In the Loop - April 16, 2026
KEY RESOURCES IN LANGLEY
- Guide to Key Websites and Resources: Here
- Instructional Services Website: For all your district-vetted resources K-12! Check it out!
- Aboriginal Resources vetted by the District: Here
- TCS Sites: Key resources are still being placed in these Teams. If you need access to one of these Teams, please email dzurbuchenjonker@sd35.bc.ca.
- TCS SS-Grade 3
- TCS Grade 4-8
- TCS Secondary
DISTRICT LEARNING COMMONS
The DLC is your one stop shop for useful resources to enhance your teaching available to all school staff in the Langley School District. You don’t need to buy everything for all of your lessons yourself! We deliver and pick up all the items you request through district mail twice per week (Tuesdays and Thursdays). Links to all the info below:
- View and book online through Insignia Library system | Here
- Find instructions, an area to check out new resources, request new resources and report lost or damages kits | Here
- Sign out instructions | Here
Featured DLC Resource:
MENTORSHIP PROGRAM
*NEW!* Follow us on our UDL/Mentorship Instagram! @sd35mentorshipmoments
We post lots of events, teacher tips, UDL strategies, and more!
Interested in Becoming a Mentor?
We are looking for Mentors in the following areas:
- Resource (Middle - LSS family of schools)
- Science/Chem 10 (REMSS family of schools)
- General secondary - Gr 9/10/12 (REMSS family of schools)
- Math/Science 9 (LSS family of schools)
Please email teachermentorship@sd35.bc.ca if you’re interested in becoming a Mentor in any of these areas or for other upcoming Mentees.
New to the District or a New Role?
If you’re a newer teacher looking for mentorship, please fill out the Mentee Information Sheet on the LTA website. Once completed, please email it to teachermentorship@sd35.bc.ca to join our program!
Upcoming Events:
Book Club: Valley of the Birdtail: An Indian Reserve, a White Town, and the Road to Reconciliation.
- May 5th 4-6pm SBO HUB
HONOURING TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION
To celebrate the rich cultural and heritage traditions of the Indigenous people of Canada, FORED is sponsoring its annual artwork, photo and video contest. $150 cash prizes are available for Indigenous youth, aged 5-18. This contest is a wonderful opportunity to find a mentor in the Elder community to pass down this important knowledge to Indigenous youth.
Theme: Indigenous Traditional Knowledge & Medicine
Prize: 4 x $150 prizes with at least one national winner. Group work shares prize.
DISTRICT PROFESSIONAL LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
Japanese Canadian History and How to Teach It with Larissa Kondo | On-Demand Learning Feature
Run through roughly 130 years of Japanese Canadian history and get ideas and resources to help you teach it! Accompanying resources have been created to align with grade 5 and 10 social studies as well as grade 5 English.
Japanese Canadian history is more than just internment; there were several key ideologies and events that set the stage for the forced uprooting of roughly 20,000 Canadians during World War II. Topics include:
- Vancouver's 1907 anti-Asian riots
- Picture brides and their experiences
- The fight for voting rights
- School segregation in Richmond
- Japanese Canadian involvement in the natural resource industries
- Japanese Canadian internment/incarceration
- Differences between sites of internment
- Resistance to forced uprooting and dispossession
- Postwar deportation of roughly 4,000 Japanese Canadians
- The fight for redress
- The legacy of forced uprooting and dispossession
- The contemporary Japanese Canadian community
Links to complete lesson and unit plans are included, as are ready-to-print resources. There are also kits that can be borrowed from the District Learning Commons to support your teaching and provide opportunities for further learning. One kit also includes information about the Japanese Canadian farming families who lived in Langley before being forcibly removed during WWII.
Basic First Aid for SD35 Staff | May 15, 2026 | Register Today!
The WorkSafeBC Basic First Aid course is an 8-hour program, including coffee and lunch breaks and is designed to provide life-saving first aid skills to workers in industry. Successful candidates must demonstrate competency in practical skills and achieve 72% or higher on a multiple-choice exam. Certification is valid for three years.
What you will learn:
- Priority Action Approach
- Primary Survey – Conscious patient / Unconscious patient
- Cervical spine control
- Airway and Breathing interventions
- Hemorrhage control
- One person CPR
- Minor injuries which require medical aid
- Management of soft tissue injuries
- Records and reports
CUPE 1260 Spring Conference | May 15, 2026 | Register Today!
Begin your day at RE Mountain Secondary, where you will be provided with snacks and fresh tea and coffee. Take this opportunity to chat and catch up with friends at different work sites.
We have a breadth of workshops this year! Learn some of the ins and outs of our Collective Agreement and how bargaining works with our Union Executives. Take some specific programs training in Excel or Outlook. There are plenty of workshops around conflict management, mental health, wellness, stress management and The Brain Guy, Terry Small, is providing us some workshops on how our brain work, and more importantly, how to make them work for us! Make your own beaded bracelet with Nadine McSpadden, learn Métis Dot Art with Kelly Poitras, and connect with others in the telling of their stories.
EXTERNAL PROFESSIONAL LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
Minecraft ProD Opportunities | Logics Academy | More info
The April workshops are ready to inspire fresh learning. There are practical professional development and co-taught classroom workshops designed to help educators energize their teaching with robotics, coding, and responsible AI use.
- Minecraft Education Earth Day | April 20, 2026 - May 13, 2026 | Register
Celebrate Earth Day with Minecraft Education. This short PD and classroom series helps educators and students explore sustainability through creative Minecraft Build Challenges. Teachers gain practical classroom strategies, and students redesign a virtual school or community to be more accessible and sustainable.
Key dates:
• April 20 – Educator Workshop
• April 22 – Student Lesson
• May 6 – Build submissions due
• May 13 – Winner showcase
From Knowing to Understanding: Rethinking Learning and Assessment Webinar | April 28, 2026 | Register
In many classrooms, learning is still defined by what students know. But knowing is not the same as understanding. The 90-minute webinar explores the shift from factual knowledge to conceptual understanding; what it means, why it matters, and how it changes the way we think about both teaching and assessment. Tania Lattanzio is an inquiry friend who has vast expertise in developing conceptual curricula across subject areas and year levels, providing teachers with strategies to create learning experiences that are conceptually driven and develop students' conceptual understanding.
SEL & UDL: New Avenues to Implementation | CAST | April 29, 2026 | Register
Join CAST on April 29 for a free, 60-minute webinar exploring how Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) work together to reduce barriers and strengthen learner agency. Grounded in CAST’s Circle Up research, this session shares practical insights for educators and leaders looking to bridge research and classroom practice. Can’t attend live? Register to receive the recording.
Education in the Age of AI: Moving beyond hype and panic to realism | Matific | April 30, 2026 | Register
Join Matific for a real-world conversation on how AI can genuinely support teaching, reduce workload, and improve learning—without losing the human touch. The webinar is free to join and will explore:
- How AI can support more personalized learning experiences
- How it can reduce the administrative burden for teachers
- How AI can provide better, faster insights into student learning
- What this means for how teachers spend time in the classroom
Educator Series: Supporting Students with Down Syndrome & Other Intellectual Disabilities | October 2026 | Register
Educators play a key role in supporting students with Down syndrome as they grow into individuals who contribute meaningfully to their communities. Please join DSRF (Down Syndrome Resource Foundation) speech language pathologists, occupational therapists, behavioural consultants, and teachers for a comprehensive 4-part webinar series designed to maximize successful participation in the classroom and community for learners with Down syndrome and other developmental disabilities. This series is for classroom teachers, resource teachers, education assistants, and other professionals who work in the school setting. You can register for the entire series for $140 or choose individual sessions for $40 each. Each presentation is 1 hour with 15 minutes for questions/discussion. Presentations take place on Tuesdays (K-7 focus) and Thursdays (8-12 focus) from 4:00-5:15 pm Pacific Time.
- Tuesdays: K-7 focus
Oct. 6 – Tricky Transitions: Proactive Positive Behaviour Support Strategies
Oct. 20 – Top Communication Support Strategies by Stage
Nov. 3 – Inclusive Classrooms: Adapting Curriculum for Diverse Learners Through an OT Lens
Nov. 17 – Early Reading: Building a Foundation - Thursdays: 8-12 focus
Oct. 8 – Optimizing Mental Wellness in Students with Down Syndrome
Oct. 22 – Top Communication Support Strategies by Stage
Nov. 5 – Inclusive Classrooms: Adapting Curriculum for Diverse Learners Through an OT Lens
Nov. 19 – Developing Readers: Phonics, Comprehension and Fluency
LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES FOR STAFF/STUDENTS/CLASSES
Horizons Leadership Conference | May 4-7, 2026 | More info | Register for Chilliwack
As schools power through the second half of the year, Horizons Leadership Conferences offer an impactful opportunity to reset expectations, re-energize student leaders, and set a positive tone for the closing of the school year and strong transition into the next. Horizons is a one-day leadership experience that supports schools and student leaders by:
- developing student leaders at all experience levels
- strengthening positive school culture and connection
- providing meaningful, practical leadership learning
Students leave inspired, aligned, and ready to make a difference in their school community. This is a great opportunity for students in grades 7-12. Can't make it to Horizons? The CSLA Program Team is also available on Wednesday, May 6th near the Chilliwack area or between Chilliwack and Kelowna and able to offer our in-person leadership certification program. Please contact us for more details at horizons@studentleadership.ca.
Request Sponsored Water Testing Kits for Your Students | SDWF (Safe Drinking Water Foundation) | Request Kit
Elementary Operation Water Drop (OWD) Kits make it possible for students to test their local drinking water for 8 different parameters (alkalinity, ammonia, colour, copper, pH, sulphate, total chlorine, and total hardness). Then they compare their results to the Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality. These kits are recommended for students in grades 4 to 8. Each kit is good for a one-time use with a class of approximately 30 students. Request sponsored water testing kits that enable students to conduct real-world science!
BugQuest Across Canada | More info | How to Join
BugQuest is working toward 1,000 sites across Canada, and every school that takes part helps build a stronger picture of insect biodiversity across the country. Schools participate by hosting a seasonal insect trap on their grounds during Fall 2026 and Spring 2027. Participation is free, and BugQuest provides the trap, instructions, laboratory processing, species identification, and covers all shipping costs. Hosting a trap is simple and takes about 15 minutes per week for a few weeks per year. In return, your school can involve students in hands-on science, generate biodiversity data from its own grounds, and connect learning in ecology, genetics, and data to a real national project.
LEARNING RESOURCES
Yes, Genre Makes a Difference | Until May 4, 2026: free access to two chapters | Read Now
Everything you need to use picture books, novels, nonfiction, and poetry in your classroom! This unique book is full of practical literacy activities that will encourage students to read and write in all genres. The first two chapters are available to read for free until May 4, 2026, at the link above.
Mental Health Week | May 4, 2026 | EVERFI | Quick Start Guide
Social connection is essential to overall health and well-being. But too many people are feeling alone. In Canada, around 17% of youth, 13% of adults, and 10% of seniors say they feel lonely often or always. This May 4-10, CMHA is inviting people across Canada to Come Together. It’s a call to spark small, everyday actions of connection, and to recognize the role we all play in supporting mental health through connection. Here are some resources that can be used in your classroom to spark the conversation around social connection;
- The Compassion Project (Grades 2-6)
- Character Playbook (Grades 6-9)
- Understanding Mental Wellness (Grades 8-12)
The Rainbow Wisdom SOGI Lesson Plan Guide | Download Here
If you're a high school teacher or educator, this one is for you. The Rainbow Wisdom SOGI Lesson Plan Guide includes 20+ fully scaffolded, classroom-ready lesson plans -- one for every chapter of the book. Aligned with Social Studies, English, Math, Science and more for Grades 8-12. It's free to download, free to share, and built for every teacher at every starting point.
Make the most of National Poetry Month with this poem and accompanying lesson from well-known poet and educator Canute Lawrence. Borrowed from the pages of Active Brave Conversations, this thoughtful, in-depth lesson explores themes and literary devices, but also aspects of racism and the importance of empathy.
Free Resources through the Fraser Valley Regional Library | Link
Solaro
Solaro is an online learning and practice platform that provides BC‑aligned lessons, study guides, and assessment questions for Grades 3–12 in core subjects (Math, Science, English Language Arts).
- Aligned to BC Curriculum: Content matches provincial learning outcomes, so teachers can confidently integrate it into class practice and review.
- Supports Assessment for Learning: Immediate feedback helps students understand misconceptions, supporting formative assessment approaches.
- Personalized Pathways: Students can work at their own pace, supporting inclusion and differentiation—key BC curriculum principles.
- Digital Literacy Skills: Using Solaro helps students practise online navigation, responsible digital engagement, and self‑directed learning (Core Competencies: Communication, Critical Thinking, Personal Awareness & Responsibility).
Mango is a digital language‑learning platform offering interactive lessons in 70+ languages, including Indigenous and heritage languages relevant to BC communities.
- Supports Multilingual Learners (ELL): Mango provides structured vocabulary, pronunciation practice, and cultural insights, valuable for supporting newcomer students.
- Cultural Competency: Encourages global awareness and intercultural understanding, aligning with the BC Curriculum’s Social Responsibility and Cultural Identity competencies.
- Flexible, Self‑Directed Learning: Can be used for classroom instruction, enrichment, or personal interest.
- Highlight during ELL team meetings and with language teachers.
- Include as part of global citizenship and cultural celebration programming.
- Promote to families via newsletters to extend learning beyond school.
Creativebug is a digital platform with thousands of high‑quality video classes taught by artists and makers. Topics include drawing, sewing, fibre arts, design, crafts, and STEAM‑related hands‑on learning.
- Supports ADST Curriculum: Many videos align directly with Applied Design, Skills, and Technologies expectations across grades.
- Encourages Creativity & Making: Ideal for makerspaces, art classes, and inquiry‑based learning.
- Skill-Building for Competencies: Students practise creative thinking, perseverance, and design process skills.
- Accessible Professional Learning: Staff can use Creativebug to learn new techniques for classroom projects or library makerspace initiatives.
- Integrate videos into makerspace programming and lunchtime clubs.
- Provide teachers with curated lists (e.g., “Sewing Basics for ADST 6,” “Intro to Stop Motion Animation”).
- Use as a source of inspiration for school‑wide STEAM events or art showcases.
PROFESSIONAL AND PERSONAL READINGS
Bozoma Saint John on the Knowledge of Your Excellence | My Legacy Podcast | Podcast
The latest My Legacy Podcast features Bozoma Saint John who delivers an important message for all educators to condiser. At the heart of this episode is a simple but powerful idea: confidence is not something students discover on their own. It’s something that is nurtured, often by the adults closest to them, long before they can name it. Mama Aba raised Bozoma to believe she belonged in every room, and that foundation carried her through boardrooms, grief, and reinvention. For educators, this is a meaningful reminder of the role you play in shaping how students see themselves, especially for those who may not be receiving that message at home. Bozoma’s story invites us to reflect on how we speak about excellence with young people. Are we encouraging students to own their strengths, or are we unintentionally teaching them to minimize them? How can you help the students in your classroom develop the knowledge of their own excellence, so that when the world challenges it, they already know what they’re worth?