Do you remember Sesame Street? If you are my age, you do for sure. In fact, you may remember Fred Penner's Place (or if you are a little older, the Friendly Giant), Mr. Dressup, and finally Sesame Street. That was the morning lineup on CBC. Sesame Street was ragingly successful at both engaging and educating an entire generation of kids. What was their secret? The secret was short snippets bundled together. There were the live-action muppets, animated sequences, and even some real-world footage. The idea was that short snippets could maintain engagement for young kids with short attention spans. At that time, no one would have thought of using that same idea for adults. After all adults and young adults were fully capable of extended attention spans. The typical 20-30 minute program was perfectly fit to the usual viewer.

We now find ourselves in a world with Tik Tok, Reels, and Youtube Shorts. Essentially the short snippet model of Sesame Street. The only difference; it is not intended to teach, but rather to garner likes and subscriptions. In short, it is designed to make your brain want more. It taps into our psychological shortcomings (after all we aren't perfect), specifically causing the false production of dopamine (a chemical in our brain that creates a general feeling of wellness) with the ever-present "what is next" mentality. As is medically predictable, this causes drops in dopamine when we are not watching. The easy solution, watch more, dopamine levels increase and we feel better.

This is synonymous with junk food. Designed to play on our hard-wired structures. Millions of years of evolution have hardwired us to crave calories rather than nutrients. This is why the donut is more desirable than the carrot. It made sense when we roamed the Earth as early hunter-gatherers when calories were often in short supply. However, now we live in a modern world, where often calories are readily available (at least most of the time). Yet, the hardwired desire to hoard calories when they are available remains. As a result, many of us consume too much junk food, which is calorie (often in the form of fats and sugars) rich and nutrient-poor (calories are cheap to produce, and nutrients cost more). The impact on our health is obvious and creates a desire to consume more, compounding the effect.

Junk food and junk media are two major biological student stressors. Anyone with kids (or anyone who works with kids) knows the old adage of too much sugar. Interestingly, the idea that sugar leads to hyperactivity is actually an old wives' tale (although many of us have anecdotal experiences that would say otherwise). That being said, there is definitive evidence that eating calorie-rich, nutrient-poor foods can have a huge impact on behavior. This is aside from what we are learning about food dyes and preservatives. In short, junk food and junk media make it harder for our kids to regulate and learn.

What is the solution? Luckily the parallels extend to solutions. Like junk food, junk media can be consumed safely in moderation. Just like we tell our kids to put the chocolate bar back and grab an apple, we can tell them to turn off the youtube tik tok, etc, and find something more productive to engage with. Use youtube to learn a new skill, take up a hobby, read a book, or just take some tech-free time. While you are at it, eat a vegetable, we could all use a few more of those.

The Bear Bites recently decided that they would like some feedback regarding what meals we should be offering. Please scan the QR below and give us your thoughts. Press and hold the QR code and then select QR code to be taken to the survey.

Each week the Bear Bites team meets to discuss how we did. We look at both the quality of food and the quality of service. We constantly look for ways that we can make the experience better for our customers and more efficient for us. The students gain the experience of chairing a meeting and doing the minutes for a meeting. Hopefully, someday they can chair a community club or serve as the secretary for a community group.

May 31

On Saturday and Sunday of last week, Miss Zenner and Mr. Mielke accompanied over 50 athletes to Melfort for the annual Jr. NBA tournament. They were all amazing ambassadors of our Bears family. They all played their hearts out. I apologize, I am missing pics from the boys 5/6 teams. I will get them in next week.

The volunteer for this month is Mrs. Mielke. She has proven instrumental in rallying the troops for our Hoopla run. She has led the organization of pep rallies and events to draw attention to and celebrate Athletics in our school. She has also been known to be an effective gap hitter in staff vs student slo- pitch games. Thank you for your leadership and support for Bears Athletics.

Athlete of the month is J.R Antazo. J.R. stepped up and stole the spotlight over the past few weeks. He is responsible for the huge dagger 3 to put Preeceville to bed at Conference Playoffs. However, his best work was yet to come during the first Hoopla game vs St. Brieux. With big brother riding the pine after picking up some early greasy fouls, J.R put the team on his back and started cookin’. Offensively and defensively he was the best player on the floor and every else started to feed off his energy. Great job J.R.

Athlete of the month is James Teale. James is found in the gym on a regular basis working on his badminton game. He is showing great improvement and he’s not afraid to work extra to get better. Although he seems strictly business James shows great sportsmanship and is always up for joking around with the team and classmates. Good Job James.

Track and Field

Monday - May 1 - The first Track and Field practice will run from 3:30-5:30 for everyone in all events.

A schedule will be discussed there and shared Wednesday.

Junior NBA (Grade 3456 Basketball)

No practice this week, Mr. Mielke and Miss Zenner are working on some home games, stay tuned.

** Games may start earlier if teams arrive, our goal is to get them home as early as possible.

Once again, Jigs and Carolines will be offering hot lunches on Wednesday and Friday. Please order directly from them. Please note:

ALL JIGS ORDERS MUST BE PLACED THROUGH THE GOOGLE FORM BELOW.

CAROLINES ORDERS MUST NOW BE PLACED ONLINE AS WELL.