TATLA LAKE ELEMENTARY / JR. SECONDARY SCHOOL

SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 27 (CARIBOO-CHILCOTIN)

BOX 56, Tatla Lake, B.C. V0L 1V0 Phone: (250) 476-1117 Fax: (250) 476-1208

April 24, 2017

Dear Parents,

Before I go any further with this newsletter I wanted to let you know about this

week. Tomorrow we are finishing up the light and sound technical rehearsal in the

morning (This will not include the high school students since they will be online until

11:30) and then going through the whole play in the afternoon. Wednesday is a dress

rehearsal in the afternoon – no make-up. Thursday is the Schools performance. There

will be about 140 people in the audience coming from Hagensborg, Anahim Lake, Tsi

Del Del, Alexis Creek, Dog Creek, Canoe Creek, and Williams Lake. This performance

will be filmed. On Friday, which is a Pro D Day, students need to arrive at school at

2:30. This performance will also be filmed. On Saturday, students are to arrive at

school at 11:30. We are asking them to pack a lunch. It is a full week, so we are

reminding students to try to be well rested, well hydrated, and to eat healthy food.

Thank you Leanne Iverson for donating the food for the last hot lunch and to Christiana

for donating hot soup every Monday.

We are hosting a basketball tournament for the rural secondary program on Wednesday

May 24th. Some schools will be spending the night on Tuesday May23rd. Our PAC said

that they would cook supper, breakfast, and lunch.

We have two students who have been accepted to go to Ottawa next fall in a programme

called Encounters with Canada. Cynan chose the theme week of Global Affairs and Tessa

has chosen Science and Technology. This is a programme for students aged 14-17. It

costs $675. Students from all over Canada stay at the Terry Fox Centre in Ottawa, and

there are 13 different theme weeks to choose from which enable them to explore and

experience potential careers and areas of personal interest. If there are any other

students interested, please let me know.

Chris Clutchey has started a robotics class with our students in grades 4-8. They will

receive 4 classes in total. We postponed 2 of the classes because they interfered with

Lion King rehearsals. They have been rescheduled for the first two weeks in May.

In anticipation of Easter, our grade 6-9 class went to Laurie Schuk’s house with Audra

Peterson for chocolate making. They had a fantastic time and brought home some

delicious chocolates! Thanks Laurie and Audra!

Audra plans on making soap and candles with the grade 8 & 9s. She will also be hatching

chicks with her intermediate students. We may be selling the chicks at the Artisan Fair.

She also will be doing 10 science experiments with the grade 9s as part of their online

course.

Our grade 8&9 class applied for and received a Youth Action Grant of $500. They want

to be able to use the school mountain bikes this spring. Last year we ended up with a lot

of flat tires, so they want to learn how to tune up the bikes and replace tires, tubes,

brake pads, and derailers. Mark Savard from Red Shred’s is coming out west to do a tune

up clinic with our students near the end of May. Lee Anne Wright is donating a bike stand

to the school. Thanks Lee Anne!

Our primary class will be studying monarch butterflies. We are getting 8 larva and are

going to be watching their transformation into butterflies.

I have also just received news that our school district received $231,344 by way of the

new one-time funding of a Student Learning Grant. We are receiving $3000 of that. This

can be used to buy instructional supplies, athletic equipment, and learning resources. We

have ordered 30 sets of new headphones with microphones. I would also like to buy a

class set of calculators. We are carefully considering what we will spend the rest of the

money on.

We watched the iconic National Film Board’s Paddle to the Sea in anticipation of a visit

from Mike Ranta, who is canoeing across Canada with his dog Spitzii and a

photojournalist, David Jackson. Mike gave a PowerPoint presentation about his trip. He

would like to Celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday by canoeing across Canada - paddling and

portaging one of the first Canadian highways and paying respect to the traditional water

routes of our ancestors. The students got to sign his canoe. Our secondary students

walked with him to the Graham Inn and had lunch with him.

Our students have new nature names – plant names. Next fall, I would like them to have

lichen names. I am looking for someone who could come in and teach our students about

lichen. If you know the name of anyone, please let me know.

Our primary students planted daffodil bulbs the last two years and they have been

weeding and waiting. I can’t believe that they were blooming this time last year. We have

planted potatoes again this year as part of the Spuds in Tubs programme.

We went for a hike to Mint Marsh behind the school. I told the students that I saw

something interesting on the ice. They needed to keep their eyes peeled to see if they

could spot it, figure out what it was and what happened. They needed to provide evidence

for their theories.

There is a Student Learning Survey for students in grades 4, 7, 10, and 12, their parents,

and staff. Parents may complete one survey for each child in the targeted grades. It is

the only source of province-wide information on in-school process and learning

environment. The survey needs to be completed by May 5th, 2017. I have sent home a

letter with the website and logon numbers for parents of students in these grades.

On Monday May 8th Sage Birchwater will be at the school for a slide show and to talk

about his new book, Chilcotin Chronicles. We are inviting the whole community out to

hear his presentation.

Here are a few spring time photos of our students playing outside.