Page 6 Cassiar Courier April 1989 INANDAROUND SNOWRIDGE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL JULIE MACRAE™ PARENT MEETING Parents of our Grade Seven students are invited to attend a meeting to discuss the new Family Life Pro- gram their children will be taking after Spring Break. The meeting will take place at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, April 5th in the Grade Seven classroom. Mrs. Yakiwchuk would also like to discuss plans for the end-of-year class trip, so please come along and provide some input. KINDERGARTEN REGISTRATION DURING APRIL As some of you may be aware, the Ministry of Education has introduced a new dual entry system for students entering Kindergarten - that is, students may now begin school in either Septermber or January of each school year. If you have a child who will have his/her fifth birthday prior to April 30, 1990, that child is eligible to begin school next year. The new ‘“‘rules” are as follows: Children who turn five before the end of Octo- ber, 1989 should enter school in September. Children who turn five in cither November or December, 1989 may enter in September or January, at the parents’ option. Children who turn five between January Ist and April 30th, 1990 may enter in January, 1990. Parents, as always, have the option of with- holding their child from school until he/she is six years old. If you have a child who will be entering school next year, please come into the school during the month of April to complete the necessary registration forms. PERFECT ATTENDANCE The following students had perfect attendance for the months of December, January and February and were awarded an Attendance Award Pencil by Mrs. MacRae with their third term report card: Kindergarten Grade One Candace Gorski Candace Chapple Michael McGill Nathan Cross Dallas Shipley Barry Smith Grade Two Grade Three Jason Clark Jacob Arnold Kelly McGill John Tyne Janina Tyne Dustin Vaillancourt Allen Vidovic Gary Crant Grade Four Grade Five Robert Saro Tony Pisonic Sheila Shipley Kevin Crant Dallas Vallancourt Grade Seven Grade Six Tricia Gorski Dubo Kovacic Vanessa Clark Jackie McGill Lianne Muir George Saro Dylan Vaillancourt Author Brian Brett to Visit Stikine District Schools Cassiar Secondary School, under the sponsor- ship of Mr. Cocking has again procured funding from the Canada’ Council (National Book Festival) in order to bring a visiting author to our area. Mr. Brian Brett of White Rock, B. C. has been chosen as this year’s fiction guest author. His genres in- clude poetry, short fiction, novels and story-telling. Brett’s work has been published in four anthologies as well as Spring Rain, Quarry, White Pelican, Sound Her- itage, Pulp, West Coast Review, Poetry Canada Review and Western Library. In 1978 Mr. Brett created a program, through the Burnaby Art Gallery, to introduce school children to the literature of the aboriginal people. A participa- tory approach is used at the Elementary level and includes Indian teaching tales, chant systems, songs, authentic recordings and writing exercises. His Secondary schools workshops are more comparative and include Canadian, Chinese, Japanese, French, Symbolist and beat poetry as well as aborginal material. Brett’s major works include: - The Fungus Garden. Thistledown Books, 1988. - Evolution in Every Direction. Thistledown Books, 1987 - Smoke Without Exit. Sono Nis, 1984 . , - Savage People Dressed in Skins. White Rhino, 1978 - Fossil Ground at Phantom Creek: Blackfish, 1976 Itinerary Cassiar: April 17 Reads at Snowridge Elementary at 2:00 p.m. April 17 Public reading T.B.A. (free) April 18 Reads at Cassiar Secondary School in a.m. Dease Lake: April 19 Reads at Dease Lake School April 20 Public reading in evening Telegraph Creek April 21 Reads at Tahltan School April 22 Public reading in evening For further information please contact: Mr. Cocking 4 ' Cassiar Secondary School : ae 2 73367 ee eS 3 tet STIKINE CONCERT SERIES On Thursday, March 16, our students were treated to a performance by Les Bucherons, the second group in the Stikine Concert Series. The students en- joyed this lively and entertaining group of musicians, and are. looking forward to the final concert with Leo Aquino, a classical accordionist on April 18. DOG PROBLEM UPDATE ” There’s been a noticeable decrease in the number of dogs. present on our playgound over the last month. Thank you to those dog owners who have co-operated in helping make our playground more pleasant and safe. A reminder, too, that if your dog is a recurring problem to us, the R.C.M.P. have agreed to assist us by destroy- ing it. So - please keep your pets at home - and prevent us from having to take such drastic measures! LOST AND FOUND Please check our Lost and Found Box on your next trip to the school - it is a treasure trove of valuable items which appear to have been lost by their owners! The items not claimed by the end of May wili be donat- ed to the Thrift Shop - so, if you want to reclaim the items your hard-earned dollars have paid for, do it soon! The Cassiar Public Library has always been very proud of its juvenile picture book selection. These are well used and have always made up a large propor- tion of our yearly circulation. With the books pur- chased with the Vancouver Foundation grant money, we now have an excellent collection of contemporary Canadian juvenile books. Before 1988, I could name the number of older children who used the library on a regular basis. The fact that these children had a library at school was used to justify the small amount of money put towards the purchase of books for this age group. This is a difficult question for those who allocate the library’s tight resources. The lack of children at the library justify the lack of money spent on books and often it is the fact that there are few new age-appropriate books that ex- plain the lack of children. In-an effort to encourage older kids to come to the library, the board decided to purchase some of the very popular young adult pocket novel series. The emphasis has been on mysteries (Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, etc.), teen romances (Sweet Valley High, Sweet Dreams, etc.) and some inter-active fiction (Choose Your Own Adventures). These books have been popular and have brought many older children into the library, for the first time. You as a parent may not be overly impressed when your daughter brings home issue 24 Sweet Valley High and is waiting impatiently for issue 25. We at the Library are the first to admit that these pocket novels are not great literature but we would like to emphasize that it is READING and the LIBRARY HABIT that we are trying to encourage. We still receive regular ship- ments of juvenile books and many of these are winners in the field of children’s literature. Many of the juvenile books that we purchase come from lists of recommend- ed books compliled by the Children’s Librarian at the Vancouver Public Library. As parents , we would invite you to come to the library and see our collection of juvenile books. Please note that on the shelves surrounding these series pocket novels are many other books. The names on the spines of these books may be more encouraging to you (Dick- ens, Twain, Jules Vern, L.M. Montgomery, to name a few). It is our hope that once the child has recognized the pleasure in reading, they will look past the pocket novels and see what else the library has to offer. » «I would; like.to add a special thanks to Mr. Jim Doucet who helped us with our key problem. nears rare ee ee oS Cassiar Courier April 1989 Page 7 IN AND AROUND _CASSIAR SECONDARY SCHOOL. SPORTS DESK EXTRAMURALS - The Cassiar Secondary Co-ed Basket- ball team played a series of games in the Lower Mainland from February 18 to 25 against a combination of junior and senior teams, winning two of the five games played. What ‘is. important, however, is the fact that basically the team financed the majority of the costs of the trip through their snow shovelling contracts. For further details about the trip, please see the article from the Vancouver Province of February 17, 1989. INTRAMURALS - The intramural floor hockey season concluded on February 1, and the winning team was Team U.S.A., who defeated Team Canada in the final by a 3-2 score. The members of Team U.S.A. were: Peter McGuinness, Roland Rudkowsky, Huey Dennis, Leslie Creyke, Jan Wypych and Chad Clark. The next intramural activity will be co-ed 4 on 4 basketball and the season will commence the week of March 20. CAREERS In the last edition of the “Courier”, I reported that I was making arrangements with businesses and organiz- CASSIAR EAGLES SUCCEED IN SPIRIT. The following article appeared in.the Vancouver Province on February 17, 1989, when the Cassiar Eagles reached the Lower Mainland. The Cassiar Eagles measure their success with a re- freshingly different yardstick. The Eagles’ high school basketball season will not culminate at the Agrodome -- home in March to the highly-hyped senior boys AAA B.C. final. . Their ‘B.C. tournament’ amounted to a five-game tour through the Lower Mainland starting February 18 at Langley Secondary. A inpee eo aaesat ten That capped a 10-game season, which is one less than last year but a brimming success so far. The far- northern B.C. mining town (pop. 900) recently won the St. Elias Invitational junior. boys’ title in Haines Junction, Y.T. Of course, getting there meant an 11-hour drive: through a snow storm and -40 degree temperatures. But a remote location and inclement weather aren’t the only things that set the Eagles apart. There’s a little matter of the lineup, which includes five boys and three girls - three of whom are in Grade 11 and are too “old for junior. “We've got about 100 students in the school, but we only draw on about 80 because the rest bus in from outlying communities,” says Eagles co-coach Ted Beck, a one-time Magee basketball player, from Cassiar. “Last year we had enough players for a boys and a_ girls team, but some kids graduated and one girl moved away.” - Aisa 3SO the Eagles became a mixed squad, which .was going to be a problem at the Haines Junction tourney until Beck and co-coach Norm Vickery assured the organ- izers their female players could handle the rough going. “We practise against community teams, guys that work in the mine, and some of them are pretty beefy,” says Beck. “It definitely helps when you get back to play- ing against kids your own age.” After the Langley game, the Eagles took on Moun- tain, Vancouver Tech, David Thompson, and Magee. The host schools fielded composite teams of junior boys and senior girls players. Where does the Cassiar gang get the funding for all the long distance travel? “We raise most of the money shovelling snow off roofs,” says Beck, who informs us Cassiar receives about 20 feet of annual snowfall. “We all go up on the roof to- gether. It builds team spirit.” by JIM JAMIESON “Sports Reporte?/Vancouver Province Peas ies Pare hee $2 , . Cir Sie Denne | 2 psy ermien o¢ a 4 / aad 4 $3 0e ONS ISTIKINE DI ations in Cassiar. in regards to the school’s spring work program. I am pleased to announce that nearly 30 stu- dents have applied for the program, and hopefully, I will be able to place all interested students. On this note, if you would like to take a work experience student and have not yet been contacted by the school, please feel free to get in touch with me at 778-7367. PERFECT ATTENDANCE I would like to congratulate the following students for having perfect attendance, including no lates, from September 6 to March 14. Chad Clark Allan Artico Vlado Kovacic Steve Vidovic Lisa Lanphear Sonia Saro DATES TO REMEMBER April 6 A meeting will be held at Cassiar Secondary for parents and students to discuss course programming. April 12 Axis Mime Theatre - 3rd in the Spring Concert Series Cassiar Secondary The role of our school is to develop wisdom, discipline, skills, abilities, creativity, a value system, and character in students through the processes of teaching. training, and studying, by providing meaningful educa- ; tional experiences. These educational experiences will take into account the realities of the larger society while attempting to accomodate the realities of our small, isolated setting. Our school’s primary responsibility is to meet the educational and vocational needs of students through the acquisition and application of knowledge gained in their school experiences. Students are equipped: to learn independently, to apply a variety of rational _approaches, and to deal effectively with changes once they leave the educational setting. Through the develop- ment of a variety of basic skills, students shall become capable participants in post-secondary institutions, the labour force, and society in general. : Our school, ina supportive role, with parents and the community, provides a wide variety of activities, situations, and~« methods to nurture the emotional, intellectual, physical, social and personal growth of all students. Good citizenship and sportsmanship are Cassiar Secondary The more specific objectives derived from the general philosophy are as follows: ils ‘The school will provide: the students with ex- posure to a variety of life-time interests so that the potential for. exploration of these interests can be realized. 2s The school will provide the students with ways ‘of applying what is learned’in school to life situations. Sh The school will provide the students with the opportunity for individual success in curricular and extra-curricular programs. 4. The school will provide an environment where the students can pursue creative activities so that poten- STRICT BOARD OF TRUSTEES PUBLIC MEETING | SATURDAY, APRIL 8, 1989 .. AT.9:30 A.M. April 13 Third term reports available for parents April18 Leo Aquino - 4th in the Spring Concert Series April 20 —- Non-instructional Day. Dr. Gary Phillips wilf be a guest speaker at Cassiar Secondary. — ACCREDITATION Periodically, every secondary school in the prov- ince must undergo an accreditation process. During this process the school staff does an internal review of all the school programs. The following year an external review team evaluates the school and makes recommendations as to necessary improvement. The internal process commenced on March 2 and 3 with two non-instruc- tional days in which the school staff reviewed the school’s philosphy and objectives and began a review of each department in the school. The internal review also involves student, parent, and community surveys. The parent survey has been distributed to parents and I would appreciate your com- ments as soon as possible. In addition, I have included copies of the school’s philosophy and objectives and I would appreciate feedback on these topics as well. School Philosophy encouraged. Curricular and extra-curricular activities provide students with a well-rounded perspective through which to view, live in, and contribute to our society. Our school environment is conducive to develop- ing mutual respect, and courtesy among students, staff, and parents, by being a safe, pleasant, understanding, and stimulating environment. Such an environment fosters the development and maintenance of personal relationships, a sensitivity and acceptance of others, the ability to communicate and participate effective- ly, a knowledge of rights, and an acceptance of res- ponsibilities for personal and group actions. _ Our school is responsible to the community for the following: being receptive to parent, and social agency feedback; involving the community in changes which may involve them in whole or in part; understand- _ing and respecting the local community’s values, cus- toms, and expectations; and being a positive, contrib- uting member of the local community. By meeting individual and organizational needs, and through feedback from outside: the system, ‘the school equips students to be contributors in society. School Objectives tial for exploration of these activities can be realized. Br The school will attempt to inform and will encourage parental involvement in the school program. 6. The school will provide facilities for the main- tenance of the personal hygiene of the school’s students. 7. The school will provide facilities for the com- munity’s educational and recreational needs. 8. + The school will provide an adult education pro- gram to allow adults to take high school courses for credit or non-credit. 9. The school will attempt to be involved in com- munity activities.