Global Learning in a Rural Setting   

The elementary section of our school, Kindergarten to Grade 6, comprises half of the LESS student body. Most classes are multi-grade, with lots of one-to-one attention for all students, and low special needs student-to-teacher ratios.  Elementary students use the same special areas as the high school: the gym, computer lab, science lab and foods room.

Elementary students participate in a variety of fun activities organized by our energetic and talented elementary staff. Some of the highlights of the year include our:

• Arts Festival

• One Hundred Nights of Home Reading

• Science Fair

• Ski Days

• Christmas Concert

• Valentine’s activities

• Ancestral Tours

• Sleepovers with Burton Outdoor Ed class

• Writing Residency at the Silverton Gallery with Stuart Ross

• Tour through Nikkei Centre

• Curling in Nakusp

• Pottery

• Hikes and bike rides

Kindergarten

We got out biking. The children loved doing felting and clay. They liked to play and play and play. They loved to work things out and look after each other. Baby animals are another love. Also they were excited to see goats and milk them, and see baby chicks.

Grade 1-2 Fondest Memories

-Celebrating the 100th day of school in our pajamas in forts we made right in our classroom.

-Two glorious fall days at Bonanza Creek observing the redfish. We played in the sand and mud for hours and formed our own ‘Salmon Patrol’, a group dedicated to collecting as many dead fish as possible.
-Becoming friends with ‘our’ adorable Roots of Empathy baby Taylor and her loving mother.
-The Chestnut Counting Contest

-Making a giant heart with food coloring on the upper field on Valentine’s Day and trying snowshoes for the first time!
-Snowshoeing to the ‘Valley of Crystals’
-Making it up the world’s steepest t-bar at the ski hill
-Cross-country skiing and The Giant Snowball Fight in Hills
-Making bowls using a real potter’s wheel with Anita.
-Watching tadpoles grow into tiny, slippery frogs.
-Amazing everyone with our performance of ‘The Emperor Who Had No Hair’

Grade 3-4 Year in Review

The Grade 3 & 4 class has been really busy this year! The highlight of our year has been our Ancestral Tour. We are pretending to be tourists, making “virtual tours” of the countries our ancestors came from. While we are in each country, we read and write about its history, culture and geography. We even made English Trifle and drank tea with the Queen at Buckingham Palace. We learned a German polka and made art based on the styles of famous Italian and French artists! We have fun and learn lots too!

Grade 5-6

This year the Grade 5/6 students had a unique experience to be a part of an outdoor program with Burton Outdoor Education students. The two classes built similar curricula, and created numerous outdoor events together. There was camping at Summit Lake in the fall, trips to Burton and then back to Lucerne. They explored the Arrow Lake as well as Slocan Lake, hiked trails and road bicycles. They investigated, pine beetles, toads, bats, caribou, and went outside when they could. They did a poetry retreat with Stuart Ross, discovered clay with Elly Scheepens and studied the Nikkei. They kept journals, sketched and became better at classifying plants and animals.  This is one group of lively Grade 5/6 students who really appreciate where they live.