“No matter how much you prepare yourself for a trip like this, it won’t be anything near the actual experience. We did a lot, we learned a lot, and we experienced a lot; but the thing that stood out to me the most was the fact that there was no shame in religion. Whether we were at a school, a home, or a church, everyone—the kids, the parents, the families—poured out their hearts to God, and there was no judgment.” Rachel S., grade 11

John Knox elementary school intermediate students recently participated in a reading challenge to earn the chance to win great prizes. From January 3 to February 28, Grade 4 through 6 students were challenged to read around a Monopoly-style playing board featuring different genres of books such as Fantasy, Mystery, Graphic Novel and Non-Fiction. There were also spaces on the board for unconventional genres such as “A book with a One-Word Title”, “A book recommended by your teacher” and “A book older than your parents”. Students worked together with their classmates to complete a class Bookopoly board in which each student was assigned a “property” to complete. The class who completed the most boards won a class pizza party. In the individual Bookopoly board challenge, students who read all books on the board (a total of 19 books) were entered for a chance to win a $50 Indigo gift card. There were also smaller prizes available to all students who completed a set of properties of the same color. Prizes included pencils, erasers, bookmarks, stickers and candies. 

UBC’s annual Engineering Without Borders (EWB) Youth Venture. Competition – 2023 January 27-29

This year, I was given the chance to participate in UBC’s annual Engineering Without Borders (EWB) youth venture. The competition gives high school students the opportunity to be introduced to the field of engineering and the design process while also thinking critically about current world issues. This year’s topic was on pediatric assistive technologies and how they could be used to benefit children with disabilities. 

Grade 7 Girl’s Basketball

Our Grade 7 girls traveled to Unity Christian on Tuesday to compete in their first-ever tournament. The girls performed admirably as a team but fell short in the end. They displayed outstanding sportsmanship, communication, and a Christian attitude both on and off the court. The girls had a great time playing. Amazing job Girls!!

Bantam Boys Knox Ball Invitational – January 27-28, 2023
Over the course of two days, the Hawks Athletic Council hosted their Knox Ball tournament for the Bantam boys inviting around 5 teams to play round robin. Our very own team played a very good game on the first day beating Fraser Valley but unfortunately taking a loss after their evening game. On the second day, they played their hearts out having great communication on and off the court using several skills including blocking and great passing. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to beat the school they were up against and the Hawks came in 4th place in the tournament. It was a great experience for many of our players as it was their first tournament of the season. It was very nice to see them all show out their skills and be able to come in as a team with the grades who have been playing the previous year to create this team. Overall, there were great parents and staff supporters who came and cheered on the boys as they played and this is just the beginning of the great season. Let’s go Hawks!

By Hilary C., Grade 11 student

On January 14, 2023, I, along with three others, were given the opportunity to play for Hilary Hahn in a masterclass provided by the VSO School of Music. Hilary Hahn is a world-renowned violinist and three-time Grammy Award winner. Hilary Hahn started her solo career at age 11 with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, and later gained international recognition after she made her debut in Germany with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. At the age of only 16, Hilary Hahn became one of the youngest musicians to get a recording contract with Sony Classical Records. Hilary Hahn is a well respected violinist appreciated by many from all over the world.

By Ronda-Boussina G., Grade 10 student

Two things I will always enjoy in my life are food and helping others, so when there was an opportunity involving the two I was all in. Pasta Sunday is the third Sunday of every month where students are able to come together and create bagged lunches for those in need. This past Sunday, January 15, 2023 included myself, Noah H., Louis M-B., Colette V., and Yuna. Volunteering with friends is always a special thing as memories are created, fellowship is shared, and friendships are solidified. Pasta Sunday was no different.

By Noah H., Grade 10 student

I had never been inside a food bank before. To learn more about food banks and food security, our senior Food Studies class went to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank on a field trip.

For January 27, 2023

Senior Boy’s finished 4th at the Prestigious St. John’s Jam
This last weekend, the senior boy’s basketball team played in the very prestigious and competitive St. John’s School Jam tournament. Four of the top 10 ranked 1A Boy’s Basketball teams in BC were in this 12-team tournament and this was a measuring stick of where our Hawks are ranked in BC. When entering this tournament on Thursday, the team was quite tired and exhausted from previous games the same week, as well as the stress of final exams the following week. But even with all of these distractions, the team still played our best throughout the weekend. The highlight of the weekend was upsetting #5 ranked Aberdeen Hall of Kelowna 97-92 in the second round of the tournament. This was a big achievement for the team and put the team on notice. The next two games were against #1 ranked Unity Christian and the host St. John’s. The team didn’t fair well against those two but left their hearts and efforts on the floor. Grade 12 Aryn Khan was named to the tournament All-Star team after averaging 30+ points in the tournament.

It all started when I met Mrs. Lund in her office one afternoon. We were discussing career paths, and I had no idea what to expect when I showed interest in assistive technology.  Right away she bestowed upon me the honour of cooperating with some incredible teachers in a frequently overlooked classroom at John Knox. There I met different teachers, but also two inspiring students.  From then on, I started to spend lunch with them once a week.  During my first visit with students, J and A, I instantly knew they were special. Although J is non-verbal, she seemed to have a sixth sense for people I hadn’t seen before. 

Effective assessment is revealing and can provide a more accurate report of students’ mastery than a number on the traditional 100-point scale. Grades are shorthand symbols for much larger descriptors, and with the BC Ministry of Education’s (MoE’s) mandate to remove grades from K-9 report cards, teachers must become more adept at defining learning targets and identifying where each student’s accomplishments are relative to those targets. 

Knowing which learning milestones students achieve requires that assessment tools analyze and then descriptively define learning goals. Developing these assessment resources requires the alignment of so many components, that the work of creating them can not be left to chance.

Teachers are not generally at liberty to earn another degree just to develop their assessment literacy skills. At JKCS, this is the work that we are doing together, largely during our Early Wednesday Collaboration Sessions. The good news is that when teachers work collaboratively on developing their assessment practices, they not only increase their assessment literacy, but they also positively impact student achievement (Hattie, 2009; Moss, 2013).

Learning is a naturally gradual process. When children learn to walk, they start with hand-held baby steps, and through the persistent practice of increasingly complex milestones, they can eventually run, and more. 

This simple analogy illustrates an aspect of the critical work that teachers need to do. When teachers document learning progressions, they are creating a blueprint for instruction and assessment.

Our community recently enjoyed a series of fabulous Christmas concerts. Over the years, performance skills are groomed, and students learn increasingly sophisticated musical repertoires. When teachers create learning rubrics to replace 100-point grading scales, students can clearly identify: 

1. the skills being taught and assessed, and
2. how well they are doing relative to the goal of achieving the “Proficient” learning target descriptors.

Consider as an example this draft of a proficiency scale created by Mrs. Visser for her grade 3 music students.

As mentioned above, when grades are replaced by a rubric with descriptive learning goals, students will be able to identify their accomplishments relative to these descriptors. This benefit is one of the foundational rationales for the BC MoE’s going gradeless mandate. At JKCS it is our goal to capitalize on this mandated requirement by adopting practises that educational research indicates will enrich student-learning outcomes.  

Director of Curriculum and Learning

Wendy Perttula

________________________________________

¹ Ken O’Connor and Rick Wormelli; Educational Leadership: Reporting Student Learning (Nov 2011)

² Ibid

³Ibid

Dear Intermediate (4-6) parents,

We are looking forward to sharing our music with you for the first time in person in a couple of years! We look forward to having you attend our performances.

As our audience, you are an important part of this work of art.