That's why we live in the north!!!

The Northern lights the way they appeared last night!

This is why we live up North. The lights danced and blessed everyone who watched. Janelle and Tasha went sledding under the northern lights. Where else can you do that? Living up north is cool!
Literally!! 



Good For You 
Good for you... Winners of our post to the blog contest are: Amy Scott, Andrew O, Shelly C and Kim Brown your lunch card will be deposited in your mailbox. Thanks to all who read the blog and commented.

This weeks challenge for the blog is to fill in this blank;
 If I weren't an educator I would be........
For me: If I weren't an educator... I would be a carpenter. 

Good for you Debbie and your family. You are celebrating a birthday with Robbie's Grandma in Montreal.  Celebrating with family is what its all about. Pretty confident she'll be bilingual by the time she returns. 

Good For you Natalia, Gillian and Cheri- you girls were a part of the scrap booking party this weekend. It seemed like a fantastic event. Hope you won something!!

Good for you Shane- You are heading to Rainbow to sub in as the principal there. Richard Coborne, Rainbow's principal who was in a vehicle accident over teacher's convention and has not returned to work. The school could use some direction and Shane's the guy to help them out. As of now he is there for a week or two  it may be longer we will wait and see. They are lucky to have him, it will be a great experience for him as well. 

Good For you- Kim Brown- That Jump Rope for heart event is such fun!! I saw everyone moving, and it was so lovely to see the interesting groupings of kids, our kids will play with anyone and everyone. We didn't even mention that money was raised for an excellent cause, the Heart and Stroke foundation. 

Good for you all who are loving your exploratories. So many truly neat things happening and again the unique pairing of kids makes it even better.

Good for you Valyne who went to Edmonton with out kids this weekend. First time in almost five years!!! Freedom is lovely isn't it Valyne. 

Good for you all who are getting up and moving more. My dogs are benefiting from my goal of over 10 000 steps a day! 

Staffing

Debbie will be back on Wednesday. 

Braedyn is in the library for Monday and Tuesday until the end of March. We held off hiring this position until we were sure what was happening with Sheena and Shelly. We now know Shelly is with us full time until the end of June for sure so we will be advertising it in the next three weeks. 

Olivia is out for Monday morning- Emily is in. 

I am out to LTM on Wednesday. Cathy Robinson is in for me. Kim Brown is acting principal that day. Please look after your own kids. A correction from you means way more than a correction from a principal or an acting principal. having the teacher be disappointed pokes a child's heart, that is if you have a relationship with that child.

Susan and Valyne are going to Science Fair on Thursday. Cathy is in for Susan and Sara is in for Valyne. 

Wanda Pickrem is out this Friday- Cathy Robinson is in. 

Tina is out This Friday- We are looking for a sub for her- if you are interested in making $18 an hour for eight hours please let me know. Two people can do it for four hours each as well. It can be done Friday, Saturday or Sunday. 

Updates this week

Balanced Literacy walk throughs happening this week. Wanting to celebrate your Balanced Literacy Skills. Watch your silent reading time- I have seen anywhere from 20 minutes to 55 minutes of silent reading. Set the timer. You need to use this time to listen to kids. Reading a book at your desk everyday- has you missing your chance to bond with kids and to build their literacy skills. Its your most valuable time as a teacher. 

Thanks for your involvement in promoting WITS in our building. The kids absolutely loved the stories, so did staff. Hope you are reading any chance you get with your kids. The best way to fill three minutes is pick up a book and read to them. 

Parent council meeting this Wednesday evening at 6:30. 

CAT testing starts this week and goes for the next two weeks. Please think about the kids who come in late- if you schedule testing at 9:00 each morning you will miss half of your kids and you will have to catch them all up- which isn't easy. Shane will send out a detailed email outlining expectations/guidelines for the CATS. 

Lego Club meeting with the library staff after school on Monday. We will be  organizing the calendar and the Lego. 

Math Team meeting on Tuesday after school. Planning a "family math night." As well, Talking about assessments for all grades. Math PD.  Math COP. 

Tuesday lunch forum for parents from 12:00 to 12:50. It will take place in our back conference room. Topic- Technology Connecting us or Dividing us. We will have the same forum for kids next Monday. Interested in their thoughts. 

After school technology club takes place this month gr 4 on Tuesday- Gr 5 on Wednesday, Grade 6 on Thursday. Andrew Nicholson is running this club a focus on digital citizenship is what we are starting with. 

Random Acts of Kindness week is March 23 to 27. Each class will be divided into thirds. One third of kids bring fruit, one third of the kids bring cookies, one third of kids bring candies treats. this will make for balanced baskets you can create in your classroom. Start talking about where you will deliver them. Please deliver by Thursday as many businesses cant get it all eaten if its delivered later Friday pm. Making a card to go along with it is an excellent idea, saying a poem when you deliver it. You are so creative... any way you deliver it will be amazing. 

Movie- Annie on Friday evening- starts at 7:00. Looking for a couple of volunteers for this movie. But will really try to have student council run this whole thing. 

Something to think about.....

Relationships aren't just teacher to child. We promote student to student relationships each day. When a child is alone we ensure that we find someone in the class for him/her to feel connected to. We look for success for him/her. We might connect with the parent and build relationship there to assist that child. Relationships at not just  teacher  to student.