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Dear Families,
For most of our students last week was a great week! They have been continuing their learning in literacy and mathematics, wellbeing and PE, science and social studies, art and music, and playing with their friends. Many of the classes are bringing their learning outdoors as well. It's been great to have the warmer weather and to be able to be out of doors more often.
With the warmer weather we have also seen an increase in some upsetting interactions on our playground and fields after school between our students, other students, and adults within the community. Our students – both at Cappy and other schools - are often still learning how to interact well with others, and sometimes they make mistakes, swear, or become aggressive. This is all within the realm of growing up. Our students are children, with much to learn and many mistakes to learn from!
Make no mistake, we are all a community! That means each one of us has a role to play in how we teach children to respect their elders. The only way we are going to be able to nurture respect and tolerance is by modeling respect and tolerance. As adults, we can show children the proactive ways to solve problems, including walking away or asking for help, considering their own role in the conflict, and nurturing understanding of diverse perspectives. We want our students to feel good about themselves, their cultures, and their ability to stand up for themselves. Standing up for oneself does not mean swearing, hitting, or making fun of other children or elders. This applies to ALL young adults from other schools and our parents and guardians as well.
At school we are working hard to teach our students to be respectful. If someone is being rude or mean to them, and they need help, they need to report to their teacher(s) or to the office. If your child comes home upset, please listen to them and remember they have their own single perspective. Often there are many truths within a story and it is always good to reach out to their teacher to ask questions about what the child is sharing. All too often stories are not complete, and our staff are working very hard to support children to understand the impact of their actions and words at school.
Thank you for communicating proactively with our staff and the office. Thank you to each family/community member for consistently modelling respect and care in the community and to their children. We are so diverse, and we have so many perspectives and we know it takes everyone working together to raise healthy, resilient children. What an amazing opportunity to learn from each other and create a super strong Cappy community! I love Cappy Smart, and I am so proud to lead this excellent public school community!
I will be available all afternoon, from 1:30-3:30 pm, on Wednesday, May 3, to any parent who would like to come in to talk about how their child is doing at school and to share any stories/experiences/perspectives they may have. I look forward to hearing back from you!
Yours sincerely,
Rachel MacDonald, Principal
For further reading about school culture and environment, including the expectations for parents, students, and staff, please link to our CBE page: https://cbe.ab.ca/about-us/school-culture-and-environment/Pages/default.aspx
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| A gigantic thank you to our community:
This week I was yet again reminded of the incredible community support we have here at Cappy Smart School. Some of you may recall that last year I sent out a note pleading for help. Our Kindergarten class was going to lose their beloved Dramatic Playhouse, something that had been used for many years during centres and other activities. The playhouse actually belonged to our former kindergarten teacher, Ms. Blake, who needed the playhouse at her school for her kinder class.
So in the spring I sent out a message asking our families if anyone had some skill with carpentry and a desire to help us out. To my great pleasure we had several families reach out, including Amy Dahl, and her partner Morgan! Amazing Cappy Community spirit! Amy had a long family history here at Cappy, having had her daughter and son attend our school, and her sister had also attended. They remembered the playhouse being used with their daughter, and even though Amy's family would no longer be attending Cappy, she and Morgan wanted to create a project that would help the school and leave a lasting thank you from their family. This summer Amy and Morgan worked on the playhouse, modernized it and had it ready to go in late August. The result is astounding! We could not be more proud of the work that this family did for our school. On Friday, during our assembly, we had an "official" house opening, complete with red ribbons and borrowed hard hats. The kinders were able to see their new dramatic playhouse and Amy was able to see the impact this house had on our students. When our kinder teacher, Ms. Meakin, asked the student audience how many of you played in the house in your kinder year, almost all the students put up their hands! From the bottom of our hearts, a huge thank you to Amy and Morgan for building us this new playhouse, giving your time, energy, creativity, and, from what I understand, a good chunk of your living room space during construction! We appreciate our community and together we can do great things for our students, families, and school! Take care, Rachel MacDonald , Principal
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| Hello students, families, and staff.
My name is Megha Khulbe, and I am thrilled to be the next assistant principal at Cappy Smart School. I have been teaching in the Calgary Board of Education in various positions for 17 years. I have taught Kindergarten to grade 5 and my focus has been on early literacy and working with English language learners. I spent several years as a literacy Learning Leader at my previous school. I worked alongside teachers to develop strong literacy practices and provided targeted intervention for students. In my role as an ELL specialist, I supported schools and teachers across the system to improve learning for our newcomer students. These are my passions, and I look forward to continuing this work in my new position.
Outside of school, I enjoy reading mysteries and thrillers, going to the theatre, and travelling. I have spent time in Europe, Southeast Asia, and the Caribbean. Italy, Thailand, and the Maldives have been some of my favourite destinations. I have two step-kids and two cats to keep me busy as well. I hope you all have a safe and enjoyable summer. Thank you for inviting me into the Cappy Smart School community. I look forward to working alongside you in the upcoming school year!
Sincerely,
Ms. Khulbe
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| Hello Cappy families! We have had a busy couple of days here at Cappy, cleaning up our spaces, organizing our classrooms, and, doing our last days learning. We even managed to squeeze in our outdoor activities, originally planned for last Friday, but postponed due to rain. Our students had a wonderful time and again, special thanks to our teachers, Mr. Lam and our grade 5's for making this all possible. During this year it has been so apparent that we have some of the kindest teachers and staff at Cappy. Each day our teachers and staff go above and beyond to make sure our students feel welcomed, safe, respected and cared for. These last years have been extra challenging, and yet through it all, our staff has remained positive and centered, always thinking about what is good for their community and their students. Some highlights of the year shared by our staff: - Our amazing new outdoor classroom!
- Going on field trips to the Zoo and Spark
- Studying the Seven Sacred Teachings
- Being able to work with other classes
- Our Food Truck community event
- Fun Week – making slime, dressing comfy, painting
- Being able to have an assembly – it was awesome to see all of our students together😊
- Outdoor activity day
As we wind up the year, I wanted to send a special thank you to you, our community, for your incredible support this year. As a first year principal, I felt very welcomed by you and have been lucky enough to meet many of you face-to-face and talk with you about your students, the school, and other things. We have been through yet another year of ongoing, and often last-minute, changes to Covid-19 restrictions and other changes. It's been a whirlwind, but through it all, I want to share that your students are so kind, resilient and willing to help in so many ways. This community, and our students, are truly special and I am so happy to be at Cappy Smart School. I am very much looking forward to next school year, with what I hope to be some more returning to normal, more connecting community events, and seeing our students progress. We are also looking forward to offering more extra-curricular opportunities and clubs for our students to thrive even more. We know there are students and families who will be leaving Cappy School. We will miss you, as you have been an important part of our community. I know that wherever you go, there are many opportunities for new learning as well. If you have not done so, please do let us know in the office if your child will not be returning, as this is an important part of our planning for next school year. On that note, may you have an amazing summer and we will see your students August 15, 2022 for the next school year. I will be sending out a note to families
Rachel MacDonald, Principal
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| I am very excited to be at Cappy Smart School in the role of principal. My mission has always been to focus on working together to create joyful, welcoming, safe, and caring learning environments for each student. I will work alongside our community to ensure that our students continue to feel a sense of pride and belonging at Cappy Smart. I can already see how much incredible work has been done to support the students, staff, and community. I have had the pleasure of serving CBE communities in various roles for over 20 years. Additionally, I am proud to share that all three of my own children have attended CBE schools, and my youngest son is set to graduate from grade 12 this upcoming school year! Our family strongly believes in the incredible power of public education, and I know firsthand that our CBE schools provide our children with diverse and purposeful learning experiences that help them thrive. My first teaching role was nearby Cappy Smart, at Lester B. Pearson High School. From there I taught at two other high schools in our city, and then moved into a system specialist role, where I had the great fortune to work with many K to 12 schools in developing their literacy and learning goals. Also, I have been so fortunate to be the Assistant Principal at H.D. Cartwright school for over three years, which has been a joyful, caring community. To ensure a smooth transition, I will be working closely with Mr. Bennett, Ms. Watkins and the school staff so that we honour the work that has been done to make Cappy Smart such a wonderful school community. I look forward to meeting you all in August!
Sincerely,
Rachel MacDonald
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| Hello Cappy Smart Families!
I hope this message finds you all well and enjoying your summer break so far!
I am pleased to announce that Fiona Watkins will be joining us as Assistant Principal for the 2020-2021 school year. She brings a variety of experiences to the role that I'm sure will help her to be a strong addition to the Cappy Community. Please see her introduction letter below.
Have a wonderful day!
Mr. Bennett
I am super excited to be joining the leadership team as an Assistant Principal at Cappy Smart school! I am coming to you from my most recent position as an Indigenous Education Learning Leader at Ranchlands School. I have worked as a teacher in Grades K through 8, as a PE Specialist and an English Language teacher as well as taught courses for beginning teachers at the university level. Education and learning is my passion! When I’m not at work I like to be outside, often in the mountains, cycling or skiing. I am also a Mom to two young adult men, that are starting to fly outside the home nest.
These are certainly strange times as we live through this Covid-19 pandemic and I hope you and your families are staying safe and healthy. I look forward to meeting all of you in person in the fall.
Fiona Watkins |
| Hello Cappy Smart Families!
Well, it's June 30th and what a year it's been! I can't thank everyone enough for their support of our school and students throughout the year! We truly do have a special community!
I'd like to send a special thanks to the members of our School Council. Your dedication to all things Cappy Smart is incredible and your efforts make such a difference for our school. Thank you!
I have some year end information to share with you today:
Staffing:
- Ms. Woodward was on a temporary contract with us this year covering for Ms. Sibilo's leave. While we will miss her, we are happy to share that next year, she will be teaching just down the road at G.W. Skene. She has been a fabulous member of our staff and we wish her all the best!
- On the note of Ms. Sibilo, we are happy to share that she is planning her return for the beginning of next year and we are excited to have her back with us!
- As previously communicated, Mr. Nyrerod is moving on to be the Assistant Principal at Battalion Park School next year. He has been an incredible partner and leader within Cappy Smart, Area 3 and the CBE over his past 3 years here. We will miss his dedication, wisdom and sense of humor but also wish him well in his new school. I'm sure it will be a great move for him and Battalion Park School.
- We also have 3 new staff joining us that I am happy to share with you today. Ms. Huxtable will be joining us as a teacher next year and Ms. Shaukat and Ms. Kurta will be joining us in our new EES programs as Education Assistants. We are looking forward to having them join our wonderful community in September.
We have been working through the process to identify a new Assistant Principal. When that process is complete, I will send an email to the community with more information.
Next Year:
- A reminder to ensure that you are watching your email over the summer for information from the CBE regarding plans for return to school. These emails may come at various times but do note that they may not come until closer to the beginning of the school year which is Tuesday, September 1, 2020.
- There has also been a slight update to school bell times and Kindergarten for next year. Due to current enrollment, Kindergarten will operate in the afternoon only at this time. If our kindergarten enrollment increases to what we are expecting it to be in the fall, we will work with families to determine the best way to split into morning and afternoon groupings. Please note the new start and end times for Kindergarten in the link below. We are also making a slight adjustment to our lunch break, moving to 47 minutes from 50. Next year's bell times are available at the bottom of our school calendar on the school website or through the link below:
http://school.cbe.ab.ca/school/CappySmart/SiteCollectionDocuments/2020-2021-Cappy-Smart-Traditional-Calendar.pdf
- Over the past several years we have had a tradition of mailing letters from teachers to their new students over the summer. However, as we are not sure which scenario the province will ask us to begin the year with, we can not confirm classes at this time and as a result, there will not be a letter in the mail this summer. Rest assured that we have been planning for a variety of scenarios and more will be communicated regarding school entry plans and class organization shortly before school begins. Please let your children know that we have been thinking about them and hope to see them all soon!
I want to extend my sincere gratitude to all of our students, parents and staff for an unusual but excellent year. I can think of many examples of kindness, perseverance and dedication to doing our best learning throughout 2019-2020. While the year ended with us all separated physically, do know that our staff think of and work for our families every day and we are looking forward to a fantastic 2020-2021 school year!
Be well and have a great summer!
Mr. Bennett
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| Hello Cappy Smart Families,
We have had an increasing number of parents and community members come to us to discuss unsafe choices that are occurring in front of the school. The most frequent concern is parents and students jay walking (crossing the road when not in a crosswalk). This choice creates significant safety concerns for both our students and their parents. We have witnessed several incidents in the past few weeks where children have been narrowly missed by cars driving down the street.
We work hard to model and teach safe choices with our students. Please support the safety of your children by also modeling safe choices. Please use the crosswalks on either side of the school property or park your vehicle on the far side of the school playground where students can come to your vehicle without crossing the street.
Please help teach our children safe behavior by choosing safety over convenience every day.
Thank you,
Mr. Bennett |
| Hello again Cappy Smart Families!
I hope this message finds you all enjoying the long weekend and that you are looking forward to the fall break this week. If your child is looking for something to do, encourage them to do some reading both with someone and on their own if they are able to read independently. Even 20 minutes a night would be beneficial.
I also would like to send out a huge thank you to all of the families and community organizations that supported our 3rd annual community potluck. It was a great to see so many of our families come together and the food was incredible! We're already looking forward to next year!
Stay tuned for information regarding community events throughout the year and please remember to check the classroom blogs weekly for information about what students are learning as well as what will be coming up in the near future.
Have a wonderful fall break!
Mr. Bennett |
| Hello Cappy Smart Families!
A quick message tonight to say welcome to all of the families who have joined us over the past few weeks. It's been exciting to see our staff and students getting to know each other and the number of families that joined us for the open house was awesome!
After a bit of a technical hiccup, our website is nearly updated and you can find a copy of our current year calendar for download if you would like to have another copy at home or on your device. We are also starting up classroom blogs and they will be updated every week by staff and students. Please look at them regularly to stay up to date on what is happening in our classrooms! They will also have a translation button in the top corner to assist those that would rather read in another language. Information will be sent home with students as soon as the blogs are completed.
Have you been missing some of our emails? Please make sure that we have current contact information on file. Our email system uses the data that is set up in your child's profile. If you need to make any updates, please do so on the demographic forms that will be sent home if you didn't already look at them during the Open House. If there are any further changes, please contact Amanda in the office and she will update your file.
Thank you to all of the parents who signed up to get their volunteer clearance in the last few days! We are looking forward to having those completed and then working on ways to bring you in to support our staff and students in making each school day the best it can be!
Have a wonderful week!
Mr. Bennett |
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