Bluewater District School Board

Bluewater's One Year of Pandemic Marked with 365 Words page

One Year of Pandemic Marked with 365 Words

One Year of Pandemic Marked with 365 Words
Posted on 03/11/2021
March 11, 2021 marks exactly 365 days since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic.  This was followed by an unprecedented shift in our public education system as schools closed and quickly pivoted to remote learning, which remained in place until the end of the 2020-2021 school year.

Despite the many uncertainties and required adjustments brought on by the pandemic, Bluewater District School Board students, staff, families, and communities joined together to support one another in the spirit of collaboration and resilience like never before. 

To commemorate this one-year milestone, students and staff at Peninsula Shores District School in Wiarton decided to focus on some of the positive aspects of the past year, which can often be overlooked.  The Phoenix were asked to reflect on advice they provided or received, positive memories, kind moments, and jokes that made them laugh.  Mrs. Cameron collected the responses, which she compiled into the word cloud image below.  This visual depicts the positive reflections of both PSDS secondary and elementary students, as well as staff.  It is comprised of 365 words to mark the 365 days since the start of this journey. 

Students and staff overwhelmingly responded that helping others is what got them through this time of crisis.  As such, "help" is the most visible word in the image.

A few notable responses were:

"Don’t let a bad day make you feel like you have a bad life." - Grade 12 student

"Someone dropped their pencil crayons and others helped pick them up." - A pair of Grade 2 students reflecting on nice memories from class

"My friends and I all helped one another and keep our mental health by calling one another." - Grade 10 student

"My positive memory is planning and preparing lots of healthy meals, trying new foods, and baking new desserts with my family." - Mrs. Madill

A Grade 1 student said that, at recess, she "saw people helping others with a snowman and heard someone complimenting someone else."

A Grade 3 student wanted people to know:  "I noticed there aren’t many jokes about steak.  It is rare."

PSDS thanks and is extremely proud of everyone who submitted their responses.  Their heartfelt reflections set an amazing example in Bluewater of the kindness and caring that are regularly demonstrated by students and staff.

PSDS word cloud apple image with uplifting words such as "better", "others", "nice", "people", "friend", "help", "someone", "up", "another"   
Bluewater District School Board is located on the traditional land of the Saugeen Ojibway Nation, which is represented by the communities of Saugeen First Nation and Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation.
Website by SchoolMessenger Presence. © 2024 SchoolMessenger Corporation. All rights reserved.