Edition 2021/03/12 In the Loop

March 12, 2021

A huge shoutout to all of you for the amazing work you do with our students and their families.  It’s been a crazy year and your commitment to focussing on student care and learning has been outstanding. We wish you a well-deserved Spring Break!!!!!

Thank you to all grade 5, 6 and 8 teachers and administrators that participated in the MDI this year. Information about student’s health and wellbeing in their own voices will be a valuable tool for all of us. District and school teams will be able to use this data to make informed decisions about how to support student well-being going forward.

Message from the MDI Team:
Thank you so much for participating in the MDI this year. So far, over 40,000 Grades 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8 students from across the country have been able to tell us about their lives inside and outside of school, made possible with the support of teachers and administrators.

 The following MDI feedback form takes about 5 minutes to complete, and we value everyone’s feedback on the MDI process in schools (or type in your browser: bit.ly/mdi202021Feedback).

 

DISTRICT  RESOURCES K-12

DISTRICT PROFESSIONAL LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES and RESOURCES

NEW Microsoft Office Training Info Session
Tuesday, March 30, 2021 [Register]
Want to learn the Microsoft Office Suite? Already know Office, but want to buff up your skills or get certified? Join us for this Microsoft Office Training Info Session! This info session will discuss the training available to you through Jasperactive MOS Online. The Jasperactive tool gives you the option to learn at your own pace, in the learning style that works best for you. When you finish a session, you’ll also have the opportunity to get certified.

Connecting the Dots: Primary Domino Math Games
Tuesday, April 13, 2021 [Register]
Langley Primary Teachers’ Association presents Jane Felling. Dominoes are one of the most versatile and easiest math manipulatives to use in your classroom whether you are teaching whole group, integrating centres, or solitaire. Dominoes are easy to socially distance too! Come prepared to play our favourite domino math games.

CONNECTING TO OUR COMMUNITY

Student Success
The Spring Edition of Student Success is now out in the Langley Advance Times. Read about our upcoming West Fine Art Show from April 9-11 at the Glass House Winery; three incredible and innovative Capstone Projects from our students; the SASSY Awards; Scholarships; and Outdoor Classrooms Initiatives. For more information, click here.

Calling all Designers and Artists
The Foundation is offering two opportunities for student artists and designers to showcase their works.
Art Contest: Submit art projects – paintings, photography or sculpture for exposure on the LSDF website and for adjudication to receive awards of $500, $300, and $200. Deadline for submission is March 17. All submitted works will be featured online at langleyschooldistrictfoundation.com from April 9-30 and winners will be announced and celebrated on May 10, 2021.

Designer Contest
Chloe Kim, a grade 12 student at Walnut Grove Secondary has sent out a challenge to all secondary students to design an illustration that conveys both an appreciation of philanthropy and ecology to be featured on an eco-friendly cloth bag. As part of Chloe’s initiative, the bags will be produced and marketed for sale throughout the school district and community with all proceeds going to the Langley School District Foundation to support Food for Thought Programs. Please encourage your students to submit their design ideas to chloekim672@gmail.com. For more information, click here.

OTHER EXTERNAL STUDENT/STAFF OPPORTUNITIES and LEARNING RESOURCES

SOGI Newsletter
This month’s theme is ‘allyship’.  Here are some resources for those who are new to the conversation and are ready to start moving towards being a SOGI ally.

Diversity and Anti-discrimination Resources
Check out this excellent resource discussing Racism in British Columbia. Topics include: Indigenous, Black, Chinese, South Asian and Japanese communities, slavery and systemic racism.

www.tinyurl.com/ChallengingRacistBC

This and other resources can be found in our Diversity OneNote that is being updated weekly.

www.tinyurl.com/SD35DiversityBinder

We hope these resources help to keep a focus on diversity and anti-discrimination all year long.

Outdoor Education Resources:  CBEEN (Columbia Basin Environmental Education)
Outdoor Learning Spring Virtual Workshop Series is now open for registration
Click here for the line-up of free virtual workshops.

Earthy Chats Podcast Launch
The premier episode of the monthly podcast, Earthy Chats, has arrived! Co-hosts Jade Harvey-Berrill and Ian Shanahan chatted with Dr. Gillian Judson of imaginED and the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University.

BC’s Non-profit Outdoor Learning Store is going Canada-wide March 1st!
Please share the good news with your BCSSA colleagues far & wide across the country! New Spring outdoor learning equipment is available as well as a number of new resources and equipment for the season ahead! Check out the website here.

#OurStoriesOurVoices – Educator’s Guide and National Contest

Canada’s National History Society is proud to introduce #OurStoriesOurVoices, a new national youth program that gives students aged 9 to 18 the opportunity to explore a story that is important in their community’s past and share it with Canadians across the country through social media, an online contest, a virtual youth forum, and a special publication.

Bring #OurStoriesOurVoices into your classroom ahead of the national contest to bolster students’ abilities to establish historical significance and use primary source evidence.

Register to receive a FREE digital pre-contest educators’ package. You’ll have access to promotional materials, classroom resources, and details about the #OurStoriesOurVoices contest. Teachers who register will also be mailed a free poster to display in their classroom.

Choose to Challenge – Youth Virtual Panel Event
Tuesday, March 30th – 12:00 PM PST
This youth led webinar theme refers to challenge and call out gender bias and inequality. For more information, click here.

R2R (Reel 2 Real) Online Festival
Throughout April 14-23 – Online
Teachers will be able to access every film in the festival with a unique online pass. Available province-wide, these programs come with study guides (up to 3) and resources to help you integrate our programs into the school curriculum, as well as instructions to set up your own animation stations and steps to produce an animation workshop in the classroom without an instructor. Click here to find out more!

Speech Arts Festival
Prince George Speech Arts and Drama Festival Society presents its 38th Annual Festival themed “The Places We Couldn’t Go.” They are highlighting Class 16 Storytelling/Oral History and are hoping that with lower fees and the video upload format, more classes will be able to participate in the group categories. Click here to find out more.

Looking for Testers!
Let’s Design a Cleaner City is an online program that empowers students to solve real world problems. In this program, students expand their knowledge of urban challenges by learning about major sources of urban and industrial pollution. Students will then use the design thinking process to imagine and create a cleaner city. For more information, click here.

TD Grade One Book Giveaway Virtual Launch Party
March 12-April 2, 2021
We are very excited to share with you a pre-recorded video of our official Launch Party for the 2020 title Moira’s Birthday by Robert Munsch. The live launch was held earlier this week in collaboration with two Grade 1 classes from Harry Camsell School in Hay River, Northwest Territories. This video includes:

  • A full reading of Moira’s Birthday by CBC Kids host Tony Kim
  • A drawing segment with Michael Martchenko
  • A Q & A with the real-life Moira who talks about being the inspiration for a Robert Munsch story

Grade 1 students can enjoy the festivities and perhaps organize a party of their own.Teachers can also download printable Moira-themed activities from bookcentre.ca/moira. While we were unable to create a French video for L’anniversaire, we will have the activities available in French in the coming days.

The video will be available from March 12-April 2, 2021 at bookcentre.ca/watchmoira. Please share this information with teachers.

 

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