| We
have come to the end of an incredibly unique school year. We want to
extend a sincere thank you to parents/guardians for your continued support,
patience, and compassionate understanding through this unprecedented school
year.
Alberta Education
has been providing guidance for school re-entry in the fall. We are
currently working on a detailed plans based on recommendations from Alberta’s
Chief Medical Officer. Alberta Education has given school boards three
possible scenarios to prepare for. These three scenarios are:
- Scenario
1: In-school classes resume (near normal with enhanced health measures)
- Scenario
2: In-school classes partially resume (with enhanced health measures
and online supported learning)
- Scenario
3: At-home learning continues (in-school classes continue to be cancelled
and online learning continues)
A final decision
about how re-entry will look will be announced by Alberta Education on Aug 1,
2020. Currently we are creating plans for all three scenarios and will be
ready to implement our plans on any of these scenarios after the announcement
on Aug 1.
Google Classrooms
Please note that
as of the end of the day on June 29, 2020 teachers will be archiving their
Google Classrooms. Students will no longer be able to access or submit
assignments, use Meet, or communicate with classmates and teachers on the
stream.
Appeals Day
Appeals day is
June 29 from 8am-12noon. If you have any questions or concerns about your
child’s report card, teachers will be available via email during these hours.
Digital Report
Cards
Report cards are
now available digitally on your My CBE/PowerSchool account for
viewing/printing. Please feel free to call the school or the
MyCBE/PowerSchool helpline (403-817-6373) if you require assistance with
accessing your child’s report card.
From everyone at
Ken Taylor School, we wish you a safe and happy summer and look forward to
seeing our students in the fall. To our students that are leaving us, all the
best in your future educational endeavors.
Take care
everyone!
Todd Faunt.
Principal |
| Hello Parents,
We hope you are doing as well as can be expected in these challenging times. Teachers continue to plan and deliver on-going learning for our students at home, but are missing the personal interactions that only can happen in a classroom. If you are looking for additional tasks to do with your students, the following link: https://www.cbe.ab.ca/programs/curriculum/learning-at-home/Pages/k-6.aspx may have some ideas for parents. This link was shared with all parents before spring break, but we included it here just in case you missed it.
We are currently making plans for the 2020 -2021 school year. It is important for us to know if your child will NOT be returning to Kenneth D. Taylor School in September. Also, If your child is in grade 4, please let us know if they are NOT going on to Simon Fraser School next year.
Please reply to this email and let us know where you will be transferring to for the 2020-2021 school year.
Thank you and stay healthy,
Todd Faunt |
| Dear Parents and Guardians,
Last week your child’s classroom
teacher should have contacted you to check in and gather information to plan
next steps in the delivery of learning activities at home. This coming
week you should be receiving some learning tasks that your child can complete
at home. Teachers will be providing your child with tasks that will focus
on what is most essential in numeracy and literacy. Assigned work will be
limited to 5 hours of learning time per week. Google Classroom and Google Meet
will be used to facilitate the delivery, communication and support with these
assigned tasks. A paper and pencil option is available for families that
do not have access to on-line learning. Teachers will be in contact with
you regarding how your child can access these tools. If you have
questions, please contact your child’s teacher by email. Teachers will be
on-line at home, checking emails during the scheduled hours that they have
communicated to you. They will endeavour to answer your questions, as
soon they are able. It is also important to continue to check your
teacher’s classroom blogs on the school website. Teachers will continue
to use these blogs as a communication tool. As you can imagine, this is a
new way for our teachers to deliver instruction. We ask for your continued
patience as we navigate this new way of teaching.
Please know that we
continue to miss seeing our students in person. We look forward to providing
essential learning to our students at Kenneth D. Taylor.
Take care and stay safe,
Todd Faunt
|
| Welcome to Kenneth D. Taylor School!
We had a wonderful start to the year. It was great to see many new families arrive at our school and returning families as well. The first few days are always busy, but the students have settled into their classrooms very quickly and appear to be enjoying the first few days.
Every year, schools in the Calgary Board of Education create school development plans. The creation of the SDP will involve a systematic analysis of data and targeted actions to meet the needs of every student, with a particular focus on increasing achievement and reducing gaps for students who have been identified as not progressing as expected. School development plans must include a literacy goal plus another Program of Study goal as well as a well-being for learning goal.
This year, teachers will continue to focus on literacy and numeracy building on the professional development that was a part of last year’s school development plan. Staff have already started to look at achievement data from last year to inform their practice in these areas. A new focus for this year’s school development plan will be creating a well-being for learning goal. This year, every school in the CBE will be creating a goal that could focus on areas such as resilience, student connection or mental health to enhance the well-being of students in the classroom. The staff at Ken Taylor have already begun this work in their professional learning committees and look forward to continuing this work with our students. |
| Dear Parents/Guardians:
“There is nothing permanent except change.” Heraclitus
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Nelson Mandela
“Some of our important choices have a time line. If we delay a decision, the opportunity is gone forever. Sometimes our doubts keep us from making a choice that involves change. Thus an opportunity may be missed.” James E. Faust
With these quotes as a context, I want to let you know that I will be transitioning to the role of Education Director in Area 7 for the Fall.
Working with you to establish a growing and thriving learning community at Ken Taylor has been, without question, an amazing and positive journey. I often refer to our school community as ‘the jewel of the North’ because of the wonderful, collaborative, and positive parents, students, and staff that make this work so rewarding. I have so enjoyed working alongside you, getting to know you, and seeing the growth in the learning and character of our students.
I look forward to continuing our work together until the end of the school year.
In order to inform the selection of a new principal at Kenneth D. Taylor School, Area 2 Director, Darlene Unruh, would be pleased to receive input from staff, students and parents of Kenneth D. Taylor School regarding the programming and leadership attributes you value. Please provide your input using the following link:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/328G7F3
The survey will be open from June 3rd to June 14th, 2019.
Director Unruh will be interviewing candidates along with another Director and will make a recommendation to the Chief Superintendent regarding a candidate. Your input is taken into consideration as part of the hiring process. Your input is also shared directly with the successful candidate.
With heartfelt gratitude,
David Dyck
Principal |
| I would like to express my thanks and
gratitude to our School Council/Fundraising Association for organizing another
very successful Christmas Market this past weekend! Thank you to everyone
who came out to enjoy the music, food, shopping and positive energy of a
market.
In the coming weeks, we have two
opportunities to support other people, which come around in December: our
Christmas Hampers and, this year, a Christmas Store.
The Christmas Hamper
Project:
This is a collection of gift
cards or monetary donation, which is divided equally and shared with some of
our Ken Taylor families who would benefit from this initiative at this time of
year. If you would like to participate in this project, please drop off
your donations/gift cards at the office between now and Friday, December 14th.
The Christmas Store:
This
is an initiative to support the students and families at another CBE school,
Catherine Nichols Gunn. We are asking interested families to donate new
or gently used items, which are then used to create a ‘Store’ where the
students at C.N. Gunn can then bring some small change (loonies and toonies)
and purchase gifts for their parents. These children do not have the
opportunity to buy a gift at Christmas for their parents. The ‘Store’ is run
by the grade 5-6 leaders who also giftwrap the items for the students.
Any money ‘raised’ by students purchasing the gifts is then used to help
off-set the cost of these students’ Outdoor School learning experiences.
Please see a letter from Principal, Steve Wigglesworth which has more
information: Christmas
Store info 2018.pdf
On another note: We also raised $1760
through the Indigo Adopt A School book campaign! We will be able to use
these funds to purchase books for our Learning Commons at an additional 30%
discount J Thank you to everyone who supported us through
this campaign.
Warm Regards,
David |
| Dear Parents/Guardians,
Our third year has had a very smooth start this first
month! I want to express my sincere
thanks to all of our staff for their hard work prior to the first day of school
which made a significant contribution to such a successful start. I see students who have settled into their
classes and feeling comfortable with the organization of the classrooms as
there have been some changes from last year.
A key factor to student success is parental support, I would also like
to express my gratitude for your involvement and support of your child(ren).
We were very pleased to see you at the conferences/parent
information sessions last week! Thank
you for taking this time to connect with your child’s teacher around their
learning thus far and for your commitment to partnering with us for your
child’s continued progress. We are also
grateful for your support with our first book fair. Our total sales were $4923.60! This means we will have $2594.69 to invest in
our book collection in the Learning Commons.
Thank you to Mrs. Brock and our parent volunteer Kathryn Toupin who
worked to make this a great experience for our students.
Last Friday we had our first PD day of the year, and we
continued our learning in the area of Literacy.
Our School Development Plan will continue our focus on literacy from the
past two years and this year we will also be adding a math goal. We will be sharing more with you about our
School Development Plan throughout the year.
Please continue to be vigilant about driving safely around
the school at drop-off and pick-up times.
We appreciate those students who can walk/bike to school which helps to
alleviate our traffic concerns. Thank
you for adjusting to our newly signed Hug & Go and No Stopping signs
(although the times are wrong – they will soon read ‘Hug & Go – 7:30 – 8:00
J). If you need to park (i.e. get out of your
car – this is the City’s definition of a park vs. remaining in your car),
please consider taking a few extra minutes to park a bit further away which would
make a difference.
The City of Calgary Parking Authority and the Calgary Police
Service continue to support everyone’s safety be re-enforcing the rules of the
road. Please be mindful of our
neighbours across the street and near to the school – do not block their driveways
for any length of time. We all need to
practice empathy (how would we feel if that was our house) and patience (if the
Hug & Go is full, slowly drive another lap; even if your child is late,
safety still comes first, before convenience).
***Please pull all the way up into the empty spaces in the
Hug & Go instead of stopping right across from the door – which then causes
traffic congestion behind you. When the
bell goes at 8:00, the teacher at the door will let the door close as they must
attend to their class. If you are late
dropping your child off, please bring them into the office (remember you can
park in the Hug & Go from 8:00 onwards) and sign them in.
Our first School Council/Fundraising Association meeting in
September was well attended and many great ideas were shared and talked about
which will benefit our students (keep reading for the Council updates J).
Thank you for being on the Ken Taylor Team!
David |
| It has been wonderful to see the snow…in full retreat these past few weeks!
We look forward to celebrating our wonderful volunteers on May 4! Our success depends
on us working together, with you, in support of our students. There have been so many
ways that you have supported your children and the activities at the school. We are always
appreciative of the ways you share your time and talents to support and enhance the school
culture.
May 11 is our Stampede Breakfast and we hope to see you there - in your Western look!
We look forward to this great community building opportunity at the school. A huge thank
you to our School Council and all the volunteers needed to make this event special.
Your wonderful support for all the Councils fundraisers have resulted in the school having
the opportunity to order more books for the Learning Commons (we have focussed on
building out our Science and Social Studies collection); more materials for students to
use in the Makerspace and more Physical Education equipment; and support for some of
our guest assemblies (Michael Mitchell/Steve Harmer). Thank you for your amazing,
ongoing, support!
As you begin to think of next year, you may have questions about how we determine
student placements. Having worked throughout the year so closely with your children, our
teachers have good insight into creating the class lists for next year and setting up each
student for success. This is a thorough and thoughtful process and we work towards
creating balanced class lists; taking into consideration such factors as student learning style
and gender. If you have information that you think we may not know which would assist in
this placement process, please feel free to share that information in an email or
conversation to administration, myself, Christina, or Deb, prior to May 11. This
information should be focussed on your child’s learning style or be information reflecting
any changes at home or in your child’s life which you feel your child’s teacher may not be
aware of and would be helpful for us to know (e.g. medical information, divorce/separation,
etc.). Requests for specific friends in classes or specific teachers are not considered
‘additional information’ as we have created an inclusive learning environment which we will
maintain and continue to embrace.
We are looking forward to our Kindergarten Orientation Night, May 31 at 6:30 p.m., and to
welcoming new families to our learning community!
Sincerely,
David |
| Excerpted from our April Newsletter.
Today our Professional Development focus will involve sharing the implementation of math strategies in the classroom, and the sharing of how students have continued to progress and achieve around our School Development Plan goals connected to literacy. Specifically, we will be focusing on writing and developing rubrics and strategies to support the development of our students progress in this area.
In early April, we will be sending out a link to an electronic form where you can confirm your plans for your child to return to Ken Taylor School. If your plans change prior to September, please let us know in the office as we have already begun the planning process for next year and knowing which students are returning is very helpful in this regard.
At our upcoming April School Council meeting we have invited Principal Bruce Johnston, from Simon Fraser, to come and speak to us about learning at the middle school level and he will share some of their school culture and philosophy with us. Please plan to join us, April 11 at 6:30 pm.
After we return from Spring Break, we are looking forward to our upcoming Student-Led Conferences. These conferences will occur on
- Thursday, April 19 (Kindergarten – no school due to conferences all day; Grades 1-4 conferences from 3:30 – 7:30 pm) and
- Friday, April 20 (K-4; 8:00-12:00 pm).
This is a great opportunity to have your child show you their work and explain their understanding. Conference bookings will be available online beginning Tuesday, April 10 at 6:00 a.m. A reminder email with the link will be sent to you prior to the online booking opening.
Swimming is part of our Physical Education program at Ken Taylor and this year we have two swimming times – one in April and one in June. Some of our Grade 1 and 2 classes will be going swimming in April and the forms will be coming home just after Spring Break. Our CSSI students, will be going swimming on Mondays beginning in April and the forms and dates will be sent home after the Break as well. The remaining classes will be going swimming in June.
We look forward to hosting Simon Fraser’s Concert Band; Magician Steve Harmer’s ‘Friendship Factor’ show; and, Darcy Turningrobe (Indigenous Knowledge Keeper). Darcy’s time with classes came about as a result of our successful grant from Education Matters (submitted by Mrs. Buonomo and Mrs. Fraser) which will include our making 30 authentic drums which will become part of our music program.
We wish you a safe and happy Spring Break.
David, on behalf of all the Ken Taylor Staff
|
| Thank you for your generous response to our Jacket Racket campaign! These items will be appreciated and well used in the upcoming winter months. Our Grade 4 student leaders were a great help in moving the many bags of clothes out to the vehicle!
Our School Development Plan continues to focus on Literacy this year as well. We will be publishing this report to our website at the beginning of November. In the SDP process, teachers consider report card data and assessment information that they have gathered from their daily work with students in the classrooms. Based on this information teachers set an achievement goal which in the coming few months they will focus strategically on in the learning tasks. Instructional strategies are planned and implemented during this time and then the students’ learning progress is measured again to check for improvement. Last year we employed a model that involved three short-term iterative cycles for this process to be repeated – with a new goal being set in each cycle. It was very rewarding to see the students’ progress over the course of the year.
We have been very fortunate with the one-time education funds provided through the Classroom Initiative Program (CIP) and have been able to hire an additional half-time teacher for our grade three students. Our class sizes in grade 3 are currently 27/28, and while this is very typical across our system, we have the opportunity to lower these class sizes in the afternoon to 21 students by creating an additional homeroom class.
Please welcome Mrs. Amanda D’Appolonia who will be teaching the language arts portion of the curriculum, along with some math.
We have also been fortunate to have Mrs. Walz’s as our Literacy Learning Leader who specializes in early literacy development. In order to maximize her expertise for our school population, we have hired an additional half-time teacher, Mrs. Kelty Lacey, who will teach Mrs. Walz’s AM Kindergarten class. This will allow Mrs. Walz to work with teachers and students in each grade to support our SDP focus on literacy in the morning, and continue teaching her PM Kindergarten class for the second half of the day.
Thank you for being mindful as you walk or drive to school, use the Hug & Go, park safely and legally, and use the crosswalks and corners (Point/Pause/Proceed) when you drop off and pick up your child(ren). Our school resource officer, Cst. Wil Johnson, has been working with us the past few weeks in several ways: presented at our October Council meeting; and shared a Safety Message at our assembly last week. Thank you to our grade 4 Leadership students who were also a big help in handing out positive ‘tickets’ last Friday to continue to raise our awareness of safety and what we can do to keep everyone safe.
Sincerely,
David |
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