​Hello Parents,
A quick note from Mrs. Phillips, your child's Fine Arts Teacher at Bert Edwards.
I'd like to let you know that our staff and students are working hard at Bert Edwards to put together a Virtual Christmas production for your viewing pleasure this holiday, in lieu of our usual in-person Christmas Concert. We are hoping to have the video ready for viewing for the last week of school.
We have decided to keep things simple this year with a reading of The Nutcracker (by E.T.A. Hoffman) and the music of the Nutcracker Suite by Peter Tchaikovsky. While the older students will be acting out the story, the younger students are working on dances to the music. 
I have set up some specific times for the recording of your child's performance piece on stage. Your child's class will be presenting the dance to The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy and we will be recording their performance on Thursday, December 10.
There are no particular costume requirements for this year, but feel free to dress your child according to the theme, or just have them wear some nice clothes if you wish.
Looking forward to sharing our production of The Nutcracker with you!
Mrs. Phillips
Bert Edwards Fine Arts teacher 

Ho! Ho! Ho!!! All the world knows that snowstorms can’t keep Santa away. This year we learn that even a pandemic won’t keep the North Pole magic from coming into town. The Paramount Theatre is hosting “Santa on the Big Screen”, a virtual visit with Santa. Book your special time now!

Santa has been working on ways to bring the holiday spirit safely to the streets of Kamloops. Effort that typically goes into creating parade floats will instead go into decorating downtown storefronts and blocks, with the intention of creating a Storybook Village. The area will be decked out more lavishly than years past and each block will have a different theme. Expect to see lights, ornaments, characters, music and window paint. Decorations will be visible along Victoria Street from First Avenue to at least Sixth Avenue and residents will be able to take a walk or drive downtown at night, when the area will be lit up. The KCBIA has posted a map of participating businesses on its website at downtownkamloops.com. The Storybook Village is set to open the third week of November and remain open until after Christmas.  See you there!

• Please return library books by next Tuesday at the latest so we can pick new ones.
• Our PAC is once again holding the ever popular Basket Raffle in December. Each class is asked to donate items to put together a themed basket. Our theme is Game Night. Items are due Wednesday, Dec. 2 and tickets will be available to buy from Dec. 7 to 14. Thank you so much for supporting our students.
• Please have Team Awesome read any little paper books that come home (approximately 1 per week) multiple times for practice/ fluency. Thank you.
• Team Awesome is getting much better at putting their outside clothes on independently. Thank you for practicing with them at home.
• The BEST newsletter can be found here.
• Check out what Mrs. Phillips is doing with Team Awesome here.
• Thank you to Emma, Parker and their family for the donation of extra headphones to our learning space.
• Sight words we are learning in class: at, and, do, from, go, he, she, stop. Please feel free to practice them at home. 
• Friday, December 11 - School Spirit Ugly Sweater Day
• ​Friday, December 18 - School Spirit Pajama Day

Go forth and Start the Season!​

​After experiencing the corn maze on the pumpkin patch field trip, some of the children became fascinated by mazes. They wanted to draw them and solve them and talk about them. So we did a quick lesson on mazes then took the children outside where they drew their own mazes with a variety of materials, including sand. Some were more successful than others but everyone had a great time using what was available to create their own maze.

​Did you know School District No. 73 subscribes to quality, vetted streamed cross curricular digital databases that students can access at home and school? A broad range of resources are included in this subscribed bundle of publications for students of every age, all abilities and areas of interest such as: streaming video, podcasts, primary and secondary source documents and easy-to-navigate research databases with text-to-speech capabilities and translation tools. These resources will both enhance and enrich print collections and the overall learning experience. These are great resources to use for home learning! You can access them through the SD 73 website here. Check them out!

Wondering what will happen if there is a case of Covid-19 in one of our schools? SD73 outlines procedure here.

• Scholastic November digi-flyers are now available here. Paper flyers went home last week. December will be available soon.
• Please return library books by next Tuesday at the latest so we can pick new ones.
• Our PAC is once again holding the ever popular Basket Raffle in December. Each class is asked to donate items to put together a themed basket. Our theme is Game Night. Items are due Wednesday, Dec. 2 and tickets will be available to buy from Dec. 7 to 14. Thank you for supporting our students.
• Cookie dough order forms are due to the office by Tuesday, Nov. 24. Thank you so much for supporting our PAC and the students at BEST.
• December school lunch orders are due back by Wednesday, Nov. 25. 
• The December sharing activity is due back Thursday, Nov. 26 or when it is finished. It  says December Holiday Patterns at the top. A copy has been posted on the blog.
• PAC December pizza orders are due back by Friday, Nov. 27 with pizza delivered on Friday, Dec. 4. 
• Friday, Nov. 27 is a possible Fresh Air Friday. We will confirm closer to the date.
• The BEST newsletter can be found here.
• Please have Team Awesome read any little paper books that come home (approximately 1 per week) multiple times for practice/ fluency. Thank you.
• It is  'zipped up' coat and mitten season. Please practice with them at home.
• Check out what Mrs. Phillips is doing with Team Awesome here.
• Sight words we are learning in class: at, and, do, from, go, he, she, stop. Please feel free to practice them at home. 
• Friday, November 27 - School Spirit Day Crazy Hair / Hat Day
• Friday, December 11 - School Spirit Day Ugly Sweater Day
• ​Friday, December 18 - School Spirit Day Pajama Day

Go forth and Be Awesome!​

​It's that time of year again! Canada Post would like to send your child a letter from Santa but they have to write to him first. According to Santa’s CPE (Chief Postal Elf), Holly T. Elf, there are three golden rules in sending a letter to Santa:

1. Make sure you include your return address! While Santa knows where you live, his postal elves need your address to deliver Santa’s letter to your home. After all, not everyone has access to Rudolph!
2. Send your letter soon! Already letters are arriving from across the world and Santa is busy reading them every night with Mrs. Claus. He encourages you to send your letter soon to ensure he’ll have enough time to answer each and every one of them. Letters must be mailed by December 10 to allow enough time for travel to the North Pole and back!
3. Remember Santa’s address: When your letter is ready, drop it in a mailbox anywhere in Canada and the postal elves will make sure it gets to the big man quickly. Santa has a special arrangement with the post office and a stamp is not required. But please remember any other letter or card being sent to Grandma or anyone else needs a stamp. Santa’s address is:

SANTA CLAUS
NORTH POLE H0H 0H0
CANADA.
What an awesome opportunity to write for real life, which enables the children to launch out and explore new opportunities for their emerging writing skills. So break out the special paper, the pens, pencils and markers and encourage your child to practice their literacy skills and write a letter to Santa soon! And how exciting to get a personalized letter back!