Dear Falkland Families;

We are well into December and have one week remaining until the winter break. Please send your children to school with the necessary outdoor gear to protect them from the wet and cold. We go outside each recess and lunch unless the temperature is colder than -13 C. A spare change of clothes might be helpful for children who love to explore the snow and get wet.

Please remember when your child is late or away from school, to please contact Dani at the office by email ( fal@sd83.bc.ca ) or phone (250-379-2320). Include in your message the reason for their absence. Thank you very much.

Keeping parents informed is important to us at Falkland School. There are several ways we keep parents informed of the happenings at our school: monthly e-newsletters, weekly emails, our website , and Facebook . Posts on our website automatically go on our Facebook page so please LIKE or FOLLOW US on Facebook. You can find a list of our upcoming events by clicking here . You can always call myself or Dani at the school; we are more than happy to answer any questions you might have. If you require a hard copy of notices, please let Dani know at the office and a copy will be provided to you.

Have a safe and happy holiday season. Merry Christmas .

Mrs. Cull :)
Last Day of School Before the Break - Friday, December 20th
We look forward to seeing you all when school reopens on Monday, January 6th.

On Friday, December 20th, the last day of school, PAC has planned their annual breakfast for lunch HOT LUNCH. This is by donation. PAC has also made arrangements for a special visitor to make an appearance at the school to deliver a little bag of treats to take home for the holidays.

We will have an assembly at 8:45 AM and students are encouraged to wear their cozy winter jammies to school to show their school spirit.
Winter Recreation 2020
This year our Winter Rec. activities are planned on the following Fridays:

February 14
February 28
March 6

Our whole school tubing day is planned on Thursday, March 12th.

Click here to access the letter emailed home to parents outlining choices.

Click here to access the parent information emailed home with payment instructions if choosing an activity at Silver Star Mountain. Payment is due BEFORE 10:00 AM on Friday, January 24th. If students are not registered by this date, they will be unable to participate.

It is our hope that all students will be able to take advantage of this opportunity if they wish and that no student will be prevented from attending because of the cost. Please contact Mrs. Cull if this program presents a financial hardship.
Please return the choice form to school on or before Friday, January 10th. If students choose to stay in Falkland for Winter Rec instead of activities at Silver Star Mountain, we will send home another choice form for those students after Friday, January 10th.

School District Permission forms will be sent home after Friday, January 10th once choices have been confirmed with the school.

If you have questions or require clarification, please contact Dani or Mrs. Cull at the office.
Presentations to Students in Div 1 and 2
In the new year, we welcome both Jackie and Sanne from Archway Society to talk with students in Div 1 and 2 about their PEACE program. This program is geared to teach students about healthy relationshionships connected to the learning required as part of the Physical and Health Education Curriculum.

Monday, Jan 13 - Div 2 (Gr. 4/5/6) - 12:15 - 1:25 
Thursday, Jan 16 - Parent Session 6:30 - 7:30 PM in library
Monday, Jan 20 - Div 1 (Gr. 6/7/8) 10:15 - 11:30,  Div 2 (Gr. 4/5/6) - 12:15 - 1:25
Monday, Jan 27 - Div 2 (Gr. 4/5/6) - 12:15 - 1:25
Monday, Feb 10 - Div 1 (Gr. 6/7/8) 10:15 - 11:30, Div 2 (Gr. 4/5/6) - 12:15 - 1:25

Please call the office or see Mrs. Cull if you have any questions. I anticipate the parent session to be very informative about the content shared in classes.
Numeracy Games Night - Thursday, January 30th 5:00PM

As part of our ongoing efforts to improve Numeracy at Falkland School, we will be hosting a Numeracy Games Night with Val Edgel, District Numeracy Principal on Thursday, January 30th. Families must preregister by Friday, January 10th. The preregistration process will help ensure that we have enough materials and dinner for all in attendance. Babysitting will be provided after dinner for siblings not yet school age (if parents find that helpful) so that families can work with their school aged children.

Dinner 5:00 - 5:30
Games Night 5:30 - 6:30

If you would like more information about the critical concepts for each grade, they can be found by clicking here. If you would like to read more about our School Improvement Plan, developed in consultation with students, staff, and parents, click here.

If you have questions about the games night, please feel free to contact Mrs. Cull at the office.
Solving Problems Peacefully with greater independence
We continue to be working on Social Responsibility as part of our School Improvement Plan. More specifically, solving problems peacefully with greater independence. A mentioned in our previous e-newsletter, Laura Paiement, our School District's Healthy Schools Coordinator, provided an introduction/review of the Zones of Regulation to our students. At the most recent assembly, we focussed on implementing the Problem Solving Wheel as pictured here.
All staff are referencing this wheel as a support to students and we intend to share examples of students using these strategies at upcoming assemblies. We hope you find this helpful at home as well. Not all options are suitable for every problem. We continue to help students focus on their own behaviour (their role in the problem) and choosing a response to the problem that keeps the problem manageable.
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Student/Parent/Teacher Conferences
Thank you to you and your child for your participation in the recent conferences. A copy of the conference form should have been sent home by now as follow up. We are hopeful the form will serve as a reference in supporting your child at home with achieving their goal. Classroom teachers are also implementing strategies to keep children active in the collection of evidence related to improvements towards their goal. We hope that at the Student Led Conference scheduled at the end of April/early May, students will be able to speak authentically about their progress.
Information for Parents on Vaping
Talking to your children about vaping will hopefully help to outline some of the common, yet inaccurate and risky misconceptions youth have about vaping. Please find below two resources for parents to assist with this at home.

Understanding the Middle Years -
MDI for Gr. 4 and 7 students
School District No. 83 (North Okanagan-Shuswap) has partnered with the Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP) at the University of British Columbia to measure and promote children’s social and emotional development, health, well-being, and assets through the Middle Year Development Instrument (MDI).

The Middle Years Development Instrument (MDI) is a self-report questionnaire that asks children in grade 4 and 7 (in middle childhood) about their thoughts, feelings and experiences. Click here to learn more about the tool. There is a video you can watch and actual questions from the instrument to view. Click here to access the passive consent letter that was emailed home to all families with children in grade 4 and 7 directly by the School District.

At Falkland School, Mrs. Cull will be administering the MDI at the beginning of February. These results are reviewed by staff and referenced by parents and student reps as part of the School Improvement Planning Process.
Early Development Inventory -
(EDI) for Kindergarten students
In February 2020, Kindergarten teachers at all School District No. 83’s elementary schools will be given a questionnaire called the Early Years Development Instrument (EDI) to complete about each of their students. The EDI is a questionnaire that includes questions on children’s social and emotional development, health and well-being, language and cognitive development, and communication skills.

Click here to learn more about the Early Development Instrument. You can access the passive consent letter here that was emailed to all families with kindergarten students by the School District directly.
Information from PAC
Thanks to the following parents for taking on executive positions with PAC.

President: Adina Clements
Vice President: Megan Jackson
Treasurer: Mami Peterman
Secretary: Rebecca McDougall
Directors: Yvonne Logan, Karoll Brosnan, Jodi Gillman, Megan Connell
DPAC rep: Kelly Stalker
Hot Lunch Coordinator: Trisha McLean

Next PAC meeting is Wednesday, Jan. 8th at 2:30 in the Staffroom. All parents welcome and babysitting will be provided.

Please contact Adina Clements (250-463-5750) or Shelly Cull (250-833-2806 or 250-379-2320) to discuss ways you can get involved and contribute to your child's school experience.

HOT LUNCH Dates:

Friday, December 20th - Our annual breakfast for lunch HOT LUNCH is planned. It is by donation.

Jan. 22
Feb. 19
March 11
April 22
May 27
June 23 (tentative)

Please ensure your child's hot lunch order and payment is clearly marked with their name, teacher and type of payment and placed inside the ziplock bag or envelope. Teachers are collecting funds for many different fundraisers. Your help to ensure these are kept separated and clearly marked is greatly appreciated.
PAC MEETING DATES:

Wednesday, Jan. 8
Wednesday, Feb. 12
Wednesday, March 4
Wednesday, April 1
Wednesday, May 6
Wednesday, June 3

Tell your Friends and Family....

If you shop at Cobs Bread in Vernon and mention that you are supporting Falkland School, 5% of your purchase will be donated back to Falkland PAC.

FlipGive

Looking for an easy way to support the PAC? Just in time for Christmas or everyday shopping online. Download the FlipGive app and continue to shop at your usual favourite stores. Join our team now using our invite code KBQVBV in one of two ways:

  1. Click here to download the FlipGive app.
  2. Click here to Join online or to acquire more information.
Thank you to our incredible parent group for their organization and coordination of our Hot Lunches and many other fundraisers that benefit our school and students. It takes a tremendous amount of work to provide these opportunities to our families and students. Please know that if you have helped organize and or contributed to make these events and experiences a reality, we deeply appreciate the time and hard work you have invested in our school.
Christmas Concert
We hope you enjoyed our 2019 Christmas Concert. Many positive comments were received about the performances of our talented students. This event is definitely a highlight for our community. We are so lucky to have the support of staff, parents and students who continue to make this evening performance a reality. Thank you everyone for all your hard work in pulling off such an amazing evening.
Swimming dates confirmed
for students in Gr. K - 4
Students in grades K-4 will be swimming in the annual Swim at School program offered at the Vernon Recreation Center starting in April. Students will attend swimming on Mondays until the end of June. No swimming on April 13th (holiday), April 27th (gymnastics), May 18th (holiday) and June 1 (performance).
The dates for swimming are Mondays, April 6, 20, May 4, 11, 25, June 8, 15 and 22. 8 sessions total. Please mark these down in your calendars.
This is an optional program that continues to be highly supported by parents. The cost per child will be approximately $40, same as in previous years. Transportation is again generously provided by Falkland School PAC, which is about a $70 savings for each child.
Explorations - Grade 6/7/8
On Tuesday, Dec. 17th students will be participating in making a gift as part of their final explorations for the 2019 school year. Students got to choose one of two options. In the new year, students will be back in their explorations groups participating in 5 sessions of drama with Mr. Clarke and 5 sessions of sewing with Ms. Honey, not necessarily in that order. Once students are oriented with the sewing machines, the sewing project for this year will be an apron. Explorations takes place on Tuesday afternoons.
Gymnastics confirmed for Falkland students K-8
We are pleased to confirm, thanks to the generosity of our Falkland School PAC, that Momentum Gymnastics will be returning again this school year to provide gymnastics lessons as part of students' physical education. Momentum gymnastics will be here the week of April 27th and will provide 5 lessons for each class throughout the week.
Provision of Menstrual Products in our School
Soon we will have a menstrual product dispenser installed in the girls' washroom upstairs and in the StrongStart washroom which is also used by students at Falkland School. This change is due to new legislation that states that every student in British Columbia should have access to healthy and effective learning environments; lack of access to menstrual products can negatively impact students’ school attendance and their social-emotional well-being. Providing all students with convenient access to free menstrual products helps to support their full participation in school activities, reduces stigma and promotes gender equality. Menstrual products are already available to students in our school (from the office), free of charge, however, the free dispenser will help to make them more readily available.

As parents, your help talking to your children about appropriate use of these products, given their accessibility, is appreciated. If you have questions, please contact Mrs. Cull at the office.
Long Range Facilities Plan
The Long Range Facilities Plan consultation process for the Falkland area will occur sometime between January 20-31st.  Click here to review the draft document. The information in this document has the potential to significantly impact the structure of our current K-8 school at some point. Stay tuned for the exact date and time to share your input and feedback on the topic.
Falkland Community News
Please find a notice from Kim Churchill about a community planned hockey game on New Years Day at 1:00 PM at the Falkland Skating Rink. This game is planned to kick off the Kraft Hockeyville contest. P lease contact Kim Churchill either on Facebook as KimJason Churchill or @ 250-682-1075 for more information.
Upcoming Events and Information
Please click here for a list of upcoming events at Falkland School.
Please click here to access our website.
Please click here to access our Falkland School Facebook Page.
FALKLAND SCHOOL  | 5756 TUKTAKAMIN ROAD, FALKLAND BC

250 - 379 - 2320| fal.sd83.bc.ca | fal@sd83.bc.ca