September 26 - 30, 2022

During this time of reflection for Truth and Reconciliation in Canada, we have focused on learning opportunities that connect us with some of the practices of our Indigenous friends.  We were thankful for the beautiful weather this week as we took many opportunities to continue to learn on and about the land.  One of the ways we connected to the land was during our story time. We focused on two books this week. The first is The Sharing Circle by Theresa "Corky" Larsen-Jonasson. This book taught us about the importance of coming together during difficult times and how a sacred sharing circle can help us express our feelings. When we come together during the sharing circle to talk and listen to issues we face, we can then work together to find solutions and begin to heal and feel better.  Together we practiced sitting in a sharing circle in our outdoor learning space while listening to the story and the sounds around us. The second book we looked at this week was When We Are Kind, by Monique Gray Smith. This duel language story, in English and Diné, celebrates different acts of kindness and how we can feel when we give and receive these simple acts such as sharing, helping friends and family and caring for our earth.   

In recognition of Orange Shirt Day, we looked at the meaning behind why we wear an orange shirt. Orange Shirt day was inspired by Phyllis Webstad, a residential school survivor, that was given an orange shirt by her grandmother for her first day of school at St. Joseph's Mission, a residential school in British Columbia. When Phyllis got to school, they took away her clothes, including her new shirt. 

This week to honour Orange Shirt Day, during our circle time, our students learned a song by artist Will.I.Am along with some of our favourite Sesame Street characters titled What I Am. Through this song we expressed how each of us matter in our own special way. Here is a link to the song  https://youtu.be/cyVzjoj96vs  Using the core values from the Seven Grandfather Teachings of love, respect, courage, honesty, wisdom, humility and truth, students also examined ways that they can show others that they matter.  Students incorporated their circle time learning into a journal writing activity completing the sentences I matter because... and I can show others they matter by... Students also further developed those fine motor skills and eye-hand-coordination by colouring an orange shirt. To assist students in doing their best colouring, Wikki Stixs were used to create a physical border to help them stay in the lines of the shirt.

By recognizing Truth and Reconciliation Week and Orange Shirt Day, we honour the experiences of Indigenous Peoples and the children that never came home.  Please see our Ethel M Johnson home page for more information on the CBE's commitment to Truth and Reconciliation and events that are happening within our greater Calgary community.  

Upcoming Dates:

September 30 - National Truth and Reconciliation Day, no classes

October 7 - Non-Instructional Day, no classes

October 11 - Thanksgiving Day, no classes

October 13 - School Council and Parent Society Meeting 6:00-7:30pm

Have a good weekend. 

September 19-23, 2022

First, I would like to thank all our families for taking time to meet with me, either in person or virtually. After a few years, it was so nice to be able to welcome our families into the school for conferences.  I enjoyed reconnecting with our returning families and learning more about our new friends! 

On Monday, students joined the school in a moment of silence for Queen Elizabeth II. During our shared learning, we took some time to learn more about the Queen, in age and developmentally appropriate ways. During one part of our shared learning our focus is on building our literacy skills through phonemic awareness.  During the school year we will cycle through all letters of the alphabet a number of times, with a special focus each time. Letters are not presented in alphabetical order. We start with the letters that are most present in the names of our students. In the first cycle, our focus is on the letter sound and isolating that sound in both the beginning and end of words. So far this year we have looked at a, n, o, i, s, and l. On Monday, as one way to learn more about Queen Elizabeth II, we looked at the letter Qq. 

We also examined other places we would see the Queen being represented. We took a look at our Canadian currency, paying special attention to the picture of the Queen on each of our coins. I also learned something new during our discussion of the Queen, I love when my friends get to teach me something I didn't know! When talking about the Queen one of the students told me that she was a character in the new Minions movie. Together we did some research about the movie, learning more about the role the Queen  played in the movie.

This week we also took time to honour Terry Fox and participate in the nation wide Terry Fox Run. Before the run we learned a song that taught us about who Terry Fox is and why his story is so important to us. Here is a link to the song https://youtu.be/Ov3xisvrFII. We also took a look at a story that talked about Terry Fox's journey. After our shared learning, we went out at the same time as all of our EMJ community, and as our school friends ran around the school field, we ran around the adjacent ball diamond with our friends from 2. As we are just learning about school and playground safety, our students run in the fenced in ball diamond. As the year progresses and we become more familiar with our students and school environment, we will have opportunities to join in other whole school events and activities. After the run, we paused our Apple themed inquiry and did some journal writing on the event. When we are journal writing, students are presented with a cloze sentence activity. A cloze sentence is a sentence that is presented to the students with intentionally omitted words.  This sentence focussed on what the student did (run, walk, wheeled) and who they were doing it for (family, friends, loved ones, everyone). The student choose from a visual choice board the visually represented words that best suits them, and then cut-out and glue them into the correct space. Some of our students will also write the correct words in the blank spaces.

Next week, our learning focus will be on helping us understand more about Truth and Reconciliation. We look forward to sharing this important work with you in our next blog. On Thursday September 29, we will recognize Orange Shirt day, please feel free to wear orange or your favourite shirt to school. There will be no school on Friday September 30th, National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. 

Upcoming Dates

• September 26-30 - Truth and Reconciliation Week
• September 30 - National Day for Truth and Reconciliation Day (no classes)

September 12 - 16, 2022

Hello EES Families,  

I am so excited to share our week of learning with you, so excited in fact, that I am having a hard time narrowing down what to write about in our blog!  

Students are settling into our daily schedule, starting with our targeted table tasks.  Some of these tasks will connect to the theme in our inquiry learning. An example of this is the fine motor task of copying various lines and shapes on different apples. Another task is using pinchers to grab our "apples", small square blocks, and place them on a line from the apple tree to the apple basket. Students are supported when introduced to a new task.  Tasks are repeated over time, until the task becomes familiar to the student. During this time, the amount of support is decreased as task mastery is developed.  

Whole group shared learning is an important part of our day, and the highlight of this week's blog. I am so proud of all the students and their growing ability to attend and actively participate during circle time.  Expectations are presented using I CAN statements and reinforced with visual picture cues.  In our circle, we practice Whole Body Listening.  The concept is reinforced daily through songs such as this one, https://youtu.be/pQ77Nr6TgZo, interactive activities, adapted stories and lots of positive praise! 

After setting expectations for Whole Body Listening, students engage in a series of learning tasks. An important part of our shared learning involves our students' voice. This is done is a variety of ways. The first is that all our learning songs, digital stories and movement activities are chosen by the students. Each learning concept is paired with multiple activities that students get to take turns choosing. When it is the students turn, they come up to the SmartBoard and click on the picture of the activity they want.  Sometime waiting your turn or not having your song chosen can be upsetting. Understanding turn taking, regulating when upset, and continuing to be part of the group is an important part of our shared learning. Greetings, day of the week, months of the year, weather and seasons are all concepts that are currently being explored. Students are also supported to use our classroom, or their own personal, AAC device to communicate during our shared learning. This week students have been introduced to our self-regulation and emotional learning program Zones of Regulation. The Zones of Regulation is an approach that is used to support the development of self-regulation. All our feeling are categorized into 4 different zones. Students are learning about the different zones and how to identify how they are feeling. They are responding to the question "How are you?" using the sentence starter "I'm feeling...." Here is a link to the song we are currently using to learn more about The Zones. https://youtu.be/DUYlqF6e_Vs. We will talk more about the Zones of Regulation in future blog posts. 

Our inquiry learning on Apples continued with our book of the week, How Do Apples Grow by Jill McDonald. In our room, we use a lot of adapted books. These books use picture cues velcroed onto the book. The highlighted words can then be taken off to isolate certain topics, bring attention to specific parts of the book, highlight terms for our AAC users, or be used to demonstrate comprehension. Students also examined different parts of an apple and completed an interactive and printed activity labeling parts outside the apple such as the skin, stem, leaf and inside the apple; the flesh, core and seeds. 

This week we also had our first practice fire drill. To prepare students for the Fire Drill we read books and watched videos that talked about what a fire drill is and the importance of practicing for one. I was so proud of the way the students exited the school and sat in our designated meeting spot until we heard the 3 rings to signal the all clear. 

Upcoming Dates

September 20 - Terry Fox Run

September 22 - Meet the Teacher (details to come)

September 23 - CBE Non-Instructional Day (no classes)

September 26-30 - Truth and Reconciliation Week

September 30 - National Day for Truth and Reconciliation Day (no classes)

Have a great weekend,

Mrs. Rachel

 

September 6-9, 2022

Welcome to our EES Room 3 blog. We are so excited to share our learning this year with all our families. Our main focus this week has been on school readiness. We have lots of new friends this year and together we are learning all about our schedule, establishing our daily routines, and practicing our transitions between activities and places within the school and to our outdoor learning spaces.  Thanks to our returning friends that have helped demonstrate our classroom expectations by being wonderful role models. 

One important part of our EES program is our focus on daily outdoor learning.  Outdoor learning started on day one! As well as learning about playground safety, students had the opportunity to explore painting with a variety of tools, including their hands, on the picnic tables outside. Our first day school paintings have been transformed into beautiful name plates that will help to highlight our classroom environment. Students spend time outdoors almost every day. Please you send your child with the necessities to handle the unpredictable Calgary weather.

After students arrive in the morning, they begin to work on different tasks. These tasks will work on developing functional living skills, fine motor skills, communication skills and academic skills such as literacy and numeracy. Tasks are specifically designed to develop goals set in students Individual Program Plans (IPP's).  More information will be coming regarding student IPP's. 

In the afternoon students engage in Inquiry based learning. Our learning is focused around a specific topic, that changes every few weeks.  This week we started on an Apple inquiry. Learning outcomes are tied to stories, songs, movement, art, interactive and hands on explorations. This week our activities were centered around the famous Dr. Seuss book 10 Apples On Top! Students listened to the story, learned a song, and worked their fine motor skills to create a torn paper art apple.  After reading the story we also created our own how many apples on top using our interactive SmartBoard and our the students photos. This activity also focused on developing an understanding of self and others by having students identify the picture of themselves from pictures of their friends. 

Next week we look forward to continuing to build on all the successes we achieved this week in relation to our school routines, class schedules and transitions. We will also be starting daily hygiene. During this time students are supported to brush their teeth, comb their hair and wash their faces. On Tuesday we will have our first visit to our school library, with Mrs. B our librarian! We cant wait to share our experience in our next blog.

Your child came home with an Acknowledgment of Risk form for our sensory room rebounder/mini trampoline. Please sign and return to the school as soon as possible. The trampoline is one of our students favorite tools for regulation in our breakout space. Thanks to all our families that have logged onto their MyCbe account to update important contact information. If you have not yet had the opportunity to do so, information on how to access MyCbe can be found on the CBE home page. 

If you have any questions please feel free to reach out to me. My email is rlmyroniuk@cbe.ab.ca 

Have a wonderful weekend!

Upcoming Dates

-September 13 - School Council & Parent Society Meeting (in person) 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm

-September 15 - Picture Day

-September 20 - Terry Fox Run

-September 22 - Meet the Teacher (details to come)

-September 23 - CBE Non-Instructional Day (no classes)

-September 26-30 - Truth and Reconciliation Week

-September 30 - National Day for Truth and Reconciliation Day (no classes)