Grade 8

During October, a survey was conducted to ascertain if a grade 8 class would be beneficial to our community. The response was very positive and almost every parent agreed that we should have a grade 8 class.

It would definitely help our students to get acquainted with the beginning of the High School experience while being supported by our staff and resources. The next step is to start working on the planning. If you would like more information on this initiative, please contact Mr. Bolina.

Loon Lake

Over the week of October 12-14, the CMS students attended an outdoor education retreat at Loon Lake Lodge in Maple Ridge. To say this was the highlight of the year so far for these students and teachers would be an understatement.

Over the time at Loon Lake, students and teachers bonded in ways that would be impossible in a classroom environment, having experiences such as:

• shelter building,
• fire building,
• hiking
• forestry lessons,
• wayfinding,
• identification of BC’s wild animals.

They enjoyed state-of-the-art lodging facilities and wonderful meals prepared by chefs at the restaurant on site. During free time, there was a great deal of reading, playing board games, and even more laughter.

Choice School was thrilled to be able to provide this opportunity to our senior students, especially after such a challenging past two years, and look forward to returning to Loon Lake next year.

PAC News

The Parent Advisory Council (PAC) is made up of the passionate and energetic parents of every passionate, energetic, and unique student enrolled at Choice School. Our role is to provide support for the administration and staff in delivering the very best educational experience possible for our children.

Thanks to all the parents who came to our PAC AGM this week! We elected a new PAC; please welcome David Goertzen - Treasurer, Erin O’Halloran - Secretary, and Tracee Bonnici - Chair! We aim to bring our Parent Community closer together, and have fun along the way. October is almost over, and I’m sure you’re already thinking about the holidays. Great news - we are doing a Purdy’s Fundraiser this year! Get a little something for each of the special folks in your life, as a sweet Thank You this holiday season. Details will be in your Inbox shortly after Halloween!

Choice Challenge

It is time for the Choice Challenge. This is an interactive program in which students are offered enrichment from a variety of different options. Each term, we term offer a range of different experiences depending on the skills of our educators. This term, we are delighted to offer the following:

• Rock polishing
• Story telling
• Story writing
• Board games
• Wood working
• Organised sports

Choice Challenge is a very sought after program as it brings together different students from different age groups in one class. Every Wednesday, students and staff look foreword to the Choice Challenge and enjoy participating in the experience of their choice. As you can see from these pictures, students are learning about a variety of different skills.

We wonder what variety we will be offering next term!



First Aid

On October 22, 2021, the Choice School staff attended a First Aid course. This was led by Coast Wilderness Medical Training.

During the course, our staff reviewed how to deal with common injuries such as cuts and bruises. They also learnt how to deal with life threatening issues that can arise, including understanding of and appropriate and timely responses to an anaphylactic situation.

We are proud to announce that all our full time staff are now trained for Emergency First Aid!

Thanksgiving Turkeys! 

Oak class celebrated Thanksgiving by reflecting on what is most meaningful to us. Students created patterns with the turkey feathers and practiced their writing by printing what they were most thankful for. It was touching to see all the different ideas that they had come up with, and to reflect on how much we could be thankful for this year. 





Hemlock and Spruce science

Effective teaching involves a blend of instruction and activities for students. With this in mind, students in Spruce and Hemlock have been very busy in science the past couple weeks!

They have been working collaboratively to design a transport device for Ms. Lopez to move between our classrooms as she recovers from a foot injury. Considering different types of forces, the students created plans and multiple prototypes. Great work everyone!

Common courtesies

Schools are places where children learn many virtues. In addition to the academic curriculum, it is important that children grow up into successful and positive members of society.

We are noticing a distinct lack of please and thank you, especially thank you, with our students. One of our virtues is kindness, another is respect. 

To this effect, we ask for your help in teaching and promoting good manners. These include the use of the following words, when necessary:

• sorry
• thank-you
• please
• may I
• I will try



Artsonia

Artsonia is the world's largest collection of student art, published by teachers and students from around the world.

Our art teacher, Ms. Kluthe posts students artwork on this website for parents to see (and purchase if desired).

Parents and family can view the art online, maintain a digital art gallery, leave comments and order keepsakes featuring the artwork (20% of all purchases are donated back to your child’s school).

When we post artwork to Artsonia they will automatically send you an e-mail to accept the artwork and you will be given a CODE to login. Once you login you can view the artwork.

Please see Mrs. Kluthe for more information regards this!

Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA)

The Foundation Skills Assessment is an annual province-wide assessment of all B.C. students’ academic skills in grades 4 and 7. The results provide parents, teachers, schools, school districts and the Ministry of Education with important information on how well students are progressing in the foundation skills of Literacy and Numeracy.

During the last two weeks of October, our grade 4 and 7 students have been writing these assessments. Many of the questions are multiple choice and involve writing in a booklet and/or online. It is stressed that this is a Provincial assessment and does not impact the individual report cards that are written by teachers.

For information, please follow this link to parent information.