Welcome to our Weekly Reflections section! Here you will find learning updates from all of our pods. Each teacher will post on Wednesday...

We started inside with our morning circle, moving energy and discussed how there is no "bad" energy or "good" energy...simply energy that moves or doesn't move. We discussed how it is our responsibility to move our energy, say what we need to and express ourselves, otherwise our feeling get trapped and create pain or issues later on. We breathed, moved, tapped and made lots of noise together to move our energy. When we felt ready, we sang our 7 direction song to call in ne

This week we were present Monday and Tuesday with Wednesday being a day off. Our focus in morning activities was counting money and determining change. The remainder of our school days were focused on creating products and determining the value of the "stock" we had created. Our Sapling Store will have approximately $500 of valued stock for this sale!! Corbin started many bracelets that will have custom options for completion. He also focused on pricing his products and det

Our focus this week was creating our signage for our sale products. To do so, the class got to engage in discussion around how much each product should cost and why. We discussed product cost/materials, profit, and fair pricing. The students calculated how much profit would be earned at each price point and decided if that felt good to them. Once prices were agreed upon, each Sprout got to make a sign for our display, during our Project Period. This time was also used to cont

Today was a Lola only day, so we deviated from our regularly scheduled plan to enjoy a day just for Lola ❤ Lola set up the morning circle and did a fantastic job! She chose a special talking piece and yoga mats for each of us. After circle, we read a Robert Munsch book called "So Much Snow!" We all enjoyed the silliness in the story. After story, Lola chose to bake applesauce cookies! We adapted the recipe we found online to make the cookies good for everyone to eat becau

This week we introduced the teaching of Sharing. Our statement is "we share the load and the bounty" and the lesson is about understanding that when we all pitch in to help, we are making the work less for everyone. We read the story of "The Little Red Hen" Wednesday and students discovered many of our core teachings in the story. Monday was a Corbin only day, so after his morning activities were complete we went home for the rest of the day. Tuesday and Wednesday were full

We have few photos this week as my hands were busy supporting lots of crafting and creation! The Sprouts have a few finishing touches to add to their products and we will be working on table signage next week. Money knowledge was practiced through more games and portfolio activities. Students explored different ways to make $1.00 and are practicing connecting coin pictures with their names and values. Today we introduced Money Bingo as well. The students decorated our mini Ch

The morning was still and sunny today, so we enjoyed morning circle time outside. Our animal messenger cards brought us messages of resourcefulness, gratitude, surrender, decisiveness and imagination...all important qualities for animals surviving the cold. After circle we came inside to snack and hear a new long story about the animal people before humans choosing a leader. It was full of great messages that students identified with throughout the day. Though it was a lon

This week did not fly for us. Students were I'll at home recovering, so I received a much needed break to tend to my own health and home. Looking forward to a healthy week next week.

This week we continued to prep for our sale through song, creation and games. Our project period consisted of coin recognition activities, teaching children the value and names of coins, as well as multiple product making stations. Using the coin sheets we created last week, we made space to sing our “Canada in my Pocket” song, which the Sprouts love. Students also finished creating their advertising posters. We have hung posters up around the school and copies have been sent

We began our day inside today with our morning circle and sit spot and enjoyed the opportunity to move freely, stretch and rest without feeling chilly. Our focus today was on our ancestors and the Medicine Wheel. We read a part of our book "Sharing Circle" and older students noticed that we have learned all about these topics at school! We looked at all of our Medicine Wheel items: the Four Directions Log, our posters for each direction and our symbol for Faith. We notice

We started our week brainstorming ideas for The Sprout Store. We are in business-mode now! The students helped me create a thought web and throughout the week we discussed which ideas were practical vs decorative, how many different items they wanted to make, and voted on favourites. They decided to make 3 decorative products and 3 practical products, totalling 6 different products. We discussed timelines and materials and will begin creating on Monday. During our Project Per

This week we introduced the teaching of Cleanliness. We discussed on Monday how this teaching is not about keeping our bodies clean (though it is a good thing to have a clean body), that is is about keeping our mind clean. We introduced our Magic Hand tool, which is used to clear our minds of things that we see, hear or feel that cause us to feel poorly. Our statement to go with this teaching is: My good thoughts lead to good actions. Monday this week was for finishing up

It was a chilly morning with a few flurries in the air today! We enjoyed free play this morning to begin then came to circle for some energy clearing and an energy filling song. Everyone chose their animal cards, enjoyed cozy sit spots, then we all shared what we noticed. After circle, we headed inside for snack and story to warm our chilly toes and phalanges. At snack we talked about fast energy food (carbs) and long energy foods (proteins) and everyone chose a snack wit

Kinship was our foundational teaching this week. Discussion around different kinds of communities occurred Monday during the learning, and Wednesday we read "The Gingerbread Girl" and students identified what was Kinship and what was not. They also pointed out nearly all of the other teachings as well. This week began our first business immersion period of the school year! Our mornings continued for this week as they have been before switching into business math topics and

This week we extended our learning around the human skeleton by using it for our morning sign-in. Students showed me a bone when asked, each morning. We also incorporated some centres this week where students had the opportunity to explore human x-rays on our light table. Some chose to make it into a puzzle and others placed the bones on their friends, seeing if they could find the right spots. Other centres included learning more about our new teaching of Kinship, practicing

Despite a temperature of 8 degrees this morning, it was also very windy and there were so many clouds we could not see the sun. We enjoyed our morning circle outside, and noticed that during our sit spots we became chilly despite our extra layers. Movement warmed us up, then we had our morning snack and stories outside while we could. The forecast for today said rain, given the temperature we decided together that staying out in the rain would not support us to keep warm t

This we introduced our 6th teaching of Faith. Students began experiencing accountability around their actions and what they believe to be true about themselves. We all get to be in alignment with our words and actions. Our morning activities this week included Sudoku as a new math game, our typical language and math activities that reviewed multiplication and supports, word problems and math minutes. We had the highest scores yet from all student math minutes this week! T

This week we focused on the human body: discussing the functions of our microbiome and exploring the Skelton. Students learned (or were reminded) how to “feed the good guys” and how too much sugar can give the “bad guys” too much power, leaving us feeling weak, tired, grumpy and more. We discussed real life scenarios including Halloween, and how to make supportive decisions for our body. We also spoke about ways to celebrate Halloween that don’t involve candy. Students shared

We started our outdoor day with our morning circle under our shelter to provide a break from Wind and Rain. Many students ran out their energy and we spent a good chunk of time making lots of wild and silly noises together. We filled ourselves up with our Seven Directions Song using our rhythm sticks in between verses, then pulled an animal card with our eyes closed this week. In sit spots, students introspected (focused on their inside self) and noticed all kinds of amazi