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.

On Friday, we celebrated Paper Bag Princess Day. Mr. Mielke spent some time with grades K-6. We read Munsch's "The Paper Bag Princess" and then talked about heroes. The students were given 6 pictures of people and asked to figure out what was the same about them. They determined that they were 1) all grown ups and 2) all women. They were then asked to sort them in some way. There were many great ideas (old and young, athletes and nonathletes, glasses and no glasses). Then we had to put on our detective hats and, using clues in the pics, figure out who they were. They were able to figure all of them out and we realised that they were all female, Canadian heroes (Elizabeth in the story is a female hero). The students then got to draw or write about their own hero or color some characters from the story and make puppets. It was a super fun day.

The heroes we chose were:

- Emily Stowe - fought to get women the right to vote

- Viola Desmond - fought for minority rights

- Roberta Bondar - first Canadian woman in space

- Betty Fox - Terry's Mom and cancer research advocate

- Hayley Wickenheiser - Canadian Women's hockey multi medalist

- Summer McIntosh - multi medal winner in Olympic swimming

Nikolai, one of our K students was showing Mrs. I the sensory or calm down bottle that he had made at the library here in town and she though it looked like a pretty good idea, so on Thursday, the grade 1s decided to make them as well. It was an awesome activity and the kids were great listeners and direction followers. The only hiccup was when there was a minor glitter explosion (which Mr. Mielke loved).

Part of the wellness and phys ed curriculums is to give back to the community. Our Phys Ed 20/30 class is doing that by making 40lb of sausage for the Catholic Churches annual Shrove Tuesday supper. The Bear Bites crew will cook it up on Tuesday and have it ready to go.

"Building Thinking Classrooms" by Peter Liljedahl is moving very quickly through the education community as a new way to approach learning. Through this approach, students tackle thinking problems while standing at non permanent white boards. The research to back this up shows that students are engage more quickly, more authentically, and for longer while at the same time actively building knowledge rather than just absorbing it.

We have been incorporating thinking tasks into Biology 30 and students seem to like it so far and the discussions that have come out of the activities have been amazing.

Recently the students were given a graph of a bunny population in a city park which showed the population growth before and after the introduction of wolves into the park (obviously a fictional case). Students were tasked with determining when the wolves were introduced and then asked to explain the shape of the graph with little or no front loading of information. The discussions lead the students to begin to understand environmental pressures and how species adapt to (or in the case of a our ill fated bunnies, not adapt to) to these pressures.

Sharon Meyer joined our grade 3 class via zoom on the afternoon of February 26. She shared her amazing storytelling skills. Sharon shared Indigenous legends of how bees got their stings and how animals such as snakes got their poison. February was National Indigenous storytelling month.

The kids in grade 3 really enjoyed it

Grades 1 and 2

- Practices are Mondays from 3:30-4:45 (45min) at the school and Tuesday 3:45-4:30 at the Old School Gym.

Grades 3 and 4

- Practices are Monday 3:30-4:30

Grades 5 and 6

Practices are Wednesday - 3:30-4:30

Tournament in Melfort

Saturday, March 29 - Boys (3/4 and 5/6)

Sunday, March 30 - Girls (3/4 and 5/6)

Junior Badminton

Practices are Thursdays after school 3:30 - 4:45

Senior Boys Basketball

On Fri, Feb 28 @ 2pm PPCS students will watch the Sr. Boys take on Creighton. We will be selling a hotdog and a drink for $5 as a team fundraiser. Please pay and pre order with your classroom teacher by Wed, Feb 26. Hotdogs will then be served to you in the gym during the game. Thank you for your support.

Junior Boys Basketball

Shout out to Mackin Construction for very generously sponsoring our new girls dark jerseys.

They wore them with pride as they took home 3rd place in the Hudson Bay tournament this weekend!

Logan Smith

Logan gets the nod this month for his help at the score table. His attention to detail, precision button and penwork makes him an asset to any score table crew. He enjoys watching the game and can often be found working on his moves alone in the gym under dim lighting. Thanks for your volunteerism Logan.

Kylee Lupuliak Kylee is a solid pick for her defensive effort. She is a hustler and a worker on and off the court. She isn’t afraid of a challenge and to square up with some of the top opponents Great month Kylee and continue leading through your actions.

Landon Mackin Landon Mackin is coming off his best performance of his extensive Jr. Boys career. He has been an eager sponge soaking up all of Mr. Bloski’s intelligence, which didn’t take long, but nonetheless Landon has been a very coachable player that displays leaps and bounds of improvement. His defensive form, help work ethic and flat out give a care is impressive. Great job Landon and continue to improve.

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.

We have had a significant punch card update.

In the past, as we got new accounts we simply added them to the bottom of the list so that our families would not have to relearn their place in the list of accounts. That has become very difficulty to manage. As a result, we have alphabetized the list on our end and updated account numbers to reflect your child's current grade followed by the last 4 digits of your phone number (i.e. 113213, grade 11 phone number ends in 3213).

Punch cards have been updated to the most recent values heading into semester 2. Please let us know if there is an error.