Spring Break

Around the province in staff rooms everywhere there is a sentiment that can be heard over and over again this time of year...

"I CAN'T BELIEVE IT IS SPRING BREAK ALREADY!"

This statement is part excitement because it means a holiday to spend time with family and friends and a chance to recharge your batteries, but it's also part concern for all that is still to be accomplished before the June deadline drops. The weather is changing, farms are jumping to life in preparation for what is to come, and schools are moving into the stretch drive toward the finish line.

As time marches on, some people enjoy counting down the days until special events like Easter, Christmas, or summer holidays as a way to stay motivated and excited for what is to come. For me, however, the count down doesn't work. It shifts my focus away from all of the brilliance that is sitting right in front of me.

A few years ago I started thinking about what it means to live conscious of the moment and decided I had spent too much of my time thinking about something on the horizon. Teaching is a cyclical career, meaning you go through a timed process with a beginning, some landmarks along the way, and an ending. It can be a lot of fun because not too many careers offer a chance to pause, reflect, and celebrate all that was accomplished before beginning anew with more experience and expertise to offer. The cycle can also mean that you start measuring progress by the landmarks along the way instead of by the excellence each day can bring. Essentially it can mean that we begin to wish away time with an eye on something else... and we have all been taught repeatedly that time is in limited supply.

As you head into Spring Break, remember to enjoy every second you spend and be conscious of the moment. Do something fun and invest in the people you care about. I think it is the safest investment we can make.. Enjoy Spring Break. We look forward to seeing everyone with charged batteries and full hearts.

"Going for a Skate"

In chatting with Mrs. Bell this morning I discovered that Roland School used to have a Thursday skate after school. The buses would drive the kids from school to the rink and then wait for an hour while the kids skated to music and fraternized. Evidently being asked to go for a skate was a serious moment of courtship and could lead to a long and happy life together as it has for Mrs. Bell. For me it is a really cool insight into the history of Roland and a major contrast in how boys and girls interacted in the past compared with today. It has me wondering about historical photos (don't tell Mrs. Bell I referenced "historical" in this context please). If anyone has any interesting photos that capture some of our school and community's past traditions, please let me know. I would like to share them on our website or on this blog.

Literacy Night and St. Patrick's Day

We had a great time at what we are hoping is the First Annual Family Literacy Night. Families came and enjoyed activities like super reader cupcake decorating, wack-a-mole with rhyming words, comic strip creation, word games, super reader mask decorating, reading, and a book exchange. It was great to see everyone who attended, especially the little future Roland School students.

Cupcake Decorating

Families Arriving

Wack-a-Mole

It was a tremendous amount of fun for our staff to see families and meet new people. Literacy is at the core of everything we do in education and celebrating books and creativity is important.

For me, a highlight was discovering a 1928 book titled "Millions of Cats". It turned out to be the story of an old man and woman who were lonely so the man went to get a cat. He discovered "millions and billions and trillions of cats" and tried to pick one out. Alas, he couldn't pick just one cat so he brought them all home where they ate all the grass (do cats eat grass?) and drank up the whole pond. The man and wife decided they could only keep one and asked the cats which one was the prettiest. They started fighting over who was the prettiest which caused the man and wife to retreat into their house. When they emerged, the cats had "eaten each other up" and there was just one small kitten left. He explained that because he hadn't said he was the prettiest, everyone had left him alone and now he was the only one left. He grew big and happy with the man and woman.

Some debate ensued among staff about the moral of the story. Some argued it was about the dangers of vanity. Some suggested it had to do with environmental sustainability. In the end I believe it is a straightforward message. If you have a simple task that needs to be done (like going to get a cat), don't send your husband. He'll make a mess of it. My wife agrees with me.

On another note, St. Patrick's Day is today and our resident Leprechaun O'Malley has been up to his annual hi-jinx. Tossing classrooms and kidnapping the principal (it was pretty scary) were part of his routine this year. The search is on to catch him.

What a Mess!

Kidnapped

Before and After School Day Care

I am currently in the process of exploring a possible "before and after school program" with an eye toward eliminating a barrier for families to send their kids to school here. Part of our reality is that many families work outside of the community and need a place to drop their kids off before the start of their work day, as well as a place to send them after school until they can be picked up. With day care services provided in other places, some families find that the easiest solution is to enroll their kids in school in the same community they work. It is hard to fault them for doing so given the logistics of everything involved. Our only problem right now is that we don't know how many families/kids this affects or how much interest there is in this type of programming at Roland School.

If you would be interested in before and after school day-care (located at the school) we ask that you let us know. I will need to get a sense of numbers before any formal arrangement for a satellite program can be made. Early indication is that it would require a minimum of 11 kids (both before and after) in order for the program to be viable financially. We are also interested to know if anyone would re-consider where they send their kids to school if we were able to provide this service.

This will also be a topic for discussion on April 11th at the Home and School Meeting (5:00 pm). Please feel free to attend for an update and to share your thoughts.

So Far So Good!

I would like to start this blogging experiment by thanking everyone for their support in my new position. Staff, parents, community members, the RM, and of course the students, have all been wonderful in welcoming me to Roland School. It has made the transition very easy and very enjoyable.

Elementary education is a little bit new to me as I have spent the past 13 years at Carman Collegiate. The learning curve has been steep so far as I work to wrap my head around early years reading instruction and numeracy development. Thankfully, we have a strong staff here who care about kids and collaborate to make their classrooms great and don't mind sharing their know how with me as they go. While at Carman Collegiate, I taught grade 7 for 7 years and was working on my 6th as the Vice Principal when I was given the opportunity to come to Roland. My experience as a middle years teacher has eased my transition a great deal but there is still much to learn about K-4 education. I am loving the challenge already.

As most of you are likely aware, I will be in the position until Feb. of 2017, at which time I will return to Carman Collegiate and Mrs. Chevalier will return to Roland. My goals while I am here are broad and simple;

• I will work to ensure Roland School is a place where kids like to spend their time.
• I will work to promote Roland School as a great option for all families and to erase as many obstacles to that idea as possible.
• I will advocate for Roland School and the community to ensure a healthy and vibrant school remains a building block of the community.
• I will work with all stakeholders to keep an open dialogue and to maintain and build relationships.
• I will work to reconnect Roland School to its proud history in the community in an effort to build a sense of pride and belonging in our current students. 

Thank you again to everyone for your support. I have loved seeing parents come out to help at the arena, show up to cook hot lunches, and join discussions at PAC meetings. I look forward to getting to meet more and more people as time passes.