Hello Parents and Teachers of L'ecole Elizabeth Rummel and Banff Elementary:
As you may have recently read in the Right from the Start Newsletter, the principles of mindfulness will be introduced to your child's school this year. Please see the attached article for further details, including goals of the project.
We are now asking parents to consider volunteering with their child, creating teams of facilitators in teaching these easy and meaningful tools for daily use. The volunteer commitment entails the following:
- Attend the Right from the Start Social Series presentation entitled “Quieting the Mind: Connecting with your child in body and mind” on November 18, 2009 from 6:30-8:00 pm at ERS as an introduction to the project. Note: This evening is open to all parents, regardless of whether you are interested in becoming a parent facilitator with your child.
- Attend a morning retreat with your child on Saturday, December 5, 2009 from 9am-12 pm. You and your child will learn 8 techniques and activities that you can use immediately to enhance your parenting, and build your connection with your child. Facilitators of the retreat will be drawing upon the principles outlined in the “Mind Up” and “Mind Masters” curriculums, which have been created for classroom environments.
- Teach the 8 techniques over the course of 8 weeks (30 minutes each session, 1 session/week) with your child in your school's classrooms. Scheduling and availability will help determine which classrooms you and your child will assist. This will allow teachers and classmates to learn the techniques, then practice and implement them within the classroom to continue to build compassionate and caring learning environments. Tentative start date: Week of January 11, 2010.
NB: We anticipate that the number of interested parent/child teams may exceed our capacity for training/support and number of classrooms. In which case, we will decide how best to select parent-child teams. We will maintain a list of all interested teams in case more opportunities of this nature arise in the future.
If you would like to join the project as a facilitator and “partner” with your child, please contact Adrienne Lawlor at adrienne.lawlor@albertahealthservices.ca. For those who have already contacted Adrienne, you are on her list. However, please resend a message to confirm your interest.
With thanks,
Amanda Amundrud, ERS teacher
Adrienne Lawlor, Pediatric OT, MMIT (mindful mother-in-training)
Laura Wellman, Right from the Start Coordinator
Laura Wellmann
"Right from the Start": Mental Health Capacity Building Project
Project Coordinator
c/o Elizabeth Rummel School
1033 Cougar Creek Drive
Canmore AB, T1W 1C8
(o)(403) 678 6292
(c) (403) 609 1533
(f) (403) 678 3918
email: lwellmann@crps.ab.ca