September 4-8
New Brighton School Dear Parents, Welcome to the 2017-2018 school year at New Brighton School. We have emailed several pieces of information and reminders to parents over the last week so we won’t repeat it all now – otherwise our updates begin to look like spam. All Grade 1-4 students received an email on Friday with the name and room number of their new teacher. With the exception of a few edits – our Teacher Blog pages are now ready and you can match the face with the name of your new teacher. If for some reason you did not receive an email - don't worry - just arrive at the correct meeting spot below and we'll take care of it. Check out your new teacher at: http://school.cbe.ab.ca/school/newbrighton/teaching-learning/classes-departments/pages/default.aspx This is a great page to “bookmark” as updates will be available from classroom teachers everyday. Grade 1 -4 students will meet in the following areas of the school at 8:10AM on the first day of school:
All Grade 1-4 students will be dismissed to the compound for the first week. Lunch Time We expect the majority of our students to remain at school over the lunch period (11:45-12:40). If your child will not be staying at school please send a note or arrive in the school office before 11:45AM. Kindergarten students attend school following the schedule in the Back to School information on our school website: http://school.cbe.ab.ca/school/newbrighton/ See you all Tuesday. Jeff and Dayna
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This week’s blog is a little early because I hope the fishing is so good this weekend… 180 school days later – and our first year as a school community comes to an end on Wednesday, June 28 (or the 27th for our Kindergarten Students). We feel it has been a remarkable year and are very proud of how our school community has worked closely together for the benefit of the entire school. We are also proud of our collective efforts to have a positive and lasting impact on our wider community. How can we possibly summarize and celebrate an entire year? With a year-end Assembly featuring a video celebration – that’s howJ On Wednesday @9:00AM we will be hosting our last day of school the same way we began our year together – in the gym with our Grade 1-4 students. Parents and guests are invited – however – we promise to post our Celebration Video to our website – so watching and celebrating with your child in the comfort of your home will be a great option for everyone. Sports Day This year’s Sports Day is hosted by our Grade 3 students as part of their Every Drop Counts campaign in support of Wheels for Wells. The forecast is for hot and sunny so please prepare appropriately. A hat will be important and applying sunscreen before arriving at school should keep the children protected. Students will move at their own pace through some great active stations. School Council has provided freezies for all the students at our Treat Station. The Grade 3 students will be hosting a separate Sports Day Afternoon for our afternoon kindergarten students. Through the generosity of our community and a little "free pizza" encouragement the grade 3 students were able to donate over $3500 to Wheels for Wells. Thank you New Brighton Pond Expo Our Grade 1 students should be very proud of the Pond Expo they held earlier this week. The weather was perfect. Grade 1 students shared their learning and offered Pond Care tips with all of our students, some Grade 1 students from the local Catholic school and several classes from Martha Cohen School. It is a culminating activity for the school and our Grade 1 students that demonstrates the connection between learning skills and demonstrating and applying those skills in a real world way that makes an impact. Super job Grade 1. Goodbyes June is the time in many schools where some staff move on to other adventures at other schools or changes. We’ll be saying goodbye to Miss. Gardner who joined us when Mrs. Robertson left to add to her family. We have appreciated the work of Miss Gardner and her contribution and support to the students of Room 176, the Grade 3 team and the school community. We wish Miss Gardener all the best in her future teaching adventures. Back 2 School Below is the Back to School information we promised. It is also available on our website. To summarize:
Thank you for a great year at New Brighton School. We wish those of you moving from our school all the best in your new places and spaces. And we look forward to welcoming over 120 new families and students to our school un September.
This Week June 26 Sports Day June 27 Last Day for Kindergarten – K Report Cards come home Gr 3 Let’s Talk Science Presentations June 28 Early Dismissal Gr 1-4 – 11:45AM Last Day – report cards come home June 29 and 30 Organizational Days The last full week of school has arrived. During one of our last staff meetings we reflected on the generosity of our community and parent support for the activities and projects going on at New Brighton School. In the last 20 days or so – our community has:
We, as a staff, feel very fortunate to be in a community where an active role is taken by so many for the benefit of everyone. Yearbooks have Arrived Our yearbooks celebrating our first year together have arrived. Students who ordered yearbooks will be given them on Monday – so check those backpacks. We have a limited supply of yearbooks available for purchase in the office for $25 if you didn’t order one and have changed your mind. We’ll leave it up to parents if they want their child to have an opportunity to gather signatures or messages from their classmates on the two blank inside covers. If you want your child to gather signatures and autographs please return the yearbook to school on Friday, June 23 and teachers will find some time to make it happen. Students without yearbooks may bring a notebook or will use a page in their Visual Journals for the same purpose. Some people like their yearbooks “clean and unblemished” while others want all the names. For what will be many students’ first yearbook we’ll that decision up to parents. Family Dance What a great event hosted by School Council and the Fundraising Society. There are probably a lot of pictures out there. Report to School Council Coming up this Week
June 19 Yearbooks Come Home June 20 Gr 1-4 Running Club – last one June 21 Grade 1 Hosting K-4 Interpretive Pond Tours June 23 Yearbook Signing We are heading into the final stretch of our first school year together. Teachers are putting the final touches on their report cards. Support Staff are preparing materials and supplies for next year while continuing to support students. Students will be working hard and learning right up until the last day of school – and starting to share their plans with us for the summer. Our first year together is also the only year with us for our Grade 4 students. They hosted an amazing Celebration of Learning last week. They shared with us their legacy projects – from sharing their understanding of why we “acknowledge the land” at important gatherings and their environmental projects they hope will be sustainable when they are gone. I was happy to celebrate with them and let them know, that from my perspective, one of their biggest legacies will be the reputation they leave behind of how our oldest students lead and have led us this year. They also celebrated with a little DancePlay, some snacks and great Photobooth time. Have you seen some little yellow fish around the community? Our Kindergarten students have done some community service of their own with the support of Yellow Fish Road. Their message is pretty simple. Only rainwater should go down the storm water drains. Keep your eyes out – each fish was added with thought and care by our youngest learners.
This week will also be the last meeting of the year for our School Council and Fundraising Society. Each group has engaged in significant work on your behalf to help support our school through the main goals of:
So many of our families have supported each goal through time, attendance and donation and collection. The executives of each group have created the conditions where your support was possible. If you have a chance – drop these groups an email to thank them for their commitment to our school and your children. School Council – [email protected] Fundraising Society – [email protected] This Week June 13 TASC Swimming Popcorn Snack K-4 (pre-order required) Running Club – Gr 1-4 June 14 Walking Wednesday 6:00PM School Council and Fundraising Society Meetings June 15 Special Lunch Gr 1-4 – Pre-order required Running Club Family Dance – Tickets required June 16 All books back to the Learning Commons Bike to School Day will be a huge success in Calgary today - and was a huge success at New Brighton School. We'll be making a count that includes our afternoon kindergarten students. Other successes include the almost universal use of helmets this morning, great bike etiquette and knowing that all of our students have received some instruction from the great people at PedalHeads. Our big event last week was welcoming 100 of our 120 new kindergarten students and parents to our Welcome to Kindergarten Evening. We hope we were able to give a great introduction to Kindergarten, New Brighton School and the Calgary Board of Education to our new families. It was great to have our School Council and Fundraising Society on hand too welcoming our new families. We were especially proud and thankful for our Grade 4 Group Leaders for keeping their groups together and on time during the evening. They were also great models to our new youngest learners.
Grade 2 students feel the other big event last week was the egg laying by their Mason bees. Their two bee shacks have been great contributors to a few more pollinators in the neighborhood. Our big event this week is our Grade 4 Celebration of Learning. Our grade 4 students have been great leaders in our school for the entire year –and I know the theme of their celebration involves the legacy they hope to leave behind at New Brighton School. We look forward to their sharing with our K-3 students on Wednesday morning and with their parents and special guests on Wednesday evening. The Family Dance on Thursday June 15 is officially “SOLD OUT”. No new ticket requests are being accepted. The last few weeks (17 Days) of school are some of the most exciting and busy days of the school year – or they can feel like that. Taking advantage of the weather is a great way to help students stay busy and focused as they see summer holidays in distance. We had a great showing for Running Club – and running wasn’t even required – just a great walk around the pond with friends and classmates in the sun was a great way to spend art of lunch. We look forward to another great turn out at lunch this Tuesday and Thursday. We are also looking forward to a great turn out for Bike to School Day on Tuesday. We expect more bikes (and scooters) than ever – so will be using the gym as our storage place for the day. Students will walk their bikes to the gym compound door where they will be stored by Grade – and dismissed from the compound/gym doors at the end of the day. Coming up This Week June 5 Pedal Heads Bike Safety and Etiquette Presentations K-4 June 6 Bike to School Day K-4 TASC Swimming Rubik’s Cube (Gr 2) and Running Club Gr 1-4) June 7 Walking Wednesday and Litterless Lunch Wednesday Claymation Club – Gr 1 Grade 4 Celebration of Learning – 6:00PM June 8 TASC – Calgary Corn Maze Running Club Gr 1-4 June 9 Last Day to Sign books out from Learning Commons We would like to thank everyone who was able to join us for our Volunteer Tea on Friday. We had about 80 people attend. Our staff and students really enjoyed being able to say thank you for everything our volunteers have done at New Brighton School over the past year. We are very proud of our school community and we know what a big part our volunteers have played in helping build that community. We are looking forward to welcoming 110 Kindergarten children and their parents to our Kindergarten Orientation this week. The activities and brief presentation will be a great introduction to Kindergarten at New Brighton School. Coming up this week
May 29 Public Library Book Truck – last visit of the year School Council Family Dance information coming home May 30 TASC Swimming Seed Survivor Visit K and Grade 3 Rubik’s Cube Club May 31 Walking Wednesday Gr 1 Claymation Club June 1 Calgary Public Library Presentations K-4 Running Club (Gr 1-4) 2017-2018 Parent and Student Kindergarten Orientation 6PM We hope everyone had a great long weekend. It was sure the right weather to begin camping season, planting or just getting outside and enjoying the awesome weather. Our big event this week is our Volunteer Tea. Our volunteers have gifted us hundreds of hours over the past 9 months. We know that, like fundraising or any other form of giving, there is a limited amount of what can be given and for your gift of time we thank you. We also know many of our volunteers use time from work or other commitments to volunteer at New Brighton School and may not be able to join us for the Volunteer Tea. We hope, that if you can, you will. If you can’t, please accept my sincere thanks on behalf of all our staff and students for your contribution to the school. The Volunteer Tea is this Friday from 9-10AM. If you can join us please make sure you RSVP to [email protected]. We’d love to see you and thank you in person. (if you forget to RSVP and find out you have time...just come anyways - and say Jeff invited you) Time to Run In the month of June, students in Grades 1-4 will have the opportunity to participate in a Running Club. The club will occur on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s at lunch and is open to any student that wants to participate. Because this is an outdoor club, it will be weather dependent on: June 1 June 6 June 8 June 13 June 15 June 20 The club will start at 11:45am and students will run around the New Brighton Pond before returning to eat their lunch. If your child is choosing to participate, please ensure that they have running shoes to wear! Coming Up this Week May 22 Victoria Day – No School May 23 TASC Swimming Gr 2 Rubik’s Cube Club and Choir May 24 Walking Wednesday and Litterless Lunch Gr 1 Claymation Club May 25 Choir Performance 2PM May 26 Volunteer Tea 9-10AM May 27 Fundraising Society Silent Auction Evening – details at: https://newbrightonschool.com/ Kick of the summer with a little Stampeders Football: This is more of a Funraiser than Fundraiser Don’t let a four-day school week fool you. A look at the Upcoming Events below show we’ll be trying to get a full week squeezed into four. We are excited to celebrate the first year of school for our youngest learners this week. The Kindergarten Celebrations of Learning will be awesome. It is amazing to see how much they have grown, learned and developed over the past 9 months. We are looking forward to celebrating our “Almost Grade Oners” this week and look forward to seeing you. Transition Planning for students is an important part of preparation for a successful beginning of a new school year. Last week our Grade 4 teachers met with DMCS staff. Between those conversations about our students and the upcoming tour for students this week we feel our students will be well supported in their new school. We also know they’ll enjoy seeing the Grade 5 teachers they got to know from September – March and some familiar student faces among the Grade 5 students who spent some time at New Brighton School. School Council Our report to School Council is attached below. As always – feel free to email if you have any questions or comments. Upcoming Events
May 15 Book Truck – Grade 4 Grade 4 Agriculture Presentation May 16 Destination Conservation Workshop TASC Swimming Choir and Rubik’s Cube Club May 17 Walking Wednesday and Litterless Lunch Wednesday Grade 4 Tour of DMCS AM Kindergarten Celebration of Learning – 10:00AM Claymation Club – Grade 1 May 18 Special Lunch (pre-order was required) PM Kindergarten Celebration of Learning – 2:00PM May 19 PD DAY – NO School for Students School Council Join us for the next School Council meeting on May 10. Student Transitions As the school year enters the final 9 weeks we begin to consider our students’ needs for next year. Transition planning for our Grade 4 students to DMCS is well underway. Our Grade 4 teachers will be visiting DMCS later this week to begin sharing our knowledge of your students with the Grade 5 teachers. We feel students will benefit from having known the Grade 5 teachers from their time at New Brighton School. Students will also be visiting DMCS later in May. We have also begun summarizing important learning about our K-3 students with complex needs to share with next year’s teacher. A smooth transition can set the tone for the entire year and we are investing considerable time to make sure these transitions are well developed and clear. At New Brighton School School we will put considerable effort, time and thought into the school organization process. The CBE values of; students come first, learning is our central purpose, and public education serves the common good are the filters though which decisions about budgeting, staffing, resource allocation and classroom configurations are made. In early June teachers and administration will be meeting to begin the classroom placement process for students. Research and experience tells us that a variety of factors enhance the quality of the learning experience for students. When placing students we will be using current knowledge and best professional judgment to create classrooms with: * Mixed ability, achievement and work habits * Supports for students requiring additional, intentional intervention * Gender balance * Positive leaders and role models * Supportive social relationships for each child (everyone needs a friend in class) If you feel you have additional information that will assist our decision-making you are encouraged to share your information c/o Mr. Hutton or Ms. McComish, in writing, before May 26th. We have highly skilled and dedicated teachers in every classroom. Please do not request particular teachers as teaching assignments will be determined after class lists are created. Our tentative organization is based on single or straight grade classrooms (no multi-age or combined grades). Coming up this week May 9 TASC Swimming Popcorn Snack (pre-order was required) Grade 2 Rubik’s Cube Club Choir May 10 Grade 1 AIWC Presentation Grade 1 Claymation Club School Council and Fundraising Society Meeting – 6PM May 11 Choir Events in May and June (Save the Dates – Details to Follow) May 26 Volunteer Tea 9-10AM June 1 Welcome to Kindergarten Parent and Student Orientation 6PM June 7 Grade 4 Celebration of Learning June 15 School Council Family Dance June 26 Sports Day (AM) June 27 Last Day for Kindergarten K Report Cards June 28 Last Day for Gr 1-4 Year End Assembly 9AM Report Cards Come Home Early Dismissal – 11:45AM |
Jeff HuttonNew Brighton School Principal, CBE graduate, native Calgarian, husband and father of two CBE students. Archives
June 2018
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