SIWAL SI’WES
(our forefather’s teachings)
ABORIGINAL DEPARTMENT
Mission Public Schools
Newsletter #3
To work collaboratively with all schools to ensure that Aboriginal
Students are successful in Mission Public Schools. While promoting and respecting the traditional territory of the Stó:lo People, we
help to foster an awareness and respect of all Aboriginal peoples for
all students and staff in Mission Public Schools
April 2016
From the desk of Acting District Principal Joseph Heslip…..
Ey Swayel,
After a wonderful 2 week Spring Break, we at Siwal Si’wes are geared up for an action packed final
quarter of the 2015 / 2016 school year. Firstly, I would like to extend a warm welcome to three new Aboriginal Liaison workers to our department, Rachel Schooner, Kristy Hackel and Deanna Dettieh.
In April and May we will be honouring the achievements of our students in our Student Recognition
Awards and Family Dinners. The theme of this year’s celebration is “Courage” from the seven sacred teachings.
This year we will be honouring all of our grade 7 through 12 students at MSS on April 27th.
Hatzic Middle School will be hosting catchment elementary school students from Kindergarten to grade 6
on May 18th. Ecole Heritage Park Middle School will honour catchment students from Kindergarten to
grade 6th on May 26th. We look forward to seeing you there!
Please join us at our monthly Siwal Si’wes Advisory Council meetings which are held on the second Tuesday of the month at 11:30am. We work together to steer the direction of our Aboriginal Education program for Mission Public Schools under the direction of our Aboriginal Education Enhancement Agreement.
Our next business meeting is May 10, 2016 at Ecole Mission Central Elementary school.
Please see our website at aboriginal.mpsd.ca for information and news items.
Theme 1: Honouring Culture and History: Ensure ALL
students are learning about and respecting Aboriginal peoples,
culture and history
Theme 2: Positive Learning Experiences: Create high levels
of student engagement and success so students are connected
and supported in their learning
Theme 3: Meaningful contributions: Create empowering
opportunities for students to grow as individuals and prosper as
a part of a community
Theme 4: Looking to the Future: Ensure all students are
preparing for change and making successful transitions
Ps. If you would like to also receive this newsletter
by email:
please forward your email address to our
secretary Mrs. Buell at [email protected] or see
our website @: http://aboriginal.mpsd.ca
SIWAL SI’WES STAFF
ACTING DISTRICT PRINCIPAL
Joseph Heslip
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT
Marcy Buell
LIAISON WORKERS
Susan O’Soup:
Johnny Williams
Dionne McGrath:
Holly Gallant:
Kristy Hackel
Chris Gawthorn:
Deanna Dettieh:
Marne Ferris:
Rachel Schooner:
Kimberly Sommer:
Judy Cathers:
Tracy Carr:
Ramona Valenzuela:
Connie Moojelski:
Malila (Donna Giroux):
Pipte (Peter Lindley):
Cherry Hill & Riverside
Deroche & Cultural
Dewdney, Hatzic Elementary and Hillside
Windebank
Deroche & ESR
Fraserview & Summit
Hatzic Middle and Ecole Heritage Park Middle
École Heritage Park Middle
École Mission Central
West Heights
École Christine Morrison & Cultural
École Mission Secondary
Hatzic Middle
École Mission Secondary
Albert McMahon and Silverdale
Aboriginal Language & Culture
ABORIGINAL MENTOR and LEADER TEACHERS:
Tianay de Andrade
Deborah Urano
Vivian Searwar
Jenn Goodwin
Joanne Davis
Lyn O’Grady
Brent Schmor
SIWAL SI’WES TEACHER/LIBRARIAN:
Ann Titford
ABORIGINAL LITERACY SUPPORT TEACHERS:
Christine Schmor—École Heritage Middle
Kristi Johnston—Hatzic Middle
ABORIGINAL ENHANCEMENT TEACHER:
Jody Shaw
STUDENT RECOGNITION FAMILY DINNERS - 2016
Thank you to everyone who attended our Family of Schools Dinners. Our dinners are a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the
strengths and unique talents of our youth. This year our dinners will be structured differently to accommodate the reconfiguration in our school district.
April 27th – Mission Secondary School – All Aboriginal students Grade 7 – 12 Transition, Recognition and
Graduation Family of Schools Dinner
All Aboriginal students and their families attending Hatzic Middle School, Heritage Park
Middle School and Mission Secondary School
May 18th – Hatzic Middle School – Grade K-6 Transition and Recognition Family of Schools Dinner
All Aboriginal students and their families attending Deroche, Dewdney, ESR, Albert McMahon,
Silverdale, Cherry Hill and Hatzic Elementary.
May 26th – Heritage Park Middle School – Grade K-6 Transition and Recognition Family of Schools
Dinner
All Aboriginal students and their families attending École Mission Central, Hillside Traditional,
Windebank, École Christine Morrison, and West Heights Community School
HALQ’EMÉYLEM—Pipte (Peter Lindley)
SCHEDULING:
Halq’eméylem instruction provided to:
Deroche Elementary – Monday and Friday mornings
Mission Central – Monday afternoon
Christine Morrison – all day Tuesday
West Heights – Wednesday morning
Cherry Hill – Wednesday afternoon
Hatzic Elementary – all day Thursday
Silverdale Elementary – Friday afternoon
TOPICS/THEMES:
Temt’elemches is the Halq’eméylem name for February/March which means…”time when hands stick to
things” Students are asked what their ideas are regarding the meaning. Many ideas are offered and discussed. Discussion also includes the concern regarding global warming as our weather certainly does
not indicate it being cold enough for our hands to be sticking to things.
early February many witnessed the very bright, extra-large looking full moon. This provided opportunity to
introduce the Halq’eméylem word “skw’exo:s” for the moon, with “selits skw’exo:s” indicating the
moon being full or whole. According to the Farmer’s Almanac the heaviest snow usually falls during the
month of February therefore many Native American tribes refer to this full moon as the “full snow
moon”. Some tribes also refer to this moon as the “full hunger moon” because the heavy snow falls and
harsh weather conditions made hunting very difficult or impossible.
students also made reference to the varying colours the moon seemed to have. So we were able to review our
colours in Halq’eméylem.
introduction to family members in preparation for “Family Day” which was on February 8 th
ta:l (mother)
tatel (mom, mommy)
ma:l (father)
mamel (dad, daddy)
mele (child)
mamele (children)
te mele (son)
the mele (daughter)
alex (sibling)
el alex (brothers and sisters)
te alex (brother)
the alex (sister)
sqaqele (baby)
sqaq (younger sibling)
si:le (grandfather)
sisele (grandmother)
selsile (grandparents)
imeth (grandchild)
te shxwemlikw (uncle) the shxwemilkw (aunt)
after a brief discussion on the concept of a family tree students were asked to draw their family including
family pets where we were able to identify each member in Halq’eméylem
students always willingly take a lead role in opening and closing each class session with our “Ey Swayel tel
Siyaye” and “Kwetslome tel Siyaye” songs by coming forward to do the drumming and singing.
to many learners of Halq’eméylem…pipehom, the generic word for frog is the first word they seem to remember. With that said…welek’es is the word for the month of March. Welek’ is the little frog which
we generally hear serenading us in the early evening hours.
Respectfully submitted
Pipte (Peter Lindley)
Albert McMahon Elementary—(Malila) - Donna Giroux —Aboriginal Liaison Worker
Peter Wayne Gong finished the carving of the gateway in February. The carving is of two spawning
salmon and eggs. Peter answered many questions
every Wednesday while carving and painting the gateway.
On March 9th the grade 4 Aboriginal students from
Lisa Reist’s class went to Riverside College to build
birdhouses. They had a lot of hands on work to do.
The birdhouses were precut but the students were shown how to nail them
together. The students had some important questions for the instructor. One
of which was, how do the birds get in, the
answer was that the birdhouse was for
small birds that would fit in the circle
made in the front. It was a good day for
the students.
Next week I will be going on a fieldtrip to
release salmon fry into the Silverdale
Creek.
Cherry Hill Elementary School—Susan O’Soup—Aboriginal Liaison Worker
Chris Gawthorn teaching
Mr. Malk’s class Metis
Tuppies.
Vinnie the dog modelling
the Tuppies.
Devin Pryce peer tutoring
the grade 4&5 class.
May 17, 2016 is the field trip to St. Mary’s.
Judy Cathers—Aboriginal Liaison Worker—École Christine Morrison Elementary
Courage
The theme of the Student Recognition Dinners this year is Courage
(one of the 7 Sacred Teachings). In response to this, many of the
École’ Christine Morrison Elementary teachers are working with
their classes regarding courage. The project pictured here was
done by Mme Sonia Morin’s class, using the book entitled “When
I Was Eight” by Christy Jordan-Fenton and Margaret PokiakFenton also known as Olemaun. “Olemaun is eight and knows a
lot of things. But she does not know how to read. To learn, she
must travel to (Residential) school far from her Arctic
home…” (information is from the back cover of the book). She
displays great courage to pursue her desire to read.
2016 Indspire Awards
“… the Indspire Awards represent the highest honour the Indigenous community bestows upon its own people” (p.18, 2016 Indspire Awards agenda). Eleven Christine Morrison students were fortunate to receive tickets to attend this prestigious gala event. The students enjoyed hearing the stories about the recipients; the resilience, courage and determination to achieve their dreams. A heartfelt thank you to Tianay de Andrade for
acquiring the tickets and sharing them with our students!
Grouse Mountain
Students from Jan Banks and Leah Lanzelotti’s classes attended a
field trip to Grouse Mountain. Students learned how to snow shoe,
and also participated in the Hiwus First Nations Cultural program.
“The híwus feasthouse is the meeting place, to enjoy a full day of
vivid legends, songs, dances and crafts. Step into an authentic Pacific Northwest Longhouse and let Kwel-a-a-nexw, our Squamish First
Nations Elder, take you back in time to discover the traditional way
of life of our First Nations people.” https://
www.grousemountain.com/hiwus-first-nations
A Raven Story
Each student in Mme Vivian Searwar’s class worked on this project in conjunction with the book entitled “Je
suis Corbeau” (I Am Raven) by David Bouchard.
Poverty of Dreams
While looking for information for our Aboriginal running program, I came upon this very inspiring person:
“Billy Mills, Oglala Lakota (Sioux), was raised on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. An
Olympic gold medalist and Running Strong's National Spokesperson, he has dedicated his life to serving American Indian communities.” http://indianyouth.org/billy-mills. Billy Mills speaks about the poverty of dreams
amongst our Aboriginal people which in turn inspired me to “dream” with our students this year. One of our
most recent outings regarding this was a fieldtrip to Riverside where we were able to build birdhouses with the
carpentry program. Thank you to Myles Ferrie for teaching the students about carpentry!
Deroche Elementary School—Johnny Williams and Kristy Hackel
Aboriginal Liaison Workers
Spring here at Deroche has been off to a busy start with our grade 5/6 class traveling to SFU in Burnaby for a tour of the campus and meeting the representatives from the Aboriginal Department. Students
were able to visit the Museum of Archeology and meet the lead archeologist who spent six summers
working with the Scowlitz First Nations on an archeological excavation near Harrison Mills.
Div. 3 students have had the wonderful opportunity of
having salmon in the classroom while learning about the
lifecycle of the Salmon. On April 22nd, our grades 1—5
will be participating in a salmon release down at Silver
Creek.
On Friday, April 29th, our school will be inviting our
family and special guest to join us for a Salmon Ceremony! Johnny Williams will be leading students in a song
and dance along with sharing his teachings about the
Salmon and Aboriginal traditions. Students and guests
will be served a salmon lunch as part of the celebration and the ceremony will take place at 11:00 a.m.
Finally, we have had the privilege of having so many wonderful volunteers joining our school to read
with each student individually to help promote literacy! Also, beginning late March our school has
started participating in literacy groups each Wednesday afternoon to have the students engaged in some
fun activities. Students are divided into small groups and given the opportunity to rotate between various activities including sight word stations, guided reading and an alphabet station. The activities are
literacy focused with the goal of increasing students reading and writing skills through games, drills
and word association.
Resource Elders
Agnes Giesbrecht and
William and Priscilla Wells have
volunteered their services as Resource Elders
for parents who want support meeting with
school personnel.
For further information please contact our office.
604-826-3103
Dewdney Elementary—Dionne McGrath—Aboriginal Liaison Worker
At Dewdney, the focus coming from the school, staff and students is all about outdoor learning
in the DEN. The students just love being outside! The school is very community oriented
Division 2 out in the DEN waiting for instruction from the ALW about the teachings of the
Aboriginal Medicine Wheel…
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Every morning Div. 5 has parent/student
reading
Peter Gong, a local Aboriginal artist has created some carved post to be placed outside for
each division
The students are more than welcome to visit
the Aboriginal room when the ALW is at the
school
Dewdney takes part in the Seventh Generation Club
Div. 1/Gr 6 Leadership/Mentor program
Dewdney
Elementary
School
Div. 3 class being educated about what it
takes to tend to a garden…
Division 3/4 enjoyed
taking part in learning
how to make their
very own talking stick
and the traditional
ways that Aboriginal
peoples use them,
talking circle.
Edwin S. Richards—Kristy Hackel—Aboriginal Liaison Worker
I am new to Edwin S. Richards this term and I am looking forward to working with the staff and students!
Each Tuesday in some of our classrooms, we are lucky to have Malila joining us teaching
Halq'eméylem where students enjoy learning the language of our First Nations people. She has also
allowed the students a chance to play the drum which has been quite exciting for them!
Each Thursday morning, Mrs. Thiessen’s Div. 1 class has had the privilege in participating in Pow
Wow Drum circles. The students greatly enjoy the drumming along with Holly Gallant and have
learned the sacredness of drumming along with the importance of proper procedure and behaviour.
Students will be performing their Pow Wow Drumming at our Assembly taking place in June.
Fraserview Learning Centre—Chris Gawthorn—Aboriginal Liaison Worker
Welcome back from our first two week Spring Break. I hope everyone had a safe and wonderful time. But away
we go with the push for the end of the school year. Students are working hard to finish classes and get ready for
year end exams. Study hard.
Our collaborative work with Life Time learners has continued, Tech classes, knighting and gardening. All of the
hard work that was done last year gardening has produced a wonderful display at the front of the school. We
have started vegetable seeds to plant in the back garden to grow over the summer.
Crossfit is starting to wind down with a few events left for the rest of the month. This past Wednesday we had
Wendy Pronicks in to chat with all the students and staff about nutrition ,wellness and goal setting. She was inspiring we would like her to come back. Wendy has done many thinks in her life. As of late, she was second in
her weight class at the Power Lifting Nationals, Dead lifting over 360 lbs. Her chat with the students was powerful and real. “ Feed your body feed your mind” and my favorite “Failure is an event not a person”. Thank you
Wendy for sharing.
We have Neil Phyllis and Phyllis Wright coming to talk about Residential Schools this making our continued
connection with Crossfit Catervatim and St. Marys.
Keep up the good work. Everything is looking sunny!
Hatzic Elementary—Dionne McGrath—Aboriginal Liaison Worker
We are well into the times of April showers, blossoming trees and the beautiful sunshiny weather! Many things
have taken place at Hatzic Elementary over the past 3 months….
We had the honor of inviting Dr. Junic from SFU to present “Math Catchers”…Mathematics through Aboriginal storytelling. The school-wide event gave all of the students the opportunity to engage in the workshop and
check out the models, etc.
HATZIC
ELEMENTARY
SCHOOL
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René Turmel, “The Maple Man”,
shared his expertise about maple
syrup...we even got to taste test it.
The students really enjoyed it!
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The students had the
opportunity to participate hands-on in workshops on Cultural Day
Halq'eméylem with
Pipte continues to be a
success with the students
The ALW continues to
share her Cultural
knowledge:
Medicine wheel, talking
sticks, talking circles,
etc.
Primary and intermediate students put a lot of hard work and took a lot pride in
their “Passion projects". Everything from fish to countries to pets…even tightrope
walking! Very well done! A+
Hatzic MIDDLE Secondary School
Ramona Valenzuela and —Aboriginal Liaison Workers
Lyn O’Grady—Aboriginal Mentor Teacher
Hatzic definitely has heart! Knowing that not everyone in our beautiful country is able to receive the same or equal education definitely hit the school in the heart! We all shared our voices and let the Prime Minister know we can’t turn a blind eye when it comes to education,
when it comes to our futures! <3 thank you to our Amazing Aboriginal Mentor Teacher Lyn
O’Grady for informing us and thank you to our whole school for backing her up! That was
amazing to see all the beautiful words shared.
But we didn’t stop there with showing Hatzic Heart; we also had Wab Kinew come to our ProD Day and his words touched us all and definitely impacted and help change some of our
views. Truly amazing to have some of our Aboriginal Leadership students help out at the
event!
We then had some of our Me to We students spend time getting ready for our Winter Feast at
the Mission Friendship Centre where we got to connect with other schools and the community
of Mission and serve “Aboriginal Tacos” and have a small give a-way and a few door prizes.
What a powerful and up-lifting time to be a Crusader and Liaison within the Mission school
District! Thank you- Ramona Valenzuela and Deanna Dettieh Hatzic Middle Aboriginal Liaison’s
Cultural Novel Study
Our classroom has been busy learning about the Aboriginal
culture through the expertise of our Aboriginal educators.
My Grade 8 class has been reading ‘Touching Spirit Bear’
and learning about the Tlingit culture. As we learned about
the at.oow (blanket) in the story Ramona came and spoke
about the Spirit Bear and the meaning and importance of
button blankets in the Aboriginal culture. We enjoyed a
wonderful cultural afternoon of the students creating individual button blankets while listening to Aboriginal flute
music.
Kw’as hoy Ramona
Lyn O’Grady
Hatzic Middle School.
Heritage Park Middle Secondary—Marne Ferris —Aboriginal Liaisons
Temkwikwexel-April , time for baby sockeye salmon, and we are all, I hope back refreshed from a
generous spring break!
March 11 was our Winter Heat Festivities which were held at the Mission Friendship Center. Our students from our Middle schools and High schools fundraised in order to give back to others in our community.
The turnout was HUGE and everyone was very well fed as we had Bannock Tacos’, fruit salad and cake.
The students also made “giveaways”, and had collected fun items and also small food hampers that were
given away as door prizes. This is a collaborative effort between Me to We students and Mission
Friendship Center. Kwa’s H:oy to everyone.
We took this opportunity to Honor students who would be graduating this year and have given years of
their time to ME TO WE and helping and sharing their many gifts in our community. We also took this
time to honor our very enthusiastic and lovely Joe Heslip to our work in the community, and also as our
Acting District Principal of Siwal Si’wes.
Hillside Elementary—Dionne McGrath—Aboriginal Liaison Worker
At Hillside, the students take pride in their day to day work and what it means to attend a traditional school, such as Hillside Traditional Academy. Over the past few months, the students
have been engaged in learning about aboriginal culture within the classrooms.
The Gr 4/5/6 took pride in displaying their projects in the “Interest Fair”..Catology, Gaming, Leonardo Da
Vinci, etc. Job well done!
The ALW, sharing her
knowledge of
the traditional
language of
Halq'eméylem
Div. 3 engaged in a fun game of Slahal
ABORIGINAL ROOM
École Mission Central Elementary—Rachel Schooner—Aboriginal Liaison Worker
In February the entire school got to go to the Clark Theatre and watch a live performance of Mary Poppins. The
play was spectacular and the students were excited and very well behaved throughout the performance. The musical was put on by Robert Bateman High School from Abbotsford and the performance was incredible.
The Vancouver Aquarium came to Mission Central and every class had an opportunity to learn about and even
touch some of the animals they brought. The presenters were fun, exciting and very knowledgeable.
Pipte has graciously welcomed me to accompany him to Halq'eméylem classes on Monday and I am now one of
the Aye Swayel people. The kids get so excited when they remember the names of the animals. Students take turns
leading the drumming and songs they know and are always excited to see us come into the classrooms.
Susan came and made bannock for the French Immersion Kindergarten class. They patiently sat on benches and
watched Susan prepare the dough. They went back to class and were able to sample the bannock in their classrooms with some jam.
Judy presented a mini button blanket event to the French Kindergarten class and also allowed me to tag along.
They all enjoyed making their blanket and hearing about the origin of the blanket and why it is designed the way it
is.
I have started opening my room up to students at lunch to do crafts, coloring and beading. I have had a fantastic
time getting to know the students this way. They have been extremely respectful and help each other with their
projects.
The students are gearing up for track and field events and the weather is
getting warmer. We are excited and looking forward to sunny days and smiling faces.
Newsletter from Mission Senior Secondary From Tracy Carr, Connie Moojelski
Spring Time is here and we hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful weather. With spring also
comes our Student Recognition Dinners happening on April 27, 2016 at MSS starting at 4:30
ending at 7:30. This is our opportunity to honour our Graduates and our Aboriginal students
from gr. 7-12 for all their hard work. This year we will be doing things a bit different by having a “Traditional Longhouse Ceremony” and serving Bannock and Salmon. We will also
have door prizes, one IPad mini and 3 beautiful gift baskets that will be raffled off at the end of
the ceremony. Please come join this celebration to recognize all the hard work our students
and Grads have put forth this year.
MSS has been fortunate to have two First Nations Artists to come and work with our students.
The first project was with Roxanne McCallum who directed the students with First Nation
Drawings and templates. Then taking the templates and painting them onto a beautiful wood
picture frame. They all turned out beautiful. The students worked really hard and a big
“Thank You” to Roxanne. Our second artist Peter Gong is currently working with the students
to develop templates of First Nations totem figures to paint two posts at the front of our building. This project will hopefully be done at the end of the month in time for our dinner.
Our Winter Heat BBQ was a super success with “Indian Tacos” being the star. Our “Me to
We” students participated in a fundraiser for the event and raised $150.00 dollars. Our students sold Bannock which was a big hit with all the students and staff a big thanks to our student volunteers. If you have any concerns or questions regarding your child please contact
Tracy Carr, Connie Moojelski, and Jody Shaw.
Riverside College—Susan O’Soup—Aboriginal Liaison Worker
Ey Swayel,
Farewell to Mr. Bill Fletcher, the former
Superintendent of Mission School District;
Mr. Fletcher retired in March, 2016.
Beautiful Sun Mask at Riverside College.
Artist/Carver Tom Patterson
Riverside College held it’s Open House April 6, 2016 and the presentation of Tom Patterson’s carving.
Mr. Nathan Hyman is supervising the Cooking Class
of Riverside, who put on the
BBQ. Mr. Paul Horn’s
CSW class.
Gary Way’s Auto Mechanics class.
Silverdale—(Malila)—Donna Giroux Aboriginal Liaison Worker
Ey swayel, on Fridays I am at Silverdale Elementary, working
with 22 Aboriginal students. One Friday I made bannock and
oven bread for one class but I was sorry I did not have butter
and jam. When Pipte brought the bread to class and handed
out the bread one little girl took a piece of the oven bannock
and took a bite. What she said to Pipte was priceless. She said
the bread tasted like spaghetti but her mom forgot to add the
sauce. Needless to say she did not like the bread.
Every Friday afternoon I take part in Forest Friday with the
grade K5/1 class. They sure have fun out there. They don’t
even notice when it’s raining or cold. At the end of the day we
have a circle and sing songs or have a game in Halq’eméylem.
For myself I am glad that winter is over because it did not matter how much clothes, scarfs, gloves and sweaters I wore I was
freezing but it is fun.
Le Ho:y that is all.
Summit Learning—Chris Gawthorn—Aboriginal Liaison Worker
Welcome Back from Spring Break hope you had a great rest.
The visit from the BC lions was very cool; thanks Summit
for having Fraserview join in. Arts Smarts had started with a
bang.
Summit had the pleasure of having Peter Lindley in to do two sessions on Halq'eméylem. Families worked on
learning to say names and to describe weather events. Families really enjoyed this thanks Peter. We will be
looking at having Peter in more next year to expand this language program for families.
The carving dates had changed with Lynn Heyes. April 15 is our date but by popular demand we have added an
afternoon session. 60 or so people will be doing Soap Stone.
Family of Schools dinners are coming up info to come.
Enjoy the sun and work hard.
Kimberly Sommer—Aboriginal Liaison Worker—West Heights Elementary
Aboriginal Cultural Day
In February we had Aboriginal Cultural Day in our school. Aboriginal Cultural Day happens once every 2 years
in each elementary school and is funded by the Siwal Si’wes department. This is such a great day for students as
each class gets 3 different Aboriginal Presentations in the morning. The feedback on this day was very positive.
Indspire Aboriginal Achievement Awards
Our Aboriginal leadership students went on a special field trip to the Aboriginal Achievement Awards (Indspire).
Which comes to Vancouver once every 4 years, so this once in a lifetime event is something they will treasure
forever. The tickets alone are $350 tickets each. However, “Indspire” gave them to our Aboriginal Leadership
students for free, and all we had to do was pay for the bus. Our leadership students put on their finest and had a
blast at these televised awards.
Halq’eméylem
Now that our Cultural Days are over, Peter Lindley is coming again every Wednesday to all our primary classes
to teach Halq’eméylem.
Fun in the Sun
The weather has been so beautiful lately, that one lunch everyone in the Aboriginal room was sent outside and we
all used the double jump rope, I was proud I could at least do 10 jumps, lol.
Power Outage
We had a power outage last month and used it to our benefit. I was able to read some of my books to the primary
classes in my room as it had light.
Field Trips
This month the whole school starts our field trips to Fort Langley These field trips are funded by a Daytrippers
grant Kimberly got for the whole school. Also, a couple of the buses are paid for by a Siwal Si’wes Field trip
grant.
Aboriginal Room
The Aboriginal room is open on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday’s at recess and lunch. Different activities are
still being planned each day. Please stop by and say hello.
Kimberly Sommer
Aboriginal Liaison
Windebank—Holly Gallant—Aboriginal Liaison Worker
I am pleased to announce that as of Spring Break I am supporting our Windebank Students and staff full time. Our aboriginal
student population has grown by leaps and bounds over the last
few years.
We are a busy school with many lunch time activities. Most
days we get together and do arts and crafts. We have added a
Homework Club on Wednesdays at lunchtime. This gives students the opportunity to catch up on work before it starts to feel
overwhelming. Many of the students from homework club have
begun to come to my room at recess every day to keep up the
momentum.
Fridays we have our Pow Wow Drumming. The weather has
been so great lately that we have been drumming outside. This
draws many students from the school and they all get to try their
hand at drumming as we are an open and inclusive group.
NEED TO REACH US?
Please call:
Phone: 604-826-3103
Fax: 604-820-2850
[email protected]
Website— http://aboriginal.mpsd.ca