Dear DG Families,
Welcome back to school and to the final term of this 2020-2021 school year! We hope you all had a wonderful Spring Break
Goodbye …. Hello
COVID 19 has presented many challenges for everyone, and even more so for those who have been separated from loved ones who don’t live locally. As you may already be aware, just prior to Spring Break, we unexpectedly said goodbye to one of our Learning Support Teachers, Ms Varshney, who has now gone to join her husband who lives in the States. While we were sad to lose her from our DG Team, we support Ms Varshney’s decision to be with her family and we wish her much happiness and success as she makes this move.
Replacing Ms Varshney is Ms Kayla Raven. Prior to beginning her Teacher Education program at Lakehead University in Ontario, Ms Raven spent over 10 years working with children and youth, primarily as an EA and as a behaviour analyst. She has a B.A. in linguistics and has done post graduate studies in Behavioural Sciences and in working with individuals with Autism In addition to her work as an educator, she loves coffee/ tea, playing rugby, photography and knitting. She is also learning to play the guitar. Please join us in welcoming Ms Raven to our awesome school community!
April’s Focus is the “A” in ROARS (positive Attitude!)
When we talk about helping kids to develop a “positive attitude”, we’re not saying they should learn to act like things are great all the time (because that’s not real!). As we focus on “attitude’ in April, one of the things we’ll be talking about is helping kids develop resilience and a growth mindset.
What Is a Growth Mindset? We all have beliefs about our own abilities and potential. These beliefs are part of our mindset, which helps determine the actions we take – or don’t take – as we go through life.
A growth mindset is the belief that our intelligence and abilities (and often our circumstances) can be improved with effort and the right strategies. A fixed mindset, on the other hand, is the belief that our intelligence and abilities are more or less stable and unchangeable.
Cultivating a growth mindset has been strongly linked to greater happiness and achievement in life. When kids know their brains are capable of growing, amazing things can happen! So how can you help them develop this mindset?
Here are some ways to help support the concept of “growth mindset” at home
1. Talk about the brain and how it works – help kids understand that the brain literally grows new connections as they practice and learn how to do something. When kids learn how their brains work and grow, they take the first steps of developing a growth mindset.
2. Talk about the two mindsets and the basic differences of growth and fixed mindsets. Find opportunities to help kids recognizing them – in story characters and even in themselves. Here’s a great video to get you started
3. Model a growth mindset for them. One effective way to do this is to let your kids overhear your thinking out loud when you go through challenges.. For example, saying “This is really hard for me. I guess I better keep practicing.”
4. Add the magical word … YET If you hear your child say he/she can’t do something, encourage them to add “yet” at the end of the sentence. eg. “I can’t do a cartwheel, yet”
Just one word drastically changes the meaning of the phrase – and the outlook moving forward!
5. Praise effort over outcome. The key to instilling a growth mindset is teaching kids that their brains are like muscles that can be strengthened through hard work and persistence. To reinforce that as parents, it’s important to praise effort over outcome. For example, instead of praising your child for a seemingly permanent characteristic (“You are so smart”), praise the effort they put into it (“You worked really hard to solve that problem.”) The first is known as people praise; the second is process praise. Process praise promotes an internal sense of self-efficacy because it reinforces that successes are due to effort (which the child can control) rather than some fixed level of talent or skill.
6. Avoid labeling – Whether it’s a positive label (You are so smart!) or a negative one (He’s not very good at math), they both communicate a fixed mindset. Instead of motivating kids, labels like these can lead to limiting beliefs about themselves and others.
7. Replace negative self-talk with these phrases. Talk to your kids about their “inner voice” and the concept of self-talk, both positive and negative. Teach them to recognize unhelpful self-talk and replace it with positive alternatives. For example:
- This is too hard, I’ll never get it… This may take more time and effort.
- I can’t do Math… I am going to train my brain to do Math.
- I suck at basketball… I am not as good at basketball yet as I want to be.
Crossing Guard Schedule
Please see the schedule listed for crossing guards until the end of June!
Crossing Guard Schedule
PAC Updates
Canadian Parents for French (CPF)
Membership is free this year. To sign up or for more details, please visit https://cpf.ca/
Reminder – Fundraisers ongoing throughout the year
Return-it Express
PAC has created a school fundraising account. To participate, simply bring your containers to the depot in sealed, clear bags, and enter the registered phone number, 604-581-6185, into the Express kiosk. You will be prompted to select the number of bags you’re dropping off, the kiosk will automatically print the same number of sticker tags displaying our PACs unique Express account code. Tag each of your bags with a sticker tag and drop the bags off in the designated Express drop-off area to be counted. For a list of Return-it Express location visit https://www.return-it.ca/locations/express/
Cobs Bread Dough Raiser Program
This program enables us to raise money for our school throughout the year! Be sure to mention Devon Gardens Elementary (or code 7806) each time you make a purchase at COBS Bread Scott 72 Centre; they will donate 10% of your purchase back to our school.
Level Ground Trading
Level Ground is a BC business that works with fair trade coffee, tea, dried fruit and spice producers. For details and to place an order, please visit our very own Devon Gardens landing page https://www.kaci.io/devon-gardens-elementary-school-level-ground. Enter DevonGardens in the discount code field at checkout and 15% of your purchase will be a payback to the school on every order of $40+. Free shipping on orders $40+
Online Stay Safe & Babysitting Courses
Offered through First Aid Hero. When registering use promo/coupon code DGPAC and our PAC will earn $8 from each registration. For details, available course dates and online registration, please follow the links below:
Babysitting – https://firstaidhero.com/babysitting-courses/online-babysitting-courses/
Stay Safe – https://firstaidhero.com/stay-safe/
Questions? Send an email to pacdevongardens@gmail.com
Mon, March 29th: School re-opens
Friday, April 2nd: Good Friday (School is closed)
Monday, April 5th: Easter Monday (School is closed)
Week of April 6th: PAC Neufeld orders online
Thursday, April 22nd: Term 3 previews sent home electronically
Friday, April 23rd: PAC Neufeld orders due