3 months into maternity leave Sigh. I am feeling a little more like myself. I think my son, Atticus, and I have figured out nursing, even in public. I am enjoying being home with him. I even did the laundry today. Not folded, just did it. 5 months into maternity leave What am I going [...]
Large crowds of protesters, police barricades and masked men with guns roaming streets. A house burned down killing those inside including a five-month old baby, arrests and disappearances and police road checks examining phones for any evidence of anti-government postings. Over 500 dead and 350,000 people out of work. Unfortunately, these kinds of reports are [...]
BY LINDA GROOT, ELEMENTARY TEACHER LIBRARIAN I like to regularly highlight new titles with my library classes to help create student interest in reading. Sometimes, this can lead to interesting conversations with students: Student: “Hi, Mrs. Groot, I’m looking for a book you showed us last week.” Me (excited): “Sure! What’s it called?” Student: “I [...]
12 000 kms in 30 days. Seeing pandas and penguins at the Calgary Zoo (the penguins were much more interesting), stopping at the geographical center of North America (unplanned) and the longitudinal center of Canada (planned), kayaking and tubing down lazy rivers in North Michigan, getting much closer to the foot of Niagara Falls than [...]
I still remember the first time I heard the story of why my brother became a teacher. He was in his first year of college, not sure what he really wanted to do. He had to take a science course as one of the core subjects. One of the required labs was to document the [...]
Apparently the tradition started about 15 years ago. A dad of a kindergarten student decided to call around to other dads in the class to encourage them to make arrangements and “give their wives a day off.” To the surprise of the kindergarten teachers at the time, there were more dads than moms on this [...]
BY WENDY ENNS, LEARNING SUPPORT SERVICES COORDINATOR What on earth could I possibly offer teachers from a rural village in Ethiopia? In November 2016, I had an incredible opportunity to travel with Run for Water to see a village that ACS Elementary raised money for clean water and a school. I was asked if I [...]
“Puh-lease?!?!?” came the persistent begging, once again, from my Star Wars crazed son. He had only asked EVERY DAY to battle me—light-saber style, which is really not my style at all! Always after dinner. Always just as my hands were getting sudsy, cleaning the mess from the last half hour. It was always then that [...]
I stood barefoot on my blanket as a First Nations person. We were a gregarious people who moved around, visited other groups, traded, conversed, shared stories and listened to new ideas and techniques. While I did that, my blanket was taken away. As I watched that happen, I lost my identity. I no longer belonged. [...]
BY SHERRY DRADER, GRADE 4 TEACHER This past Christmas left me flabbergasted—the cardboard box STILL became the most sought after “toy” between my three kids! I’ve always been fascinated by the hours of enjoyment children get from a simple cardboard box, as the adult in me just wants to clean up the mess, flatten the [...]
