Summer Straub of Schuler School holding the children's book she wrote and published through Amazon. The library at the school carries a copy of the book, titled Chase the Dinosaur.--SUBMITTED PHOTO
reporter@medicinehatnews.com
When new Schuler School principal Lyle Kennedy took over this school year, he wanted to preserve the things that were working well along with those important to the community, such as curling. He wanted to focus on building strong relationships with all stakeholders in the school, implementing a new culture while honouring past successes.
“Communication is vital with all stakeholders, sometimes you have to respect and trust those around you,” Kennedy said in a Tuesday presentation to the Prairies Rose Public Schools board of trustees called ‘Let’s give back, not sit back.’
Based on stakeholder feedback from last year, Kennedy learned parents want to feel part of the school community, students sought more opportunities and a voice in the school, while staff wanted to feel they were making a difference.
The primary goal at Schuler School this year is around aligning practices and developing a common language to increase literacy skills for all students. Teachers and staff are actively engaging in literacy interventions, such as building vocabulary, phonemic awareness and whole phonics.
Additionally, there is Literacy Through Library created by school administration assistant and librarian Janice Herman, who runs events in the library students can engage with. One is the teddy bear sleepover where a whole group of teddy bears can be seen participating in a different activity each day, such as roasting marshmallows or watching a video together. Herman has also created Starbooks, where each table in the library will have books from different genres and students spend a few minutes at each table exploring books they might not have looked at before.
Final period each Friday is reserved for literacy in action where students are grouped together to read with each other from selected books. The exhibition of learning at Schuler School this year will be on literacy.
An example of aligning practices in terms of literacy at Schuler School is represented by student Summer Straub, who wrote a children’s book that is illustrated by local artist Betty Kirschenman. Straub’s grandmother encouraged her to write the book, which was inspired by the Hilda Mega-Bonebed, one of the largest dinosaur bonebeds in the world and the largest in Canada. Schuler School library carries a copy of Straub’s book, titled Chase the Dinosaur, and it is also available for purchase on Amazon.
Curling is big at the school and is 100% parent driven, with 46 volunteers helping to run the program and 30% of the student population taking part each Tuesday afternoon.
There are also other sports for students to be involved in and Kennedy believes being active is vital for a well-rounded school. There has been a good turnout for volleyball, basketball, mini basketball and badminton. Looking forward, the school is planning on getting track and field, archery and baseball going in the spring.
Kennedy also revealed the school has just been awarded a $10,000 Pembina Grant to focus on wellness. Some ideas on how to use the money are building a greenhouse, having outdoor fitness equipment, bringing in guest speakers for school and community and holding pickleball as well as three-on-three hockey tournaments.
