I thought I posted this yesterday, so all comments are from April 17th.

Busy day at school, but they all seems to be nowadays.

Time moves at a different speed for different people at school. I felt the day went by so quickly. An older student was asking, “When is this day going to end?”

High fives and fist bumps continue to be a good way to say hello to students in the hallways. They seem to be most popular with grades 3 and 4.

The Fire Department came by with their “Fire House” for the grade 3’s to tour through. Ask your child in grade 3 what he or she learned to day.

Man Hunt continues at a fast pace on the Intermediate side of our playground. I counted at least 4 different games. How do they keep track of who to run after? Some of the games take place on both the upper and lower portion of the playground. That is a lot of running.

Came across an older student crying in the forest today. Sometimes it is hard being her age. We chatted, or rather I chatted, and she nodded her head a bit. I had to tell some boys from her class to pretend they were good (they were monkeying about in the forest), and she laughed. It was great to see her smile. Maybe someday she will share more about what went wrong today. I told her I would check in with her again tomorrow. (Update from April 18th – she was all smiles today 🙂 )

Also came across a grade 7 teaching some primary children Irish dancing. Be careful, it looks contagious. Once one girls starts dancing, the whole group seemed to want to do it. They all had smiles, which was nice to see.

Went to a visit a class this morning and they were gone. I accused two girls who were left in the class of taking them somewhere. Turns out the class was in the computer lab, and the two girls had to go back to class to pick up one girl’s book. Why does it always take more than one person to go pick up one book?

One class was away on a field trip. They had a good time. They told me all about what they learned, the birds they saw (and nests) and some facts about salmon.

Today was a Tuesday Food Day. The kids seem to love these days. Thanks parents, and thanks to the custodial staff who clean up a bit more garbage on Tuesdays.

Started the day with a news story that makes me wonder ~ Police Handcuff Georgia Kindergartener. Really? Really? Had to share that one with staff.

Ended my day chatting with a grade 7 about the novel Hunger Games. I have started to read the book now (thanks for the loan Rosie), and I wanted her thoughts. She promised she would not spoil anything for me, but shared what she liked so far. I will have to chat with her once I finish the book. She says the movie was good, but the story seems best for children her age or older.

I am still loving this job, but I think I will go home now.

Take care.

To start, in the spirit of full disclosure, I admit to not being a fan of the NHL. I don’t watch it, nor do I have any interest in the outcome of any series.

This seems to put me in the minority. Tell someone you don’t watch hockey in this country, and they look at you like you just admitted to committing a terrible crime, or that you need to get professional help. “You call yourself a Canadian?”  Yes, I do, and a proud Canadian at that.

The NHL experience turned sour for me many years ago. Incidents of purposeful harm towards other players (i.e. McSorley  and Burtuzzi) seemed to be on the rise. Body checking seemed to become head hunting, and the referees did not seem to be allowed to call all the stick work that was going on.

Last year’s hockey playoffs was quite the experience for students. My school was abuzz with excitement, and even the Kindergarten students were caught up in the fever. When I gave them choice for gym time, hockey was almost always preferred. I had to be the Boston Bruins, and they were all Canucks. Funny, Boston never won those games.

What I noticed last year on the playground was a rise in aggression among the students. Hockey fever seemed to translate into poor playground choices for many students, and incidents of hitting or kicking always seemed to be explained by, “He hit me first!”

Is it fair to connect the playoffs with the playground behaviour? I think so. The NHL is not to blame for it all, but I think our cultures obsession with hockey has to be somewhat connected to aggression in children. Some children who were having social difficulties reported staying up late to watch hockey. Once the playoffs were over, we saw a reduction in incidents of playground aggression.

We try to teach students that acts of physical aggression are not acceptable at school. Staff members work with students on using calm, respectful conflict resolution skills. It can be challenging when students think it is alright to punch someone who may have bumped them. It is frustrating when dealing with a student who believes it is acceptable to knock someone down in soccer because the other person scored. Their role models do it, so why can’t they?

I know that there are many people who will say that I am focusing on the negative, and should not forget some of the beauty of hockey. I still like hockey, when it is played in a respectful, skillful manner. I am sure that there are incredible players, whose skills would leave me in awe if I watched.

Unfortunately, what I see when I am in a restaurant that uses television sets as decor, is a game that still includes head shots and fights (at least on fight happening before the puck dropped). As an aside, are televisions taking over the world? They seem to be in restaurants, grocery stores, coffee shops and even barber shops. You can’t get away from them, even if you don’t own one.

People I talk with say that the NHL is working on improving the product. They suspend players and fine them, and repeat offenders get greater consequences.

Maybe it is improving. You’ll have to let me know. I will be reading a book, playing guitar, or going for a walk during game times.

If you are a Canuck’s fan, good luck. Stay positive. Win or lose, I hope you can enjoy all the games.

Take care.

I spent the weekend almost completely unplugged. Instead of being connected to the world wide web, I connected with the nature on Denman Island. Deers eating in the meadow, robins singing in the forests, and tree frogs chirping near the pond. It was quite peaceful.

Do you ever take the time to completely unplug? I don’t mean just turning off work emails. I mean no television, no world wide web, and turn off cell phones (ok, I admit I couldn’t turn off the phone).

Having down time from our busy days is something I believe to be very important, not just for us adults, but for children as well.

I am back on-line now. Today I will work through the many emails that require my attention, and connect with students, parents and staff who want to talk with me about an issue. I will also tackle the “To Do” list that never seems to get shorter.

If I don’t get to you today, I am sorry. I will connect soon.

I hope everyone had a great long weekend. Now, back to work.

Take care.