Week at a Glance

March 10th Monday- Hot Lunch

March 11th Tuesday- Pancake Breakfast

March 12th Wednesday- Report Cards emailed home

March 13th Thursday- Entrepenuer Fair

March 14th Friday- Concession

Dear LIS Families,

As we move into March, we have several important updates to share.

First, a reminder that Daylight Saving Time begins this weekend. Please remember to set your clocks forward by one hour to ensure a smooth transition as we welcome longer daylight hours.

We are also looking forward to Spring Break, which will take place from March 17-28th. We hope all of our students and families enjoy a well-deserved break filled with rest, relaxation, and quality time together.

Another exciting event this month is our Entrepreneur Fair on March 13th at the LIS Gym. This is a wonderful opportunity for our students to showcase their creativity, innovation, and business skills. We encourage families to attend and support our young entrepreneurs as they present their projects and ideas. Here are the times:

• 9:45 am-10:15
• 10:30 am-11:45 am
• 12:45 pm-2:00 pm Lastly, we want to remind families to check the Lost & Found for any missing belongings. Any unclaimed items will be donated after Friday, March 14th, so please take a moment to see if anything belongs to your child before then.

Thank you for your continued support and engagement in our school community. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out.

We are Kind....

We are Compassionate...

We are LIS...

Huy'ch'qa,

Dionte Jelks

Principal

Tuesday March 11, 2025

Pancake Day

Wednesday March 12, 2025

2nd Term Report Cards emailed

Thursday March 13, 2025

Entrepeneur Fair

Friday March 14, 2025

Last Day of School for Spring Break

Monday March 31, 2025

Student return back to school

Friday April 11

BC Lions End Racism @ LSS

Gr. 6 & 7 students

Tuesday April 15, 2025

LIS Track and Field Meet

Friday April 18, 2025

Good Friday (School not in Session)

Monday April 21, 2025

Easter Monday (School not in Session)

Golden Thumb Award

Division 1 & 2 received the Golden Thumb Award this week! Both division did a great job of setting a high standard and exceeded everyone's expectations during a fire drill.

Tiger Pride Award Winners

COME PLAY WITH US!

We’re excited to offer an After School Multisport Program for students in grades 4 and 5 at LIS! This fun and inclusive program will run on Tuesdays from April 8 to June 10, 2025, from 2:26 to 4:00 PM. Please arrive by 3:55 PM for pick-up.

Students will have the opportunity to explore fundamental movement skills through physical activities, games, and creative arts and crafts. Forms are due by March 13th, so be sure to sign up soon!

Did you know?

Pacific Sport also offers engaging and inclusive Summer Camps designed to meet the needs of our community. Keep an eye out for more details!

We look forward to seeing you there!

Division 1-13 Radio Plays

Round 1 of auditions were held all this week during fine arts periods. A Round 2 might be needed for some classes early next week. By late next week, every student will know their role in each play and cast members will be bringing home a copy of the full script to practise. Lines do not have to be memorized since we are doing radio plays.

Please keep these scripts at home in a safe place so they won’t be misplaced or lost. There is no need for scripts to come back to school since we have copies in the fine arts room that we will be using during in-school rehearsals. Digital copies are not available.

Tales from the Twilight Zone (extra-curricular stage production)

Our after-school drama club started their rehearsals this week. Students did script read-throughs and chose which crew positions they wanted to do.

Memorization of lines is needed for ‘Tales from the Twilight Zone’ since this portion of DRAMAFEST is a full stage production. The off-book (no more scripts, fully memorized lines) date is April 10th. I recommend that your child memorize a few lines each day or two, always starting at the beginning of their script, to slowly build towards knowing all their lines by heart. By doing this every 1-2 days, they will be reviewing all of the lines that have already memorized plus the next set of lines. Usually 'cramming' memorization right before a due date doesn't work well, has little retention, and can cause stress. Memorization is a marathon, not a sprint.

Along with their own lines, they need to memorize ‘cue lines’ as well. A cue line is dialogue spoken by another performer which is just before your child’s line. By knowing all the cue lines, students will know exactly when speak during the play. A great way for you to help your child learn their cue lines is having you read random cue lines from the script and your child then continues the dialogue after each cue line. This will help them truly master their dialogue.

Please remember that DRAMAFEST will be taking place from Monday, May 12th to Friday, May 16th (the week before the Victoria Day long weekend). Exact dates for each division will be shared in next Friday’s newsletter. Up-to-date information can be found on my drama website…

https://pitchblackdrama.weebly.com/

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me by sending me an email at rob.michalopoulos@sd68.bc.ca.

Thank you,

Mr. Michalopoulos

March 17 to 21

Nanaimo Ladysmith Schools offers several Spring Break programs including volleyball, Food Safe, Babysitting and the Home Alone course.

Please click on the link here for an upcoming parent engagement series at John Barsby Secondary School, a partnership between SD68 and VIU – School of Child and Youth Care. These sessions are open to any parent/caregiver of a student within the District.

Are you a parent or caregiver interested in connecting with other parents about child/youth mental health topics? Join FamilySmart's Family Peer Support Workers Kim, Jess and Terri for snacks, coffee/tea and connection (coffee/tea and snacks provided). These events are for parents/caregivers only.

March Fundraising Focus: Supporting Literacy and Numeracy at LIS

• I Love Ladysmith Intermediate School Fundraiser: We have raised close to $6,000 for new books for our school and our PAC will be matching every dollar donated up to $15,000. So far this equals approximately $12,000 in new books. Thanks to everyone for participating!
• Save-A-Tape: Save your receipts from any Country Grocer and hand them in to your child's teacher. We have collected over $23,000 in receipts so far. For every $1,000 in receipts we receive a $10 gift card from Country Grocer.

• Hot Lunches:

• Mar 10: Subway

• April 7: Ironworks Crêpes

• April 14: Panago Pizza

• April 22 (a Tuesday!): Maya Norte (menu not on Munchalunch yet...stay tuned)

• April 28: Subway

• Maya Norte: We will be looking to add additional lunches from Maya Norte again on Tuesdays following a non-school Monday. We will be adjusting the menu based on what was popular and will adjust pricing on certain items. We will still offer dairy free and gluten free options, so stay tuned for added dates!

• Order via Munchalunch (cutoff: 10:00 pm the Thursday before).

• Panago Coupons: $14 each for a medium pizza coupon. We still have 25 coupons left. Reach out to the PAC for purchasing these as they are no longer on Munchalunch. LIS makes $4 from every coupon sold!

Donations and Contributions

• Used Books Wanted: Gently used youth novels (e.g., Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Wings of Fire, Alan Gratz novels) are welcomed.
• Country Grocer Receipts: Submit receipts to your teacher; LIS receives 1% back in gift cards for every $1,000 collected.

Thank You to Our Community Sponsors

We’re grateful for the support of:

• Save-On-Foods (juice for hot lunches)
• Panago Pizza (pizza coupons)
• Madill The Office Company (stationery for fundraising)
• Blooms At The 49th (Carnation Grams)
• Country Grocer (Donation of hot dogs, hot chocolate and supplies for our donation drive dates)
• Ashley Vincent - LIS cookies

Hats Off

We're thankful for our school and community helpers, and donors:

· Stasia Johnson Real Estate for the use of her sandwich boards for the Country Grocer BBQ

· Our volunteers and kids for helping with the BBQ on March 1st

Volunteer Opportunities

We’d love your help with the following:

• Mondays (Hot Lunch): 11:20 am–12:30 pm (1 helper needed per lunch).
• Fridays (Concession): 10:30 am–12:30 pm (2 helpers needed per concession).
• Apr 15: Concession at LIS Track Meet (Rotary Bowl Stadium, Nanaimo).
• May 29: Fun Fair (setup, running games, or takedown from 2:30 pm–8:00 pm).

Meet Your PAC Members

Our Parent Advisory Council (PAC) is here to support the LIS community! Feel free to reach out to any of us or email us at ladysmithintermediatepac@hotmail.com.

• Marcy Drinkwater: Chair (Zekie, Grade 5)
• Susan Randle: Treasurer (Lindsey, Grade 4; Amanda, Grade 6)
• Andrea Gollmer: Secretary (Summer, Grade 5)
• Devon Warren: Hot Lunch/Fundraising (Colbie, Grade 6)
• Lindsey Conover: PAC Member/Concession (Ethan, Grade 5)
• Michelle Hiebert: PAC Member (Rose, Grade 7)
• Shiela Guay: Concession Lead (Olivia, Grade 6)
• Sarah Schaefer: DPAC rep (Gavin, Grade 4)
• Anna Coe: Graphic Design (Beatrice, Grade 5)

We look forward to making March a success for LIS! Huy’ch’qa for your support.

We ask parents/guardians to call the school before 9:00 am at (250) 245-3351 or email Info.LI@sd68.bc.ca to notify the school of your child’s absence. Please follow up with a note to your child’s teacher when your child returns to school so the teacher can address any missed work, homework issues, etc. Also a reminder that if students need to leave early, they should be signed out in the main office.

The following is a reminder about the NLPS school closure procedure for students.

If schools are closed due to snow, or any other weather-related problems, announcements will be made on local radio stations (WOLF 106.9 FM, WAVE 102.3 FM, and 91.7 COAST FM) by 7 a.m., or earlier, on the day of the closure. Please do not call the radio station – tune in and listen for the announcements, which will be made on a regular basis.

In addition, the district will post the information on the district’s website, Twitter, Facebook, and mobile app. Families may also receive a message through the School Messenger notification system via phone, email, or text. Please keep in mind, however, that there may be situations where this is not always possible, for example, power outages or technical problems. The most reliable method is to listen to the local radio stations.

ADDRESS:

Ladysmith Intermediate School

317 French St. Ladysmith, BC V9G 1B1

(250) 245-3351

INTERNET/SOCIAL MEDIA:

WEBSITE: https://li.schools.sd68.bc.ca/