Woodhaven Connects!

I'm sorry that I haven't written lately, but the old principal has been under the weather.  I'm feeling much better now and upon my return to work on Friday I find some amazing things happened while I was buried under my blankets.......

We began our first Woodhaven Connects day on Wednesday of this past week.  Woodhaven Connects sees each grade group offer public service to our community.  Our Grade 5's focus on the school, 6's work in our neighbourhood, the 7's with our feeder schools, and the 8's and 9's with community agencies working in both Spruce Grove and Edmonton.  Two things from Wednesday's work blew me away.....

Our Grade 9's decided to collect clothing to provide to homeless shelters.  A week ago they went door to door in the community distributing pamphlets letting homeowners know that they would be back in a week to collect any gently used clothing they could make available to us.  The emphasis was on collecting winter coats.  Collection day was this Wednesday.  The students and staff were floored by the response.  162 large bags of clothing were donated.  What's the lesson?  A little effort and initiative allows a group to reach out and help others.  Our students are looking forward to delivering this clothing in the month ahead.

Second, our Grade 7's invited the Grade 4's over from Millgrove School for an afternoon of getting to know you activities.  The students participated in a haunted house in the drama room, made cookies in the foods lab decorated pumpkins in classrooms, and played in a dodge ball tournament in the gym.  This is the beginning of our transition activities with the Grade 4's.  We have found these visits are critical to help these students make the transition to a new school in Grade 5.  Our Grade 7's are doing a great job demystifying Middle School.