What a week it was at South Canoe with all the many incredible Earth-themed activities and experiences for our students! We’ve been planting seeds, putting on school concerts, doing creative writing assignments, hosting a science fair, caring for our school grounds, making Earthy art, and doing a fun, whole-school “family groups” activity at Klahani Park. Thank you to all our amazing staff for making this Earth Week such a meaningful and engaging week of learning and fun for our students. And thanks to all the parents and caregivers who support our kids to learn to love and protect nature. That means the world to us!

SD83 families are invited to take part in the Farmer’s Choice Box Program. To order a veggie box please click here and to order a protein box please click here.

Food boxes are delivered to the school for easy pick up. For parent convenience, information about this program can be found on our website under the “Parents” drop down menu.

On Friday, April 19th our community was lucky to have three grade 5 South Canoe students take on a very cool community project. They planned and ran their own tree planting workshop for interested citizens in Blackburn Park. How inspiring to see young energy, creativity and passion at work! Great job Sayda, Ayla and Julianne!

All throughout the school there was a buzz of excitement as classes took time to watch the solar eclipse reports coming in from across North America. Students asked incredible questions, made beautiful art, and learned a whole lot of science today! It has to be said that Ms. Major’s favourite part of the day was blasting Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” over the PA as students arrived at school and telling her eclipse joke. Oh, I’m glad you asked… “Mom, do you know what an eclipse is?” “No Son” 🙂

With the guidance of our amazing parent, Melanie Bennett, and support from our community volunteers, Robinette and Doug, the staff and students of South Canoe chopped, dehydrated and assembled soup jars for our local food bank to provide to those in the community who need affordable access to healthy food. A huge thank you to everyone who contributed to this planning and work. Most importantly, thank you to all our students for your generosity of time and caring!

School District No. 83 (North Okanagan-Shuswap) has engaged in discussions about the configuration of K-12 schools in the Salmon Arm area.

As part of this process, we are hosting information sessions open to parents and any interested members of the public.

You are welcome to attend one of the following sessions:

• March 13, 2024 – 6 to 8 pm
• March 14, 2024 – 5:30 to 7:30 pm
• April 23, 2024 – 6 to 8 pm

These sessions will be take place at the District Education Support Centre located at 341 Shuswap Street SW, Salmon Arm, BC.

To ensure we have sufficient space for everyone, we request that you RSVP at least three days before the session you plan to attend by scanning the QR code or clicking the link: https://forms.office.com/r/4GKUgjU0Vd.

Students in Elementary and Middle schools will be receiving their second Written Learning Update (formerly known as report cards) for the 2023-24 school year on Wednesday, March 6, 2024.

This second Learning Update provides information about your child’s engagement in learning, relationships with others, and social/emotional well-being. You will also find proficiency levels and descriptive feedback in all of the curricular areas using the following framework:

• student’s strengths
• areas of growth
• next steps at school or home

Also included in your child’s Learning Update is a self-reflection of the Core Competencies they focused on this term. The Core Competencies are sets of intellectual, personal, and social and emotional proficiencies that all students need in order to engage in deep, lifelong learning. Specific goal(s) are also included in all Learning Updates, as goal setting is a curricular requirement and also an important life long skill.

Please review the Learning Update with your child and celebrate all of their successes to date this year! As always, please feel free to reach out to your child’s teacher if you have any questions or concerns about your child’s learning journey.

Swing by Piccadilly Mall this week to see all the amazing SD83 art exhibits from our elementary schools. This year our South Canoe art theme was “trees”…and we think it’s pretty lovely!