The Week Ahead is back!!  We will do our best to post information for the upcoming week each Sunday or Monday, so families can see what our school is up to.  Please be sure to check out the Upcoming Events, in the side bar, to see events/activities taking place beyond the current week.

Monday, November 4th
Bus Safety Presentation I. All of our Kindergarten classes will participate in a 30 minute bus safety presentation with Buster T. Bus. The presentation will focus on the students’ job of helping ensure the bus driver can focus on his job, and what the students can do to be safe when waiting at the bus stop and how to follow the driver’s signals when crossing the street.

Tuesday, November 5th
Bus Safety Presentation II. All of our Grade 4 students will receive a 30-minute bus safety presentation from three of our school district’s bus drivers.
A Visit from Ardie. Mme Genevieve’s class will have a visit from Ardie Burnham, who works at the Salmon Arm branch of the Okanagan Regional Library. Ardie will talk with the students about what the ORL has to offer and how students can get a Library Card, if they do not already have one.
A Visit from MLA Greg Kyllo. The Grade 4/5 students recently had a presentation from Mayor Alan Harrison, on municipal government. Mr. Kyllo will talk to our Grade 4/5 students about the roles and responsibilities of the provincial government.

Wednesday, November 6th
Bring a Kid to Work Day (Gr. 9) and Social Responsibility Day (Gr. 8). Bastion Elementary will be hosting students from SAS – Jackson and Shuswap Middle. Some Grade 9 students will be at Bastion to experience what a career in education is like, and some Grade 8 students will be volunteering as a way to give back to the community. Very often former students from Bastion come for the day, which is a neat experience for those students and their former teachers.
Mme Barsch/M Cote Class Field Trip. Mme Bartsch and M Cote’s classes will be going to the Salmon Arm Arts Centre to see the newest art exhibit called The Little Lake. The Little Lake is a felted fibre art piece, celebrating the historic McGuire Lake. A few of our classes have already had the opportunity to see the exhibit and everyone has been very impressed!

Thursday, November 7th
Fun Food Order are Due. If you are submitting a new Fun Food order, please ensure you have completed the online or paper order form and that you have submitted payment to the main office (clearly marked with the student’s name). Here’s the link to the Fun Food webpage:

https://bas.sd83.bc.ca/fun-food-days/

Friday, November 8th
Remembrance Day Assembly. Mrs. MacDermott and Mme Candy have been working with some of our students to prepare an assembly that honors the men and women who fought and died in the line of duty, to protect our freedom as Canadians. The assembly will begin at 10:15 and family members are welcome to attend. If your son/daughter is a member of Brownies, Cubs, Girl Guides, Scouts, or Cadets, he/she is invited to wear his/her uniform during the assembly.
Release the Rhythm. Our first Performing Arts presentation will take place at 12:30. Daniel Duggan, of Rhythm Resource, is an expert percussionist who will entertain and involve our students! The show invites the whole audience to participate right from the start as they embark on a percussive journey around the world to discover how other cultures and communities use rhythm to build community and in turn build the community of the school. Families are welcome to attend the performance.

Only three more sleeps until Halloween!!  We would like to remind our students and their families of Bastion’s guidelines for Halloween costumes:

• Please ensure costumes are respectful of various races and cultures;
• Replica weapons (sword, dagger, gun, etc.) should be left at home and saved for Halloween night;
• Masks of any type should be left at home and saved for Halloween night;
• Costumes should follow the school’s dress code in order to be respectful to self and others.

In this current day and age, we have to be very careful with students bringing replica weapons to school or wearing masks at school.  There is a lot of sensitivity (for a variety of reasons) to these types of items and we need to be respectful to all members of our school community, while still providing a fun opportunity for students to celebrate the day in their Halloween costumes.

If there is a chance your son or daughter will get uncomfortable in his/her costume during the day, we are encouraging those students to bring a change of clothes to put on later in the day.  During the day, we would like all students to act responsibly with their costumes, to ensure that none of the costumes get ruined before Halloween night.

Classroom teachers will be deciding how their classrooms will celebrate Halloween, and make plans appropriate for the age group.  If you have any specific questions regarding the classroom activities, please contact your child’s teacher.

Our school believes in healthy eating, we would like to strongly recommend that all students save their Halloween treats to be eaten and enjoyed at home, after school.  Thank you for support!

On Friday, October 18th, three high school students from the SD83 Leadership Committee came to Bastion to talk to the students about Toonie Tuesday.  This is a district-wide initiative where students and staff members work together to raise money for a community in Tanzania.

Collectively, the school district has been raising money for many years and donates the money to Free the Children, a Canadian organization started by Craig and Mark Kieburger.  Over the years, some of our high school students from our SD83 Leadership Committee, have even had the chance to go to various countries to help build schools in communities our school district has supported.

At Bastion, we are encouraging our students and staff members to bring a Toonie to donate to Free the Children.  Tomorrow, October 22nd, will be the official collection day.  We hope our school community will continue to support this worthwhile cause.

Thank you for your support!

 

The Terry Fox National School Run will be held on Thursday, September 26th.  Our students will continue where Terry Fox left off, by participating in a run and by making donations to The Terry Fox Foundation.  We are encouraging each student and staff member to bring in a Toonie for Terry on Thursday or Friday.  Families are welcome to join us for the run!  The run will begin shortly after 12:30 pm, on the upper soccer field.  If you would like to donate online, please use the following link:

http://www.terryfox.ca/BastionElementary

 

Orange Shirt Day will be on Monday, September 30th.  Orange Shirt Day grew out of Phyllis’ story of having her shiny new orange shirt taken away on her first day of school at a residential school, and it has become an opportunity to keep the discussion on all aspects of residential schools happening annually.

The date was chosen because it is the time of year in which children were taken from their homes to residential schools, and because it is an opportunity to set the stage for anti-racism and anti-bullying policies for the coming school year.  It also gives teachers time to plan events that will include children, as we want to ensure that we are passing the story and learning on to the next generations.

Orange Shirt Day is also an opportunity for First Nations, local governments, schools and communities to come together in the spirit of reconciliation and hope for generations of children to come.

 

Individual student photos will be taken during the morning of Monday, September 30th.  Mountain West Studios will be taking the photos, and families should receive “proofs” a couple of weeks later.  Please remember, the students should not wear green, as a “green screen” is used for the physical background.  Families can then select an appropriate background from the choices provided online or on the “proofs”.

Please note:  This is the same day as Orange Shirt Day, so if you do not want your child to wear an orange shirt in his/her photo, please send the orange shirt to school for your child to wear after the photo.

On Wednesday, October 2nd, at 6:00 pm, there will be an information session for parents who are interested in registering their children in French Immersion Kindergarten for September 2020.  Mme Laura Jegues (vice-principal of Bastion) will be hosting the information session in Rm. 19 (one of our Kindergarten classrooms).

The purpose of this information session is to provide parents who are new to the French Immersion program and are interested in learning more about the Early French Immersion program at Bastion Elementary.

Registration for Bastion Elementary’s French Immersion and English Kindergarten programs will take place on Tuesday, October 8th, between 8:30 am and 2:30 pm.

When registering your child, please bring your child’s birth certificate, and BC Services Card.  If you are registering for the English Kindergarten program, please bring proof of residence (eg. driver’s license, utility bill, etc.).  If you have your child’s immunization record, please bring that with you as well.