Principal’s Message
Over the last few newsletters, we’ve been looking at self-regulation, resilience, and perseverance. This month’s character trait is optimism, so I wanted to take a closer look at how these work together to help children work through stressful moments or ongoing stressors in their lives.
Stuart Shanker, a researcher at York University and the author of the book “Calm, Alert, and Learning”, has done a great deal of work on self regulation, defining it as how children react to stressors in their lives. He writes:
“Over the past two decades, scientists have made a number of important discoveries in regards to children’s stress:
- While some stress is highly motivating, too much stress can have a long-term negative effect. 2. Too many children are dealing with too many stressors in their lives today.
- We need to develop a much better understanding of the nature of these stressors and how to reduce them.
- Children need to learn how to identify for themselves when they are becoming agitated and what they can do to return to being calm and focused.”
In the article linked below, Shanker talks about how to tell if your child is stressed, and offers some basic suggestions for helping him or her to develop the skills they need to deal positively with it.
First is reducing your child’s overall stress level—here he talks about exercise, sleep, nutrition, turning off screens (see the other article below for ideas about turning off all screens before bed to help with sleep!). I would also suggest letting your child’s teacher know if he or she is stressed, as there are many things we can do during the school day to help with this.
Secondly, Shanker talks about self awareness—does your child know what it feels like to be calm and alert? The work on mindfulness and children has a lot to contribute here, but that is for another month! First is reducing your child’s overall stress level—here he talks about exercise, sleep, nutrition, turning off screens (see the other article below for ideas about turning off all screens before bed to help with sleep!). I would also suggest letting your child’s teacher know if he or she is stressed, as there are many things we can do during the school day to help with this.
And, lastly, in this summary, he wants children to build a toolkit that will help them to know what to do when they are stressed, what kinds of experiences cause stress, and how to manage them. For this, children need parents and teachers working together to identify challenging situations and teach children what works best for them.
You may be thinking that this doesn’t sound like a very optimistic article! My view of optimism, though, isn’t that we assume, or pretend, that everything is wonderful all of the time. I prefer to think of optimism as the belief that we will find a way through the difficult moments that pass through our lives, celebrate the magical ones, and come out having learned something important and meaningful for living our best possible life. That is not only about optimism, it is also resilience, and perseverance, and so much more.
Barbara Alken
https://www.edu.gov.on.ca/childcare/Shanker.pdf
Natural Learning
We can’t wait for the ground to thaw out underneath the playground structure! Once the ground is soft enough to give us the fall depth to cushion the children, we will be right back on our dynamic structure!
Inclement Weather
You can always find out about inclement weather conditions at:
- Visit: www.ourschoolbuses.ca or email [email protected].
- Check Avon’s website—read the Twitter message on snowy days and listen to CJCS Stratford (1240) or CFPL London (980).
Avon School Council
Next Meeting: Mon, March 21st, 2016 6:15-7:45 pm in the library
All parents/guardians welcome to attend!
Staffing Update
We are glad to welcome Ms. Barclay back to Avon as our part time Vice Principal. We also said goodbye for the rest of the year to Mr. Ford, who will be back next year. Ms. Hanna, and then Ms. Skinner, will be Grade 5 teachers for the rest of the year.
Healthy Snacks
Please “Say Yes to Good Food in Schools”. Take the Pledge at www.sayyes.studentnutritionpledge.com The OSNP will donate a free breakfast or snack to your school just for taking the pledge!
Volunteers at Avon
I know we have often mentioned and thanked the many wonderful volunteers who make Avon such a rich learning environment. We count on parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, friends, retired principals and teachers, new graduates, and former students. With such a wide array of people coming and going and interacting with our students, it is important that we follow AMDSB guidelines for police checks. If you are planning on helping out at school, please see BettyAnne for a volunteer package that you can take to the police station to have a police check completed. If you already have this done, every year we simply need an offence declaration filled out that stays on file at school. Thank you for all your support!
World Festival of Children’s Theatre
If you are interested in hearing more about billeting children from Colombia for the Festival coming to Stratford in June, come out next Wednesday at 7 pm to an information session to hear more about what this entails. We will meet in the library, see you there!
YMCA News
Hello, it’s March and winter will soon be coming to an end…hopefully! March break is fast approaching. The YMCA is offering a few different choices for March Break programming for children. Please call the YMCA at 519-271-0480 for more details on the programs that we offer.
Ashley Rose RECE,
YMCA Child Care Supervisor
March’s Character Trait is Optimism: Choosing to be positive
Get Hip
What is the Health Information for Parents e-newsletter?
The HIP e-newsletter is the best way for you to stay informed about health issues related to your school-aged child!
There are two versions of HIP:
- one for parents with children in grades K-6 (Elementary)
- one for parents with teenagers in grades 7-12 (Secondary).
The HIP e-newsletters:
- come out 3 times per year: fall, winter and spring
- contain up-to-date, reliable health information for your school-aged child
- have important updates and links to community services.
Sign-up online
Fill out the subscribe forms below to receive the Elementary Edition, Secondary Edition or both:
- put your email in the box provided
- click on the word ‘subscribe’
March Break and Summer Camp Opportunities
March Break is coming! Drama Camp
STEM Camp (Science, Technology,Engineering, Mathematics)