What a week!

What a week!  Busy, busy, busy!  But in a good way... On Tuesday we had Parent-Teacher Interviews with all the preparation and anticipation involved in that.  Tuesday evening I was honored to receive the Bancroft Award for service to our local Branch of the NLTA.  Thanks to the Lake Melville Branch for nominating me and to President Lily B. Cole for coming in to Happy Valley-Goose Bay to present the award at the Lawrence O'Brien Center for the Arts.  I really like that we partnered with the Labrador Creative Arts Festival Committee to do this.  Thanks, to all.  It was a beautiful venue and a lovely reception!

On Wednesday evening Queen of Peace students did a great job of presenting "Beauty Can Be A Beast" on stage at the O'Brien Center.  Kudos to Sami-Jo, Pamela and Eugene who volunteered their time to work with the huge group of  students involved in the play.  I counted 39 students on stage when the animateur, Adam Brake, commented on their performance.  Excellent job!  Students from Rigolet also performed that night.  Their teacher/coach Sarah was very proud of her troupe as well.  Their play was hilarious and kept the audience in stitches the whole time.  Just goes to show that teachers everywhere give  generously  of their time to help our children shine. 
(There are twelve student performances which continue until Tuesday.)

On Thursday and Friday, I was lucky enough to have some talented artists visit a few of my classes and to see a  performance by Ian Foster for the whole school in the afternoon.  Mikaela Dyke, an actor from St. John's spoke to the children about creating a script.  The kids were extra enthusiastic with so many ideas!  On Thursday, some Grade 5 students workshopped with  artist, Tracy Leal, and learned how to make books from random materials they can find around their house.  With limited time, they didn't quite finish the project in school; but happily, returned today to show me their finished books or their progress so far.  They were obviously inspired.  That is the magic ingredient in this festival - inspiration!  Our children learn so much from the visiting artists and discover that they can do wondrous things too.

I can't wait for next week.... hair and make-up with Ashley Gesner, an artist who worked on the set of the "Twilight"  and a round of jigs and reels with Newfoundland accordion player, Aaron Collis who plays with the Dardanelles.  Should be good!