Welcome to Principal’s Corner and to our Weekly Update. Wishing you all a Happy Easter weekend. Remember there is no school on Friday and Monday. Brother David Steindl-Rast believes that all humans want to be happy and happiness is born from gratitude. And a simple method to practice gratitude is to ‘Stop. Look. Go’:

• Stop, get quiet and slow down.
• Look. Open your eyes. and all your other senses to enjoy what is given to us.
• Go. Take the opportunity and go with it.

View/Listen to the 14 minute Ted Talk HERE.

– Susanne Stroud, Principal

Wellness Theme – Gratitude

In April, we are focusing on gratitude. Gratitude has been proven to positively impact all areas of life, both physical and mental. Our students are working hard to express their gratitude and to notice all the good around them, and we challenge you to do the same. Please snap a picture of your child (or children) and write what you are grateful for about them. If you do not feel comfortable doing this, you could alternately express what you are grateful for about being a member of the EDMS community. We are building a big community gratitude tree and will add them to there, as well as to our Weekly Update. Each entry will get you a chance to win a fantastic prize!

Leader in Me – Habit 4 – THINK WIN-WIN

Families can practice Habit 4: Think Win-Win at home. See the document above on how you can work through conflicts at home.

Counselor’s Corner

Classroom / School Activities

The Grade 3 Immersion class brightened up our front sidewalks with some Easter chalk pictures and messages.

School News

See our collection of Poetry Books ENGLISH FRENCH

Upcoming Events & Activities

The EDMS Parent Association is excited to announce a Spring Flower Fundraiser! They are selling Beautiful Spring Flowers, Herbs, Veggies & Succulents to raise money to enrich the learning of our students. Plants are supplied by DeVry Greenhouses. Online orders can be made by visiting clicking the image above . The order deadline is April 20th. The EDMS PA has tentatively scheduled a plant pickup date the evening of Thursday May 5th. Please feel free to encourage family and friends to support this fantastic fundraiser! Thank you for your support!

We will be doing our April Assembly virtually this month. Click HERE for the link to the Google Meet. Please note that the assemblies are live events and not recorded.

Community News

Click on the image above to access the April Caregiver Education sessions. There is no cost for these sessions. April sessions include:

Supporting Children & Adolescents with ADHD (Wed. April 27 at 6pm) Attention deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common mental health conditions diagnosed in children. Come and learn about the signs and symptoms of ADHD, ways that ADHD impacts academic achievement, self-worth, and relationships. You will leave with new strategies (not solutions) and resources for supporting success in children and adolescents with ADHD. For caregivers of children and youth grades K-12 for adults only.

Reslience in Parenting (Thurs. April 28 at 6pm) . Being a parent or caregiver is both fulfilling and stressful. Our time, energy, and resources are spent ensuring that our children and youth are taken care of, but who takes care of the caregiver? In this session, we will learn more about parental stress and burnout, explore resilient parenting, and discuss why parental self-compassion and self-care are essential to your family’s well-being. Strategies such as mindfulness and positive coping skills will be discussed. For caregivers of children and youth grades K-12; for adults only.

 Lunch & Learn Webinars

In our 60 minute lunchtime webinars, we will be wrapping up and then restarting our four part series on understanding anxiety and managing the feelings, thoughts, and behaviours that can come with it.  We are also offering lunch & learn sessions on sleep and your family’s mental health and building executive functioning skills in children.

Drop-In Series

For those looking for strategies when parenting elementary school-aged children, we are continuing our SEEDS Growing Together series every Thursday evening.  This month, we will be discussing managing meltdowns and shutdowns, helping our kids figure things out by supporting problem solving skills, and effective consequences. These evening sessions run for 90 minutes and participants are welcome to register for one, more, or all of the sessions in the series.