It’s that time of year again to get you spring flower orders in! Spring Flower Order Forms were sent home with students this week. Orders can also be placed online at http://hillcrest.schoollunchorders.net/

Please make cheques payable to Hillcrest Elementary PAC and contact Morgan Wilson (mturland@gmail.com) if you have any questions.

Orders are due by April 16, 2021.

Thank you to all of our grade 5 students who participated in our modified basketball program this year. To ensure we stayed within our cohort structure this year, students were put on three seperate teams coached by Mrs. Menzies, Mr. Roberts and Mr. Ritchie/Ms. Tyssen. To wrap up the season, students participated in a year end tournament (within thier cohorts) the week before spring break. It has been amazing to see how much our students skills have improved over the past couple months despite their limited game experience. All students who participated indicated that they were excited about playing basketball again next year at SMS!

Congratulations to Mrs. Meerza’s class who won the School District Move and Groove Challenge during the last week of February. They performed daily active living challenges and sent photos to Ms. Paiement. They received $40 and chose to use the money to purchase new skipping ropes and chalk for outside play.  Way to go everyone- stay active!

Dear Hillcrest Families,

Your child should have brought home their Term 2 Report Card today. The Term 2 report card provides information about your child’s academic, personal, and social development, including the progress they have made towards the goal(s) we set with them in November.  This report card reflects some of the grade specific Curricular Competencies (what students can do) and Content Standards (what students know) that your child has explored through their learning. Please take time to celebrate your child’s learning this term and talk about ways they can continue to grow. 

Attached to this email is a letter that helps explain our new report card format. Below you will also find a link to a fun video about the performance indicator scale that is used on our new report cards. Thank you to Mrs. Menzies for agreeing to share her “Report Card Story” with us!

If you have any questions about your child’s progress, please feel free to contact your child’s teacher.  Once you and your child have reviewed the report card, please sign the front of the envelope, and return the envelope to your child’s teacher.

Sincerely, 

Gord Ritchie

Principal – Hillcrest Elementary School

There was a sea of pink at Hillcrest today as we witnessed another amazing display of school spirit. Pink shirt day is a day where we celebrate kindness, tolerance and inclusion. A message that fits perfectly with our school motto “Where Everyone Belongs”, and is something we promote and practice daily in our school.

We had another fantastic display of school spirit on Friday Feb 19 during CRAZY HAIR DAY. Thank you to all of our staff and students who joined in the fun as we celebrated our differences by getting a little crazy, with our hair that is.

Our season of winter fieldtrips is coming to a close. The above photos are from Mrs. Larmand’s Cross Country Skiing field trip and Mrs. Meerza’s Snow Shoeing Field Trip. Thank you to all of our parent volunteers for helping provide such wonderful experiences for our students.

As spring approaches it is common to see wildlife in the Hillcrest area. Over the weekend there were even reports of a cougar near Crystal Springs subdivision! Bear and Cougar attacks are uncommon, however, it is important that we take precautions and be prepared if we come across a wild animal. 

Please take some time to talk to your children about precautions to take when playing in your neighborhood and walking back and forth to school. Below are some basic safety guidlines. For more information please visit the following the Wildsafe BC website at https://wildsafebc.com/.

To DO

• Walk in groups of 3 or more and make lots of noise.
• If you carry food, it should be sealed up in your lunch kit and backpack.
• Be alert, look around.
• Use sidewalks along the road instead of shortcuts through forest or shrubby areas.
• If you do see a bear/cougar, keep calm, make yourself looks as large as possible, back away slowly, speak in a loud low voice if the animal continues to approach.
• If it is a bear you should avoid eye contact. If it is a cougar you should maintain eye contact.  
• Please report any wild animal sightings to the school.

Do NOT

• Do not walk alone.
• Do not run away. Sudden movements may provoke an attack.
• Do not carry or eat food on the way home.
• Do not approach a bear, cougar or other wild animal, and do not leave out food for it.

Thanks for your help and support.

LINKS to Wildsafe BC Brochures

Help! The Lost and Found bin at Hillcrest is overflowing! To make it easier to spot things you might recognize the items have been spread out in our main hallway for the next week. Please have your child collect any items you recognize in the video above ASAP. Unclaimed items will be taken to the Thrift Store on Feb 26, 2021.

Thank you to our coaches Kali, Gabriel, and Georgia from Just for Kicks Dance for an amazing dance program this year! Our students had a blast learning some new moves and working together on a class routine. With the support of our PAC, each class received four lessons in total over the course of four weeks.

Don’t forget to wear PINK on Wednesday February 24 in recognition of Pink Shirt Day. The theme for this year’s Pink Shirt Day is “Lift each other up”; a simple but powerful message encouraging us to look beyond our differences and celebrate the things that make us unique. When we lift each other up, we see past the things that separate us and see instead the things that unite us as people. Take your kindness to new heights!