Wings, From the Elementary Campus of RCS

November 2014

Gifts for the Manger

Mrs. Darlene Neufeld
Elementary Principal

Imagine.

A young mother-to-be and her husband, in a strange city, ready to have a baby! It was a crisis! Where could they go? What did they need? Who could help them?

If this happened in 2014, this young family could be supported by the Crisis Pregnancy Centre. They could receive a large gift basket filled with warm clothes, diapers, and needed supplies that students from Richmond Christian Elementary Campus collected earlier that month. Alongside the gift, the family could get support to find housing and counselling for the journey ahead of them. Paid and voluntary staff members at Crisis Pregnancy Centre are able to help families because of the financial donation provided to them by all of the RCS families at the Christmas Concert on the 16th of December.

“Gifts for the Manger” is one of my favourite times of the year. Our students can make the connection that the baby gift placed under the tree is like giving a gift to baby Jesus. They can begin to understand the statement from Jesus, “Truly, I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

We do this every year for a number of reasons:

– A tradition brings value and purpose to an event. Giving “Gifts to the Manger” is a tradition that makes Christmas not about “me” but about others.

– A habit is something that is practiced regularly. In order to teach children about giving, they must have opportunities to give that mean something to them.

– Some families in crisis choose to terminate a pregnancy if no help is available. CPC can intervene and provide help, hope and support to these families. There are 14 year old boys and girls who are alive today because RCS started Gifts for the Manger in 2002.

Please read the information on the website about needed items and support: Click here for gift suggestions.

Imagine. This year, a child’s life might be saved because of our “Gifts to the Manger.”

New Report Cards for 2014-2015

Mrs. Darlene Neufeld
Elementary Principal

For the past year, the Administration Team at the Elementary Campus (Mrs. Neufeld, Mrs. Schneck, Mrs. Hesmert, and Ms. Yen) have been working on creating three new report cards: Kindergarten, Primary (grade 1-3) and Intermediate (grade 4-5) using our school’s new data management system.

It was an exciting adventure to look at multitudes of report cards, the Ministry of Education guidelines, and our school’s vision statement in order to create these reports. Well, it was exciting for us – we are teachers!

What is different?

• A four point grading scale is used to express how your child is meeting a key learning outcome for the subject.
• Comments are provided for each subject under the key learning outcomes.
• Teachers will offer more “ways to support learning.”
• Grades 1-5 are assessed on Work Habits and Personal Development using the four point scale.

What is the same?

• All the courses our students take are assessed.
• Grade 4 and 5 students receive letter grades and effort marks.

The report cards go out on Monday. The teachers at RCS are so proud of the accomplishments of our students! Happy Reading!

Terry Fox Run

Each year the Elementary Campus places emphasis on Terry Fox: students are informed and challenged during chapel, encouraged to bring a donation if possible, and a run takes place. The event is teamed up with Superhero Day, giving children an opportunity to sport their favourite superhero/hero costume.

This year due to the weather, the younger students were given permission (by Mr. Grose himself!) to “run in the halls” to complete their Terry Fox Run. Such news was greeted with shock and awe and later, glee. Just under $550 was raised this year. Thank you for your support.

In 1980, Terry Fox ran his Marathon of Hope to raise money for cancer research, hoping to raise $1 for every Canadian — $24 million at that time. He had learned that his odds of surviving cancer had gone from 15% to 50% in just two years, and this spurred him on to do what he could to raise money for research. To date, over 600 million dollars have been raised in Terry Fox’s name. See Wikipedia for the full biography.

The younger students were given permission (by Mr. Grose himself!) to “run in the halls” to complete their Terry Fox Run.

This year’s Bear Creek Run was a big success. October 28th was a great day. The rain held off and all the students who attended did a phenomenal job!

This year there were 1385 participants with 20 Christian schools represented. Each race for the Grade 4’s & 5’s had roughly 200 runners. Our Grade Four and Five students had many top 50 finishes, with some top 10 finishes as well!

We are so proud of everyone who attended! Their dedication and hard work during practice and training was clearly evident and they all did a fantastic job on the day of the run. Well done, Grade 4 and 5 Students!

Mr. Matthew Przybylski
Elementary PE Teacher