| “Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received. Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling. Thanksgiving is the following of that impulse.”
Henry Van Dyke All of us at Earl Grey are very grateful for the support you as parents have shown the school. We are grateful for the dedicated and caring staff and are especially grateful for the wonderful students who come to Earl Grey each day. Kim Webb has graciously donated Gratitude Journals to our students. These journals are used weekly as part of our school’s wellness focus on building our resiliency and reducing anxiety. Kim has also donated her time working with each class supporting children in personalizing their own journals. Here is some of the research Kim has done on the concept of gratitude: Thank you Ms. Webb! - People who are grateful report increased feelings of happiness, hopefulness, positivity, energy and overall life satisfaction.
- Gratitude helps kids feel better about school and makes educators feel less emotionally exhausted
- Studies have found that keeping a gratitude journal can increase people’s happiness and overall positive mood
- Grateful children are more interested and satisfied with their school lives, are more kind and helpful, and are more socially integrated.
- Studies have found that gratitude journaling in the classroom can improve students’ mood and that a curriculum designed to help students appreciate the benefits they have gained from others can successfully teach children to think more gratefully and to exhibit more grateful behavior
- Gratitude has been described as “social glue” that fortifies relationships
- Research suggests that gratitude may be associated with many benefits for individuals, including better physical and psychological health, increased happiness and life satisfaction, decreased materialism, and more
- According to this research, people who practice gratitude consistently report a host of benefits:
Physical
Stronger immune systems
Less bothered by aches and pains
Lower blood pressure
Exercise more and take better care of their health
Sleep longer and feel more refreshed upon waking
Psychological
Higher levels of positive emotions
More alert, alive, and awake
More joy and pleasure
More optimism and happiness
Social
More helpful, generous, and compassionate
More forgiving
More outgoing
Feel less lonely and isolated. Please view this video on the concept of gratitude: https://youtu.be/4dBk-3SmoJ0
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| We are very proud of the accomplishment of our students and school and this would not be possible without the support of our Earl Grey community. What a wonderful journey we are all on. A special shout out to: - Kristie Smith our Casino Coordinator and all of our parents and community members who volunteered at this weeks Casino
- Kim Webb for organizing our Staff Appreciation Lunch. It was very much appreciated and well received by all
We are grateful for….
Parents - For being involved in your child's learning
- For all you volunteer hours supporting the school
- For your tireless fundraising to support our programs and students
- For joining School Council. What a fantastic group of parents we have!
- For all the extras that show you care
Students - For doing your best
- For being leaders in the school and community
- For taking care of our environment
- For being a good friend
- For sharing your curiosity and excitement of learning
Staff - For your commitment to our students and school
- For the long hours you work for the betterment of our students
- For running clubs and extra-curricular activities
- For the outstanding concerts and assemblies you create and lead
- For commitment to our shared values that every child is a gift and each one of them WILL be successful learners.
Class Organization: School organization is complex with a number of criteria that we need to address in order to best meet the needs of all of our students. Final staffing decisions and class list will be completed over the summer. Class lists will be shared on our first day of classes. Kindergarten will be a staggered entry for the first two days of school. Please view our Back to School Page on the school website under the registration tab for more information. The school office will be open on Wednesday, August 29th. We look forward to seeing all of our students and families back on Thursday, September 1, 2022, for our first day of class. Have a wonderful summer!
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| Hello Earl Grey Families, "Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life; it turns what we have into enough and more. It turns a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of the past, brings peace for today and creates vision for tomorrow.” Author: Melody Beattie Last year, I began my Thanksgiving message with the same quote. What was truly amazing was how this message spurred on a school wide focus on the greater meaning of the word ‘Gratitude’. It also struck a deep connection with the Embry family who kindly donated to each child and staff member a Gratitude Journal. In fact, the Embrys have gifted us again this year with another set of journals to be used at the school. Students and staff use the journals weekly to write down messages and thoughts that promote healthy living, supporting positive mental health and allows students and staff to reflect on all that we are grateful for. Kim Embry also supported the school by doing some research on the power of gratitude; and we wish to share some of these highlights with you: - People who are grateful report increased feelings of happiness, hopefulness, positivity, energy and overall life satisfaction.
- Gratitude helps kids feel better about school and makes educators feel less emotionally exhausted
- Studies have found that keeping a gratitude journal can increase people’s happiness and overall positive mood
- Grateful children are more interested and satisfied with their school lives, are more kind and helpful, and are more socially integrated.
- Studies have found that gratitude journaling in the classroom can improve students’ mood and that a curriculum designed to help students appreciate the benefits they have gained from others can successfully teach children to think more gratefully and to exhibit more grateful behavior
- Gratitude has been described as “social glue” that fortifies relationships
- Research suggests that gratitude may be associated with many benefits for individuals, including better physical and psychological health, increased happiness and life satisfaction, decreased materialism, and more
Thank you to Kim and family for your gift of the journals and we are grateful for you doing the research on this important topic. Every day it is evident that our students demonstrate gratitude. The staff feels this gratitude and all of us are very grateful to our families and community for your continued support. As you gather as a family over the weekend, please pause and take the time to go around the dinner table and express what each of you are grateful for. Its amazing how powerful these messages can be. Happy Thanksgiving, Matthew Lowe
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| We are very proud of the accomplishments of our students and school and this would not be possible without the support of our Earl Grey community. This year was like no other, what a journey we have been on! With Deepest Gratitude…. Parents - For raising such incredible children
- For keeping your kids home when they were not feeling well
- For supporting your children when in school and online
- For your tireless fundraising to support our programs and students
- For joining School Council. What a fantastic group of parents we have!
- For all the extras that show you care
Students - For doing your best
- For following all our COVID guidelines without complaint
- For taking care of our environment
- For being a good friend
- For sharing your curiosity and excitement of learning in school and online
Staff - For your commitment to our students and school
- For the long hours you work for the betterment of our students
- For being able to pivot to online teaching in a moments notice
- For commitment to our shared values that every child is a gift and each one of them WILL be successful learners.
Congratulations to all our grade six students. We wish you the very best as you begin your junior high school journey. Congratulations to this years award recipients: - Anjali Datta - David Nickle Memorial Award for Citizenship
- Hugo Ryckborst - Bob Gariepy Sportspersonship Award
- Emelia Beltrano – Jennifer Eyton Memorial Fine Arts Award
- “DJ" Sol Demuth – Volunteer Award
The school office will be open on Friday, August 27th. We look forward to seeing all of our students and families back on Wednesday, September 1, 2021, for our first day of class. Have a wonderful summer! |
| Hello Earl Grey Families, We are at the half way point of an unprecedented school year.
Each morning when students enter the building they are greeted by staff with a big “Hello!” a spritz of hand sanitizer and then students all walk in a clockwise direction to their class while music provided by DJ Sol plays over the intercom. It’s a wonderful morning routine that is up beat, full of positivity that grounds everyone with a degree of normalcy that supports our mental health. As a teaching staff, we continue our work with Anita Thomson, a SEL (social-emotional learning) educator and parent at the school. Anita’s role supports us in meeting our wellness goal for students and staff. Anita writes: “This month the staff at Earl Grey are working on improving their endurance and positive mindset as we continue to live with pandemic related restrictions. I've challenged them to adopt the tools used by high-performance athletics; paying special attention to their physical fitness, protecting their quality of sleep, making positive goals part of their morning routines and paying special attention to their nutrition. By remaining in "top condition" as individuals, they will be able to be at their best with their own families, and with their Earl Grey students. I'd like to invite you as parents and guardians to take a moment and check to see if you and your family are doing all you can to thrive in this ultra-marathon of patience, anxiety, frustration and longing. Are you getting enough sleep? How about adding in more sweaty workouts? Are your kids packing the best lunches with fresh nutritious foods, and are you consciously fueling yourselves in a healthy way? Everything we put into us, from food to media, effects how well we face each day. When we are stressed out, tired or feeling a little lost, it's easy to reach for whatever comforts or coping behaviours that are easy. My hope for all of us in this waiting game is to rise to the challenge of consistency in our wellness. That may not sound exciting but it's a solid challenge, I promise! Wishing you continued resiliency and good health!” In the month of February, Earl Grey has made Healthy Nutrition a focus. As a staff, we are aware of the difficulties during this pandemic in finding pre packaged heathy snacks that meet the: Alberta Nutrition Guidelines for Children and Youth and meet our Administrative Regulation: Nutrition - Administrative Regulation 3047 . Because of this, we have seen an increase in sugar, fat and salt centred treats that are being brought to school for individual and classroom birthday and special day celebrations. As a school, we are asking families to consider other treats and snacks that could be brought as an alternative. Teachers will be brainstorming these healthy ideas with their students in the month of February and will be posting these healthy ideas in their google classrooms. Moving forward, we will be sending treats or goodie bags that are not in compliance with the AR or Alberta Food Guidelines home with students. Parents can then make the decision on when, where and what treats their children may have. With this in mind, ice cream treats will not make the trip home, and we ask that they not be brought to school. Valentine’s Day is always a special day at Earl Grey. It’s a day when we all can write messages and give thoughtful gestures of caring, kindness and love that build on our positive mental health. Happy Valentine’s Day! Matthew Lowe
Principal, Earl Grey School
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| “Why do we wear a poppy today?”
The lady smiled in her wistful way,
And Answered, “This is Remembrance Day, and the poppy there is the symbol for the gallant ones who died in war,
And, because they did, you and I are free,
That’s why we wear a poppy, you see.”
-Don Crawford
I remember reciting this poem “Why Do We Wear a Poppy” as part of a Remembrance Day Ceremony when I was in school.
My commute to school takes me past the temporary monument set up along Memorial Drive with over 3000 markers symbolizing each resident of Calgary who died protecting our country as a member of the Canadian Armed Forces. It is a stunning visual reminder that causes me to reflect on the poem’s message. Perhaps it was the fact that it was a young boy asking the question of the older woman that helped me relate to the situation. We all have memories of Remembrance Day and what it means to us, whether it is a grandparent who served in the war or most recently, speaking with a refugee family from Syria who are so grateful to be living in Canada. November is a time for us to reflect on the importance of citizenship in our community both locally and globally. The Calgary Board of Education Citizenship Results Policy states that each student will be a responsible citizen and students will participate in developing and maintaining our Canadian civil democratic society and understand the rights and responsibilities of citizenship in local, national and international contexts. Our students and staff have worked towards this Citizenship Result with our Terry Fox Run in September that raised over $945.00 for cancer research. As a community, our next effort will be to support Connaught School with a Grocery Card Fundraiser. More information about this initiative will be coming out shortly. Because of our pandemic safety measures, our Remembrance Day Ceremony will be done virtually in the classrooms on Tuesday, November 10 at 10:00 a.m. All students presently members of the Girl Guides, Scouts or Cadets are invited to wear their uniforms for the day. All Earl Grey students will receive a poppy to wear and if families wish, they may make a donation online to the Poppy Fund at: https://legion.ca/home . Matthew Lowe, Principal
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| Hello Earl Grey Families, “Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life; it turns what we have into enough and more. It turns a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of the past, brings peace for today and creates vision for tomorrow.” Author: Melody Beattie Being grateful has many of the similarities to the concept of resiliency: Over the past twenty years as an educator, the stories that have fascinated me the most were about students who overcame tremendous odds to become successful in life. The reality that some students who experience family conflict, problems with friendships, bullying, and learning concerns manage to thrive; while others encounter great difficulty has fascinated researchers for some time. The ability for children to succeed in spite of challenges is called resiliency. Researchers have found the following five areas in a child’s life can make the difference whether they are resilient children or continually struggle: - Autonomy - Students who are able to see that they have the power to learn and make age appropriate decisions about their lives tend to fair better than those who don’t.
- Sense of Purpose – Students who have goals and see the positive side of life where the glass is half full, not half empty tend to be more successful than those who have lost a sense of hope.
- Social Competence – Students who develop skills associated with cooperative learning and friendships tend to be more resilient than those who lack these skills.
- Problem Solving – Students who learn to think before acting are more likely to develop resiliency.
- Achievement Motivation – Students who don’t give up, but keep on trying no matter what, are in good shape to face the challenges that life will bring their way.
Morrison, G., Allen, R. (2005). Promoting Student Resilience. Theory Into Practise, 46(2), 162-169. This pandemic has shown us how resilient our students are. Children have been coming to school ready to learn each and every day. Students follow our established safety guidelines without complaint. Even though classrooms look and function differently and many of our special events and extra curricular activities need to be curtailed, children are excited to be at school. The children are demonstrating gratitude, the staff feels this gratitude and all of us are very grateful to our families and community for your continued support. Happy Thanksgiving! Matthew Lowe, Principal
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| Hello Earl Grey Families,
Thank you for helping us make our staggered start a success. It was a huge help to our staff as we were able to focus on smaller groups of students to set our expectations around wearing masks, physical distancing, sanitation, lunch and recess routines. Soft Entry
Students are welcome to enter the school from 7:45 to 8:00 a.m. This eliminates lining up outside and increases the physical distance of everyone in and out the school. Students in Grades K to 3 enter via the upper compound door, students in grades 4 to 6 enter by the lower playground doors and students dropped off at the Kiss and Ride may enter the school by the front door. In class learning begins promptly at 8:00 a.m. sharp! As we have an earlier start this year, please make the necessary adjustments to your families routines to ensure students are on time. Masks
It is amazing how resilient kids are! We have not had any issues with our students following the mask guidelines at the school. In fact, we are reminding students that they can take their masks off while in class and seated at their individual desks. Students do not need to wear masks outside the school or when they are engaging in physical activity in the gym. Parking
Parents dropping off students for our Little Steps: Before and After School program can park in the staff parking lot prior to 7:45 a.m. Students may not be dropped off in the staff parking lot after 7:45 a.m. When dropping student off at school, we suggest using Hillcrest Avenue (please note posted no parking signs) Dorchester Ave. and Earl Grey Crescent. School start up packages including demographic verification documentation will be sent out early next week. Reminder: Friday’s are early dismissal. Grades 1 to 6 dismiss at 12:00 p.m. Matthew Lowe
Principal, Earl Grey School |
| All of us deserve a well earned
summer break!
I wish to express my gratitude to
our incredible students, staff and parents for your willingness, creativity and
skill in pivoting to online learning during this challenging time. I especially want to thank our students for
their commitment to learning. I am proud
of each and every one of you!
Parents, please know that re-entry
planning for the 2020-2021 school year is significant and thorough. At
Earl Grey, we know that the safety of our students and staff is paramount.
Throughout the summer, the CBE Communications Team will be communicating
directly with all parents & guardians. As you are aware, Aug. 1 is when the Alberta government will announce which
scenario will be in place for the beginning of the school year on Sept. 1. As a staff, we hope that your child receiving a postcard from their
teacher in the summer welcoming them to their new class will help to support
the transition into the next school year. As we set off for the summer, we know
that Earl Grey is nimble and we will adapt to any scenario we come back to.
The school office will
be open on Thursday, Aug. 27. We look
forward to seeing all of our students and families back on
Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2020, for our first day of class. Please have a look at this website
for back to school information located on the Registration tab.
Earl Grey is truly a caring
community, thank you for all the support and generosity you have given us
through this truly remarkable year. It
will be a time in history that our children will be talking about with their
grandchildren generations from now.
Have a wonderful summer,
Matt
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| Hello Earl Grey Families,
Now that we are all safe at home, practicing social distancing and have begun our transition to an online learning environment, the importance of wellbeing for you and your children has never been greater.
As a school staff, we continue to work with Anita Thomson from Insight Education to support our school’s Well Being for Learning Goal which focuses on lowering students ’anxiety when confronted with academic and social challenges. Emotional Literacy has been our current focus. Thank you Anita for sharing these strategies to support Emotional Literacy with the Earl Grey community.
Emotional Literacy
Developing emotional literacy aids a child’s mental wellness and physical well-being. Teaching moments abound in our current situation! There are so many unknowns, and the information we do have right now is a little scary and daunting. Having to adjust to so many changes and challenges can also press hard on our emotions.
One of the most important things parents and caregivers can do is be honest, open and vocal about their own emotional experiences; both pleasant and unpleasant. Frame the information and emotions you share age appropriate, but don’t try to seem heroic, stoic or unfazed if that’s not how you really feel.
Stability and change ebb and flow. Feelings and emotions come and go too, and teaching our children to surf those emotion waves can help them manage emotional, social and environmental challenges as they grow.
Strategies - What Can Parents Do?
Parents, teachers and other care-giving adults can play a major role in children’s ability to identify, understand, and express emotions in a healthy way. The following strategies are effective in promoting emotional literacy in children.
1. Express Your Own Feelings. One way to help children learn to label their emotions is to have healthy emotional expression modelled for them by the adults in their lives. For example, if the wi-fi is slow when you’re trying to work you could say, “Oh man, this is so frustrating!! I’d better take a couple of deep breaths and figure out another way to get my presentation working.” Parents can make a point to talk out loud about their feelings as they experience them throughout the day. It may seem a little awkward at first, but keep in mind that children can't read your thoughts. It’s helpful for them to hear out loud how you feel, and how you plan to resolve uncomfortable feelings.
2. Label Children’s Feelings. As parents provide feeling names for children’s emotional expressions, a child’s feeling vocabulary grows. Throughout the day, parents can attend to their children’s emotional moments and attempt to help label their feelings. For example as your child runs for the playground, she sees it is taped up and off limits. Your child begins to frown and tense up. You can say, “You seem disappointed that we can’t
climb on the bars again today. Sometimes it’s really frustrating when things don’t go the way we wanted.” Then offer a hug, and see if you can think up some other ways to have fun. Let you child take the lead in finding creative solutions.
3. Play Games, Sing Songs and Read Stories Together. Parents can enhance children’s feeling vocabularies by introducing games, songs, and storybooks featuring feeling words. Teachers and parents can adapt songs such as “If you’re happy and you know it” with verses such as “If you’re frustrated and you know it, take a breath”; “If you’re disappointed and you know it, tell a friend”; or “If you’re proud and you know it, say ‘I did it!’”. Taking time to read together and discuss the character’s feelings or behaviours and motivations is another powerful way to increase empathy, self-validation and emotional literacy for kids. In the pre-teen years, try asking questions about characters, plot lines and emotional scenes in shows. Not only will you get to know what they are watching, but it will help you observe how they decipher emotions and relate to the content.
Emotions are everywhere. And, emotions are an integral and unavoidable part of the human experience. We are all being put to the test of our limits right now during isolation, and for some, quarantine. It’s an intense juggle with work at home, kids, maintaining school from home or even lay-offs or new income stresses.
Remember to breathe.
Remember to laugh and spend quality time together in whatever way works best, and is most realistic for your family. We are truly all in this together.
For more information and resources
https://www.parentkind.org.uk/blog/8719/Helping-children-develop-emotional-literacy
https://www.thoughtco.com/activities-to-increase-emotional-vocabulary-2086623
https://www.amazon.ca/s?k=emotion+books+for+kids&i=stripbooks&crid=1FF8M1V3G1XUQ&sprefix=e motion+book%2Cstripbooks%2C204&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_12
Remember, wash your hands, don’t touch your face, safe at home and try not to worry!!
Earl Grey School
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(Hidden) Matt Lowe, Principal
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