Kids need to play. Not as a reward for finishing their work or a break before the “real” learning starts, but as an essential way that children make sense of the world, each other, and themselves. Mr. Rogers once said, “Play is really the work of childhood.” Some kids need to run until they’re breathless. [...]
On November 6, it rained. A lot! Late that afternoon, the rain came down hard. The kind of rain that makes you glad to be under a sound roof…until your son notices the basement décor (aka laundry basket) is floating at the bottom of the stairs. Soggy, Damp, and Beautiful There we were…processing soggy floors, [...]
A few months ago, I shared with you the privilege of hearing a presentation from Hilda deWolde’s grade 2A class about reimagining our elementary campus’ playground. Part of their proposal included more than just the typical things you find on a school playground. The students decided that natural elements, such as a play forest, [...]
“This must have God’s hands in it,” says grade 4 teacher, Measha Thompson, who, overcoming many challenges, moved from teaching kindergarten for the past three years to teaching grade 4 for the 2023-24 school year. Finding Her Home When Measha visited ACS for the first time, she knew this would be her home. Although her [...]
On rainy days at ACS Elementary, students love to gross out the teachers on supervision by showing them big, fat worms. To their giggling delight, the teachers respond as they hoped:“Ewwww! Gross!” Except when they bring the wiggling creatures to Nature Kindergarten teacher, Christine Beugelink. “Cool! Let me see!” she says, stopping them in their [...]
This past December, I had the privilege of being invited to a presentation from the students in 2A where the students presented a proposal for some new, exciting, and inclusive play spaces. Earlier in the year the class agreed to take on a big challenge—reimagining our elementary school’s playground! As part of our school’s Drive [...]
As a principal, I’ve seen a lot of things. But nothing prepared me for the day last year when I got “a-quack-ed.” Imagine this: I walk into my office, ready for a typical afternoon of emails, meetings, and decision-making. But something’s off. There’s an unusual sense of stillness in the room, a quiet—too quiet—until I [...]
In 1986, I stepped into the role of elementary principal, and I was met with a daunting challenge issued by then ACS Board Chair, Jack Van Dyke: to fill the four vacant classrooms in our new elementary campus on the Abbotsford-Mission Highway. Little did we anticipate that this newly rebuilt campus, erected after the devastation [...]
In 1991, I was a grade 9 student at Abbotsford Christian Secondary School. I bused to school every day with the other Chilliwack and Agassiz kids, had a blue top locker in the hallway that now leads to the mechanics shop (my locker combination was 27-54-39), and spent most of my free time making [...]
How do you teach elementary students about the effects of Canadian geography on Canada’s history? Or about how the vast array of geographical terrains and climates of early Canada impacted the Indigenous peoples and the first European settlers? You build a 3D map of Canada so large it’s difficult to find a table big enough! [...]
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