We are so proud of the work that our students are doing in terms of our Wellness Goal and wanted to share what they are learning and their perspective on “wellness".
Surveying our division 2 classes, students tell us that being well equates to being kind, healthy, feeling good about their friendships and able to handle stress. Being unwell on the other hand, is when you feel judged, have friendship issues, when you are not getting enough sleep or you are hungry. Many of our students have shared that over the past year, COVID-19 has been hard because they do not get to see all their friends and they are missing their community activities.
In all of our classes, students are focusing on wellness. We are building our “growth mindset vocabulary" and are currently attending to these words; Conflict, rude, mean, aggressive, on purpose (intention) vs. by accident, tattling, judging and acceptance. All classes are involved to some degree with the Champions Mentorship Program, which connect classes to high-level athletes.
In our Kindergarten, Mrs. Wilkes has introduced “mouse and elephant problems". These are “problems I can solve by myself" and “problems I need help to solve". Our grade 1 students have been using literature to learn about honesty and our grade 2 and 3 students use regular sharing circles that allow for both negative and 'positive' discussions about our Silver Springs life.
In our division 2 classes, teachers have created a variety of visuals to help solidify their understanding of the terms mentioned above and students regularly visit the Calgary Board of Education's Bullying Prevention and Awareness Framework. This work is designed to deepen understandings and further develop an inclusive, safe and caring environment for everyone in our learning community.
While “wellness" is part of our health curriculum, it sits outside the formal teaching of “lessons". It is embedded in our everyday work.
“Wellness" shows up in how we greet students, do our check-ins and how we find ways to involve students in discussions. It is part of how we observe behaviors, encourage students and help students set goals. It is in the classroom joy and celebratory moments and in the quiet times when we ask students to reflect, analyze and plan. Wellness is mask breaks outside, physical activity, healthy lunches, strong relationships and, thankfully, we are seeing wellness is the closeness of the cohorts this year.
At the end of this month, our grade 4 students and a handful of Grade 5 and 6 students will share a video they are producing focusing on wellness and Pink Shirt Day. If you could be a fly on the wall, you would be very proud watching this project evolve. You would also be very proud if you could hear some of the rich discussions our students are having in classes, and you would love watching how they are taking care of one another in the hallways and classes with small acts of kindness.
Our students truly live the saying, “If you can be anything, be kind".
Nancy Gillott, Principal
