I am sure by now you have received the call from Mr. Hembling or watched the news regarding the incident close to BEST today. I would like to apologize to parents for not informing them of the situation as they were dropping off the children this morning. I had very little information other than the school was open and was operating as normal while the RCMP investigated an incident across the street. I am truly sorry if I caused you undue worry and anxiety about the safety of your child today. Happily, the incident was resolved without anyone being harmed.

• Trey shared a Megazord, Aidan had a ball with a cool puzzle inside, Myles showed us a Transformer car and Carson also shared a car.
• Please sign and return the report card envelopes.
• Ms. Kipp was terribly pleased that most of us exchanged our library books this week.
• Family projects are due April 8.
• Next Friday, April 4, is our last parent/ teacher interview so dismissal will be at 12:30 for the children. Please let me know if you like to see me.
  Go forth and Be Awesome!

 pictures in the sky, even if we had a hard time discerning how the stars joined up to make the pictures. The black cards we took home today can be put in front of a flashlight or in a window so everyone can see the constellation we created.

The World Health Organization is again urging people to lower the amount of sugar they eat. The global health agency says getting daily sugar intake to below five per cent of one's daily caloric intake would be optimal but reiterated that restricting intake to no more than 10 per cent is also good. Did you know that Health Canada does not have specific recommendations in terms of teaspoons or grams per day of sugar Canadians should consume? According to Statistics Canada, in 2004, the average Canadian consumed 26 teaspoons of sugar per day. That works out to 40 kilograms per year - or 20 bags. Experts say that amount should not exceed 13 teaspoons per day, if sticking to the 10% benchmark. I know you're thinking those scary statistics only apply to adults but according to the USDA Economic Research Service the average kid under 12 consumes 49 pounds of sugar per year. Even scarier is that a twenty- or thirtysomething adult's intake is actually lower (46 pounds). That means your child could be gobbling up more sugar than you are, even though her body may be less than half the size of yours.
The ugly truth is that all this sugar means empty calories that put kids at risk of obesity and dental/ health problems that can show up as early as adolescence. An easy, relatively pain-free way to cut out some of the sugar in your child's diet is to reduce their juice consumption. Changing your child’s diet can be a challenge, but remember that children can only eat or drink what is given to them.
Suggestions include:

• Avoid using a bottle to settle your child to sleep.
• Be a role model by not keeping sweet drinks in the house or consuming sweet drinks yourself.

• Sugar sweetened drinks such as soft drinks, juice, fruit drinks, vitamin-style waters, energy and sports drinks, are not recommended or needed.
• If your child is already used to sweet drinks, start to reduce their intake – for example, you could offer watered-down versions for a short time and then move on to water. Have water as the main drink in your family.
• Be patient. This may take time, particularly if your child is in the habit of wanting juice or pop whenever they are thirsty or hungry.
• Encourage your child to eat fresh fruit and vegetables instead of drinking juice.
• Limit consumption of fruit juice to ½ cup (with no added sugar) only occasionally.
• Visit your local doctor or health centre if you have any concerns about your child’s health or growth.

Well, that sneaky little leprechaun foiled us again despite our cleverly hidden traps. And not only that, but he also felt the need to make a huge mess, take a bubble bath in our sink and leave tiny green footprints all over our room. If I didn't know better I would say our resident compact green guy invited his friends and they had a big party and forgot to clean up afterwards. We were excited to find he left us a nifty poem stating that he won't be returning (Boo!) and part of his pot of gold (Yay!). Team Awesome was glad he came to visit us but sad to learn he won't be sticking around. We displayed our traps with other students' in front of the office for the day and then took them home in the hopes that we might catch a leprechaun there. If you do happen to catch one, don't forget they disappear in the blink of an eye- and don't give him directions to our classroom. One leprechaun party a year is quite enough.

I hope you are enjoying the extra time with Team Awesome at home this week. I rushed out of school Friday afternoon to go to Victoria to visit with two of my sons for a few days. It seems like such a short time ago that the three of them were squabbling and getting in my hair (and on my last nerve) and I could hardly wait for the weekends they spent with grandparents or friends. Now I don't get to see them nearly as often as I would like and wish they lived closer.

• Beni showed us his ball and hockey stick and Tayja had a stuffed unicorn.

• Myles got glasses, Tarynne had a haircut and Logan lost a tooth.
• Report cards went home with the children on Friday. Don't forget to sign the envelopes and send them back to be reused.
• April's Family Project (a kite) went home. If you didn't get one, let me know. It is due the first week of April.
• Lunch orders for April are due Monday March 24 in the office.
• April 4th (I know! Crazy right?! We just had one.) are our last Parent/Teacher formal interviews for the year so it will be a 12:30 dismissal day. If you would like to see me, call the school to make an appointment.
• Thursday April 10, 24 and May 1 BEST will be hosting a Family Math Night. I will be posting more information soon.
• Are you aware that there is an RSS Feed option on this blog in the right hand column? In the ‘old days’ of the web to keep track of updates on a website you had to bookmark websites in your browser and manually return to them on a regular basis to see what had been added. RSS is a technology that provides you with a method of getting relevant and up to date information sent to you for you to read in your own time. It's easy-peasy and informs you when a new post has been made. Try it out!

Go forth and Be Awesome!

There were squeals of delight and excitement this morning as the children checked their leprechaun traps and discovered tiny potatoes and teenier shiny shamrocks spread around their traps. But alas, no leprechauns. As we looked around we discovered the smartypants had changed the calendar by turning everything upside down, messed up our name cards and played with some of the toys. We resolved to catch him tonight. To that end, we shared how our traps were supposed to work, why we thought they didn't, and how we could improve them and this afternoon we spent some time upgrading our designs. Some of us made totally new traps. Bigger and better traps. And we were sneakier when setting them up- we hid them in places the unsuspecting leprechaun was sure to go based on where he went last night. Cross your fingers we are luckier tonight than we were last night.
Our leprechaun traps will be displayed tomorrow afternoon in front of the office with traps made by other students. The children will be bringing them home at the end of the day and don't be surprised if they want to set them up there too. May the luck of the Irish be with you!

There was a mention on the announcements this morning that a leprechaun had been seen in the school. And as Mrs. Farber's class has been talking about the cheeky leprechaun who has been messing up their classroom and evading their traps, Team Awesome was already aware that a little trickster had been hanging around. Which led to a flurry of activity this afternoon during free choice time as the children built their own traps and Wanted posters to catch the little man. If you picked up your child at the end of the day you might have seen the posters hanging on the wall outside our room and the traps placed willy- nilly around the class. If we don't catch the leprechaun this evening we might have to revisit and revise our traps as many of them don't actually have doors that close. So while many traps have some bait in the form of shiny things, fake gold and even bits of bread and a banana to lure the fairy creature inside, there is nothing to keep the leprechaun in the trap after he eats the bait and has a nap. And that's what scientists do- revisit and revise ideas if they don't work the first time! We'll keep you posted on our leprechaun adventures.

We are going to make a trek to the river tomorrow, Wednesday March 12, with the other Kindergarten classes to do a bit of exploring. The children have been reminded to wear rubber boots if they have them and sturdy shoes if they do not. You are more than welcome to join us if you are available as extra hands and eyes are always appreciated. We will leave after recess at approximately 10:40 and return just before lunch.
Many of the classes will be celebrating St. Patrick's Day by pronouncing this Friday 'Green Day'. Of course we will be joining them. Who will wear the most green?
The children won the You/Me game yesterday, which means we got to cook today. In the spirit of the upcoming holiday, we made shamrock-shaped biscuits. If your child came home with more lunch than usual, it could be because we ate them at lunch time.
The PAC catalogue fundraiser is due into the office now.