Nov 13th : Weekly News from the Dragon Nation!                                                                                                                                                      St. Isidore

Hello Dragon Families, 

 

From the Principal’s Desk:

On Friday, the St Isidore community participated in a virtual Remembrance Day ceremony that challenged all Dragons to remember all the women and men who sacrificed  their lives for the peace and freedom we enjoy today. We also reflected on how we can be ‘agents of peace’ in our world. Student voice was embedded in the ceremony through narrations, art work and reflections making it meaningful and personal for all. 

Student Progress Reports will be accessed through the parent portal and published to Aspen on Monday, November 21st.  Access codes for registration have been sent through email. Feel free to reach out to the office if you have any questions or concerns.  

This week St. Isidore celebrates Friendship/Anti-Bullying Week through a variety of in-class activities, theme days and a guest speaker. The theme days are as follows:

  • Mon. Nov 14: Mismatch Monday – to show kindness to all 
  • Tues. Nov 15: PJ Tuesday – wear your PJs to put a “rest” to bullying
  • Tues. Nov 15:  Sara Westbrook – Guest Speaker
  • Wed. Nov 16:  Walk’n Wednesday – wear two different shoes to learn to walk in someone else’s shoes
  • Thurs. Nov 17:  Backward Shirt – show that you have someone else’s back

About our Guest Speaker: Sara Westbrook is an inspiring speaker who uses personal stories and songs, to share strategies and activities that will help students create a mindset of Confidence, Resilience, Respect, Emotional and Mental Well-being. We are teaming up with St. Dominic which has different bell times so we ask for your flexibility and understanding  in accommodating the modified day. 

  • 10:45 – 11:30 – JK – Grade 3 – Super Heroes for Respect
  • 1:05 – 2:05 Grades 4 – 8 – Healthy Resilient Minds Matter

Christmas Angel Tree/Toy Drive:                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

In consultation with our School Council, St. Isidore is pleased to announce that we will be  participating in the Christmas Angel Tree, 25th Anniversary in collaboration with The Knights of Columbus. Cash (and toy)  donations can be made through School Cash Online beginning November 21 – December 7th with the possibility of an extension.  St. Isidore families who wish to make a contribution, are encouraged to do so early and to consider cash donations which the Knights of Columbus can direct to gap areas (often pre-teen and adolescent children) though toy donations are also welcome.                                                                              

Umbrella Project Message:

This month at The Umbrella Project is all about Mindfulness, the skill that helps us to stay present in our experience instead of spending most of our time thinking about the past or worrying about the future.

Review your schedule daily with the lens of mindfulness

For happier and more fulfilling days, review your daily schedule with a lens of mindfulness and focused attention. In last week’s newsletter, we discussed spending undivided attention listening to your child. This week, we can add to that idea by reviewing your schedule in advance with the goal of reducing the time your attention is divided between tasks.  

 Take 5 minutes at the end of each day or the beginning of the week to review your upcoming schedule. Is there anything you can do or change to create space for undivided attention with the people you care about? For your job? Is there anything you can change about the set up of your home or work to protect your attention? 

 How many tasks are you expecting yourself to get done in one small block of time? For example: making dinner while helping with homework, making lunches for the next day and replying to the emails you didn’t quite finish at work. There is no such thing as multitasking! When we multitask, what we are doing is switching back and forth between tasks quickly and this uses up much more energy than just doing one task at a time with our full focus. By the time we reach the end of the day, this heavy energy expenditure leads to a lack of will power and poor emotional regulation. It’s no wonder we snap and get upset more often than we want to.

 We have strong evidence to suggest that when parents are more mindful of their emotions and think before they react with anger or stress, children benefit. This is a difficult task when we have already depleted our mental and emotional resources. Setting up our days for focus instead of divided attention is a great way to regulate our parenting frustrations, connect with our kids, bring more joyfulness into parenting and teach our children how to protect their attention too.  

 

Listen here as I discuss this concept.

 

Health & Happiness, 

 

Dr. Jen, The Umbrella Project