Superintendent’s Update

Dear Parents and Caregivers:

As we engage in learning and extracurricular activities in April, this is a month where we will be focused on stories about well-being, an important value commitment in the 2022-2027 District Strategic Plan. We are also focused on the Grandfather Teaching of Humility.

David Thompson Elementary School – April 3, 2025

I visited classrooms at David Thompson Elementary with Principal Gunnlaugson.

We started in Ms. Baker’s Grade 3-4 class, where students worked at planning for their Haikus, which are short, unrhymed Japanese poems with 17 syllables arranged in three lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables, often focusing on nature and capturing a fleeting moment. The students were focused on a range of topics, and Olivia said, “I like cheetah cubs so I am writing about them in this poem” and another student was writing about winter. When I asked him why, he shared that he was a “skier and snowboarder”. There were other students reading haikus and analyzing them, and everyone was truly excited about their writing.

Mrs. Jorgenson’s Kindergarten class was studying crocodiles, and they stopped to share that this was part of a larger study of animals who lay eggs. Students shared how crocodiles bury their eggs and they have many predators that cause them to have to protect their eggs. They shared a video clip of how scientists are using robots that serve as decoys that video record the actions of predators so that they can learn how Crocodiles protect their young.

Mrs. Svenson’s Kindergarten class were settling into some Jazz music and engaged in writing in their alphabet books and focused on practicing their letters. Others were coloring their April poems. Some students worked in a small group with Mrs. Svenson to get feedback on how they were printing their letters to ensure good form.

Mrs. Gurski’s Grade 1 class was engaged in reading individually and in pairs on their new iPads. They shared their reading excerpts and how they liked having different spaces to read. Some were in the nearby hallway and others in the classroom. Ms. Gunnlaugson shared how both PAC and staff prioritized adding to their iPads because they use them so frequently for various subjects. I also met Ms. McCleaf, the Indigenous Education Worker, who was spending time supporting the reading of an individual student and also indicated how the staff had collaborated to prepare stations for the Annual Day of Sucwentwécw on April 7, 2025.

Mrs. Gurski also spent time in small group reading to work on certain reading strategies with students.

Ms. Webster’s Grade 2 class was enjoying taking part in the Robothink Kamloops exercises led by Zeeshan Nanji who was supporting individual students as well as small groups as they put together their creations using lego, batteries and motorized parts.  Two students combined their two creations to make one that had a rotating arm. When they took them apart, one noticed that if it was turned around, it could make a good blender. Another student, Makena, has spent Spring Break at a Demolition Robotics camp and she shared how she “really liked everything about it.” and when I asked her to name one thing, she answered, “I like that I get to build things.”

As we continued onto other classes, we stopped to meet Mitsy who was preparing for a reading practice session for three students. Mitsy volunteers her time along with Fern who she described as “the main coordinator who organizes all of the volunteers to read daily with students.” Ms. Gunnlaugnson emphasized, “This program is amazing because it offers so much daily practice and the students just love it. We are so lucky to have the ‘Come Read with Me’ volunteers in their school.”

For our last stop of the morning, we visited Mr. Marchese’s Grade 4/5 class. He shared a game in which he has students engage in quick mental math in the spirit of “Beating Mr. M.!”. This time, he had them try to “Beat Ms. G.!” He rolled dice on a screen, and the students chose to write the number they saw in the ones, tens, or hundreds columns.  The rule was that their numbers cannot add to more than 1,000. At the conclusion of the game, all students brought their sheets to the whiteboard, and Mr. Marchese put each up with a magnet and the students identified which sheets beat or not Ms. G.! It was a very engaging game and one student said, “I am much faster now at knowing place value than I was before.” Another student shared, “I can add much more quickly than before and I was right most of the time.”

RCMP Youth Academy – March 12–16, 2025

For 14 years, the RCMP Youth Academy in the Kamloops-Thompson School District has offered unique, challenging, and hand-on learning experiences for secondary students who are interested in potential careers in police work, law enforcement, or corrections. This year’s RCMP Youth Academy ran from March 12–16, 2025 at Pineridge Education Centre and welcomed 10 students – six from SD73 and four from schools outside of our district. Over five days, students learned through lessons, lectures, drills, hand-on learning, simulations, and presentations from 16 different policing units and partner agencies. Read more.

March Madness Food Drive – March 3–13, 2025

Students and staff from Robert L Clemitson (RLC), Marion Schilling, and Ralph Bell elementary schools recently held a friendly competition to see who could collect the most food donations for the Kamloops Food Bank. The March Madness Food Drive ran from March 3–13, 2025, and at the end of the two weeks over 1.5 tons of food was collected between all three schools and donated to the Kamloops Food Bank. Read more.

Gathering Our Voices 2025 Conference in Kamloops – March 18–21, 2025

From March 18–21, 2025, the annual Gathering Our Voices Indigenous Youth Leadership Conference brought together over 1,000 Indigenous youth from across BC in Kamloops. With 65 students attending from Kamloops-Thompson School District, it was wonderful to have this incredible event offered here in Kamloops, with many workshops and events happening at Valleyview Secondary School (VSS). Special thanks to the Transportation Department for their support with bussing and VSS leadership and staff for opening up their school over spring break. Read more.

Cariboo-Mainline Regional Science Fair – April 1, 2025

Earlier this week, students showcased creative and innovative science projects at the Cariboo-Mainline Regional Science Fair at TRU. This year’s fair included 140 students from the Cariboo-Chilcotin (SD27) Nicola-Similkameen (SD58), and Kamloops-Thompson (SD73) school districts, with 74 SD73 students attending from 13 schools across the District. The projects featured represented the highest finishing 10% of projects at the school and classroom level. Read more.

Owl Award – Thank you for the Nominations

The Owl Award recognizes individuals, groups, or organizations who have made outstanding, system-wide contributions to public education in our District. Nominations for 2025 Owl Award for Excellence in Public Education were due by March 31, 2025. Thank you to everyone who submitted nominations. Our committee is looking forward to reviewing them!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Rhonda Nixon, PhD
Superintendent