Instructional Capacity

<p class="editor-paragraph"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Carole Fullerton returned to Cataline Elementary school as part of the School District Professional Learning Rounds, working alongside our intermediate teachers. Hosted by Mr. Wilson, Carole explored the concept of numbers of a whole, focusing on decimals and percentages. Cataline intermediate teachers had the opportunity to plan, observe, and teach with Carole, following her educational expertise and taking away ideas and strategies that will further their numeracy instruction. Cataline continue to use Carole as a valuable resource, as well as her numeracy program to grow our student achievement.</span></p><table class="editor-table" style="width: 100%; table-layout: fixed;"><colgroup><col style="width: 50%;"><col style="width: 50%;"></colgroup><tbody><tr><th class="editor-tableCell editor-tableCellHeader" style="border: 1px solid black; vertical-align: top; text-align: start; background-color: rgb(242, 243, 245);"><p class="editor-paragraph"><img src="/images/cd85e2c9-e038-4900-a8d9-21ecbe33a670?fingerprint=ppb20260519204543" alt="Carole Fullerton Supporting Cataline Intermediate Teachers" width="100%" height="inherit" style="width:100%;height:inherit;display:inline-block"></p><p class="editor-paragraph"><br></p></th><th class="editor-tableCell editor-tableCellHeader" style="border: 1px solid black; vertical-align: top; text-align: start; background-color: rgb(242, 243, 245);"><p class="editor-paragraph"><img src="/images/c5fc2190-0654-41a6-843c-9bb9b30c288a?fingerprint=ppb20260519204539" alt="Carole Fullerton Supporting Cataline Intermediate Teachers 2" width="100%" height="inherit" style="width:100%;height:inherit;display:inline-block"></p><p class="editor-paragraph"><br></p></th></tr></tbody></table><p class="editor-paragraph"><br></p>

<p class="editor-paragraph"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Cataline primary teachers continued their commitment towards improving and furthering their literacy programming and targeted phonic instruction; focusing on our 2025/2026 school goal of improving student literacy rates. During April 24th Professional Development Day, Mrs. Tomlinson and Ms. Hopkins led an early literacy instruction session, highlighting the work they and other Cataline Elementary primary teachers are doing which aims to provide systematic phonics instruction to develop foundational reading skills. Teachers from Cataline had the opportunity to learn and collaborate with colleagues from other schools, sharing resources and instructional practices, focusing on early literacy interventions. Opportunities like these help build capacity among staff as well as continuity and sequence among our school’s literacy programming.</span></p><table class="editor-table" style="width: 100%; table-layout: fixed;"><colgroup><col style="width: 50%;"><col style="width: 50%;"></colgroup><tbody><tr><th class="editor-tableCell editor-tableCellHeader" style="border: 1px solid black; vertical-align: top; text-align: start; background-color: rgb(242, 243, 245);"><p class="editor-paragraph"><img src="/images/682de5b1-cb9d-4f42-9337-0592225dbb71?fingerprint=ppb20260428060020" alt="Primary Literacy1 dwayne benvin" width="100%" height="inherit" style="width:100%;height:inherit;display:inline-block"></p><p class="editor-paragraph"><br></p></th><th class="editor-tableCell editor-tableCellHeader" style="border: 1px solid black; vertical-align: top; text-align: start; background-color: rgb(242, 243, 245);"><p class="editor-paragraph"><img src="/images/e96ceec7-f440-4e76-a994-40cd6bd8c302?fingerprint=ppb20260428060020" alt="Primary Literacy2 dwayne benvin" width="100%" height="inherit" style="width:100%;height:inherit;display:inline-block"></p><p class="editor-paragraph"><br></p></th></tr></tbody></table><p class="editor-paragraph"><br></p>

<p class="editor-paragraph"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Our Literacy Bins grew out of the hands-on work happening at Chilcotin Road during the 2024–25 school year and were developed by Marianne and Erin, with support from our SLP, Charlotte Lundeen. They’re grounded in the same adapted core assessment we’re now using across the district. The bins follow a phonics-based sequence (aligned with UFLI), with each skill building on the next, and include ready-to-use decoding, encoding, and reading activities. The skills themselves are curated—not created by us—which means teachers can trust they’re aligned with strong literacy practice. What makes these bins so useful is their flexibility: teachers can target a specific skill for intervention, easily track progress, and then adapt or personalize activities to match their teaching style. They’re especially helpful for K–6 classrooms, new teachers, and LSTs looking to build strong, functional literacy foundations through a consistent connection between assessment and instruction. Marianne, our Helping Teacher, is available to model and co-teach using the bins, with sample kits ready to go (both in print and digital formats on the Teams literacy portal). Erin, in her IEC role, will help connect teams, and Marianne will follow up to support ongoing use in classrooms.</span></p>

<p class="editor-paragraph"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">HR, PVP and some CCTA staff have been actively engaged in numerous recruitment efforts to date. In person events include Lakehead - Thunderbay, Lakehead - Orillia, University of Alberta, Windsor University, UBC and VIU. In person events allow interested teachers to shop the districts they may be interested in working in - which means there is a lot of talking to a lot of people in a 4-5 hour time span. Making quick connections is necessary as is follow up to keep potential applicants interested. In contrast, the online events that we have hosted this year (including a showcase with Make a Future and a 3 day French Teacher Fair with Destinations Canada) require a presentation that grabs the interest of potential applicants as well as answers any potential questions, in roughly 30 minutes or less. People sign up because they are curious - they join us from around the world. These are difficult platforms because we don't see the audience. Follow up is critical.</span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">On April 30th we are participating in the BC K-12 Education Job Fair with Apply to Education. In this joint effort, HR, PVP and CCTA will engage with interested applicants from across the country. This is an economical way to engage with applicants we may not otherwise reach. This is a competitive online fair with numerous BC School Districts engaging with the same applicants.</span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">With anticipated vacancies for 2026/27 school year, we will be hosting an online District Showcase in early July (to showcase external positions) with registration moderated by Apply to Education. This type of dedicated event has proven to have a good rate of return (investment to hire ratio) when reviewing previous events we have hosted.</span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Stay tuned for future updates!</span></p><table class="editor-table" style="width: 100%; table-layout: fixed;"><colgroup><col style="width: 50%;"><col style="width: 50%;"></colgroup><tbody><tr><th class="editor-tableCell editor-tableCellHeader" style="border: 1px solid black; vertical-align: top; text-align: start; background-color: rgb(242, 243, 245);"><p class="editor-paragraph"><img src="/images/18e7692e-63ea-467a-acd2-75a4db53c3ff?fingerprint=ppb20260415042246" alt="Recruitment Update2 Jennifer Loewen" width="100%" height="inherit" style="width:100%;height:inherit;display:inline-block"></p><p class="editor-paragraph"><br></p></th><th class="editor-tableCell editor-tableCellHeader" style="border: 1px solid black; vertical-align: top; text-align: start; background-color: rgb(242, 243, 245);"><p class="editor-paragraph"><img src="/images/725010ce-5079-4b3d-a8aa-210381f812d6?fingerprint=ppb20260415042243" alt="Recruitment Update1 Jennifer Loewen" width="100%" height="inherit" style="width:100%;height:inherit;display:inline-block"></p><p class="editor-paragraph"><br></p></th></tr></tbody></table><p class="editor-paragraph"><br></p>

<p class="editor-paragraph"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">In Student Support Services, we’ve been spending time really looking at how we work together as a team.</span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">There’s been a focus on understanding our impact—not just in the work we do, but in how we show up with each other and with schools. That’s meant having some honest conversations, supporting one another, and being open to adjusting our practice when needed.</span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">We’re also seeing more and more collaboration across our team, with a growing understanding that it’s not about what any one of us brings, but what we bring together. People are reaching out, sharing ideas, and leaning on each other’s strengths in a way that is making our work stronger and more consistent.</span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">This connects directly to the idea of compassionate systems—where we recognize that how we support each other as adults matters. When our teams feel supported, connected, and valued, that carries through to the schools and students we serve.</span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">This work is helping build a culture where people feel comfortable asking for help, sharing thinking, and working through challenges together—and that’s making a difference.</span></p>

<p class="editor-paragraph"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Cataline teachers and students were in full participation with numeracy specialist, Carole Fullerton, who worked with Mrs. Sache and her grade 1 students building numeracy instructional capacity and foundational numeracy skills. Working through an addition and subtraction of larger numbers and patterns lesson, teachers used this opportunity to collaborate, observe and add to their numeracy instruction. Further, students had the opportunity to engage in the hands-on lesson that supported and continued the great numeracy work that is already happening in the classroom. This was another example of our commitment towards improving numeracy instruction at Cataline Elementary.</span></p><table class="editor-table" style="width: 100%; table-layout: fixed;"><colgroup><col style="width: 50%;"><col style="width: 50%;"></colgroup><tbody><tr><th class="editor-tableCell editor-tableCellHeader" style="border: 1px solid black; vertical-align: top; text-align: start; background-color: rgb(242, 243, 245);"><p class="editor-paragraph"><img src="/images/c72daafd-6430-4f48-8332-5dea73bcb0bd?fingerprint=ppb20260412022740" alt="Carole Fullerton Visit Cataline Numeracy1 dwayne benvin" width="100%" height="inherit" style="width:100%;height:inherit;display:inline-block"></p><p class="editor-paragraph"><br></p></th><th class="editor-tableCell editor-tableCellHeader" style="border: 1px solid black; vertical-align: top; text-align: start; background-color: rgb(242, 243, 245);"><p class="editor-paragraph"><img src="/images/37bf33ca-52e5-4ee5-8e06-c183f522c71a?fingerprint=ppb20260412022741" alt="Carole Fullerton Visit Cataline Numeracy2 dwayne benvin" width="100%" height="inherit" style="width:100%;height:inherit;display:inline-block"></p><p class="editor-paragraph"><br></p></th></tr></tbody></table><p class="editor-paragraph"><br></p>

<p class="editor-paragraph" dir="ltr"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Cataline’s educational assistants and support teachers met with our speech and language teacher Ms. Rilla to continue learning about how to support assistive communication users with their talkers. Talkers are devices such as iPads that students can use to communicate their needs via an audible button. Supported by snacks, staff had the opportunity to learn more about devices and play with the settings to better support learners in our school.</span></p><p class="editor-paragraph"><img src="/images/f8924a8f-7552-45f1-9143-a81d3ac12d13?fingerprint=ppb20260309201806" alt="Staff development on supporting students with AAC Tess Riley 1" width="519" height="389" style="width:519px;height:389px;display:inline-block"></p><p class="editor-paragraph"><br></p>

<p class="editor-paragraph" dir="ltr"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Cataline begins every meeting with a compassionate systems activity. Sometime this is grounding or gratitude, and in February, staff looked at the iceberg model. This includes recognizing that what we see in our communities is often the tip of the iceberg, and their are may things “below the surface”. By starting our staff meetings this way, teachers can begin to incorporate techniques and learnings into their own practice as we lead ourselves to a more compassionate system over all!</span></p><table class="editor-table"><colgroup><col><col></colgroup><tbody><tr><th class="editor-tableCell editor-tableCellHeader" style="width: 350px; background-color: rgb(242, 243, 245); border: 1px solid black; vertical-align: top;"><p class="editor-paragraph"><img src="/images/198523ff-ce27-4ba8-bc3a-8410bb7b53c5?fingerprint=ppb20260301052537" alt="Compassionate Systems Staff Meetings2 Tess Riley" width="100%" height="inherit" style="width:100%;height:inherit;display:inline-block"></p><p class="editor-paragraph"><br></p></th><th class="editor-tableCell editor-tableCellHeader" style="width: 350px; background-color: rgb(242, 243, 245); border: 1px solid black; vertical-align: top;"><p class="editor-paragraph"><img src="/images/4c60a8a0-3ab8-454e-b7ce-835367d71189?fingerprint=ppb20260301052537" alt="Compassionate Systems Staff Meetings1 Tess Riley" width="100%" height="inherit" style="width:100%;height:inherit;display:inline-block"></p><p class="editor-paragraph"><br></p></th></tr></tbody></table><p class="editor-paragraph"><br></p>

<p class="editor-paragraph" dir="ltr"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Teachers Mrs. Tomlinson, Mrs. Enns, and Mrs. Dikur shared with Cataline staff their learning from the Get Your Teach On Conference they attended. With a passion and enthusiasm towards improving literacy practice, these teachers led the sharing with practical ideas, while providing staff with resources that will help inject refreshing new ideas and energy into daily instruction. It’s about infusing energy and movement; using whole brain teaching approaches that will get students active, targeting kinesthetic learners and making literacy instruction interactive and fun.</span></p><p class="editor-paragraph" dir="ltr"><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">This sharing began during a Cataline staff meeting and continued the following Professional Development where Mrs. Tomlinson and Mrs. Enns led Cataline and district teachers through their shared learning, targeting early literacy ideas and providing new resources to support our school’s literacy plan around early foundational reading skills and phonemic awareness. Further, the learning session concluded with teacher collaboration around classroom management strategies, while reviewing the refreshing new ideas and resources share by their colleagues. Both learning sessions infused new energy among staff, and reignited an enthusiasm to deliver high interest, active, and engaging instruction.</span></p><table class="editor-table"><colgroup><col><col></colgroup><tbody><tr><th class="editor-tableCell editor-tableCellHeader" style="width: 350px; background-color: rgb(242, 243, 245); border: 1px solid black; vertical-align: top;"><p class="editor-paragraph"><img src="/images/ccecc172-621c-4da5-bc7b-914eddec970b?fingerprint=ppb20260217234801" alt="Get Your Teach On Teach with Energy1 dwayne benvin" width="100%" height="inherit" style="width:100%;height:inherit;display:inline-block"></p><p class="editor-paragraph"><br></p></th><th class="editor-tableCell editor-tableCellHeader" style="width: 350px; background-color: rgb(242, 243, 245); border: 1px solid black; vertical-align: top;"><p class="editor-paragraph"><img src="/images/08717a6f-8d06-4852-8ef1-d993590b4dca?fingerprint=ppb20260217234801" alt="Get Your Teach On Teach with Energy dwayne benvin" width="100%" height="inherit" style="width:100%;height:inherit;display:inline-block"></p><p class="editor-paragraph"><br></p></th></tr></tbody></table><p class="editor-paragraph"><br></p>

<p class="editor-paragraph" dir="ltr"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Cataline Elementary School primary teachers continued their literacy connection and work with District Helping Teacher, Marianne Okrainetz, during the November Professional Development Day. Ms. Okrainetz has supported our primary teachers this school year with their literacy assessments, as well as joining us for our literacy scoring session, assisting with ‘next steps’ and targeted literacy instruction.</span></p><p class="editor-paragraph" dir="ltr"><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">During the November Pro-D, most Cataline primary teachers joined Ms. Okrainetz for a day of planning and collaborating around literacy. The goal was to spend time discussing literacy assessments and how to analyze the data and then look at the “What Next” and “Next Steps” in literacy instruction. As well, teachers collaborated with colleagues from around the district, to look at how to help with literacy interventions to support students who with the highest priorities.</span></p><table class="editor-table"><colgroup><col><col></colgroup><tbody><tr><th class="editor-tableCell editor-tableCellHeader" style="width: 350px; background-color: rgb(242, 243, 245); border: 1px solid black; vertical-align: top;"><p class="editor-paragraph"><img src="/images/b707a8e4-7acf-4a39-b34b-b10cf11ae874?fingerprint=ppb20251217035619" alt="Collaborative Literacy Next Steps1 dwayne benvin" width="100%" height="inherit" style="width:100%;height:inherit;display:inline-block"></p><p class="editor-paragraph"><br></p></th><th class="editor-tableCell editor-tableCellHeader" style="width: 350px; background-color: rgb(242, 243, 245); border: 1px solid black; vertical-align: top;"><p class="editor-paragraph"><img src="/images/4cb645b4-7327-42e6-b2e0-4853d4ae0fe3?fingerprint=ppb20251217034024" alt="Collaborative Literacy Next Steps2 dwayne benvin" width="100%" height="inherit" style="width:100%;height:inherit;display:inline-block"></p><p class="editor-paragraph"><br></p></th></tr></tbody></table><p class="editor-paragraph"><br></p>

<p class="editor-paragraph" dir="ltr"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Many SD27 educators recently participated in a four-week Outdoor Learning course designed to strengthen Social Emotional Learning (SEL) practices. Each 60-minute session offered practical strategies to support student wellbeing through nature-based experiences.</span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Over the four weeks, educators explored:</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">-Mindfulness and self-awareness through sit spots, nature observation, and journaling.</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">-Social awareness and communication through cooperative outdoor play and group activities.</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">-Emotional regulation and perseverance through outdoor challenges that require patience and problem-solving.</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">-Ethics, stewardship, and community-building using Indigenous pedagogies and land-based learning.</span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">This learning series expanded instructional capacity by equipping teachers with simple, powerful routines that connect SEL and the outdoors—strengthening both classroom practice and student engagement.</span></p><p class="editor-paragraph"><br></p><table class="editor-table"><colgroup><col><col></colgroup><tbody><tr><th class="editor-tableCell editor-tableCellHeader" style="width: 350px; background-color: rgb(242, 243, 245); border: 1px solid black; vertical-align: top;"><p class="editor-paragraph"><img src="/images/8bc725e3-8479-48f0-ba37-56d1d04107f5?fingerprint=ppb20251217034956" alt="Outdoor SEL kimberley ikebuchi" width="100%" height="inherit" style="width:100%;height:inherit;display:inline-block"></p><p class="editor-paragraph"><br></p></th><th class="editor-tableCell editor-tableCellHeader" style="width: 350px; background-color: rgb(242, 243, 245); border: 1px solid black; vertical-align: top;"><p class="editor-paragraph"><img src="/images/e2c06472-82a6-4430-bb57-6126fd91a38d?fingerprint=ppb20251217040405" alt="Outdoor SEL 2 kimberley ikebuchi" width="100%" height="inherit" style="width:100%;height:inherit;display:inline-block"></p><p class="editor-paragraph"><br></p></th></tr></tbody></table><p class="editor-paragraph"><br></p>

<p class="editor-paragraph" dir="ltr"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Ms. LeBourdais presented the "Story Workshop" to Cataline staff. Teachers had the opportunity to listen to the presentation, work with the story kits, and time to collaborate about the implementation of the program within the school and their class. This literacy program is hands-on student centered, and will inspire creativity and engagement. Cataline will be designing and creating additional workshop kits to further expand and support our literacy programming.</span></p><p class="editor-paragraph"><br></p><p class="editor-paragraph"><img src="/images/5603c2a6-94df-42e5-af41-bf8b451acdbe?fingerprint=ppb20251217034036" alt="IMG 4223 dwayne benvin" width="501" height="501" style="width:501px;height:501px;display:inline-block"></p><p class="editor-paragraph"><br></p>

<p class="editor-paragraph" dir="ltr"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Our Grade 4 teachers, supported by admin and our learning support department, met for a working lunch to collaborate and plan for a successful FSA season. This ensures all students can find success in the assessment and teachers can effectively use the FSA to guide their teaching and learning.</span></p><p class="editor-paragraph"><img src="/images/8f2cb7c9-3960-4d16-b0dc-fd0b32e4ba74?fingerprint=ppb20251217035006" alt="IMG 0556 Tess Riley" width="458" height="343" style="width:458px;height:343px;display:inline-block"></p><p class="editor-paragraph"><br></p><p class="editor-paragraph" dir="ltr"><br></p><p class="editor-paragraph" dir="ltr"><br></p>

<p class="editor-paragraph" dir="ltr"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">During September 29 Professional Development Day, most Cataline Elementary School primary teachers focused their day around early literacy instruction and programming. Teachers used the morning to collaborate and learn about a phonics program (UFLI) that focuses on the systemic and explicit teaching of foundational literacy skills. The program is being used at Cataline to support our young readers and build the skills necessary for reading. During the afternoon, the primary teachers were introduced to the Story Walk program. Led by Ms. Lebourdais, teachers explored and developed literacy kits designed to foster creativity and spark imagination, increasing written engagement and communication.</span></p><p class="editor-paragraph"><img src="/images/de025fd6-1e6c-4719-9213-8bd07bda3a93?fingerprint=ppb20251217040352" alt="IMG 3883 dwayne benvin" width="623" height="623" style="width:623px;height:623px;display:inline-block"></p><p class="editor-paragraph" dir="ltr"><br></p>

<p class="editor-paragraph" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Cataline teachers and helping teachers gathered to assess spring reading and writing activities. Anchoring our learning and reviewing examples ensures students are assessed accurately and teachers are growing their practice.</span></p><p class="editor-paragraph"><img src="/images/2a6fb860-2db3-4c9a-a99a-0c21a33fa0dd?fingerprint=ppb20251217033821" alt="Marking and Anchoring Student Assessment" width="626" height="876" style="width:626px;height:876px"></p><p class="editor-paragraph"><br></p>

<p class="editor-paragraph" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Cataline Elementary School had the pleasure of hosting Bryan Gidinski during the latest professional development day. As part of School District 27 Learning Series, Mr. Gidinski was welcomed to Cataline where he worked alongside the intermediate teachers, collaborating and practicing valuable and meaningful literacy instruction with Ms. Allan's grade 5/6 class. This session supported the positive literacy programming at Cataline while helping to foster and inspire our young writers.</span></p><p class="editor-paragraph"><img src="/images/ba8c74bb-31d1-4796-b48b-42bc4c9339e0?fingerprint=ppb20251217035632" alt="Literacy with Bryan Gidinski" width="493" height="493" style="width:493px;height:493px;display:inline-block"></p><p class="editor-paragraph" dir="ltr"><br></p>

<p class="editor-paragraph" dir="ltr"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">With the support of Helping Teacher, Marianne Okrainetz, Cataline teachers participated in a literacy benchmarking dinner session, where teachers got together to collaborate with their colleagues, bounce ideas off each other, while also sharing a few laughs. Conversations leads to learning; the sharing of questions and each others' expertise demonstrates the commitment these teachers have to help guide their instruction to improve their students’ achievements.</span></p><div data-lexical-layout-container="true" style="grid-template-columns: 1fr 1fr; display: grid;"><div class="editor-layoutItem"><p class="editor-paragraph" dir="ltr"><img src="/images/d794c3c7-95fc-5c4c-be0c-e72bfefc59b2?fingerprint=ppb20251217040323" alt="vjbxl85r.jpg" width="100%" height="inherit" style="width:100%;height:inherit"></p></div><div class="editor-layoutItem"><p class="editor-paragraph" dir="ltr"><br></p></div></div>