Onanole Elementary

Update:   We want to congratulate our Gr 6 to 8 curling teams who had some great games at the bonspiel on Thursday, Feb 8^th.  Our two rinks that represented Onanole Wild were the Andreychuk Rink-Noah, Becks, Tao and Paxton.  And the Lewis Rink- Shya, Flora, Cedar, and Dylan.  The Lewis Rink achieved finalists in the B-Side final.  Congratulations to you all on your games and sportsmanship. 

This month had so many fun activities and events going on it is hard to choose which one to start with.

I LOVE TO READ MONTH starting off on the WILD side, with our spirit day, “WILD ABOUT READING”.  Students and staff dressed in either their OES Wild attire or animal print to open celebrations of the month and all the activities we had planned.   Here is a list of some of the fun things we participated in:

• Surprise Guest Author:Lisa Erixon - Retired teacher of 30 years who taught in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.She has written many entries in Our Canada Magazine, loves quilting, and wrote her first book that she shared with us, No Ordinary Cats.A very interesting story told of her cats by their perspective.She spoke to students from Grades 3 to 6 about all it is taking is some determination and an idea to make any dream to come alive.It was great to have her visit our class via Zoom.Lisa also gifted students with homemade bookmarks.
• Principal’s Reading Corner:Mrs. Ryznar read two books to the Grades K to 2 class.BUT, I HATE READING by Priyanka Ketkar and I Like Myself!by Karen Beaumont.After these two great stories the students were gifted their own bookmark.
• Spirit days:Hats off to Reading, Dress Up-Fav Book Character or Book, Team up for Reading (wear favorite sport jersey), Wear Red for the Love of Reading(V-Day) and PJ/Flashlight-read under the stars.These days were designated to our D.E.A.R times which we read for 20 min uninterrupted in the gym.
• Contests:Guess How Many Books In Our Library, A-Z Reading Feb Calendar, and the Bulletin Board Book Cover Contest.

Congratulations go to the Grade ½ Class who was voted favorite Bulletin Board Book Cover, The Invisible String by Patrice Karst.  Our A-Z Calendar winners- there were three prize draws, Kinsley, Jayden, and Meadow, good job staying dedicated to the daily reading challenges of the month and thank you for the positive feedback, I will be doing this again next year and the How Many Books in the Library Challenge winner was Kalla who had the closest guess.  What did they win you ask….well books of course!!!  Although February highlights I Love to Read, this is one of the greatest privileges we have, to be able to have access to books. Reading is proven to enhance in ones communication with others, improve literacy skills, concentration and focus, memory, this list goes on about how important it is and not to mention it is something that we do our whole life in some form or another. READ.

Mini Festival Du Voyageur Day

On Tuesday, Feb 20^th teachers planned a fun filled day where we had the opportunity to celebrate Festival du Voyaguer culture Onanole style. 

We started the morning by welcoming Mr. Doug Pople, from Brandon University. Each class had the opportunity to spend the morning with Doug learning about Metis culture.  Doug brought tubs of materials and artifacts which were displayed throughout the library. He explained how they use to hunt, forage for food, make their own tools, what they used for transportation, and so much more.  Many students in each class asked a plethora of questions and Doug did an amazing job answering all of them. 

After lunch, staff and students were split up into their Spirit Groups.  Stations were created for the afternoons festivities.  We had the following stations:

• Maple Taffy Rolling
• Snowsnake/Tug of War
• Vest Making
• Jigging/Fiddling
• Making Bannock over the Campfire
• Slingshot/Stick-Ring toss Games

The weather was perfect, and each group enjoyed every minute of it.  Students had a blast learning some of the games that Metis children used to play and still do today, how to make Bannock over the fire, learn the traditional dance, created vests out of recycled materials, and to top it off they learned how to make the sweet savory maple syrup delight rolled onto a popsicle stick. (Featured below.)
 

We would like to take the opportunity to thank our station leaders Doug Pople(Marshmallow Sling shot master/Metis Knowledge Keeper), George and Val from Friends of the Park(Maple Syrup station), Jeff Janczyszyn(Fiddle extraordinaire), Miss. Krahn(Jigging/dance instructor), Mr. Stephenson(Tug of War/Games station), Ms. Silverthorn(Metis Vest Creator), and Mrs. Clark(Bannock/Campfire master).

The time planning and organizing of this event was greatly appreciated by all!!  THANK YOU