Monday Memo Musings

A huge welcome to Dani Chilcott the newest member to our team. She already has a list of things we will do in Fort. Love it!!! This week Dani and I will take Julie out for lunch and present her with her going away gift. We know she will be the best at helping people at Victims Services.  Keep Calm and Put Others First What is so cool about our five schools? It's the fact we put others first before ourselves. Not one of our schools has a staff room we hide in, gossip and grumble in. Our students see us for who we are, all day long. You have great relationships with our students and that's not that easy to do. They are very fortunate that it is us manning their schools, it's obvious we care! We've got an excellent staff; that is what makes our five schools great places to learn. Thanks for Keeping Calm and putting others first.  Thank yous Thanks to Bonnie and her fabulous crew of Gaye and Connie who collected thousands of dollars worth of toys ...

Report Card Week A terrific way to catch up with our kids, a time to think deeply about that student and where they are going. A teacher always asks themselves , how well do i know that student. If the answer is not well, we seek to get to know them better next semester. Report Cards are valuable to the student and their families and the process is so valuable to us. We can always do better.  Thank Yous Thanks  so much to all of you who took in the PD last week. From chatting with you my thoughts were the sessions were valuable.  Thanks  to all who are organizing the Wing Ding in High Level this Tuesday. Many local organizations are coming in to inform our students.  Thanks to all who made student contacts this week. Talking personally to our kids seems to make a difference.  Staffing We are close to hiring for the position in Fort. Monday or Tuesday I will be able to announce it.  M...

A note that this Wednesday we are required to have a minute of silence at 11:00 in our schools. Have a chat amongst your school as to who will lead this minute of silence. There are some terrific videos on You Tube which inspire our students to give thanks to those who came before them. I recall my Grandpa being 17 and stationed off the coast of Newfoundland. The threat that The war would come across the sea was real. My dad  was a loadmaster on a Hercules. He travelled the world bringing supplies to devastated areas of the world. My brother is an RCMP who has many stories to tell, as do many canadians.  We give many thanks to those who care for us and selflessly look after us.  Huge Thanks to you! Double thanks goes out to Nicole and Janet Hackett for subbing in for Mark Pelley while he was out for a medical appointment. The ladies rallied to cover for Eve-lyn who hit the ditch on her way to Zama and was in no condition to press on. Zama is th...

Bravery is the topic that comes to mind this week stemming from a conversation with a mom  just the other day. Her daughter wants to take a course with us, but is very shy about coming in. My answer to Mom is she just has to be brave for twenty second. She just has to get herself in the door. If we look at things like that, in little steps, everything is surmountable. One course at a time, one visit at a time, one time standing in front of people. Our students face their fears daily and so do we.   Happy Halloween day everyone!  Congratulations to You/Us!! Zama kids are breaking out and going swimming on the 2nd with Meander!!! The kids in Meander are great company! I will not be heading to Zama this week with Mark out and the kids going on a filed trip.  Bonnie and Holly walked into the Independent Store and were awarded $250 of free groceries for our school. What a huge celebration that was. The store was really excited to be presen...

"The Brain is a muscle; that the more you use it the more it grows. Research has found that neural connections form and deepen most when we make mistakes doing difficult tasks rather than repeatedly having success with easy ones.  This means our intelligence is not fixed: and the best way that we can grow our intelligence is to embrace tasks where we might struggle or even fail." This is a growth mindset.  Fixed mindsets believe people are either smart or  not,  and that intelligence is fixed by genes. Fix mindset believers spend much of their time on tasks they know they can succeed at. Whereas, people with growth mindsets embrace challenges and understand that tenacity and perseverance can change their learning outcomes.  Wouldn't it be interesting to  start praising people not on their high marks  but the perseverance it took to complete...

Start time 7:59 Well we sure had a fun week last week. High level had the celebration of Paul having his second baby girl. Janellis is the coolest name and I can't wait to meet her!  Julie got to spend time with her parents. They got to witness an early snow.  Petra is wearing unusual footwear these days due to a double fracture in her foot. Note to self do not hurdle over the gas hose- go around! We are thrilled to have her back with us this morning.  Alex went to the city for a Social Studies conference. Every conference you go to makes you a little smarter. Alex is brilliant after taken in the OEC and SS in one month. Such great PD hope he enjoyed it.   Bonnie went to the city with some friends. Boy did we miss her!! Apparently she knows everything that goes on in this place!  So that meant we had many people covering for each other and I thank you to the moon and back...

Highlights of Thanksgiving  Kelsey, her fiance and Shaun were  there for to eat our one legged Turkey.  Blue jays won-  Yes! That's all that is keeping my Dad going, the Blue Jays!!! Hoping you are hopping on the Blue Jay train to the World Series!! It's been quite a ride. Hope your time off was excellent!  Staffing Julie is out on Wednesday and Thursday- I will work at Fort on Wednesday and Linda will be there Thursday.  Alex is out to the Social Studies conference , he is out Thursday, Friday and Monday.  Ron Joch is in for him Thursday and Friday. Linda is in for him Monday.  Petra is out Thursday and Friday. No luck yet finding her a sub.  Bonnie is out Thursday and Friday.  My Schedule Tuesday - Zama Wednesday- Fort Vermilion Thursday- High Level Friday- Rainbow.  Monday- La Crete- Grad meeting 8:00 Goings On  Roger and Kevin Pittman came to visit. They had some compli...