Melissa Dalgaard, a WKTEP graduate from last year’s cohort, shares some thoughts and pictures about her new job at Bastion Elementary School in School District 83.

“I have managed to successfully complete the first two weeks of school and am loving it! I have 29 students in my Grade 5 French Immersion class (14 girls and 15 boys) and my classroom is in an annex…There are only two other classrooms in the annex, which are also Grade 5 classes, so it is pretty quiet. I am the youngest teacher on staff and am one of five upper intermediate teachers in the school.

“The school is K-5 and has about 420 students, 30 of whom bus, 75 walk/ride a bike, and the rest get driven to and from the school. The schools catchment area is the North Broadview area of Salmon Arm but because it is the only elementary school in SD 83 that offers French Immersion we get students from all over.”

Our students had a great day at Kokanee Creek Provincial Park today, despite the wet weather. We joined Rosemont Elementary School on a series of tours about the life cycle, habitat, and spawning of the Kokanee Salmon. Many thanks go to the park interpreters Joanne Siderius, Marilyn Lawrence, and Jenna Lintz for being such great role models for our teacher candidates.

We continued the tradition of having our students join local public schools on the first day of class to get a feel for the energy and excitement of the annual start up. It was an exciting day and our students really appreciated the opportunity to mingle with staff and students. Many thanks to Brent Kennedy Elementary School for hosting our elementary candidates, and Mt. Sentinel Secondary School for welcoming our secondary candidates.

We were once again fortunate to begin our year by joining SD#10 (Arrow Lakes) for two days of professional learning in beautiful Nakusp. Many thanks to new Superintendent Terry Taylor for the invitation and to all the teachers and administrators for welcoming us so warmly and sharing their knowledge and experience. While both days were very beneficial, our students particularly enjoyed the sharing of practice on the second day when they got a real insight into not only a variety of excellent programs and practices, but also the many positive aspects of working in a small rural district.

Another highlight of the trip was staying overnight in Nakusp at the Leland Hotel, the oldest continually running hotel in British Columbia. It was a treat to stay there, and dinner was fantastic.