Monday Memo Musings

So... It is that we are down to four and a half fabulous days before Christmas Holidays, yippee!!! We are so ready! The students are so ready.  Some tips for Christmas gatherings: Are the words you are saying pulling you together as a family? Are you honoring your Christmas Traditions? Are you ready beforehand so you can enjoy Christmas stress free? Are you staying within your budget? We don't want to have a budget hangover in January!  Is rest and relaxation on your list?  Will you go outdoors and breathe in the fresh cool air?  Just a few things for you to think about as you prepare to host friends and family.  So What happened? That's what people will be asking Chad as he is donning 6 stitches. He has a story to tell you. Hoping those stitches heal up and don't leave a huge scar!! You Are Doing What?? Chris has been asked to teach chemistry 30 at the High School during quad 4. His posit...

Such a telling song. I chose the version with the lyrics showing. This is a lovely poem put to music.  So don't yield to the fortunes You sometimes see as fate It may have a new perspective On a different day And if you don't give up, and don't give in You may just be okay. Our students need to hear it may just be okay. We/ they need conversations with each other. Don't give up, don't give in. This is true for us. We have better weeks than others and we don't give up, don't give in, we might just be okay.  Not sure why that song just played and played in my mind all weekend. Now it can leave, as I am passing it on to you. Great song.  Staffing Linda is out Friday as are Jennifer and perhaps Eva.  Anne  Monday LTM central office Tuesday- Fort Am- High Level for meeting in PM.  Wednesday- High Level- gift wrapping christmas hamper toys Thursday- La Crete Friday- Christmas staff get together- starts at 11:00. Lunch will be brought...

Grace- Grace is what we have when we could be negative but don't go there. Grace is what we have when we see the light, instead of the dark. Grace is what we have when we can point fingers yet see there are four pointing back at us. Grace is what we have when we think of others then think of ourselves. Grace is what we have when we don't know everyone's story and don't need to know it. Grace is what we all have at Learning Stores.  Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah with a Christmas twist.  Staffing Anne- This is catch up week for me- Budget- touching base with families/students - A NHEC home visit-  Monday- High Level- Comm 1005 course being taught in High Level today.  Tuesday Am- Meeting Lorna Hewson Collaborative response PM Fort Vermilion student presentation.  Wednesday- Fort Vermilion- Presentation to the board. PM La Crete if time warrants. Grad meeting High level Thursday- La Crete am Friday- High Level- Chad will stay in ...

More Notes From Nashvill e These notes are from a psychologist who turned my knowledge of behavior on its head.  These are some notable things she said: Before you deal with behavior you need to get the anxiety down The longer people have anxiety the more likely that will turn into depression When anxiety goes up then you no longer have working memory anxiety intellectually impairs us We have to shift students thoughts to things that don't require a working memory need to think- what skills is this kid missing what coping skills are missing and go from there what is the student trying to communicate to you If you don't know what to do- validate the student's feelings What's wrong , tell me more, go on Great story; Take a pop can and shake it for a while. then set it beside another pop can. Can you tell which one has been shaken- you can't!!! Kids are like pop cans, we need to be ready for the explosion.  Anxiety isn't consistent, it peaks and...

Mornin' Y'all, You must know the book, Everything I Know, I learned in Kindergarten. The books says all the skills he needed for life, were taught in that one year in Kindergarten. Well here's my take on it, Everything I Know I Learned in Nashville. These are my notes from my sessions Don't get tired of being nice to people, that's your job.  Every single child has the potential to go to college We want students to be able to provide for their families Stats say if you go to college you will make more money There are programs out there at colleges and Universities for at Risk youth The part of the brain responsible for emotion is also responsible for learning so.... I'll be here for you, but you have to do the work! ( this is revolutionary) Second chances are the power of educators to change lives Some of our kids have lives two lifetimes....  Educators need to bounce back quickly from our failures... we model that...

"Every Problem has a gift for you in its hands."   Richard Bach How did we get to the point where we think all problems are bad? Maybe that problem when solved will be a gift for us. How we handle those problems either builds our integrity or has us losing our integrity.  Our job in Outreach/Home schooling has us solving hundreds of problems a day. Do we solve them with honor in a calm, cool, quiet way? Things  go wrong in the school, how do we approach that problem? Is it in a calm, cool manner which has us keeping our integrity? It's impossible to do it all the time however 99% of the time is a good stat.  Recently, a young couple, who are expecting in spring, came to me with their problem of being kicked out of their house in a month. I had them think of reasons why being out of their current home would be good. ie: no fighting, calm, no stuff going missing, could keep the place clean. Next, we thought of the three options,...

Did you catch that gorgeous sunrise this morning?? This is Norah Jones' Sunrise.  Can you guess where these sunrises are from?  It's been a gorgeous weekend. Hope you went outside to enjoy it. I sure did with an attempt to put up Christmas Lights. Of course, we hit a snag,( ha,ha snag like in tangled Christmas lights, is it funny if you have to explain it? maybe not!)) many lights were burnt out. However the type of light we have, can't be found anywhere. Sooooooo that means we need to buy new ones. What a disposable world we live in... Our kids have grown up in this disposable world, it's no wonder they have some of the views they do. Phone breaks get a new one... lose my jacket, get a new one.... Lose a module, get a new one... I'm going to try to be less wasteful and I'm going to keep searching for that weird type of Christmas light before I throw them away.  Thanks so much to: Bonnie for doing many jobs over the passed two months...

You had to enjoy the weather this weekend. We lit our first fire of the year. No fire bans in October! It's the first time in the passed two months, that I have walked and needed to shed a layer! Get outside its gorgeous! Enjoy it. We will enjoy the good mood that comes with this weather. Our students will be happier, perhaps getting more sleep. Sleep is crucial! Jody Carrington says the two questions/statements are: Tell me more, what happened next? add this question, how are you sleeping? One of our students told me he is having real trouble sleeping and had only slept three hours in two days. He says he spends all his time trying to get to sleep. To be well, sleep is needed.  Each school has access to mental health workers. The process is that we fill out a referral form then the team evaluates the situation and if need be, assigns a team member to our student. Chat with me and we will wrap around our students.  We  realize that you need to be we...

Hoping you all had a lovely weekend and you were able to indulge in some tasty treats. I started walking again in the mornings because of those treats. My best treat was rocking my grandbaby River to sleep several times over the weekend.  Staff Wellness It's important that we are well, so we can help our families and the students. Our school division does have access to a Counselor/psychologist, his name is Willard. All staff can access his services. I will post his contact in a separate email. Please know that we would do anything for you  (okay within parameters) your wellness matters to us.    Please remember we are on a short week here, 4 days. I always say these are the weeks to get things done. To catch up with student contacts, to catch up with marking, inputting marks, organizing.... Love these weeks.  Thank yous Thank you to Chad for assembling some Learner's License materials for Allan and I. We are teaching the co...