Welcome to the 2019-2020 year at Falconridge School! We’ve had an exciting start to our year and students have already had opportunities to engage in their learning through residencies, field trips and the opening of the Learning Commons and Maker Space. To kick off the year, our families attended our Welcome Back BBQ and had the opportunity to meet the teachers and visit our new Learning Commons. We had over 200 people playing games, eating together and coming together as our Falconridge community.
We officially opened the Learning Commons and Maker Space in August after months of preparation. Through the generous donation and support of EducationMatters, Falconridge now has space where children are encouraged to inquire, think critically and creatively, build, read, and use technology to extend their learning. The Commons is a collaborative learning hub of the school where students come as individuals, in small groups or with their classes to demonstrate their understanding of content being learned in the classroom. Ultimately, the Learning Commons and Maker Space are to promote student engagement and to improve student achievement.
We are thrilled to have Mr. Jeff Stockton, an award-winning storyteller and harpist, working with all of our students from Grades 1-6 this fall. Students will be learning the art of storytelling as they develop their oral literacy skills. Students will be looking at questions like “Who am I and where have I come from?” Through storytelling, we can learn who we are and how knowing each other’s stories help us form a strong community. The residency will culminate with every student telling his or her story on November 14, 2019.
Falconridge School is pleased to be partnering with Sport Hub this year. Sport Hub is a collaboration between the City of Calgary, Calgary Board of Education and local sports groups. The organization provides ‘free sports experiences that are fun, accessible and inclusive’. Sport Hub brings in local coaches to teach students their specialized sport.
We very much appreciate the support of our families. Without our volunteers, we could not have field trips or run other initiatives successfully. If you are interested in volunteering, please come to the office to begin the volunteer process as it can take up to six weeks to receive security clearance. The School Council and School Society provide important support to Falconridge and it is an excellent way to be involved in your child’s school. The first meeting will be on Monday, September 23 at 4:00pm in the Learning Commons. All parents/grandparents are welcome!
Sue MacPherson and Heather Scholz
