Prince Edward School hosted a curling bonspiel on February 15, inviting students from nearby Neil Campbell and Hampstead schools. The students bundled up and threw some rocks on a rink made by Prince Edward phys-ed teacher Nigel Wilcox. They were soon using curling terminology like old pros. #hurryhard 🥌

We love this! The hosts of CBC Radio's "Now or Never" popped by Sun Valley School last week to chat with teachers Kristen Phillips and Cathy Paul for their most recent episode, "Who is your chosen family?" 👇😃

On Friday, Pablo Rodriguez, the minister of Canadian Heritage, celebrated National Flag of Canada Day with Grade 3 students from Bernie Wolfe Community School. (Photos by Norbert K. Iwan) 🇨🇦

Tomorrow, February 20, all RETSD students will be dismissed 45 minutes early.

The next meeting of the board of trustees is today at 6:30 p.m. Members of the public are welcome. For more info: https://tinyurl.com/y7veuuvz #CreatingStudentSuccess

It's National Flag of Canada Day today! At Kildonan-East Collegiate, graphic design students redesigned the flag, and people got to vote on their favourite design. Photography students set up a selfie station using the hashtag #canadianflag, and social studies students provided info about how our flag came to be. Fun AND informative! 🇨🇦😄👍

Monday, February 18, is Louis Riel Day and RETSD students do not attend classes.

Last night, some newcomer families in our division attended a Valentine's Day Craft Night held by River East Transcona Immigrant Services (RETIS). They learned more about the holiday while decorating cakes and making crafts. This is one of the many ways the division's settlement workers welcome newcomer families to our community.❤️

We're right in the middle of Teacher Appreciation Week—Feb. 10–16, 2019. Let's take a trip down memory lane. Here are a few pics from over the years showing teachers in our division. See anyone you recognize?

Chinese New Year was on February 5, and Linda Lacoste—an educational assistant at River East Collegiate—did something thoughtful for the Chinese students in the International Education Program at REC. She brought them some traditional items like "lucky money" and Chinese candies to celebrate 2019, Year of The Pig. These little reminders of home mean a lot to our international students! 🐷🇨🇳

Here are some photos from our most recent Empowerment Project—Mindful Me—which took place last Thursday. We had 45 students attend! Our biggest project yet. Students learned mindfulness practices they can use in everyday life, made new friends, and had a lot of fun trying some partner yoga. If parents would like to get on the mailing list for future events (Empowerment Projects and Guys Got Goals workshops), just email Karina Walker at kwalker2@retsd.mb.ca.

Board chair Colleen Carswell (seated) read to students at Donwood Elementary School recently, and trustee Peter Kotyk (in the snazzy Jets jacket) joined a large group of readers when he visited Sun Valley School. I Love to Read Month is an exciting time for schools. They never know who is going to brighten their day with a good book or two!

“Go Police Go!” and “Go Bombers Go!” were all you could hear in the gym at Donwood Elementary School on Friday. Donwood fans cheered loud and proud for their favourites in an entertaining basketball match-up between members of the Winnipeg Police Service and some football pros. Constables Whitney, Klassen, Speer, Lambert, Tielman, Drzewiec, Sullivan, and Bloun—led by patrol sargent Smith—played four quarters of five on five. Their opponents were Andrew Harris and Nick Demsky from the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Jaden McCoy from the Manitoba Bison, Anthony Coombes from the Toronto Argonauts, and support player (and ringer!) Rob Draeger. It was wonderful for these two groups to come together in such a positive way. Their sportsmanship and the time they spent signing autographs for the students was appreciated by all!

If you’re looking for a fun outing for you and the kids or grandkids, check out the latest production being put on by Murdoch MacKay Collegiate. It’s based on Peter Pan, but some unexpected problems occur, resulting in all-round hilarity! This is an ALL AGES SHOW. Two matinees—Feb. 25 & Feb. 27 at 1:30 p.m. Four evening shows—Feb. 25, 26, 27 & 28 at 7:00 p.m.

One day, nothing but play! On February 6, students and staff at Angus McKay School celebrated Global Play Day—a movement gaining momentum around the world to bring back play. Ted Gray, psychology professor, says that over the years, “we’ve gradually taken more and more play away from kids, replacing it with structured activities, academic work, and digital experiences to the point where they hardly ever “play” at all." As a result, there’s been a rise in childhood anxiety and a growing number of kids who simply don’t know how to play or interact with one another in a meaningful way. The day was unstructured by staff, and students were encouraged to bring non-electronic toys to share with one another, encouraging social skill development, ability to play without adult intervention, and of course, fun interaction with each other. Students LOVED it! As Einstein said, “Play is the highest form of research,” and based this experience, he was absolutely correct.

Love seeing this Miles Mac grad visiting our schools and sharing with the students! 😀🙌 #CreatingStudentSuccess

Our school board vice-chair, Jerry Sodomlak, visited a Grade 1 class at École Margaret-Underhill the other day to celebrate I Love to Read Month. He brought a collection of his favourite books and spread the love of reading! #ilovetoread #ilovetoreadmonth 👁❤️📖