Well, well, it feels like summer is knocking on the door. It was great to spend the whole weekend outside with the kids as the older ones rediscovered toys tucked away in the fall, while the twins continue to struggle with learning how to ride tricycles. Hopefully your weekend brought some well deserved rest, or just a chance to revel in the fact that you are an amazing mini-golfer (right Corey?).

Lots of great things going on last week as we saw:

• some students & teachers learning about music at Resonate
• 7-12’s taking part in a MADD presentation
• the 4’s continuing to polish their photo stories (an incredible project…see Taryn for more info)
• the 8’s broadening their artistic horizon at Persephone and their athletic ability at the “Y” playing squash

This week’s learning focus is on welcoming student voice into your classroom, how do you get students to share what they are passionate about? How is this reflected in their art work, their writing, or the books they are choosing? In learning link number one, the brief article asks several great questions about student centered classrooms that cause one to pause and reflect on practice. Where are you in terms of turning the learning over to your students? One of the things that scares me about student centered learning is the inherent messiness that goes with it. In this cool TED Talk, Astro Teller talks about GoogleX, a place where failure is the path to promotions! Imagine how students would approach learning if failure was not looked at as a negative. Talk about messiness! The final learning link also focuses on student centered learning, and contains a quote I love, “Why do they (teachers) keep talking about the real world out there? This is my real world.” Is there a way to move to more student centered learning in your classroom? Have you seen a parallel between this and what Ron is trying to do with staff meetings? In other words, if we are committed to adult learning, does it always need to run through Ron, or is it more effective and authentic when staff members lead it (as Ryan did last week)?

Here is what’s up this week:

Monday:

• Kindergarten & Grade 1’s are off to Saskatoon for their fieldtrip
• 9-12 progress reports go home
• It’s a teachers birthday today…who is it?

Tuesday:

• Ron & Bruce gone to ALT all day
• Jr. Badminton hosting Borden

Wednesday:

• K-6 students are off to Osler for a drama performance

Thursday:

Friday:

• Subway lunch
• Super Hoopers using the gym @ 3:00

As always, create a great week!