October 31, 2024

School Hours:

Mon – Thurs: 8:25am – 3:00pm

Fri: 8:25am – 12:45pm

Pumpkin Patch

On Thursday, October 29th, Oak and Cedar students embraced their annual tradition of visiting the pumpkin patch. They enjoyed a lively tractor hayride, singing Halloween and farm songs along the way.

The highlight of the field trip was being able to pick a pumpkin to take back to school with them! Each student picked their own unique pumpkins to take home or to the school and carve or decorate. Cedar class, however, is doing an art activity where they will be painting their pumpkins in class. After picking the pumpkins, the students were able to jump and play around in piles of hay. 

Each student selected what they considered the perfect pumpkin. The Oak class transformed their pumpkins into a fun guessing game for the Halloween parade and painted vibrant rainbow designs on them. Can you guess which pumpkin belongs to which student? 

The Annual Terry Fox Run

Terry Fox was a Canadian athlete and cancer research activist. After losing his leg to cancer, he embarked on the "Marathon of Hope" in 1980, running across Canada to raise awareness and funds for cancer research. His journey inspired many, and he remains a national hero in Canada, with the annual Terry Fox Run continuing to support cancer research.

On October 2nd, Choice School gathered as a community to show our support for Terry Fox and his dream by raising funds and running laps on the field. As a school, we managed to raise $1,185 and every student attending Choice ran numerous laps with our overall average being 35 laps! Together, we ran for not only cancer research, but a hope for the future. Thank you to all of the parents and members of our community who were able to donate or come and support us during this important event. 

Orange Shirt Day

September 30 marks the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The day honors the children who never returned home and Survivors of residential schools, as well as their families and communities. Public commemoration of the tragic and painful history and ongoing impacts of residential schools is a vital component of the reconciliation process. 

Both the Truth and Reconciliation Day take place on the same day. However, as September 30 is a public holiday, our students and staff were encouraged to wear orange on Ocgtober 1, 2024. 

Orange Shirt Day was started by residential school survivor Phyllis Webstad in 2013 to raise awareness about the abuses committed in the residential school system. At six years old, she attended her first day of school where her brand-new favourite orange shirt she got from her family was taken away and never returned.

Hot Lunch program

Since its inception 4 weeks ago, the hot lunch program with Libby's Kitchen has received many positive reviews.

Parents are able to order daily hot lunch for their children. This is then delivered directly to the school where our "food certified" staff distribute it to the students.

If you have not placed your order, please do so directly with this supplier. We encourage your feedback on this program.

Choice School gardens

During September, we were very fortunate to have Nahid (a parent from Hemlock class) come and help us in the Choice School gardens.

Nahid helped to bring the class together in order to plant some winter vegetables in the greenhouse.

Some vegetables that the class planted included kale, cabbage, radish among others.

We are very grateful!

Choice Challenge

This is an interactive program in which students are offered enrichment from a variety of different options. Our students are inquisitive learners and want to know how things work. In addition, they are highly curious and interested in activities and information not usually offered as part of the curriculum.

Each term, we offer a range of different experiences depending on the skills of our educators. This term, we are delighted to offer the following:

Meditation and self awareness – learning breathing exercises, self regulation

Musical theatre - creating and performing a song from a mini musical theatre production. They will learn about all aspects of putting on a show, including acting, singing, choreography, and stage design. 

Journalism- How to create a Newspaper

Short Story Club - Focus will be on short story structure, characterization, and bringing creativity into story writing.

Drama - Students will gather to explore and participate in theatrical activities.

Origami - Students will have the opportunity to create a unique character through Japanese sculpting and folding techniques. 

Chess – students will learn the strategies for setting up the pieces for victory

As you can see from these choices, students will be learning about a variety of different skills. Choice Challenge runs for six weeks each term.

Vancouver Private Schools Expo

This year marks the first time that Choice School participated in this prestigious Expo.

Choosing a school is one of the biggest decisions that parents make for their child. At this event, there were many prestigious independent schools and experts from "Our Kids Private School Expo" who help guide prospective parents through this maze. Being one of the top-rated events for parents and students considering or applying to private school, our participation at this event was important in order to ensure that parents are aware of the unique services that we offer.

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.

FSA assessments began in the third week of October and is a collection of online and paper tests, focusing on numeracy and language skills. 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.

News from the PAC

The Choice Parent Advisory Council (PAC) is happy to work with the Choice administration and staff. All parents are PAC members and are encouraged to attend meetings, volunteer, and suggest ideas for how we can support the school and our kids. 

This year, your PAC executive are David Goertzen (president), Leanna Loy (treasurer), Alice Edwards (secretary), Courtney Gervais (director), and Barbara Zhang (director). You can contact the PAC executive members directly or through Sukhbir Bolina. 

Currently, the PAC is planning fundraising activities - stay tuned for details! The next PAC meeting is planned for Wednesday November 20 from 7:00-8:00 on Microsoft Teams. 

Professional Development

Professional development is not just a vital aspect of an educator's career; it is the cornerstone of effective teaching at Choice School. It empowers our dedicated teachers to reflect deeply on their practices, cultivate new skills, and explore innovative classroom strategies, ensuring they remain at the forefront of educational excellence.

Our educators actively pursue opportunities for growth, demonstrating an unwavering commitment to enhancing their expertise and, ultimately, the learning experiences of our gifted learners. On Friday, October 25, our entire teaching staff, including both teachers and education assistants, engaged in a diverse array of professional development workshops, each designed to enrich their teaching toolkit.

By participating in these collaborative learning experiences, our staff not only foster their personal growth but also contribute to our collective mission of achieving the best possible outcomes for our students. We invite parents and stakeholders to join us in celebrating the ongoing efforts of our Choice School staff as they work tirelessly to create an enriching educational environment that prioritizes both academic excellence and the social-emotional development of every child. The following is a list of the array of professional development workshops attended by our staff this month:

• Bringing Indigenous voices into the ELA classroom
• Critical incidence response training
• Culturally Responsive Pedagogy: Fostering Equity and Inclusion in Education
• Executive Functions in the classroom
• First Aid course (2 days)
• Executive Functioning
• Food Safety
• Food Handling Certificate
• Workshop for gifted children
• Challenging high ability learners