I have also been ordering

new resources for the two

new classrooms including

atlases, dictionaries, plan-

ners, new white boards for

Div 10 and a new class-

room projector.

It has been a very busy but

exciting month with re-

spect to enrollment at As-

pen so far this year. It is

great news for our school

and it’s future. Hopefully

we continue to grow from

K to 7 again the following

year. I am especially

pleased about the 43 Ks

that we have this year! The

word is out that Aspen is

the place to be!

This is my first newsletter

of the year. I will attempt

to complete one every

month or so to give you

some more details about

what is happening at As-

pen Elementary School —

and there is always a lot

going one!

Aspen this year had the

surprise and shock to find

out that over 20 registra-

tions were received at the

school board office over the

summer when we were

closed. This was not ex-

pected but was great news

for Aspen.

The school board had al-

ready found out that we

had 43 Kindergarten regis-

trations compared to 23

last year leading to one

new division being added

to our school.

The surprise of adding

about 25 more students

over the summer led to a

2nd division being added

at the end of August.

We have grown from 12

divisions last year to 14 this

year 2016 2017. This has

resulted in hiring another

teacher to our school—Mrs.

Thompson who is teaching

Div 9 Grade 4/5. We add-

ed Mr. Moore to our staff

back in the spring and he is

teaching Div 10 Grade 5.

Cross Country Runs

October 12 is at the French

School Couer de L’ile and we

will walk there. Oct 19 is at

Brooklyn and we will need

parent drivers for that one.

Camp Homewood Mtg

We are going to have a

planning meeting for Camp

Homewood at 6:30pm on

October 24. All grade 6/7

parents please be there.

Aspen Expo Year 3

November 26th from 12-5

is our expo this year to

showcase local home based

businesses. This is a PAC

fundraiser so please sup-

port it by joining us then.

Very busy start to School Year

44 more students!

U p c o m i n g

D a t e s

X Country Oct

12

X Country

& RC Day Oct

19

Aspen

hockey Oct

20

PAC Mtg

6:30pm Oct

20

Camp

Homewood

Mtg 6:30

Oct

24

Oct

Assembly Oct

26

Photo

Retakes Nov

1

No School Nov

11

Upcoming Dates of Interest

A s p e n P a r k

E l e m e n t a r y S c h o o l

Aspen Elementary

Update S e p t / O c t 2 0 1 6 I n t h i s

U p d a t e

I s s u e . . .

Busy Start

Fundraising

Update for

Terry Fox and

Tour de Rock

AdoptaSchool

Update

Aspen Hockey

Parent Input

Needed (P4)

P a g e 2

Fundraising Great so Far!

PAC Update

Our PAC or Parent Advi-

sory Committee is very

strong and a huge sup-

porter of our school.

The group meets once a

month and works to sup-

port initiatives in and

around the school. PAC

is working to bring the

outdoor classroom to life

and planning many fund-

raising activities like the

Fun Fair that provides

materials and financial

support directly to

students.

ALL parents are

part of PAC and we

would love to have

more people there to

share ideas and help out

if you can.

Right now we are work-

ing on fundraising and

budget so that the year

budget can be passed at

the October meeting.

The next PAC mtg is:

OCTOBER 20th

6:30pm

in our school library.

Childcare is provided!

See you there! This image shows

the PAC Notice

Board in the front

foyer. Please

check it on a regu-

lar basis for dates

and other PAC in-

formation!

All parents are

part of PAC so

please join us at

the monthly meet-

ing.

We raised just over

$500 towards the Ter-

ry Fox Foundation

and students were

treated to popsicles

after the run by PAC.

The photo at the bot-

tom left shows stu-

dents after the Terry

Fox Run enjoying a

treat. It was amazing

as well that the weath-

er cooperated that day

for us!

Next up at the end of

September was Tour de

Rock and this year we

wanted to do more for

the bike riders.

Mr. Flesher worked with

several divisions to pro-

duce a drumming show

for the riders when they

arrived at our school on

September 28th. We also

fundraised for this Van-

couver Island activity

and presented the riders

with a cheque for $343.

This represented $1 for

every student in the

school. Both events show

we can “Begin with the

end in Mind” and con-

tribute to our communi-

ty. Well done students

and staff!

I am so proud of our stu-

dents for what they have

done in the first month of

school with fundraising

for the Terry Fox Foun-

dation and for the Tour

de Rock Cancer cause.

Aspen traditionally holds

the Terry Fox Run on the

Friday of the first week of

school and we continued

that this year.

A s p e n E l e m e n t a r y

Mr. Moore’s Class using the new outdoor

classroom benches for a team challenge.

Adopt-a-School Program a Win-Win for

Aspen’s Community, Library and Students!

P a g e 3

What started off as a simple

email entry 2 years ago has

turned out to be a huge success

for our school AGAIN this year.

I am talking about the Adopt-a-

School Program through In-

digo/Coles. Aspen was chosen

this year AGAIN to be the recip-

ient school of the fundraising

that goes on each year in the

month of October through In-

digo/Coles.

There were fundraising activi-

ties at Coles in the Driftwood

Mall as well as online through

social media.

The picture below left shows

how we had a few of our students

at the mall on a Saturday reading

to kids which was a really nice

idea. The mall was not very busy

that day but it was great to be

able to show our support for this

program by being there at the

store for support.

We are so appreciative

for being chosen this

year again as the pro-

gram is going to lead to

about 120 NEW

BOOKS for the Aspen

library.

Again this year we

will ask students to be involved

in putting forward ideas for

books. We will work in con-

juncture with the SD71 elemen-

tary librarian and then pur-

chase books from Indigo with

gift cards that we receive from

the company from the fundrais-

ing.

We will look at our collection and

see what kind of resources we can

buy to support the new curricu-

lum that we are doing this year.

Aboriginal resources are one area

where we could have some help.

Thank you so much again to Coles

and Indigo for this great oppor-

tunity for Aspen. Can’t wait for

the books to starting arriving for

students to take out and enjoy!

I would encourage you to support

Coles in the Driftwood Mall going

forward as they are a “friend” to

Aspen Park’ library and this makes

it a Win Win for everyone!

I will give you more details in my

next newsletter and on Facebook

when I know the final tally for this

year’s program.

ulum is how we communicate

student learning to parents.

Aspen had committed to the E-

portfolio process last year and

that is continuing for 2016 2017.

E-portfolios give you a much

more detailed look at how your

child is doing in school and they

The Ministry of Education has

come out with a request for par-

ents to be involved in the devel-

opment of a new reporting ap-

proach for students in Kinder-

garten to Grade 9.

Every school is now implement-

ing the new curriculum this year

and a big part of that new curric-

also give you a much more contin-

uous look at how your child is pro-

gressing.

In previous years, you would have

received a paper report card 3

times a year and an interim report

of some type early on in the year.

These reports always were sent

home weeks or even months after

Parent Input Requested for

Communicating Student Learning

happens continuously throughout the

year instead of only 3 times with the

old reporting format we used to do.

The next piece of the puzzle is how

we communicate your child’s learn-

ing to you.

Last year, our district moved away

from letter grades at Elementary

school and I continue to support that

move. Letters grades provide little

information about how your child is

doing.

We also changed and provided a

summary of learning two times in the

year to go with the portfolios.

Did you like this format? Was there

enough information for you? What

the actual learning took place in

class. If your child had place value

on their report for Math, you had

very little information about when

or what you child actually did with

that outcome.

Portfolios allow you to see the ac-

tual class activities, worksheets,

work samples and assessment ru-

brics that are connected to that

work—and teachers are posting

that material very quickly to port-

folios after students have learned

it. You have a much better under-

standing of what was learned and

how your child is achieving.

You can see more clearly and con-

cisely how students are involved

with the new curriculum and this

else would you like to see around

assessment and reporting?

SD71 is working right now to devel-

op a local reporting order that will

allow us to continue with the chang-

es we started last year.

If you would like to provide your

input to the Ministry process that is

starting now, please check out the

website below called “Your Kids

Progress” and you can add your

thoughts to the conversation that is

starting. The Ministry will be com-

ing up with a new reporting order in

the months ahead.

I will give you more on curriculum,

assessment and reporting in my

upcoming newsletters.

New Curriculum, Assessment, Reporting and

Parent Involvement Requested by Ministry

Aspen Park Elementary School 2250 Bolt Avenue

Comox, BC, V9M 4E7

www3.sd71.bc.ca/school/aspen

Facebook: AspenParkPAC

Phone: 250-890-0944

Fax: 250-890-0966

E-mail: charles.schilling@sd71.bc.ca

Continued from Page 3

I hope that you enjoy the newsletter and it gives you information that is timely and useful to you. To encourage parents

to read it, please send back this last part with your child’s name and division and I will draw one student name each

time for a prize. If you do not want to print out this last section then you can just write your child’s name on a piece of

paper saying you have read the newsletter and have them bring it into the office and put it in my draw box.

Student Name: _________________________________ Division: _________________

http://engage.gov.bc.ca/yourkidsprogress/ to add your comments to the Min-

istry request for parent input around a new reporting order for the province.

https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/curriculum-info to find out more information

about the new curriculum that is now in place for K to 9.