Bear Blast

As Treaty people, we take this moment to honor the lands of Treaties 4 and 6, and all they have provided to us and our families across many generations. These lands have long served as traditional meeting grounds, gathering places, and traveling routes for the Cree, Dene, Nakota, Dakota, Saulteaux, and Ojibway peoples since time immemorial. We also recognize these lands as the homeland of Métis Nation Eastern Region II.

We honor the ancestors whose footsteps have shaped these lands. We acknowledge that our use of these lands has come at a profound cost, including the impacts of colonialism and the residential school system. With this recognition, we commit to working together toward reconciliation and forging a path forward that honors the past and builds a better future for all.

Thank you to everyone who ordered. The store is now closed. Orders should arrive at the end of October.

On September 25, Inside Out 2 came out Disney Plus. My family and I went to Inside Out 2 at the Melfort Theatre when it came out and have watched it a couple of times since on Disney Plus. I highly recommend this movie as a great family movie with one of the best representations of an anxiety attack I have every seen on film.

If you are not familiar with the franchise, the premise is that we follow the life of preteen, and then teen, Riley as she moves to a new city and navigates life as a tween and teen. The viewer also gets to see inside Riley's head and we meet her emotions, Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust, and Anger (in the first movie). In the second movie, some new emotions move in, including anxiety who describes herself well as "I protect Riley from the things we can't see". As mentioned in an earlier post, anxiety is a natural evolutionary product which has helped to keep our species alive. However, as we see in the movie, if unchecked, anxiety can be crippling and can lead to us "flipping our lid".

Note: if you remember from a previous edition of Bear Blast, flipping your lid is when our cerebral cortex stops functioning well and we switch from learning brain to survival brain. This results in fight, flight, or freeze response.

In the movie we see Riley flip her lid during hockey tryouts.

So what can we do to help our kids deal with stressors, which can manifest as anxiety or a variety of other forms of dysregulation (essentially making them less able to learn and function as we would like them to)?

Breathing

One suggestion that can be done anywhere at any time is box breathing. Simply controlling our breathing can distract our minds and allow our cerebral cortex to take back over. This coupled with increasing the amount of oxygen available, allows for learning brain to take over and move away from survival brain.

Tapping

Although may seem a little out there, tapping, especially sternum tapping can have a huge impact on stress reduction. Research shows that tapping can lower level of cortisol on our bodies. Cortisol is the hormone that is produced in response to stress. Tapping rhythmically on the sternum can help us reduce stressors, allowing us to move away from survival brain and back into learning brain.

Grounding

The problem, as I mentioned earlier, is not anxiety itself, but rather get lost in anxious thoughts. Anxiety of correct in saying that she protects Riley from what she can't see. However, occasionally our mind can get to caught up in what we can't see (the future or future possibilities) that we lose track of the here and now. When that happens, it can cause our stress levels to skyrocket and can push us into survival brain as we get so caught up in our anxious thoughts that we forget that they are just that, thoughts. A very effective way to counter this is grounding to bring our brain back to the hear and how. If anxiety is designed to help us be aware of what could be, our senses are designed to make us aware of what is. To ground ourselves, we simply need to use our sense and a technique called 5-4-3-2-1.

Focus on...

5 things you can see (not imagine, but actually see).

4 things you can feel and touch (including breezes, temperature, textures)

3 things you can hear (not the little voice in your head at this time)

2 things you can smell (good or bad)

1 emotion that you are feeling.

Again, by pulling our thoughts away from the intangible (our anxious thoughts) to the concrete (our present surroundings), we can reengage the cerebral cortex and move back toward learning brain.

There are many other techniques that the staff will work on with the students to help them not only recognize the things in their life (stressors) that move them away from learning brain and into survival brain, but also teach them techniques to help counter the effects of the stressors. Not only does it make it easier to learn, but as you can see in the video clip from Inside Out 2, make them feel better in general as well.

Mrs. Mielke currently coaches our cross country running team. She is very personable and encouraging with the athletes she works with. She has a bag full of strategies and approaches to ensure each student is having fun and participating. Thank you for all that you do for Bears Athletics.

Lexi Mackin has emerged as a young leader for the Jr. Girls volleyball team. She is an encouraging teammate who sets the tone by her work ethic and actions. Lexi strives to do things correctly and has a light personality that is fun to be around. Great month Lexi.

Ava Tiedjens is this months pick due to her impressive play on the volleyball court. Ava is very talented skill wise but perhaps her most impressive feature is her understanding of the game and smart decisions with ball placement. Looking forward to watching her further develop over the next few years. Great job Ava.

Practices

Monday and Thursday

Jr. Girls 3:30-5:30 (Practice)

Sr. Girls 6:30-8:30 (Practice)

Home Game - Both Junior teams are in action in Wednesday Oct 2.

Tournaments

The 8/9 Junior Girls brought home second at their tournament in Niacam on Saturday.

This weekend the 8/9 Juniors are off to Wadena for a tournament on Friday and Saturday.

The seniors

Junior Girls Home Tournament is Friday Oct 25 (7/8s) and Saturday Oct 26 (8/9s).

Practices

Monday, Tuesdays, Friday

All ages 3:30-4:30

Meets

Grades 4-6

Oct 1 in Tisdale

Oct 9 in Hudson Bay

Grades 7-12

Oct 2 NESSAC in Melfort

Oct 12 Provincials in Humboldt

Bears Athletics is looking for coaches for the upcoming school year, mainly Sr. Boys Basketball, Track and Field. and an assistant for Girls Volleyball but if you are interested in others let us know. Please contact Mr. Bloski for details.

Please note, as we get used to this new system, please be aware that punch card balances may be up to 1 week behind.

You can click the button below to check on how much your child has left on his/her punch card. To help support privacy, we have developed account numbers for each student. The account number is their grade followed by the last 4 digits of the phone number we have on file. For example, my son Noah is in grade 5. His account number would be 059017.

Once you click the link below and find your child's account number, you will see a number to the left of their account number (i.e. 17). That number will not change, so you only have to remember that number going forward.

We hope that this will help our families.