This is the third week in a row Grade 2 students from Mrs. Corbett’s class have been skiing at Larch Hills! Accoding to Mrs. Corbett all of her students have done amazingly well and have improved a ton. They even did a 5+ km loop today! Thank you to all of our parent volunteers for making our ski program possible.

Unplug and Play Family Literacy Week will look a little different this year, but we still want families to have fun while reducing screen time! Instead of group events, the Literacy Alliance of the Shuswap Society (LASS) has created a free take-home bag that contains crafts, games, and a book. Families can register for a bag and pick it up at their community library: https://www.shuswapliteracy.ca/unplug-and-play-registration/

Dear Parents,

Over the past year School District No. 83 has been making the transition to a new student information management system called MyEducation BC. As part of this transition parents can expect a new format for their child’s report card. The new report card format was developed by the SD83 Communicating Student Learning Committee.

Our MyEducation team has been working extremely hard to complete all of the set-up work required for teachers to be able to produce their report cards, however, the system is not yet ready for teachers to begin inputting their comments and marks. As a result, we will be delaying our Term 2 report cards to allow teachers adequate time to learn the new system and complete their report cards. Parents can expect Term 2 Report Cards to come home on March 11th this year instead of on Feb 13th as previously advertised.

As always, please don’t hesitate to contact your child’s teacher if you have any questions or concerns about your child’s learning.

Sincerely,

Gord Ritchie

Principal – Hillcrest Elementary School

The spring and summer hot lunch menu is available now!  A new option for your student at Panago is chicken bites; they come in a pack of five with optional dipping sauce.  These have been a hit at some other schools in the district.  Thanks for supporting the Hillcrest PAC!

HOT LUNCH DATES	ORDER CLOSING DATES
Friday, Jan 29/21 – Subway	Sunday, Jan 24/21
Friday, Feb 26/21 – Hungry Panda	Sunday, Feb 21/21
Friday, Apr 23/21 – Panago	*Thursday Apr 15/21
Friday, May 28/21 – Subway	Sunday, May 23/21
Friday, Jun 18/21 – Panago	*Thursday Jun 10/21

**Hot lunch order is not available in March due to spring break.

CLICK HERE for more information on how to place your order online.

Dear Parents and Guardians of Students in Grades 5, 

Once again, School District No. 83 has partnered with the Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP) at UBC to invite Grades 5 and 8 students to take part in completing the Middle Years Development Instrument (MDI). The MDI is a self-report questionnaire that asks children about their thoughts, feelings, and experiences in school and in the community. The survey questions align with the BC Ministry of Education’s K-12 curriculum which includes a focus on promoting children’s personal and social competencies.  

In previous years, students in Grades 4 and 7 have completed the questionnaire but this year, our district will be inviting students in Grades 5 and 8, so there is not overlap with the Grade 4 and 7 FSA assessments. 

The questionnaire will be administered between January 11^th and March 5^th, 2021 at your child’s school.  

An informed passive consent letter was emailed to grade 5 parents on November 27^th. The MDI is voluntary; your child can choose whether they would like to complete the questionnaire. 

If you have any questions, please contact: 

Jennifer Findlay 

District Principal 

jfindlay@sd83.bc.ca 

It is with great pride we share the final version of our Winter Musical Production “The Greatest Snowman”. We embarked on a new adventure this year and attempted an online production with the help and leadership of Stephen Ingle from Single Shot Productions. Congratulations to all of our Grade 4&5 students on an outstanding performance and thank you to Stephen for the countless hours of editing required to create such a special keepsake for our actors.

Dear Hillcrest Families,

I hope that everyone had a fabulous Christmas and a wonderful New Year! As we say goodbye to 2020 and welcome in 2021 with hope and optimism, I would like to thank everyone for keeping the Hillcrest community safe and healthy throughout the pandemic.

I am so proud of our students, teachers and parents for coming together to ensure students remained engaged in quality learning experiences over the past few months, despite the restrictions in place for eveyone’s safety.

A critical part of our COVID Safety Plan is completing the daily Health Check with your child. Please take some time to review the Health Check questions and the clear process (see below) to follow if your child is symptomatic before returning to school.

We look forward to welcoming all of our students back to class on Monday morning!

Sincerely,
Gord Ritchie – Principal

Review Health Check Process Now!

In case you missed it, below is a link to our Week at a Glance for the week of Jan 4, 2020.

LINK: https://conta.cc/358xwg1

Fantastic job with our food drive this year Hillcrest! Thanks to your generous donations a total of 558 items of food and $146 in cash was donated to the Second Harvest Food Bank in Salmon Arm. An extra big thank you goes out to Mr. Smith’s class for coordinating this years food drive for us!!!

Thank you to everyone who participated in some of the Grade 5 Leadership activities that took place the week before Winter Break. What an amazing display of school spirit! Above are photos of some of the phenomenal non-edible Gingerbread Houses, homemade ornaments, and festive sweaters that helped put a smile on everyone’s face.