 1:00-2:00 grade 9

9:00-9:45 grade 1 (O’Brien) 10:00-10:45 grade 2/3 1:00-2:00 grade 8

9:00-9:45 grade K (Wyatt) 10:00-11:00 grade 4 /5 1:00-2:00 grade 7/8

9:00-9:45 3 (Lane) 10:00-11:00 grade 4 1:00-2:00 grade 7

9:00-9:45 K (McCormick) 10:00-11:00 grade 5 1:00-2:00 grade 6/7

16 17 18 19 20

9:00-9:45 grade 3 Smith 10:00-11:00 grade 5 1:00-2:00 grade 6

9:00-9:45 grade 1 (O’Brien) 10:00-10:45 grade 2/3 PM Christine DeRosa

9:00-9:45 K (Wyatt) 10:00-11:00 grade 4 1:00-1:45 grade 2 (Bergen)

9:00-9:45 K (McCormick) 10:00-10:45 grade 3 (Lane) 1:00-2:00 grade 4/5

9:00-9:45 grade 3 (Smith) 10:00-10:45 grade 1 (G-Jones)

NOTES: 6-9 must be afternoons to accommodate exploratory classes. K-3 45 min. sessions 4-9 60 min. sessions PM Strong Start –PM on the 24th

Grade 7 Dinner/Dance

Tickets are on sale in the office for the Grade 7 Dinner and Dance. It is $25.00 per person.

The dress is semi-formal. Please remind students about proper behaviour. Ie. no close dancing, swearing, if someone asks you to dance, say yes. No "forcing" others to dance together.

Tickets must be bought by June 20th.

CafeteriaThere will be pizza days on June 6th and June 13th. Otherwise the

cafeteria is closed starting June 1st.

BC agriculture in the classroom

In June we will be getting Strawberries. Our K-2’s also receive

milk.

PAC end of year Dance – June 12th

The Rossland Summit School PAC invites all RSS families to an end of year family dance.  The dance will run on June 12 from 6-9pm in the gym. We hope to see you here.

Final Report Card Distribution

Students in K-5 will receive their report cards on the last day of school.

The school will be open on June 26 from 8:30 – 11:00 for the distribution of final report cards for grades 6-9 and various other items for pick up. Please return textbooks and library books before this date.

Report cards at the end of the year are not e-mailed home; paper copies are to be picked up on June 26 at the school.

StaffingAt this time of year we also say goodbye to a number of staff. Good luck to Caroline Catalano who has been appointed as principal at Glenmerry Elementary. Five of our teachers are moving to other schools in the district: Rita Cain, Christine DeRosa, Marilyn Nelson,  and Vicki Trussler, Mike Vanness  Best wishes to them as they all start a new chapter in their careers. Best wishes To Melanie Greene who is now on Maternity leave. As always, we have a temporary teachers whose positions end at the end of June. We hope to see them all working again next year!  Thanks to Jen Bell, Nate Lott, and Jodie Jones, Our Education assistants are also changing next year as Sheri Larsen heads to JLCrowe.

STAFFING 2014-2015Next year’s staff:

Principal – Karen Lavender, Vice Principal – Bud Gregory

Kindergarten: Jen Wyatt

K/1: Christa Salsiccioli

Gr 1: Judy Gresley Jones

Gr ½: Jana O’Brien

Gr 2: Brenda Bergen

Gr 2/3: Laura Lane

Gr 3: Cyndi Smith

Gr 4/5: Bridget O’Malley, Jill Spearn, Barry Zanier

Gr 6 LFI: Kate Severin

Gr 6: Joanna Heikkila

Gr 7/8 LFI: Bryar Wood

Gr 7: Bernie Hofmann (Ma, Sc, PE), Kim McKinnon (SS, HCE, Larts), Lisa Henderson (English)

Gr 8/9: Bernie Hofmann (Ma, Sc, PE), Nicola Kuhn (Eng, SS, FR, HCE)

Fine Arts 6-9: Joanna Heikkila, Lisa Henderson, Kate Severin

Practical Arts 8/9: Kim McKinnon, Bud Gregory

Special Ed and Learning Assistance: Kim Deane, Wendy Phillips

Library: Nicola Kuhn

Please note that these configurations and teaching assignments are subject to change.

Next  Interview  Weekend:  Nov  22-­‐23    for  exchanges  beginning  Feb  2014www.enfamille.comsee  us  on:  Facebook;  YouTube

May 27, 2014

Dear Sir or Madame,

My name is Tabatha Webber and I am excited to introduce a new opportunity that is being offered to all BC students interested in learning a new language.

En Famille is a French non-profit organization that has arranged language immersion exchanges for more than 35 years. Headquartered in Pontivy, France, EnFamille has representatives in France, Spain, Germany, Great Britain, the United States, and Canada. Our web address is www.enfamille.com.

Our international team works very hard to give children our greatest focus and attention, and to provide support for families throughout the entire exchange period. We offer our families a professional and secure exchange experience. All of En Famillie’s board members have taken part in our student exchange program and work diligently to support its continuation.

En Famille is a uniques organization:

-We allow children as young as nine years old to participate in long-term, total language immersion exchanges. Our target age of children is between 9 to 16, and they spend a year together, 6 months in each others homes.

-We create true language immersion because we know it produces the most fluent speakers.

-We keep the exchange children together for the entire exchange, creating strong, life-long bonds between the two families. After an exchange the two families often continue sending siblings back and forth across the Atlantic for many years.

The result of an exchange is a bilingual child that has made memories that will last a lifetime. When two children of the same age learn and live together a friendship develops for life. Exchange children gain a second family, and a second home abroad.

I have enclosed a brochure that I am hoping you can distribute to students, so that they may be made aware of the opportunities that are available.

Thank you for taking the time to get to know our organization and helping to spread the experience to students in your school district. If you have any questions or need further information please do not hesitate to ring.

Sincerely yours,

Tabatha Webber

En Famille International, Canada

108 Campbell rd. Fruitvale, BC V0G1L1 T: 250-231-4867 Email: enfamillecanada@telus.net

Tabatha WebberCanadian Representative

EXCHANGE OPPORTUNITY

Six month foreign exchange to France, Germany and SpainEn Famille is an exchange program based in Pontivy, France. We arrange 6 month exchanges for Canadian children 9 to 16 years old. The two exchange children spend 12 months together, 6 months in each home.

If you have any questions please contact Tabatha at (250)231-4867 or tabatha@enfamille.com

Here is a blog I follow and this post I think makes for some excellent reflection as we head into summer

The Gift of Failureby shelleywright

Life is interesting. You think you're going to end up in one place, and, surprise, you end up in another. I think that's very much like the world we're preparing our students for. Nobody really knows what the world will look like 10 years from now. We're preparing students for jobs that don't exist, using technology that hasn't been invented, to solve problems we don't know about. How do we do that? It's not by focusing on content. Instead, it's about skills. And for me, what's the most important one? The ability to learn.

The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn – Alvin TofflerMost of this process involves a lot of failure. When I fail, I have a choice. I can blame it on external factors, or I can dig down deep, develop the grit & tenacity necessary & figure out how to create something out of a situation that didn't go right.  And while I have a Professional Growth Plan that I need to work on each year as a teacher, failure isn't  a category.

Our students need this too. However, we live in a culture that abhors failure. Although at times, we like to pretend this isn't so.  When our students fail, we rattle off some line about Thomas Edison not really failing, he just discovered 100's of ways not to create a light bulb.  I'm not sure our students are really inspired by that. Instead, most students try to avoid failing.  The "A" is the goal, rather than the process of learning.

Let's take a look at the truth. Professional athletes who fail too often eventually get cut or traded.  Athletes with serious character flaws are considered damaged goods. Coaches who lose too many games are fired.  Celebrities who fail are the stuff of weekly tabloids. We're an unforgiving culture.  It seems the only time we talk about failure as a pep talk tend to include people who eventually succeed in momentous ways.  Bill Gates & Steve Jobs dropped out of college. Yep, but we don't talk or celebrate average people who drop out of college & get average jobs.

So I think if we're going to talk to our students about failure, we need to be authentic. We need to be real about the culture we live in. That it's a culture that celebrates success and abhors failure. That celebrating failure is bucking the trend. It goes against everything most people believe in.

I think if our students make it through school without ever failing, we've failed them. Badly. Because life involves a lot of figuring out how to do something a different way. It requires a lot of problem solving. And sometimes when things go wrong, it is other people's fault, but getting stuck there isn't going to help us. Instead, we need to learn, unlearn, and relearn.

shelleywright | May 16, 2014 at 8:49 am |

The RSS present…

a 2 Act Play

The Princess & The Trolls

WHEN: Tuesday thru Thursday June 17-19 7:00 pm

WHERE: RSS Auditorium

PRICE: $10 Adults; $7 Students; Children 12 & under $5 TICKETS SOLD at the DOOR

GREAT FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT! YUP...they’ll be Singing & Dancing...and much more!

COME OUT & SUPPORT OUR DRAMA STUDENTS!

New Proposed Playground for RSS

Exciting School Yard Improvements Coming to RSS this Fall...

Play Structure Fundraising

PAC is still looking for funding to complete the primary plays tructure project. You may know SD20 allocated $60,000. PAC has volunteered and raised funds over the years and has donated $10,000. We applied to Teck, and they have donated $3,000. We are awaiting to hear back about the Tire Stewardship Grant which will fund about $12,500 of the cost of the flooring, and we have also applied to The Nelson and District Credit Union for funds. To meet our final budget of $87,470 we are asking parents, friends and neighbours for help.

We will be sending home a scratch and donate card with a picture of our future primary playground structure to all of the K-3 students, as they will be the ones directly benefitting from the new play structure. Please consider contributing any amount, it would be much appreciated, especially by our students. Cheques can be made payable to RSS PAC, and the scratch cards and cash can all be dropped off to the RSS office. Receipts can be provided by PAC if requested.

Play Structure installation time line: The playground will be ordered by the middle of June, ground prep is planned for July/August and the playground will be installed in September. The projected grand opening for the play structure is the end of September. The main reason that the playground will not likely be ready for the start of school in September, is that board maintenance crews need to complete indoor projects while there are no children in classes during the summer months.

Playground Greening

Plans for a schoolyard greening project are also underway with the goal of integrating more natural elements into the playground. We are organizing a September tree planting project that will involve all the students. A small 'green amphitheater'/'outdoor classroom' space for gathering on the east side of the field is also in the works. We are applying to Columbia Basin Trust to support this greening initiative and will carry-out additional fundraising in September. The main contact is Caley Mairin caley.mairin@gmail.com

If you are keen to get involved with any aspect of the playground improvements, if you have a great fundraising idea, or you want to discuss anything else to do with OUR school please come to the next PAC meeting, Thursday June 5 at 7pm in the RSS Library, or contact us. Your support is appreciated. Thank you.

RSS PAC

Whitecaps FC Kootenay Summer Camps Give your budding soccer star a chance to kick it with the Whitecaps this summer in the Kootenays. Work with Whitecaps Kootenays Head Coach Brett Adams and assistant Sam Heap, get an official camp t-shirt and club poster.

Skills Camps

Boys and Girls U-7 to U-14 All skill levels 3 day camps – 2 ½ hours daily

Cranbrook: July 7 - 9 Grand Forks: July 14 - 16 Castlegar: Aug 6 - 8 Nelson: Aug 12 - 14

Prospects Camp

Boys and Girls U-8 to U-15 Motivated/Advanced players Visit by Whitecaps Head coach Bart Choufour Evaluation for ‘Caps programs Get Selected Nelson: Aug. 18 to 20

Register today, space is limited. whitecapsfc.com/camps

Local: 250.770.2173 Toll Free: 1.855.932.1932