​In Our Schools Archive

​ This week, the leadership students at École Munroe Middle School are running One Great Week of Kindness. There are many events and challenges happening that promote kindness. One day, they stood along Munroe Avenue and Roch Street holding colourful lettered posters with two messages: "Kindness is Free" and "Welcome! You are amazing!"...

​ Students from the sTeam program at Miles Macdonell got to take part in a virtual town hall with PM Justin Trudeau and Deputy PM Chrystia Freeland. Nate Harris (pictured) represented the class and got to ask a question developed by him and his classmates. Exciting!  If you watch the town...

​ John Pritchard School has plans to revitalize their school grounds with an ambitious project that includes landscape design, a basketball court, a gathering circle, picnic tables and benches, and new digital signage.
Today, they accepted a generous donation from Access Credit Union for $10,000! This donation will go toward creating...

​ This year Skills Manitoba was held virtually and our competitors represented us well. Congratulations to all of our students who participated and to the following medalists:
3D Character Computer Animation—Secondary
Gold—Avery McAmmond & Abigail Yates
Collège Miles Macdonell Collegiate
3D Digital Game Art—Secondary
Silver—Conner Lavineway
Kildonan-East Collegiate
Baking—Secondary
Gold—Michael Abellera
Kildonan-East Collegiate
Silver—Raija Ryynanen
Kildonan-East Collegiate...

Congratulations to Kimberly Dudek on being chosen to receive a Manitoba Excellence in Education Award from Manitoba Education and Training. Ms. Dudek, who teaches at Murdoch MacKay Collegiate, was honoured for Teaching Excellence.
"Kim's active school involvement and passion for teaching make her invaluable to the school," said former student Julleyne...

​ Congratulations to Ryley Larway on being chosen to receive a Manitoba Excellence in Education Award from Manitoba Education and Training. Ms. Larway, who teaches at RETSD's McLeod Education Centre, was honoured for being an Outstanding New Educator. "Ryley is an exceptionally outstanding new teacher!" said Candace Rea, director of adult...

​ On March 24, École Neil Campbell School was thrilled to have a virtual storytelling session with Lorie Thompson, an Anishinaabe knowledge keeper who grew up on her family's trap lines near Pine Creek. She is very knowledgeable about reading the land, cultural protocols and ceremonies, and contemporary movements for Indigenous...

​ For the last month or so and until the end of March, Grade 7 students at John W. Gunn Middle School have been learning and discussing human rights and how they affect the world around us.
Normally, the Grade 7s would visit the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, but since...

​ Congratulations to Tyler Del Pino (far right) and his music students from Valley Gardens Middle School for winning the CBC Playlist Challenge! Valley Gardens was one of 10 schools chosen from across Canada for this contest. The project involved a series of activities that teachers could use to build their classes'...

​ Black History Month at Kildonan-East Collegiate is a very busy and exciting time. The student-led committee has several activities planned throughout the month, all with the goal of spreading awareness and understanding throughout the greater community. And what better way to do so than having fun!? Activities include a schoolwide...

​ For I Love to Read Month, Maple Leaf School had a virtual author visit with Lisa Bowes, who is a Canadian children's author. She is a former sports reporter and now writes the book series Lucy Tries, which tells the story of all the different sports Lucy tries. She did...

​Today—February 11—is Moose Hide Campaign Day. It's a national campaign to end violence against women and children and involves both Indigenous and non-Indigenous boys and men standing up against such violence.
By wearing a square of moose hide, they signify that they're committed to protecting the women and children...

​ Congratulations to Mary LaPage Leclerc, RETSD's student services consultant, on being chosen by the Manitoba Council for Exceptional Children to receive a Yes I Can certificate of recognition.
A true pioneer in supporting students and their families in the field of educational inclusion, Mary has served as a home teacher (for...

​ For Black History Month, École Munroe Middle School has been focusing on Black history in Canada, but spending time learning about Black history in America, too, because the two are connected.
They kicked off the month with some leadership students reading the Maya Angelou poem "A Pledge to Our Youth"...

​ Yesterday, two classes of Westview students had a virtual visit with a Canadian author Terri-Lynn Johnson.  A Grade 4 class had been learning about letter writing while reading Ms. Johnson's book "Dog Driven" as a class read aloud. They decided to write to her and, before break, she wrote them...

​ Kindergarten to Grade 3 students from École Margaret-Underhill spent some time outside during the great weather in January observing changes and animals in the community. They noticed there was a lot of white and a lot of birds.
Kindergarten students collected nature items and made colourful ice decorations. They learnt...

​ Today—February 3—is World Read Aloud Day, but for some students at Emerson School and Dr. F.W.L. Hamilton School every day is a read aloud day thanks to library technician Patricia DeBruyn. She's made it her mission to read storybooks to the Grade 1 and 2 students every day at 2:30...

​ Congratulations to the Culinary Arts Program at Kildonan-East Collegiate on being chosen to receive a Certificate of Recognition from the Manitoba Council for Exceptional Children!
At Kildonan-East Collegiate, all students are included and there are examples throughout the school of students with different abilities experiencing success in the classroom—especially in...

​ Congratulations to Carlyn B., a Grade 5 student from Dr. F.W.L. Hamilton School, who was recently chosen to receive a Yes I Can Award from the Manitoba Council for Exceptional Children.
Carlyn won in the category of Technology for use of her iPad and the augmented assistive language program called...

​

​ A Grade 4/5 class at Donwood School welcomed a veteran from Team Canada and an ambassador from the Rick Hansen Foundation, Jared Funk, into their classroom virtually to discuss disability and inclusion.  Jared has competed in wheelchair rugby since 2001, winning three Paralympic medals—silver in Athens 2004, bronze in Beijing 2008, and silver in London 2012. He was introduced...

C ongratulations to Kildonan-East Collegiate pastry arts student Naya Bird. Naya entered the Skills M anitoba  Gingerbread House Competition and she received first place! Here are some photos of the finished house and of her plans. Well done, Naya!

​ Hearts for Heroes was a small way for Murdoch Mackay Collegiate to show their appreciation to essential workers. They chose to share their hearts with their neighbours at Park Manor, to let them know how appreciated they are during these uncertain times, especially during the holiday season. Staff and students...

​ This is a display the Grade 7s created this year at John W. Gunn Middle School. The students and staff have noticed how diverse their student population is becoming. Teachers Pardeep Duggal and Mia Bernasconi guided many conversations around sharing similarities and celebrating differences. After these conversations a boy named...

​ Congratulations to Dinara Lawrence, a River East Collegiate 2020 graduate, on winning the RBC Indigenous Student Award of $20,000 dollars. (Wow!) The RBC Indigenous Student Awards Program was launched in 1992 to assist Indigenous students to complete post-secondary education, and provide an opportunity for RBC to strengthen its relationship with...

​ In October, Kristine Kasdorf, inclusion teacher, visited Room 4 students at Polson School to work with them on learning about how the brain works.  The students learned that their brains control their actions, memories, feelings, and thoughts.  They each created a brain as a tool to help them remember and...

​ This first-time graphic communications student at Mudoch MacKay designed the logo and put together the layout for lawn signs for his brother's business. He incorporated numeracy in his measurements and literacy skills as he considered the audience, purpose, and how to create an effective message. As well, he considered environmental...

​ Many of our schools took to outdoor learning when the weather was warmer, including this John de Graff class. Teacher Sasha Bargen says, "Our outdoor learning experiences so far have been very rewarding and authentic to what we are learning in the classroom. We make connections to letters, numbers, shapes,...

​ Students enrolled in the English-Ukrainian Bilingual program in Prince Edward School and Chief Peguis Middle School had the opportunity to work on a community-supported research project, producing samples of Ukrainian stained-glass designs with the help of artist Ben Wasylyshen. Students studied lines, colours, and techniques with Mr. Wasylyshen and produced...

​ Here's a teacher who keeps his promise!
The phys-ed teacher at Joseph Teres School, Mr. Gough, said that he would teach classes for the whole day in a tutu if the students reached their Terry Fox fundraising goal. They did it! They raised $400 for the Terry Fox Foundation by...

Just in time for the start of the school year, and after years of hard work by the Joseph Teres PAC, the school unveiled their new play structure on August 31. MLA James Teitsma and city councillor Shawn Nason were on hand to celebrate the moment with the JT PAC and principal Arlis...

​ Kudos to the automotive technology students at Murdoch MacKay Collegiate. They worked hard to restore a 2005 Mitsubishi Endeavor, which was then raffled off to raise money for Winnipeg Harvest. They raised $4,375! Pictured are the automotive tech students and teacher Lucas MacIntosh delivering the donation to Winnipeg Harvest.

​ École Neil Campbell School got some beautiful weather for their successful “Reverse Parade,” held on May 22. In this parade, the school staff stood on the sidewalk in front of the school while students and families drove by in their cars, waving and honking. It was nonstop cars for 30...

​ Congratulations to Emily Kruk—a Grade 10 student at Kildonan-East Collegiate—on winning first place in the Grade 10 Core French Division of the Canadian Concours d'art Oratoire virtual contest. The title of the contest was "Ma vie Face au COVID-19" and students created 3–5-minute videos talking about how life has changed,...

The 2018/19 Manitoba-Germany Exchange students from Manitoba head off to Germany for three months of living in their exchange partners' homes.
By Nicolien Klassen-Wiebe
For the first time in the Manitoba-Germany Exchange's 40 years of existence, Canadian students will not be able to reunite with their exchange partners in Germany...

​ Woodworking students from Transcona Collegiate created boomerangs out of plywood using a Larken CNC router. The students then had to shape and decorate the boomerangs, and share videos of themselves testing it. As one teacher pointed out, it's a great COVID-appropriate pastime—a one-person game of catch!

​ On Wednesday  the École Margaret-Underhill staff completed a 2.5-hour parade for the kiddos of their school.  They also did a food drive for Transcona Food Bank. They collected two truck boxes full! Enough to make 30 hampers for families of their community.  It was such an emotional experience, knowing that...

​ Congratulations to Shubhneet Thind from Collège Miles Macdonell Collegiate on being selected to be a Schulich Leader at the University of Manitoba, winning $80,000 in scholarship funding! Shubhneet is now part of an esteemed network of national STEM scholars at one of Canada's leading universities. Way to go! 

​ What a great way to make use of time at home – learning AND sprucing up the house! Braeden, a student at River East Collegiate, has completed several projects at home and used them for credit in Woods class. He finished some baseboards, built two workbenches (one for the garage...

​ A big RETSD shout out to the staff at Arthur Day Middle School who put on a weekly show called Wolf TV that keeps the students, staff, and community connected. The staff have been producing two to three shows per week with announcements, local celebrity shout outs, interactive games, kindness/respect challenges,...

​ Last week, River East Collegiate drama students were fortunate to have the opportunity to take part in a video conference led by the Stratford Festival's production director, Simon Marsden (pictured). Mr. Marsden has been the production director not only in Stratford, Ontario, but also in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. Also participating were...

​ Congratulations to Jessica Kakeeway-Catcheway, recipient of a Youth Humanitarian Award from the Manitoba Teachers' Society. Jessica is a Grade 4 student at John Pritchard and her teacher Katie Goossen nominated her for organizing a bake sale to support the school's breakfast program.  Jessica's class was learning about the UN's Sustainable...

​ RETSD's Indigenous Academic Achievement (IAA) team is inviting students to participate in a virtual drum circle with Lisa Aymont Hunter, Ishkode Obimiwidoon/Indigenous Community Networker. These drum circles will occur every Friday at noon via Microsoft TEAMS.
During the virtual drum circles, Ms. Aymont Hunter will share Indigenous stories and lead...

​ Valley Gardens Middle School officially started a Nutrition Program to support students and families during this challenging time.  Students and families can pick up food on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9-11 a.m. at Valley Gardens; if they are unable to come to the school VG will drop it off at...

​Congratulations to the team from Kildonan-East Collegiate who earned first place in the regional Poetry in Voice competition!  Mariam-Jenlex Bockarie, Sydney Bear, and Makayla Estabrooks competed against seven other teams from schools around the province and it's the second year in a row KEC came out on top.
Poetry in Voice...

​ Murdoch MacKay Collegiate held a series of events in February to celebrate Black History Month, and one student stood out as a leader—Julleyne Sewell. Julleyne organized an incredible cultural feast for the BHM committee and community of Murdoch, assorted trivia and games, and a movie and discussion week for all...

​ Congratulations to the Transcona Collegiate jazz band directed by Dan Steinhilber (front left). They were presented with the Jazz Band Festival Award by the Manitoba Band Association. The award is presented in recognition of exemplary performance, mature on and off stage presence, commitment to the festival, and the development of...

​ Recently, Bird’s Hill School held a "human library" to wrap up I Love to Read month. Special presentations included an Indigenous drum group from Transcona Collegiate, iReuse2, the East St. Paul and Winnipeg Fire Departments, the Winnipeg Police, a smudge led by students and staff, 204 Parkour, a fitness instructor,...

​ This year, École Neil Campbell School has been working with the division’s Indigenous Academic Education staff to increase knowledge about the importance of treaties. After some very purposeful teaching, every student in the school created their own treaty medal and students in every classroom collaborated to create their own classroom treaty....

​ École Neil Campbell School was a busy place throughout the month of February for I Love to Read Month. Some of their many guests included: Constable Boileau from the Winnipeg Police, an officer from the Canadian military, world champion curler Reid Carruthers, and Les Régnier—The Régnier family (the official family of...

Recently, four students from Ms. Buffie's science class at Transcona Collegiate took part in a contest that led to them meeting BILL NYE THE SCIENCE GUY!  They created a video on climate change and submitted it to a contest called Take 3 for Climate Justice. They won! As a result, they and...

​ Used up markers are getting a second life thanks to Ms. Burnett's Grade 1/2 class at École Salisbury Morse Place School. The students are collecting them to be recycled by Crayola's Color Cycle program, which saves them from the landfill and turns them into shingles, asphalt, and even electricity. The...

​ We'd like to give a shout out Ms. McFarlane's Grade 1 class at Angus McKay School—especially three enterprising students.  They were concerned about the Styrofoam trays they noticed the parent council was using for their Christmas bake sale. So, they did some research and found a company called Canada Green...

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​ Congratulations to the RETSD students and employees honoured by the Manitoba Council for Exceptional Children (MCEC) at their annual Yes I Can! awards ceremony last week.
The awards acknowledge the achievements of children and youth with disabilities and encourage them to seek their highest potential. They were presented to: Joey...

​ Over the past month, the Grade 7 students at École Munroe Middle School have been focused and working on the challenge of the homeless housing situation in Winnipeg. They’ve been studying the needs of the homeless, as well as the other stakeholders involved. On February 25, they pitched the prototype...

​ Joseph Teres School was visited by a radio DJ recently for I Love to Read Month—one who is a former student!  Tyler Magnaye, the afternoon drive announcer at Virgin 103.1, stopped by to read students the book "Giraffe and Bird" by Canadian author Rebecca Bender. He also talked to the...

​ As part of a Grade 9 cross-curricula project at Collège Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau, students selected an object that symbolized the origins of Manitoba in celebration of its 150th birthday and sculpted it in snow.  In social studies, the students needed to connect their object to Indigenous roots. In math, the students needed...

​Grade 1 and 4 students at Angus McKay School have been busy making and selling miniature clay koalas to help the animals of Australia affected by the devastating bush fires. The students were inspired by a six-year-old boy from the USA named Owen Colley. When Owen heard of the bush fires,...

​ Recently, Kildonan-East Collegiate students took part in the GameOn 2020 Game Jam. A game jam is a gathering of people for the purpose of planning, designing, and creating one or more games within a short span of time. The challenge was to take an incomplete space game and finish a...

​ Ms. Amy Northcliffe's Grade 1 class at Donwood Elementary School got a wonderful surprise on February 3 when they were visited by three Jets players—Anthony Bitetto, Cameron Schilling, and Jansen Harkins—who read "Whiteout: A Winnipeg Jets Story" to the class. The students earned the visit by entering a video in the...

​ Arthur Day Middle School kicked off I Love to Read Month with an incredible presentation by author Sigmund Brouwer, whose novel Dead Man's Switch won the Arthur Ellis Award for Canada's best young adult mystery of the year. Brouwer has over 100 titles & 4 million books in print.

Students in Ms. Bobychuk's class at Bernie Wolfe Community School learned all about the importance of the bison to the Cree, Oji-Cree, Ojibwa, Anishinaabe, and Dene people living in the Plains. They had a hands-on experience as they looked at the parts of a bison, and tried to figure out what...

​ Some Murdoch MacKay Collegiate students visited Harold Hatcher Elementary School recently to engage the younger children as part of a literacy project for their Grade 12 English class.
The Murdoch students were paired up with the younger students and read stories to them they had written. They had to plot...

​ Recently, students from Miles Macdonell Collegiate's ESD committee (Education for Sustainable Development) held a delicious fundraiser. They sold homemade soup prepared from vegetables grown in their school garden, frozen after the harvest. In order to encourage sustainable habits, staff and students who brought their own bowls received a discount and...

C lasses at Angus McKay School have been busy preparing Valentine cards to share with veterans through the Valentines for Veterans initiative. They're hoping they can bring cheer to veterans across the country this Valentine's Day by letting them know they're appreciated. If you're interested in joining them, information can be...

These beautiful photos were taken at a celebration of Kolyada on January 23 at Bernie Wolfe Community School. Students, dressed in their Ukrainian cultural costumes, performed for family, friends, and special guests, and everyone enjoyed a meal together. The students taking part are in the division's English-Ukrainian Bilingual Program. (Photos by: Norbert...

​ Some Grade 5 students from Bertrun E. Glavin Elementary built a k8 modular robot all by themselves! They're now working on coding their micro:bit to control it. Teacher Chelsey Doerksen said the amount of independence and problem-solving that came out of this small group was incredible to see.

This morning, individualized students and staff served up delicious, free oatmeal with a variety of toppings to the folks at Murdoch McKay Collegiate. What a great way to start the day!

​ Last week, the phys-ed staff at River East Collegiate ran a wheelchair basketball unit at their school. Students had an opportunity to learn just how difficult the sport really is! 

​ "Auntie Gwen" Sharp has been volunteering at Sun Valley School since 2014, and now helps with the Face to Face program—volunteers drop in to listen as Grades 1–5 students read aloud. Teachers have seen measurable growth in reading skills, social skills, and student confidence as a result. Mrs. Sharp is...

​ Students from Sherwood School's dedicated school patrol team, along with supervisor Kendra Borgford, were invited to ride the CAA Manitoba float and represent Winnipeg's School Patrols on Saturday, Nov. 16th during the Santa Claus Parade. 

​ The KEC culinary program will be hosting a Christmas gourmet luncheon on December 12 2019.
You can view the menu here. The program was also featured in this months edition of the Herald.
you can view the article here. ...

​ Two RETSD schools united to hit the trails with their bikes and their enthusiasm. Teacher David Markham from Joseph Teres School and teacher Patricia Tomczyk from Westview School (a former student of Mr. Markham) are leading staff, students, and their families in a mountain bike club.
Mr. Markham started the...

Schools throughout RETSD observed Orange Shirt Day with a variety of activities and ceremonies on top of the learning they did about residentials schools and their impact on Indigenous communities. Here's a roundup of just a few.
Bird's Hill School Last week, Bird's Hill students read several stories to learn about...

​ Congratulations to the Kildonan-East Collegiate boys golf team—coached by teacher Karl Zborowsky—on winning the provincial golf championship for the second time in a row! Wow, well done, guys. On the phone (above the banner) is their former coach and teacher, Curt Bauer, who FaceTimed with them to be in the...

​ September 23–27, 2019, is School Support Staff Recognition Week! There are a lot of people who make the education of our students possible—among others, custodians, bus drivers, mechanics, educational assistants, clerks, library technicians, maintenance staff, community connectors, IT and AV technicians, attendance and safety officers, couriers, and food service workers....

​ RETSD held the first of its annual cross-country races for Grades 6–8 at Harbourview Park. The students had a great time and really worked hard. There are still races scheduled at Bird's Hill Park in the coming weeks for another Grade 6–8 group, as well as Grade 3–5 students. Best...

​ On Sept. 9–10, 52 new and returning members of the Miles Macdonell Collegiate student council group spent time at their annual Camp Arnes retreat. Students worked on team-building, leadership skills, and goal-setting for the coming school year. It was fun, purposeful, and developed a sense of community.

​ Congratulations to Alex Smolianytskyi, a Grade 10 student at River East Collegiate, on being selected to be a part of the mayor's Youth Advisory Council! The Youth Advisory Council is a resource to the mayor and ensures youth voices in Winnipeg are heard. Council members have the chance to give...

A belated congratulations to Shubhneet Thind from Miles Macdonell Collegiate, who— after winning a gold medal at the Manitoba Concours d'art oratoire (French competition)— went on to win FIRST PLACE in Level 1 at the national finals in Ottawa in June. Well done!

​ Sherwood School had a vegetable bounty in their schoolyard over the past few months, thanks to the hard work done by students and staff.  They grew tomatoes, basil, eggplant, leeks, onions, parsley, lemon balm, Buckingham yellow zucchini, potatoes, and two sunflowers.  Though much of the produce was used by families...

​ Recently, Grade 5 girls at Angus McKay School were led through an embroidery workshop with Toronto Art Therapy Institute student Rebecca Epp. The aim was to build self-confidence and self-esteem, and educate participants in mental health practices, mindfulness, and social awareness.
Through learning the slow art form of embroidery, the girls were...

​ Congratulations to Tyler Bargen, a teacher at Munroe Junior High School, who was chosen to receive a prestigious award from the Rick Hansen Foundation — he's been recognized as one of only four Educator Difference Makers of the Year from across Canada!  Tyler set up a week of activities at...