Principal’s Message

Spring has sprung and we are enjoying being outdoors even more. On any given recess or lunch break you can see students playing Man Tracker, 9 Square, 6 Square, 4 Square, Baseball, Soccer and of course, Skipping!  We’ve had a renewed interest in playground games, and students are always keen to learn something new.  Classes are learning in the outdoor classrooms, enjoying nature and focusing on place-based learning. A new addition to our landscape is the “Friendship Snake” coordinated by our grade 7 class and created by students during our last buddy activity.

As we enter into May, our school focus is Compassion, in recognition of Mental Health Week, which is May 6-12th, 2024. As always, we will continue to promote and practice compassion, as it makes an enormous difference in our lives and communities.

Please continue to read on for more information about upcoming activities.

Pam Mair, Principal

Biking News

We are so fortunate to have a large biking community within our school.  We do ask that students walk their bikes on and off the school property. Please be mindful of traffic and parked cars.  Make sure you walk your bikes around parked vehicles.

Bike Safety

Our Primary students engaged in a bike rodeo put on by our grade 7 students. Stations included helmet inspection, school bike etiquette and road safety. The RCMP will be on site on May 10 to educate intermediate students about bike safety. As a means to encourage students to wear helmets, AHE will be giving away two helmets during Go-By-Bike Week June 3-9  (one primary and one intermediate). Students observed coming and going from school grounds following AHE bike expectations will be given a ticket to enter the draw. If you know of any students in need of bike safety gear, please reach out to Mrs. Mair for further support. Keep your eyes open for more information about Go By Bike Week!

ShredHERS and ShredCOED

The Stoke Youth Network, the Revelstoke Cycling Association, and Wandering Wheels are once again running the ShredHERS Mountain Bike Program this spring. New this year, they have applied for extra funding to offer ShredCOED so everyone in Grade 6 & 7 can participate if they would like to.

ShredHERS is for self-identifying girls in grades 6 & 7. This is coached by female instructors and no experience is necessary. This is a fun way to ride with a supportive group of girls in an easy going environment. Levels of bikers are split up when necessary to ensure everyone is getting the appropriate level of challenge.

ShredCOED is for all genders in grade 6 & 7. We heard that everyone else also wants to mountain bike so we are making it happen this year with this program. Again, no experience is necessary and levels will be split up so everyone is getting the appropriate level of challenge.

For more information, please contact Ainslee Arthurs, Revelstoke’s Youth Liaison for Stoke Youth at (250) 837-7878.

Explorations

Intermediate Explorations

On Friday afternoons in May,  Grade 4-7 students are participating in Explorations.  It is a chance to meet new friends from other classrooms and explore an area of interest. Choices include technology, drama, art, outdoor education, hiking, volleyball and yearbook.  Be sure to check in with your child to find out which activity they are taking part in. The last Intermediate Exploration will take place on May 17th. Many thanks to our parent and community volunteers who made it possible to offer many activities!

 

Primary Explorations

Primary students will get a chance to explore areas of interest starting on Friday May 31st. Primary Exploration sessions include Technology, Art, Music, STEM and Outdoor Education.

Sports and More Sports

Grade Specific Sports

The District Grade activities continue with Grade 2’s and Grade 5 students participating in swim lessons at the Community Centre Pool on Mondays and Wednesdays.  Our Gr. 7 students will soon visit the Revelstoke Golf Club for lessons in June.

Grade 4/5 Basketball

Our grade 4/5 basketball session will be be coming to a close this week with a final game against the BVE grade 4/5 team. Thanks to Mark Brown and his parent volunteers who have made this happen! We’ll keep you posted if we are able to provide another session.

Smashball

Thank you to the RSS Volleyball course and coach, Mrs. Hoshizaki for providing the opportunity for our grade 6 and 7 students to learn and develop their volleyball skills. Students travelled to RSS for Smashball weekly throughout March and April and participated in a final tournament on April 25th. Thanks to AHE teacher sponsors, Ms. Hall and Mr. Cadegan. A great time was had by all.

Jump Rope For Heart

 

Our JUMP ROPE FOR HEART event was a huge success. The weather held for our student body to engage in fun stations outside, while some of our senior students shot Hoops for Heart in the gym. Thank you to students for JUMPING into the fun. It is much appreciated. A great time was had by all! We would like to give a great big thanks to Mrs. Haworth and Ms. Tedesco for organizing this fun event. We almost doubled our fundraising goal, raising $3969 for the Heart and Stroke Foundation!

Sports Day

AHE’s Sports Day is planned for Friday, May 24th, weather permitting.  Intermediate field events and Primary fun events will be on Friday, May 24th, and our Intermediate track events are scheduled to take place on the morning of Monday, May 27th. Volunteers will be needed in order to successfully run these events. Please watch for volunteer notices coming home. Our PAC group will be offering a Subway lunch on this day.

The District Field Meet will take place at CPE on the morning of June 4th, and the District Track events will be on June 6th.

Grade 7 News

Grad Portraits

Melissa Sessa will be taking Grade 7 graduation photos on May 15th. Copies of photos will be sent to families in an online gallery.

Sunnybrae

Well done to our Grade 7’s and their parents who have been working hard this year to fundraise for their year-end trip. The group is looking forward to this time together to bond, extend their leadership and team work skills and have fun prior to their final weeks of their elementary education. This year’s Sunnybrae trip is planned for May 30 and 31st. Grade 7 students, accompanied by Mrs.Ediger and Mrs. Mackenzie will be departing Arrow Heights on Thursday, May 30th to head to Sunnybrae Camp on the Shuswap Lake. The group will be participating in activities led by camp leaders including: climbing, crafts, wilderness skills, low ropes course, horsemanship, canoeing, archery, plus group activities with the grade 7 students from CPE and BVE. They will spend the night at Sunnybrae and return on May 31st. More information and permission slips will becoming home soon!

Grade 7 Grad

The leaving ceremony for our grade 7 graduates is planned for June 19th at 6 p.m. Please save the date to join us as we bid farewell to our most senior students. It’s always fun to hear themshare their fond memories of their time at A.H.E.

Class Configurations

It’s already nearing the time of year when schools begin creating classes for the upcoming school year.  Although student placements cannot be finalized until the first week of the new school year, this process allows us to plan for the best possible placements for all of our students.

The following is a list of criteria we consider when making student placements:

·   the child’s physical and social maturity

·   the child’s intellectual development level and age

·   gender balance in each class

·   the child’s relationships with other students

·   parent information

·   student support services and the composition of each class

Although we do not consider requests for a specific teacher, parents are welcome to provide us with information relating to the above factors.  Parents/guardians requesting special consideration are to discuss their child’s educational circumstances with the Principal.

As always, we may need to adjust classes through the first week of September when we determine how many students have arrived in Revelstoke or moved away during the summer break.  For this reason, we do not publish class lists prior to the first day of school.  If you have further questions regarding this topic, please contact Mrs. Mair at the school.

Numeracy News

Instructional Routines

Instructional Routines are used across the grades in mathematics to build coherence across the grades in mathematical discourse, developing curricular competencies and content and building a culture of mathematics in classrooms and schools. Once teachers and students understand the structure and expectations of the routine, they can move right into doing math together. Instructional routines are used throughout the school year and some teachers use them as part of their daily and weekly planning for mathematics learning. They are often used at the beginning of a math lesson, to engage in doing mathematics together. We often engage in learning a new instructional routine during Assemblies.

The Instructional Routine being highlighted this month is “Which One Doesn’t Belong?” In this routine, The teacher presents a set of four items such as numbers (two-digit numbers, fractions, percentages or combinations of numbers) in a 2×2 array for students for discuss if they had to choose one of the numbers to “not belong” or which one is the most unique, which one would it be and why.

Mathematics Curricular Connections: number concepts and operations, visualize, communicate mathematical ideas, represent mathematical ideas in different forms (pictorial, symbolic), use mathematical vocabulary and language to contribute to mathematical discussions, explain and justify.

Here’s one to try at home!

For the past several years, Arrow Heights Elementary has participated in the Brock Caribou Math Competition. This competition is divided into six separate test days. The overall ratings of these competitions are averaged out and we have overall Caribou Cup results that are shared in June. Participation is voluntary. Every student involved has worked hard on all the competition days throughout the year.

We have one special mention for this past competition. There were 7,961 participants in the grade 3/4 May portion from all over the world. Abby Feldman in grade 4 at AHE came in first place. Congratulations, Abby!

PAC News

April showers sure did bring May flowers. I can’t believe there is only 2 months left of school. How did this happen? It seems like just last month was September. It’s been a great year for PAC with tons of new fundraising ideas and we are already looking forward to next year.  PAC will be hosting our last hot lunch of the year on Sports Day May 24th.  Please keep an eye out for the Subway order forms that will be coming home soon.  Please make sure order forms are returned with payment by the due date of May 17th.  No late order forms will be accepted.  We will be hosting our second to last PAC meeting this Monday May 6th at 6:30pm in the AHE library,  All parents/caregivers and grandparents are welcome to attend and we always provide childcare.

Upcoming Dates

May 6th: PAC Meeting 6:30 pm

May 16th: Hot Lunch (Community Kitchen)

May 20th: Victoria Day (No School)

May 24th: AHE Sports Day and PAC lunch

May 27th: Intermediate Track events at Centennial Field (a.m.)

May 27th: Gr. 6/7 Final Band Concert (p.m)

May 30/31: Grade 7 Sunnybrae trip

June 4: District Field events at CPE (a.m.)

June 6: District Track events at Centennial Field (a.m.)