Bookends and Beginnings

By Rebecca Hellekson
This week was an exciting week at school as everyone came back from Christmas holidays. There were stories being swapped, new outfits being sported, and resolutions being put into action. Both Tofield and Ryley Schools were positively bustling with the magic and promise of a new year. But before we can move forward into the New Year, it’s always good to look back at the year before.

Here at Ryley, we had a plethora of activities to get everyone in the Christmas spirit before the break.

We started off with door decorating, where we all split into our squads and tried to out-Christmas the other groups. The competition was stiff, with some great designs surfacing like Rudolf, Christmas presents, and a flurry of handmade snowflakes. In the end, Miss Mack’s squad pulled ahead with their artful rendition of a fireplace and a snowy night. They will get to celebrate their creative accomplishment with a pizza party. The rest of the squads still got to have fun though, as later in the week we decorated Gingerbread houses in our groups. 

Ryley got into the spirit of giving with different drives to help those in our community. Kylie Nelson, Rebbeca Hill, and Kayla Lowe in Grade 7 also started a clothing drive for those in need. Some of the donations are being distributed to shelters in Edmonton, and some are being sold, with proceeds going to the Stollery Children’s Hospital. They had over two boxes of donations. We also had our annual treat of hot chocolate and cookies, which raised $70 for the Christmas hampers.  

Tofield saw the… for more see the Jan. 12/16 Mercury