The students at Stettler Elementary School have been busy getting ready for Christmas soncerts, taking part in various presentations, and participating in writing and drawing activities. Our 6KB students have all written letters and mailed them to various schools around the country. This is part of the Great Canadian Mail Race, and it is a great way for students to learn about different parts of Canada. The idea of the letter writing campaign is for students to mail their letters to any Grade 6 class anywhere in Canada. When it arrives at the school, one Grade 6 teacher shares the letter with his/her class and then students in that class write letters explaining about their school and community. Then the class waits to see who is the first to hear back from the school they sent their letter to. It is an exciting writing activity for everyone involved. We have also had several of our classes and students participate in the Legion poster and essay/poem contest, and 4NN and 4BL have been playing crib with the seniors at both Paragon Place and Heart Haven for the past few weeks. The seniors help the students learn the game of cribbage (and improve their math facts) and everyone involved enjoys the visit.
On Monday, Nov. 16, our Grade 5 and Grade 5/6 classes were treated to a wonderfully informative presentation from Mr. Craig McArthur, who served for a total of 24 years (five tours in four different countries - one of these countries being Afghanistan) while a former member of the Canadian military. As part of their library program, these students had the book "The Breadwinner" read to them last year, and are currently exploring the book "Parvana's Journey". These books are the first and second books in a three-book series written by Deborah Ellis, about a family living in war-torn Afghanistan. In order to further the students' insight, Mr. McArthur shared with them his pictures of the landscape, building structures, and the people of Afghanistan. As well, he spoke to the students about Canadian involvement and the challenges faced in attempting to assist the people of this country. The students remained very engaged throughout and posed many questions, both about general information, as well as Mr. McArthur's personal experiences. This presentation also proved to be a very timely connection between Remembrance Day, as well as the terrorist activity that had so recently taken place. We are very grateful for the time and effort Mr. McArthur put into this presentation, and even more so, for the time and talents he has contributed towards serving our country.
As well, Mr. Howell's class had an ATCO electrical safety presentation on Thursday, Oct. 29. Gord Latham and lineman Jeff McDonald demonstrated a model town where careless mistakes using electricity were being made causing people to endanger themselves. The students had been studying magnetism and electricity for two months, and this demonstration highlighted many of the things they had learned about electrical safety. It was a fascinating visual display from ATCO. And on Monday, Nov. 30 and Tuesday, Dec. 1, our Grade 5 and 6 classes learned about Internet safety from retired RCMP officer, Ralph Cervi.
On Friday, Nov. 20, all of our students teamed up with buddies from older (or younger) grades to pack boxes for Operation Christmas Child. We had fantastic participation from our students, and families, and together we were able to fill 316 boxes to be sent to less fortunate children in our world. As well, last week our report cards were sent home and we held parent/teacher interviews. During that week, Mrs. Baltimore was busy with our annual Scholastic Book Fair. The students and parents found many great books and posters to add to their collections. Our last assembly of 2015 will be held this week, on Friday, Dec. 4, at 1:05 p.m., in our gymnasium. Parents and community members are always invited. Please feel free to join us.