Dragon Update: January 31st
Valentine Friendship Fundraiser 
St. Isidore School council is delighted to share that we will once again be running a Friendship Fundraiser from February 1- February 14, 2023, to support experiential learning opportunities for our students (e.g. Museum, Zoo, Coding, Scientists in Schools). Our goal is to raise $1,000 through donations and pledges which is approximately $7 per student. Our Friendship Fun Fair will be held the afternoon of February 14th and will involve students rotating through various activities led by staff.
What can you do? Help your child secure pledges/donations from family and friends. There are prizes for classes with the highest average pledge amount, early-bird draws and more. Two ballots with your child(ren) names will automatically be included in the random draw bins and contributions of $25.00 and above are eligible for tax receipts.
There is a form attached on School Cash Online for each sponsor (up to 5) you will enter each donation separately, donations over $25 will automatically prompt you for an email address and a tax receipt will be sent to this email address.
Pledges and donations are being accepted until midnight on February 14th!
Congratulations to our Students of the Month for January. Our theme was “Grit” and these students lived our theme through word and deed.
Leila P Claire B Lachlan B Ayden A
Tristina C Liam G Nikky V Vitor B
Bahar G Mikki V John Paul R Liana N
Nicholas O Sophia R Emma C Nolan S M
Katharine R Hayden C Alexandria S Aiden B
Austin E-G Luvlee F-M
Report cards: Friday February 17th report cards will be published to Aspen and parents will be able to access this through their Aspen Parent Portal. We have almost 90% of families accessing report cards through the portal and report cards on February 17th will not be mailed out. If you need any assistance accessing or troubleshooting your Aspen account please feel free to contact Michelle Coon in the office 226-241-4651.
Umbrella Theme – Grit
Develop your child’s capacity to practice
The ability to practice is one the most important pieces in persevering towards complex and long-term goals. Without the ability to sustain effort and practice over time, many big dreams go unrealised. Here are a few tips when it comes to making practice effective and sustainable for your child:
- Schedule practice and rest time to avoid burnout. To perform at our best we need breaks, and teaching children this early on will really help them do their best. Determine how long your child can hold focus for and then set a timer for that amount of time while working or practicing something. Take short breaks between practice sessions to get some fresh air, run around, snack and recover for the next focused practice session. For example, you could do 15 minutes of practice, take a 5 minute break and then 15 more minutes of practice. Repeat this for the duration of their working time. Timed intervals will help your child stay on task and practice well.
- Find tasks that help your child work at the right level for their pre-existing ability. This will help them achieve a state of engagement and concentration when practicing (otherwise known as a state of flow). To achieve this state of flow, think about what we often refer to as the Goldilocks effect. Tasks should be not too hard.. not too easy.. just right! Tasks that are too difficult tend to create anxiety and those that are too easy lead to boredom. Both those states are detrimental to our capacity to practice something. When practicing, tasks should be challenging enough to require your child to recruit many skills to accomplish the task but not so hard that they can’t succeed.
A few thoughts in this week’s video about the Finnish concept of ‘Sisu’
Here’s to practice!
Dr. Jen, The Umbrella Project
Additional Resources
Interested in learning more? Here are a few more short and sweet videos about Grit from Dr. Jen.
