Hello families, 

I trust you all had a great weekend of rest after the Halloween excitement! We had some fun times last week and the costumes were so creative! 

Some highlights from last week include:

• Take me Outside week – Take me outside day was Wed. Oct. 23 and classes were encouraged to be doing outside learning for the week. Many of our classes did just this and had visits to local outdoor areas and spent time in our own playground area. For more information about Take Me Outside, you can visit: https://takemeoutside.ca/tmoday/
• Slocan Pools Wildsight visit – In line with Take me Outside, a few of our intermediate classes had outdoor excursions hosted by Wildsight at the Slocan Pools. The visiting teacher engaged students in many different learning activities about our local environment and habitats. 
• Pumpkin carvings – Our intermediate classes did an afternoon of pumpkin carvings. So many great designs were made and everyone had a great time digging out the insides and carving their own pumpkin!
• Trafalgar big buddies and peer tutors – Did you know that we have a great connection with Trafalgar? We have several groups of students each week who come in to work with their buddy classes. In addition, we have a peer tutoring group from Trafalgar who come in on Wednesday afternoon to support the learning in our classrooms and work with students on their reading, math, and other activities in the classroom. 
• Halloween celebrations – Of course, the week ended with a great celebration of Halloween! Students arrived in such a variety of great costumes! Staff joined in the fun and we had a team of Dominoes Drivers and a team of Inside Out Characters. There was a parade throughout the school and in the gym, and then a Monster Mash dance party. 
• GROWS assembly – We ended our week with our first “GROWS” assembly. GROWS is part of our code of conduct and encourages students to have Good attitude, Responsibility, and Open mind and Open heart, Work together and be Safe. This month our assembly was about “Good attitude”. We followed it up with a multiage activity focusing on the importance of a growth mindset. We also gave out prizes for students who submitted “gotcha” cards (we “gotcha” having a good attitude, etc..). For the month of October we celebrated collecting 220 gotcha cards. Way to go, South Nelson students!

A few reminders for you:

1. Student outerwear – The weather is getting cooler! Please make sure that your child is coming prepared for the weather, whatever may come, during the day. It can be quite unpredictable, and often our classes go outside for significant parts of the day for outdoor learning. Students should have warm jackets, rain jackets, water proof shoes, etc.. Always better to be overprepared than not!

Some upcoming dates (you can also find these posted on our calendar: https://southnelson.sd8.bc.ca/events/calendar)

1. Nov. 7 – Family engagement – Sexual Health, Consent Education, Sextortion. For information visit: https://www.sd8.bc.ca/familyengagement
2. Nov. 8 – Remembrance Day Assembly
3. Nov. 11- Remembrance Day holiday – NO SCHOOL
4. Dec. 12 – Winter Concert and celebration 1:30pm
5. Dec. 17 – Santa’s Workshop

Finally, some family learning! 

Here are some resources to help you support the learning at home this week:

1. Here are some Remembrance Day videos you may want to share together as a family:
   
   1. What is Remembrance Day for Kids? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-kY_s6EjZs
   2. Primary: A Poppy is to Remember – Read Aloud: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYVIHzqZBig
   3. Intermediate: Why do people wear a poppy on Remembrance Day? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkfJyOzQWC0
   4. Tales of Animals in War: https://www.veterans.gc.ca/en/remembrance/classroom/tales-of-animals-in-war
   5. Remembrance Day crafts: https://www.awesomelycrafty.com/2019/11/09/10-easy-remembrance-day-crafts-for-children/
2. Nov. 8 is Indigenous Veterans Day. You can find some great resources for learning at our SD8 site here: https://www.sd8.bc.ca/blog/indigenous-veterans-day-november-8

That’s it for now. 

Have a great week!

Mrs. Snell