| You might be wondering, what do teachers do on Friday afternoons or when students have the day off? Teachers are engaged in professional learning that helps develop their teaching capacity and enhances the experience your children have in the classroom. So far this fall, teachers have been engaged in professional learning centered around 3 topics: Indigenous education, English Language Learners and the new curriculum. Indigenous Education: There are three distinct areas of focus when it comes to Indigenous education: 1. Expanding our professional knowledge of Truth and Reconciliation and how we can take action towards the 94 Calls to Action. On October 7, we participated in a full day of professional learning focused on Indigenous education. We listened to Dr. James Makokis as he shared his insights on the importance of reconciliation and understanding the truth and considered how we might be allies in this work. 2. Developing our understanding of Indigenous ways of knowing and being and implementing them in the classroom. Teachers are implementing sit spots, circle protocol and land acknowledgements in their classrooms. We are exploring seasonal change from an Indigenous perspective. Additionally, we are delving into the concept of Two-Eyed Seeing. 3. Exploring ways to support our Indigenous students to meet success at school. New Curriculum Alberta Education is taking a phased approach to implementation and piloting of the new Kindergarten to Grade 6 (K-6) curriculum. School districts have been provided flexibility in how they choose to participate in the implementation of additional curriculum which includes Math and English Language Arts and Literature in Grades 4-6. Beginning in Fall 2022, all schools in Alberta began using some new curriculum. Mandatory implementation includes: Kindergarten to Grade 3 Math Kindergarten to Grade 3 English Language Arts and Literature Kindergarten to Grade 6 Physical Education and Wellness At Connaught teachers have been participating in system professional learning related to implementing the new curriculum outcomes as well as exploring effective ways to assess student learning in relation to the new content. You can find information about the new curriculum on Alberta Education's website. English Language Learners Our school is very fortunate to serve students from over 40 different countries, speaking more that 45 languages. We have a diverse community who bring a wealth of knowledge and varying perspectives to the classroom. Teachers have been exploring ways to support the language development of all students at Connaught with a specific focus on student's who have English as their second language. One thing you might see if you visit our school are vocabulary words in multiple languages. Check out the pictures below.
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| Welcome to the 2022-2023 school year! Connaught is pleased to welcome over 200 new students from all over the world. Our families speak over 45 different languages. Our enrollment has reached 500! This means that we are running short of space,consequently any new students may need to attend our overflow school of Ramsay. Additionally, our grade 6 students have the incredible opportunity to participate in their classroom learning at Dr. Carl Safran Centre, 1 block East of Connaught. Our grade 6 students start their day at Connaught with physical education, library and music. They spend the rest of the day engaged in rich learning tasks at Dr. Carl Safran Centre.
Our staff has also grown this year! We are excited to welcome 11 new teachers for a total of 22 teachers. We have 2 new lunchroom staff and 1 new breakfast assistant for a total of 7 food service staff.
Student learning is our central purpose. Classrooms have been buzzing with intellectually engaging learning tasks. Watch our news stories for more information about what's happening in classrooms. Ask you child what they learned about today!
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| It has been an incredible year at Connaught School. We have battled several more waves of Covid-19 and have begun to return to some of our pre-covid activities including buddies and sports day. We are looking forward to engaging in more community building activities in the fall. We hatched chickens and butterflies this year and learned all about life cycles and needs of plants and animals. We have worked with Sustainable Calgary to create an Open Street Park. Please stop by for a visit. The Forever Block party will be occuring on Wednesday afternoons throughout the summer.
Thank you to our community partners, Rotary Club of Calgary Centennial, for their ongoing support. This year they purchased bike locks for us, donated many needed items to families and paid for busses for our students to visit Fish Creek Park. Thank you also to the Grace Church for their ongoing support of our families. They provide food, gift cards and other needed items. They are also funding some new books for our classrooms.
We hope everyone has a wonderful summer. See you September 1st.
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| It is so wonderful to have staff and students back in the building. We are off to a great start this school year. Our staff are working hard to build a strong learning community with a focus on our Indigenous Framework. The 4 C's: Commitment, Connection, Community and Connaught.
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| This has been quite the year! We want to thank our school community, staff, students and families for your compassion, flexibility, positvity, and support during these unprecedented times. We hope you all enjoy a safe and fun summer with your family. We look forward to seeing everyone back in the fall.
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| Virtual Readers Rotary Club Centennial members supported our students this year with a virtual reading club. Every Friday, four Rotarian volunteers joined us virtually to read with a student from grade 3/4. The Rotarians met with a different student each week and listened to them read. Thank you Rotarian Readers!
 
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| Many of you may have heard your children talk about “Jimmy", the magpie chick that hatched in one of the Evergreen trees on the West field. Jimmy would sit in the tree and chirp at the students and listen to them sing or talk to him. About a week and a half ago, Jimmy learned to fly. He spent much of his time on the South side of the school, on the grass, the playground and in the yards across the street. Unfortunately, Jimmy was hit by a car on Friday while scavenging for food. Today, we were very fortunate to have Ryan First Diver, a Blackfoot knowledge keeper share his stories and knowledge of magpies with many of our classes in a Microsoft Teams presentation. Students watched and listened to his pet magpie, Derek. They learned many things about the magpie, including stories about the historical relationship the magpie and the crow had with the Blackfoot people. Ask your child to tell you more.
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| Our students continue to spend large chunks of time learning outside. This week, students have been fascinated by a fledling magpie living in the evergreen tree on the West field. Students have affectionately named the magpie Jimmy. Jimmy enjoys hopping around on the branches and curiosly watches the students as they sing to him.
You might also notice our garden is beginning to take shape. Thanks to a donation from Grace Church we have continued to purchase plants for the front garden beds. We would encourage you to talk with you children about not running through the front garden. Classes have been eagerly planting in our raised garden bed near the playground.
Classes continue to go on regular walking field trips to explore our community. Thanks to a donation from the Rotarians we now have wagons and small camp stools that students use outdoors.
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| Online Learning I am so impressed with how smoothly both staff and students have pivoted to online learning. A reminder that attendance is taken twice a day in their am/pm google meets. If you receive an attendance email it indicates your child was not present in 1 or both meets. If you feel this is an error please contact your child's teacher. If you need support please reach out to myself or your child's teacher. We are here to help. School Council Our last School Council Meeting of the year will be held May 19, 2021 at 5:00 using Microsoft Teams. This will be our Annual General Meeting with elections to add new members to council. We will also be sharing information about our School Development Plan with goals in reading and developing positive relationships. Please email nmbezugley@cbe.ab.ca with your name, email and child's name to request and invite link. Results of Budget/Fees Survey In April, we surveyed families regarding our budget and fees. Please find the results posted on our website at: LINK TO SURVEY RESULTS
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| January 26 Update No School Friday, January 29 – PD Day DO NOT drop off or pick up students in the staff parking lot! We have been fielding a number of complaints about unsafe drop off and pick up in our parking lot. We are very concerned that someone is going to get hurt. Please do not use the staff parking lot for picking up or dropping off students. This year the CBE will have consistent system-wide dates to issue report cards. At Connaught, we will send a paper copy of the report card home with in-person students on Wednesday, February 3. Report cards will be available for viewing using your MyCBE / PowerSchool Account on Thursday, February 4. If you have any questions about the report card please contact your child’s classroom teacher via email/phone. Community Education Service (CES) at Alberta Health Services has loads of FREE webinars to help parents out with the challenges. From “Managing Anxiety within the COVID-19 World” on February 3rd to “Friend or Foe? How to create healthy relationships with digital devices in the family” on Feb 2nd and 4th, the topics are varied and often timely. Check out their offerings at
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