February is Heart Month!

There are several ways to think about your heart.  One as the muscle that keeps our blood pumping and us alive and two as an outward expression of our goodness and intentions to others.  We at Monsignor William Irwin try to stay alert to both of those definitions.  On February 1st the teachers of Edmonton Catholic Schools took part in a district wide faith development day at the Shaw Conference Centre.  It has been our goal since September to create a student faith day on the same theme as our teachers, The Beauty of Life; Awaken your senses and stir your heart.   We compiled seven sessions for students to take part in that would physically engage them to be aware of the beauty of God's presence in their lives.

We started with an assembly where Father Mike connected what the beauty of life might mean to us with the bible.  We sang a couple of songs and we watched an inspirational video by the group Third Day, God of Wonders. 

During the first session the grade fours and some of the grade sixes worked as a prep crew making sandwiches and compiling a brown bag lunch to be donated to an inner city school today.  The Lunch Brigade led by Mr. Clericuzio our principal and Mrs. Brilz made 137 bag lunches for students in our city who might of otherwise have gone hungry today at lunch.

The assembly line.

The entire student body collected friut for a friend for the same school.

Completed lunches ready to go.

The delivery crew.



While feverish sandwich making was taking place in the staff room, reflective painting was going on in the art room with Ms. Stang.  She had the students reflect on the beauty and awe of a sunset and paint a gorgeous water colour of it.

Mrs. D'Agostini our Vice Principal was engaging her group of young students in cartooning a response to "What things bright and beautiful do you see in your life?"

By the look of Elisha's picture in Gr. 1C, she sees many of God's wonders in her life!





Mrs. Motoska had her session thinking about the lyrics to popular Christian Music and what they mean in "Movin Music."



Father Mike, our District Chaplain came to spend some time with us.  He brought his faithful companion Nemo the long hair daschund along with him to the delight of our students.  He told bible stories to the grade ones and discussed the complexities of becoming an adolescent with the older students and how faith can give us confidence to overcome any obstacles we may face.

Our Kindergarten students were exposed to an activity many of them have witnessed their parents doing - Yoga!  Some of them even borrowed their mother's mats.

 Cheryl Shinkaruk, our Phys. Ed. and Wellness Consultant for the district, taught these junior yogis about the breath of life in her yoga session.

Finally, Madame Brassard our very own grade two french immersion teacher led a relaxing and reflective guided meditation taking the students on a personal journey to meet Jesus.

Teaching children to visualize and to relax their minds and bodies can be of great benefit to their health.

Here's a heart health question for you to answer.  What is the sum of these two acitivities?

That's correct!  The sum of healthy eating plus 30 minutes of regular exercise a day equals...

A strong heart!

Here are a few heart healthy facts to get you motivated :

For the month of February remember to love yourself by eating right, exercising and being good to others!