​On April 7, schools across SD 73 held assemblies and activities to honour and recognize Secwepemc and Nlaka'Pamux territory as well as other First Nations and Aboriginal groups. In Kamloops Thompson School District this is now known as the "Day of Sucwentwecw." Sucwentwecw (sook-went-wa) means to acknowledge one another. During this day a number of events, activities and gatherings were held to recognize the Secwepemc and Nlaka'Pamux Nation and to teach students and staff about the traditional aboriginal and First Nations people, their histories and the territories SD 73 now occupies. The theme for this year's Day of Sucwentwecw was 'The Bonds of Respect that Bridge Us Together'. At the whole school gathering BEST students participated in listening to and pronouncing some Secwepemc words and Mr. Wiebe had an intermediate student help him read the district-written theme book for Day of Sucwentwecw. In their learning spaces the students learned about one of the Seven Grandfather Teachings- respect. Respect is represented by the salmon which reminds us to respect all living things, and in doing so achieve a balance that keeps us alive. Being respectful makes others feel valued and cared for.
Team Awesome watched a video in class then talked to their friends about things they do to show respect and how it feels when others are respectful to them. All of the children completed a salmon template with an incident illustrating how they can show respect to add to the Bridge of Respect by the library. 
The Day of Sucwentwecw is a day to celebrate and acknowledge one another and we would like to think that we at BEST do just that every day and not solely on the Day of Sucwentwecw.

Please send 2 hard boiled in-shell eggs with your child for Wednesday, April 16 so we can dye them as part of our Easter activities. A hard-sided container to transport them in is a good idea so they don't get crushed/ cracked. Please put your child's name on the container so we can return it to you. Some of the children will elect to eat them​ and some will decide to take them home. ​

Tick season is upon us. As we do a lot of 'bush whacking' during Fresh Air Friday it is especially important that you check your child and their clothing for ticks as soon as they get home. Try to check them every day they go outside, even if its just into your yard, or if you have pets that spend time both outside as well as inside and may bring ticks in on their fur. Check online for more information.
​How To Check For Ticks

• Step 1  Head straight for your bathroom and strip off all your clothes. Toss them in a dry bathtub. This keeps any critters crawling across the bathroom floor. 
• Step 2  Check your hair first. If you have long hair, take it down. Run your fingers flat against your scalp and over your entire head. Hold your fingers together and use both hands. Touch the entire surface area of your scalp. Feel for small bumps or objects against your head. It helps to have a partner assist you in the search through your hair, making sure to part the hair in sections while checking thoroughly.
• Step 3  Comb your hair.  Use a small-toothed comb and thoroughly comb through all of your hair. If your hair is long, pull it up when you're finished.
• Step 4  Look over the rest of your body from the top down. Don't forget between the toes, behind the knees, and belly button. Some ticks are very small, so look carefully at your skin. You are looking for a small, round, black or brown bump. 
• Step 5  Raise your arms and check your armpits. Ticks like dark areas. Check your male and female parts. Ticks will typically head for the hottest area of the body (the head) and will only stop if they are blocked by clothing or armpits, groins, etc.
• Step 6  Put on some clean clothes. Carefully pick up your clothes from the bathtub and hold them away from yourself. Look for ticks in the bathtub.
• Step 7  Take your clothes outside and give them a shake. Turn them inside out and shake them again. If you found a tick, leave your clothes outside for a while. If you missed one, it should crawl away eventually in search of more food.

 How To Remove Ticks 

• Step 1  Use tweezers to grasp the tick firmly at its head or mouth, next to the skin.
• Step 2  Pull firmly and steadily until the tick lets go of the skin. 
• Step 3  When the tick comes out, hopefully you will see a tiny bit of skin in its mouth parts, which means you got it all and likely didn’t squish its stomach contents under your skin by pulling or squeezing its body. (Try to avoid that.)
• Step 4  If it’s kicking and moving around, that is also a sign that you pulled it out whole.
• Step 5  Put the tick into a jar or zip-locked bag in case you want to have it identified later.
• Step 6  Wipe the area where the tick was attached with a disinfectant, such as rubbing alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, or another cleanser. 
• Release the tick into a jar or zip-locked bag in case you want to have it identified later on.

• Library books will come home on Monday. Please send them back in their special bag for exchange.   
• Please send two boiled eggs with your child for Wednesday, April 16. They may or may not come home depending on whether your child chooses to eat them at lunch. 
• It is tick season and we spent the majority of our day outside and in the bush. Please check your child for ticks tonight. ​
• Wednesday April 16 BEST will share a pancake breakfast.
• Wednesday April 16 is BEST's science showcase. Please join us outside from 1:15-2:30 or a portion thereof. We have sent home an instruction sheet for our Egg Drop project for that day. Have fun!
• PAC McDonald's lunch order due Thursday, April 17 with lunch on Friday, May 9.
• Thursday April 17 and 24 we will participate in gymnastics at TCC. Please dress your child appropriately, have long hair tied back and jewelry removed.
• Friday April 18 is Good Friday and the school will be closed.
• Sunday April 20 is Easter Sunday. Enjoy!
• Monday April 21 is Easter Monday and the school will be closed.
• Friday April 25 will be Cultural Day at BEST. We will participate in activities.
• ​Friday, April 25 BEST PAC will host a Family Movie Night. Look for info on posters around the school.
• Monday April 28 is an NI day and Team Awesome will be home.​
• Scholastic flyers are available here. All Scholastic orders can be done online whenever you like. Our class code is RC210022.​​​​
• Please remember that items such as toys from home should not come to school. Thank you!​
• Please remember to send a water bottle with your child every day. Hats as the weather gets warmer is also a good idea.
• Please have Team Awesome read any little paper books that come home (approximately 1 per week) multiple times for practice/ fluency. Thank you.
• Sight words we are learning in class: all, boy, girl, his, not, some, that, what. Please feel free to practice together at home.
• Newsletters are paperless and can be found on the BEST website at best.sd73.bc.ca.
• If your child is exhibiting illness symptoms of any kind they must be kept home. Thank you.​​​

Go forth and celebrate the Tallest!

Please send 2 hard boiled in-shell eggs with your child for Wednesday, April 16 so we can dye them as part of our Easter activities. A hard-sided container to transport them in is a good idea so they don't get crushed/ cracked. Some of the children will elect to eat them​ and some will decide to take them home. ​

​​When setting out expectations for a project with the children, Mrs. Farber and I seldom show them an example as they all want to make exactly what was shared with them and not create something of their own. With the catapult project we showed them pictures of a simple working catapult as many of them were unfamiliar with the term but did not show them how to make their own. The children had fun and did a great job figuring out how to use the materials given to complete a machine that would launch an object.  We revisited the catapult idea again later but the second time provided a 'how-to' video and an expanded selection of materials to choose from and reminded them to revise their original ideas and improve upon them as needed. As so often happens when shown how to do something, most of them chose to try and make the exact same catapult from the video rather than playing and exploring with the materials and coming up with or building on their own ideas from the first session. Some of them had a difficult time expanding their thinking beyond their first try and others rose to the occasion and eagerly modified their catapults to make them bigger and better. We will continue to work on encouraging the children to change and rethink and tweek their ideas to improve on them as the year goes on.