It's official. This is an AWESOME class!!! I feel so very fortunate to have each and every one of you to share time and space with together this year. Already I have seen kindness, humour, cooperation, respect, and empathy. That empathy has been particularly evident this week. Many of you know that my little dog Bogey (think Toto!) has been very ill this week. This has been very hard for me, and the caring of all of the students has been so comforting. Just to update you, Bogey has been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease - he is one sick little puppy. He is currently at the Animal Hospital, he had a blood transfusion last night, and we are keeping our fingers and toes crossed that he will make it through this - it will take a few days to know if the treatment is successful. I very much hope to have him once again be the "mascot" of Advisory 62 and have him keeping tabs on all of us from under my desk! It was wonderful to meet so many of you the other night at our Community Picnic. I am looking forward to meeting you all again in mid-October for our parent teacher conversations - but, if you have anything you wish to discuss with me before then, please feel free to email me (kkilpatrick@sd61.bc.ca) or phone the school and leave a message. I'll get back to you, and am happy to arrange a time to meet. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to what promises to be a wonderful year!