Damiana Willier reports the news this week from Joussard School.

Hello, this is Damiana Willier once again, bringing you our news. This is my last week of collecting news, as a new reporter will do the job for the rest of May.

Checking in with kindergarten, I found out they are keeping their bodies very busy by learning all kinds of exercises in their P.E. classes. The students are learning how important it is to exercise and to keep it up for their whole lives. They are also learning about trees and forests and what they provide for us as well as what animals live in them. The little kids love speculating about Sasquatches being in the woods, along with the bears and moose – not too sure about that!

In Grade 1, our students are busy writing on the topic of “My Favorite Things.” This is lots of fun for them because it is all about them! The students also reported they are working with water colours in Art, learning about the basic colours and how to combine colours to make other ones.

Our Grade 2 and Grade 3 students are spending lots of time together this week as they go into High Prairie every morning to take swimming lessons. Prairie River Junior High School has very generously provided space for the students in one grade to work in, while the students in the other grade go swimming, then they switch.

The students are also enjoying extra activities such as rock climbing at High Prairie Elementary School during the afternoons. Joussard School is very grateful to the other HPSD schools for supporting our visits to High Prairie.

In Grade 4, our students have been studying the history of Metis People in Alberta. They are learning about their lifestyle, music and sports. To enhance this study even further, the Grade 4 students are learning the game of lacrosse, using our brand new equipment.

Our Grade 5 students report they now know how to make deep-fried bannock. Well, sort of! Mostly, it is Doris Willier who knows how to make it and is showing the class how to do it. This activity is part of our Cree Culture class and we are learning how important bannock was, and still is, as a food staple for the Indigenous people. We also learned how tasty it is!

Grade 6 students are always busy but they are extra busy with so many things lately. There are lots of responsibilities in preparing for Grade 7. They are busy learning to use combination locks, practicing switching classes in a limited amount of time, as well as learning about new things such as choosing options.

At the same time, Grade 6s are putting lots of effort into getting ready for the important Provincial Achievement Tests which start next week.

We are all so very proud of our hand games team. They won the first place trophy in the divisional tournament that our school hosted. It wasn’t an easy win because teams from Ecole Routier and High Prairie Elementary were very challenging. Our team will now compete in the hand games tournament during the High Prairie Traditional powwow this weekend [May 5]. We are so excited!

Thanks for reading my reports. Please check in with my friend’s Joussard School report next week.

Grade 3 student, Karter Isadore, tests out his rock climbing skills. Joussard School thanks High Prairie Elementary School for sharing their wall.

Proud of the end results, Joussard School hand games member, Angelique Brule’, proved to be a keen shooter and helped her team win the trophy.