Ralph Giroux reports the news this week from Joussard School.

Ralph Giroux
Joussard Reporter
Hello! This is Ralph Giroux and this is my last week of being the reporter for Joussard School. I have enjoyed visiting all of the classes and gathering information for our report.

In kindergarten this week, our students have been very busy learning about feelings. They have learned about their own feelings and how to name and express them, and also how to respect the feelings of others. This is a very important part of learning in kindergarten.

Students in Grade 1 report they have new friends to play with, as they have had three new little girls join their class in the last two weeks! They are also pleased with their green thumbs, as their bean plants in their little garden are growing nice and tall.

Our students in Grade 2 have been having a great time planning their own exercise program during their movement breaks in class. In this way, the students can decide for themselves what kind of movements their bodies need in order to learn best.

In Grade 3, our students are enjoying their last two weeks with their teacher, Raven Cardinal. She will be moving back to Grande Prairie and we will all miss her. However, we are happy to announce that High Prairie School Division has hired Hilary Payne to take over the Grade 3 class. Everyone is looking forward to having her here with her positive energy and friendly personality. Since she loves kids, we should do just great with this new teacher.

Grade 4 reports that their Red Wiggler worms are doing just fine. They are successfully decomposting different materials and are reproducing so quickly that Grade 4 would like to donate some of them to Grade 5! Red Wigglers are also proving to be an interesting subject to write journal entries on.

In Grade 5, our students report that they are polishing up their painting skills as they paint portraits of people, or pictures of animals. This is challenging work, but is also a lot of fun.

And, in my class, Grade 6, we would like to send out a huge thank you to Elder Sally Badger. This lovely lady took lots of time out of her day to talk to us about her experiences in the residential school system.

This is often a very sad topic and hard to discuss, but she was wonderful as she calmly described her years in a residential school. She gave us a powerful message as she told us how she overcame the hurt in her life created by that school and went on to nurse’s training in Edmonton. Being the only First Nations student in her class did not stop her and she went on to have a long and successful career in health care.

Badger encouraged us not to let negative experiences hold us back, but to use them instead to grow stronger, to stand tall and to always hold our heads high and be proud of who we are. I don’t think any of us will ever forget listening to her.

Winter sports are sure in action now at our school. We are skating, playing ice hockey, snowshoeing and skiing. We should really be getting fit through all of this physical exercise!

We are also supporting the In the Woods Animal Sanctuary with food, toys and even a dog bed. We all love pets and right now the sanctuary is in need of lots of help.

Thank you very much for reading my reports for January. Please check out next month’s reporter and report.

Sally Badger, an Elder from Sucker Creek, tells the Grade 6 class all about overcoming the harm done by residential schools and living a strong, successful life, proud of your heritage. Student, Marie Chalifoux, is pleased to accompany Chalifoux in the photo.

Winter sports are in full swing at Joussard School! Grade 1 student Mariella Willier shows herself to already be quite competent with snowshoes.