We are on the home stretch!

After a well-deserved Spring

Break, the students arrived

back to school this month

rested and energized for the

last three months of school.

Currently, the school calen-

dar is full of curricular and

extra-curricular opportunities

for your children, including

many literary, musical, dra-

matic and athletic experienc-

es this month. Of note, I

would like to mention author

visits this month by Dianna

Bonder (April 9) and Barbara

Reid (April 30), our annual Battle

of the Books competition (April

3), and our choir performance

with Norman Foote (April 15).

Please keep an eye on our

school calendar and in your chil-

dren’s agendas for upcoming as-

semblies, performances and ath-

letic opportunities. We would love

you to join us!

Sincerely,

Scott Parker

Principal’s Message:

Helen Gorman

Elementary

School 2013/14

Inside This Issue

Grade 6 Basketball/Bridge Building Contest/Crazy Hair Day

2

Choir/Norman Foote/ Twin Day-Spirit Day/Dress Code/Lunch with the Law

3

Champ Draw/Babysitting Course/ Grade 6 Fundraiser/PAC News/Earth Day/Social Justice Team Shoe Drive

4

Author Visits 5

Rockslide Curling Camp 6

Parenting without Power Struggles 7

Walk, Scooter, Skateboard & Bike to School Week

8

250.870.5116……………..Absentee Call In Line

250.768.7250……………..Telephone

School Messages email… HelenGormanElementary.School@sd23.bc.ca

250.870.5031…………….. Fax

Web Site…………………….http://www.hge.sd23.bc.ca

School Calendar……………refer to our Web Site

Address……………………3230 Salmon Road, West Kelowna, BC V4T 1A7

PAC email…………………hge.pac@sd23.bc.ca

Hot Lunch Program..……..Bobbi Wilkins @bobbi_lin@hotmail.com

Special Points of Interest

Thur. Apr 3 and every Thur/Fri

7:45-8:15am Choir Practise

Thur. Apr 3

12:00-1:00pm Battle of the Books Competition

Mon. Apr 7 and every Monday

11:00-11:30am Chess Club in LIB

Wed. Apr 9 Author Visit in HGE

Library K-1 Dianna Bonder

Thurs. Apr 10 6-7:30pm in Gym

PAC Art Show/Basket Raffle

Mon. Apr 14 8:15-1:15pm Soukeroff/

Montgomery/Winsby to Art Gallery

Tues. Apr 15 Norman Foote 7-8:00pm

Performance at Kelowna Com Thea-tre, Mrs. Donahue’s Choir performs

Wed. Apr 16 Spirit Day-TWIN DAY!

Thur. Apr 17 9:30-1:30pm

Battle of the Books Zone Competition to Raymer Elementary

Fri. Apr 18 NO SCHOOL

Good Friday

Mon. Apr 21 NO SCHOOL

Easter Monday

Tues. Apr 22 PAC Meeting 7:00pm in

the Multi-Purpose Room

Mon. Apr 28 8:30am

Team and Class Photos

Mon.-Thurs. Apr 28-May 1

1:45-2:15pm Track and Field Program

Wed. Apr 30 Author Visit in Gym

Barbara Reid 12:20-1:20 Gr 2/3/4

Thurs. May 1 9-10:00am

Skipping Team Performance

Mon. May 5 10:00 Music Monday

Team and Class Photos

Monday

April 28th

8:30am

Page 2 Helen Gorman Elementary School 2013/14

Mrs. Kirkey accompanied Isabella C. Rylan D. and Val-arie A. who participated in the Okanagan College Bridge Building Contest on March 7th. Several kinds of pasta was used in the bridge which was formed like the Golden Gate Bridge. It was both a fun and in-formative process and our HGE Students Rocked It!

Grade 6 Boys and Girls Basketball Just before Spring Break, the Grade 6 Boys and Girls com-peted in a very successful Basketball Jamboree at Mount Boucherie Secondary School. Students will start Track and Field, Monday-Thursday, April 28th-May 1st from 1:45-2:15pm.

Page 3 Helen Gorman Elementary School 2013/14

HGE Choir Come to this fun, interactive concert! This is a fundrais-er for our choir. If interested, please click on the link below to purchase your tickets online in order to help our child’s efforts! Ask friends and family to attend. http://centralokanagan.schoolcashonline.com/fee

The next Spirit Day will be: Wednesday, April 16th

TWIN DAY

Find a partner and plan!

Mrs. Donahue’s Choir will be each Thurs/Fri until their Music Monday Assembly on Monday, May 5th at 10:00am. They will also perform at the Norman Foote Performance, on April 15th at the Kelowna Com-munity Theatre.

Dress Code With the warmer weather approaching, here at HGE we would like to remind students of our school dress code. Students are expected to come to school wearing suitable clothing. During the warm weather, beach wear is NOT con-sidered acceptable dress. No bare midriffs, low-cut fronts, short shorts, crop tops, halter tops, spaghetti straps, belly t-shirts, mesh shirts, muscle shirts or any clothing revealing undergar-ments. Proper footwear must be worn at all times for the stu-dent’s health and safety. No flip flops permitted. Students wearing clothing which may be consid-ered offensive, have inappropriate slogans/badges/pictures, create a distraction in the class-room or present a hazard to the student or to oth-ers will be asked to make immediate arrange-ments for alternate clothing. Hats or headgear are not to be worn while at school. For safety reasons, students wearing dangling ear-rings, heavy necklaces or some other jewelry items can be asked to remove these items while at school. Excessive use of make-up will be monitored and dealt with on an individual basis. Temporary hair colour (e.g., the use of bingo dab-bers) is not acceptable at school except on school spirit days. Non marking indoor running shoes are to be worn during P.E. classes. Indoor shoes are to be worn during the winter months.

Lunch with the Law

Brayden G

Page 4 Helen Gorman Elementary School 2013/14

Champ Draw All of our children help out in many ways at our school every day. We would like to thank the following students for putting an extra effort into helping out this month: Haylee H, Sam R, Wesston L, Mileya C, Madi-son H, Hayden M, Orlando K, Darian K, Car-son D, and Chelsea K. Opening a Door, taking a Found Item into the Office, Sharing, saying Thank You, asking Someone if They Need Any Help… It can help in many ways! Pay it Forward.

Canada Safety Council Babysitting Training & Home

Alone Courses www.babysittingkelowna.com

babysittinghomealone@gmail.com One Day Course

Saturdays Babysitting Course 8:30 am – 2:30 pm Course Fee $60.00

Home Alone Course 8:30 am to noon

Course Fee $45.00 2014 Apr 12,

May 17, June 14, July 12, Aug 9,

Sept 13, Oct 11, Nov 15, Dec 13

COURSE LOCATION BETHEL CHURCH (Downstairs hall)

2663 Curts Street, Kelowna, B.C. REGISTER: Margaret Boake 250 317 2868

Cheryl Stone 250 575 5301 babysittinghomealone@gmail.com

Each course graduate is presented with a Canada Safety Council Reference Book

and Certificate

Fundraiser The Grade 6’s will bag groceries in

exchange for monetary donations at the Canadi-an Superstore on Sunday April 27th. For volun-teers or question, please contact Mr. Weber.

The HGE Parent Advisory Council (PAC) will have their monthly meeting usually every 3rd Tuesday at 7:00pm in the Multi-Purpose Room. Babysitting is provided. Next meeting: Tuesday, April 22nd $1000.00+ was raised at the Scholastic Book Fair PAC Art Show and Raffle Fundraiser: Thursday, April 10th 6:00pm—7:30pm in the Gym. Here is your chance to buy a Work of Art from an Inspiring Young Artist! All HGE student art will be proudly on display for purchase by donation. Admission is free and there will be free treats and refreshments availa-ble. There is be ten themed baskets on dis-play with tickets (1 for $2 or 3 for $5) to enter the draw. The Baskets will be raffled off that evening and the lucky winners will take their prize basket home that evening. Invite all your friends and fami-ly to come out and compliment our students’ artistic tal-ents and maybe be one of the lucky Basket winners! PAC Devry Greenhouse Bedding Plants Fundraiser: On Friday, April 11th, there will be a Newsletter infor-mation sheet going home with HGE students. http://www.devrygreenhouses.com/ Earth Day Tuesday April 22nd Posted from web site: http://www.earthday.ca/kids Thousands of kids across the country will help the planet by doing a variety of eco-actions! Are you one of those kids? Or do you know one who should participate? Submit a photo/drawing of your action, and we’ll post it on the campaign’s website to show other kids what you have done. You could also win great prizes from Sony Canada!

The Social Justice Team will be

asking HGE students to collect “gently used or new” shoes for the month of April. (Tie shoes or use a elastic band) Shoes and sandals, for all age groups, are welcome. www.soles4soulscanada.com

Page 5 Helen Gorman Elementary School 2013/14

Author Visit Dianna Bonder Wednesday, April 9th

Grade K/1’s in the Library

(Biography taken from Dianna’s ‘About Me’ web page) As far back as I can re-member, I have been

drawing and writing stories of far away places and unimagi-nable characters. Inspired by the beauty of Alice in Won-derland, James and the Giant Peach, the quirky words of Shel Silverstein and the infa-mous Dr. Suess, I have been inspired by some of the most unusual sources. As an only child, I would spend a lot of time colouring and drawing and writing stories….I always dreamed of one day being an artist. It was that passion and dream that took me on my journey towards becoming a children’s book illustrator. Now, with my two daughters, I have inspiration abound!! I would describe my work as “Dreaming Is Believing”…if you can dream it…it can dream it, it can be! In later years, I studied Fashion Illus-tration, Fine Arts, Graphic Design and Book Illustration. After completing school, I then went on to work as a commercial artist for several years before venturing seri-ously into children’s literature. Now working on my 13th chil-dren’s book I find myself con-stantly curious and thrilled by creating new stories and illus-

trations. I have more story ideas than I know what to do with so I just keep working and hoping to get everything floating around my head, down on paper…only time can tell.

Her books: A Pacific Alphabet, Accidental Alphabet, Digging Canadian Di-nosaurs, Black and White Blanche, Leon’s Song, Eleven Lazy Llamas.-

___________________________

Author Visit Barbara Reid Wednesday, April 30th Grade 2/3/4’s

in the Gym

"I was born in 1957 in Toronto, Ontario,

and have lived there ever since. I spent summers at my family cot-tage north of the city. As a child, my favorite things were animals, the outdoors, reading and drawing. After winning a creative writing contest in grade six, I decided to become a writer when I grew up. But by the end of high school it was clear that although I enjoyed writing, I liked reading a lot more, and drawing best of all. I decided to attend art college. At the Ontario College of Art and Design my focus was illustration, and it was for a class assignment that I first experimented with plasti-cine to make a dimensional pic-ture. The project was a surprise success-everybody laughed! When I entered another plasticine picture in a calendar contest I was embarrassed to find out that one of the judges was the famous painter and Group of Seven mem-ber A.J. Casson. To my surprise and relief, he laughed! I won the contest. After that, I decided to take having fun more seriously, and include plasticine artwork in my portfolio. I graduated from

OCAD in 1980 and began work as a freelance illustrator. After working for a variety of clients, I was thrilled to illustrate my first pic-ture book in plasticine. The New Ba-by Calf, by Edith Newlin Chase, was shortlisted for the Canada Council Prize for Illustration. More than twen-ty books later, other awards include the UNICEF Ezra Jack Keats Award, The Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Award, the Mr. Christie's Book award, and the Elizabeth Cleaver Award. The Party, which I wrote and illustrated, won the Governor Gen-eral's Award for Illustration; Fox Walked Alone was named to the IB-BY International Honour List and was a Blue Spruce Award selection. Most recently, I received Amelia Frances Howard Gibbon Award for Perfect Snow. My books have been published in Canada, The USA, Great Britain, Australia, New Zea-land, Holland, Finland, Norway, Chi-na, Germany, Brazil, Korea and Thailand. I live in downtown Toronto with my husband Ian Crysler, and our two daughters. Ian, a professional pho-tographer, photographs all my art-work for reproduction. While I like working with authors, and enjoy writ-ing my own stories, I still love mak-ing pictures best of all." Books: The Night Before Christmas, Wel-come Baby, Zoe’s Year, Picture a Tree, Read Me A Story; Canadian Favorites, Perfect Snow, Sing A Song of mother Goose, Fox Walked Alone, Peg & the Yeti, The Subway Mouse, Read Me A Book, The Zoe Board Books, The Golden Goose, The Party, Gifts, Two By Two, Effie, Song a Song of Mother Goose, Have You Seen Birds, The New Ba-by Calf.

Page 6 Helen Gorman Elementary School 2013/14

2014 Rockslide Summer Curling Camp Registration Registration for Rockslide Sum-mer Curling Camp is open and accepting registrants for the 4th Annual Event. This is a great opportunity for Junior Curl-ers of all skill levels to work with BC’s top coaches in the beautiful Okanagan. Curl BC is also hosting a post Rockslide Junior Bonspiel at the Kelowna Curling Club open to Individu-als and Teams. Visit http://www.curlbc.ca/development/rockslide-summer-curling-camp/ to register today for ei-ther event.

Rockslide Registration Dead-

line: Sunday, May 4, 2014

Where: The Kelowna Curling Club When: Wednesday, July 2 to Saturday, July 5, 2014 Fee: $373.00 plus taxes (3.5 days of on-ice, in-class, extracurricular activi-ties, a shirt, camp resources, snacks, lunches and dinners are included in the camp fee) Cancella-tion Policy: A cancellation fee of $40 will be incurred for withdrawals before and including May 4, 2014. After May 4, 2014 there will be no refunds unless the spot can be filled through the waiting list. Post Camp Bonspiel Registra-tion Deadline: Sunday, June 1, 2014 Where: The Kelowna Curling Club When: Saturday, July 5 – Mon-day, July 7, 2014

Team Registration fee: Early Bird Registration fee until May 4: $130/team May 5 onwards: $260/team Individual Registration: Early Bird Registration fee until May 4: $32.50/player May 5 onwards: $65/individual Cancellation Policy: If you withdraw prior to the registration deadline, you will receive a refund but are subject to a processing fee. If you withdraw after the registration deadline no refunds will be issued.

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity,

prosperity would not be so welcome. ~Anne Bradstreet

Page 7 Helen Gorman Elementary School 2013/14

Page 8 Helen Gorman Elementary School 2013/14