I am writing this on a day when schools are closed due to the extreme cold weather. It is very easy to get a little bored when we are staying inside due to storms and cold weather. This is why February is perfect for I Love to Read Month. Reading is the best activity when everything outside is frozen! However, a few other benefits also come to mind. Since mental health has become extremely important for us and our loved ones,… Read More
in: General
What do speaking and listening have to do with Literacy? This year, our staff had the pleasure of spending a day with a HSD Reading Clinician, Allison Aitken, to explore “Phonological Awareness and Phonemic Awareness”, as these are important elements of language learning. What we learned was very important, and a little surprising, so I wanted to share this with all parents. Phonological awareness is related to the knowledge and skills kids have with oral language. Phonemic awareness is about the knowledge and… Read More
in: General
As we all know, there are plenty of struggles these days. At South Oaks, we are focusing on “pandemic recovery” of the academic gaps caused by COVID. We are also trying to attend to the social emotional recovery of our students from the pandemic experience. Recovering can be a challenge and it requires a lot of patience and hard work. Recently, I came across an article by Diane Benson Harrington called, “Productive Struggle; what it is and how to achieve… Read More
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Several years ago, we began working much more deliberately at developing learning partnerships. The reason we are interested in partnerships and working collaboratively is because we can do more effective work when we engage the knowledge and skills of a larger group. A year ago, the South Oaks PAC initiated a partnership with Green Valley School’s woodworking department, to explore some ideas to enhance the playground for our students. We invited our parent community to do some fundraising and you… Read More
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Recently, I participated in a meeting where Manitoba Education shared some basic information about the new Manitoba K-12 Education Action Plan. The plan has been in the works since 2018 and has included a lot of discussion and consultation from many people over the past few years. The vision for this plan begins with a description of “The Good Life”. What is “The Good Life”? It includes concepts such as hope, belonging, well-being, having a voice, feeling safe, having healthy relationships, interacting respectfully with nature,… Read More
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Years ago, I was given a simple homemade gift by one of our students. It is a simple wall plaque, with the word “Hope” written in twine. The significance of the plaque is that the student who gave it had major physical disabilities that will last for his lifetime. I thought, if he and his family could find hope in such a challenging situation, perhaps we can all find hope when things are difficult in our lives. Where do we… Read More
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Jordan River Anderson was born on Oct. 22, 1999. Due to complex medical needs, his mother, Virginia, left her home in Norway House and went to Winnipeg for his birth. Soon, Jordan needed extensive medical care and this was available in a foster home, near to a Winnipeg hospital. However, since the federal and provincial governments could not decide who would pay for Jordan’s medical support, Jordan remained at the hospital. Jordan’s short life ended on Feb. 2, 2005 at… Read More
in: General
Happy New Year and welcome to January 2022! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas break together. I hope you are feeling refreshed and ready for 2022. If you are not, that is completely understandable and we will continue working together, moving ahead step by step. Already we have an unexpected twist to the return to school, but we will manage. One thought that crossed my mind recently is how we celebrate the New Year, but in reality, we actually… Read More
in: General
At a meeting recently, I heard the phrase, “Islands of Sanity”. This phrase caught my attention, as it was new to me. What does this mean, do you think? We all know how crazy life is these days. We have all been affected personally by the profound disruptions in the world. If we are not very deliberate about our well-being, we risk our own health in the long term. How can we counteract the negative effects on us and the… Read More
in: General
In September, our staff reviewed a chapter from Margaret J Wheatley’s book; Turning to One Another – Simple Conversations to Restore Hope for the Future. The chapter is called, “Willing to Be Disturbed“. I found the reading to be relevant and thought provoking, so I wanted to share parts of it with you. Here are some highlights (quotes in italics); “We weren’t trained to admit we don’t know. Most of us were taught to sound certain and confident, to state our opinion… Read More
in: General