Dear Haysboro Families,
It is with mixed emotions that I write to you to let you know that I will be leaving Haysboro School. I have accepted a position as the Principal of Sherwood School and while I am terribly sad to leave all of the amazing familes and students of the Haysboro Community, I am very much looking forward to the challenges that working in a middle school will bring. As I have said so many times before, Haysboro is an incredible and unique community - a 'hidden gem' which is what makes it even more difficult to say farewell. But as I said to our lovely Grade 6 students, “Never say goodbye, because saying goodbye means going away and going away means forgetting.” – Peter Pan. There will be no 'forgetting' this amazing place, of that I am sure! I cannot express my grattitude for all of your support, encouragement and kindness in good times and in bad. I could not have landed in a more perfect place for my first Principalship and I will always remember the lessons I have learned at Haysboro as well as cherish the relationships built. So it is farewell and not goodbye I say as I pass the Haysboro torch. I know that you may be worried about the next steps but please rest assured that your children will be well taken care of and the incredible staff at Haysboro will continue to nurture and support your children on thier learning journeys. You will be receiving further infomation regarding the new principal of Haysboro over the summer. Once again - Thank you all! “Kindness is like snow – it beautifies everything it covers." ~Kahlil Gibran
Last as I got home from our school concert, I pulled out my tins of Christmas cookies to set up a plate. Searching for the perfect vessel to showcase my creations, I stumbled across the perfect thing, my Haysboro Plate. Two years ago, kindness came to my doorstep during an incredibly challenging time in my life. The parents of my school gathered the students together to bring my family Christmas kindness. The plate is decorated with names and wishes from all of the children and came covered in treats for my family and to share. As teachers we often receive gifts that have meaning and connect us to a group of students – they often hold a special place in our hearts and memories. This plate holds a place of honour in my china cabinet – it reminds me that even when you think you are alone – there are always people supporting you from afar, sometimes you don't even know who they are. As people come over to visit this plate becomes a celebration of life and a great conversation piece. Kindness is like snow…it flutters down gently, surrounds like a blanket and covers in its quiet and gentle softness. It comes in many forms and often when we least expect it but most need it. May your Winter Break be filled with rest and relaxation … May kindness blanket you all with the beauty of gently falling snow this magical winter season. “Peace is like love, Peace is like hope.”~Gr. 6 Student
November is always one of those months that sneaks up on me. September is filled with excitement and newness, October is filled with fall and Halloween then, Bam, and suddenly it is here. This year, as the snow helped blanket our fall, we welcomed November with a lovely sense of calm. As students began thinking about Remembrance Day, the word "Peace" began appearing everywhere - on the walls, in the halls, in conversation. One night, while going over the Remembrance Day Assembly script, I began searching for Videos that we could share with our students to help them connect to this concept of long ago wars, and an unattainable peace. These ideas and realities seem so far away for many students, yet so desperately close for some of our newer students who are experiencing their first snowfall in a country where they are no longer awoken by 3:00am air raid sirens. How do you make sense of "Peace" in a mix like this? STORIES...we talked, we shared picture books, we watched some videos, we listened to stories – the ultimate sense making tool. It is often the stories of the people that we find the easiest to connect too. Stories began to emerge from the students: “Did you know my Great-Grandpa – he fought in the war and we still have all of his medals.” “My Grandpa fought in the Vietnam War and he was in a helicopter that shot down – he is still alive though.” “There is a rule in Israel that once you turn a certain age you have to fight in the army and then my Grandpa had to fight – he fought in WWII, my Dad however didn’t fight in any wars but fought in small skirmishes with terrorists.” These stories bound around the room from student to student, each story building on the next. The stories we tell, hear, listen too, experience and absorb become a part of how we process the images and sounds we see so clearly once a year. They inspire us to write and to capture our own thoughts and feelings and to connect to other events that stand out in our own experiences. This is the lived experience that we bring to the table and that the students access for sense making – stories help us process our thoughts and feelings. Stories help us connect to the world. These stories are all part of who we are – they are part of our story and we are a part of them. Take time to remember...History is the STORY. "When asked if my glass is half full or half empty, I say - I am simply thankful to have a glass." - unknown
This past weekend we celebrated Thanksgiving. Thinking about what I was thankful for this year I decided it would be Fall. Fall used to always be my favorite season. The bold pops of color, thick layers of leaves crunching underfoot, the crisp change in the air signaling a change to come. There truly are so many things to be thankful for at this time of year. School has settled into it's comfortable routines, warm sweaters and boots make their way out of closets, and we have the opportunity to put one season to rest in anticipation of another. This year we have had some exciting new changes that have led us to work in new ways. The harvest of our Dream Catcher Garden was definitely one of those celebrations of thanks. Last week students and teachers put our garden to rest for the winter - for some this might be a sad time, but for us it is a celebration. There were many things for us to clear away and discover what had been so diligently growing underneath the green all season; carrots, potatoes, beets! There were many lessons to be learned- we learned that frozen tomatoes, "Smell - I mean they really smell!" and that while they are not good for eating, we can put them to good use for their seeds and work like scientist to experiment with ways to preserve them for our next growing season. Our Harvest also signals the beginning of cooking season for us as we work with Chef Kaitlin to plan creative ways to use our harvest and learn how we can turn ordinary into extraordinary. “Did you know Catsup doesn’t have to come from a bottle? You can actually make it!” The garden is a part of our Story at Haysboro School and we love that we can participate in it’s growth. The cycles we go through help us to understand change and see that even our ‘best laid plans’ can sometimes require some adjustments. Many of our students thought that with all of the hot weather we had this summer, our garden would generate giant vegetables, what we actually learned is that the hot weather affects different vegetables differently and while some flourished, others suffered. These lived experiences in the garden help us understand how change can impact us in positive and detrimental ways. We can take these lessons and work with our students to apply them in other situations. This is one of the reasons why Fall is one of my favorite seasons… I am thankful for Fall, I am thankful for our Garden, I am thankful for this incredible group of students who continually challenge us with their curiosity… I am thankful for change – because without it we would be stagnant. (Or as the kids say – “B-ohhh-ring!”) I am thankful for my 'glass' – I am also thankful that I have the opportunity to see it as half full. Thankfulness goes far beyond just one day of the year. I wonder … what are you thankful for? "How many people do something they really believe in? I just wish people would realize anything is possible if you try. Dreams are made possible if you try." Terry Fox
This week we came together as a school to run. When we talk to students about why we run and what the essence of the Terry Fox Run is they came up with a variety of provocations. What does it mean to be a Hero? Who was Terry Fox? Why do we run for him? If you have ever listened to a room full of children share their thoughts and ideas you can imagine that it gets messy and thoughts overlap, ideas collide and new opinions are formed. There were many common threads woven through conversations; perseverance, resiliency, sacrifice, integrity... As our students ran they shared some stories of who they were running for and how much they cared. Some ran for grandparents, some ran for friends, some ran for Terry. It didn’t matter who they ran for they simply ran. When we were finished students shared stories of the number of laps they ran, how fast they ran, they were competitive in a friendly way with each other but in the end they knew the reason we run. Why do we run? We run for hope because the opposite of hope is not an option for us. Hope brings us new ideas, it brings us a future. That is what the students say they run for, all those glorious laps aside, they run Terry because he instilled a deep and enduring hope for the future in all of us. That is what a hero does. Thank you for the Hope Terry. Thank you Haysboro students for keeping this dream alive. “A new journey to be started. A new promise to be fulfilled. A new page to be written. Go forth unto this waiting world with pen in hand, all you young scribes, the open book awaits. Be creative. Be adventurous. Be original. And above all else, be young. For youth is your greatest weapon, your greatest tool. Use it wisely!” – Wonder Woman
New beginnings are always exciting events which come with much anticipation. As we entered a new school year this past week, we embraced all that a new year brings. With new friends alongside familiar ones, new grade, new teachers, and new classrooms to make familiar, students and teachers alike came together to design their classrooms and make them come to life. Our goal this year is to write OUR story…an epic journey that evolves as we do. As new pages unfold we plan to fill them with moments that entice our students to find themselves in the work. We know that being original is something our students crave – they share their thoughts and ideas and look for new ideas from their peers. As teachers, we work to find ways to foster this curiosity and connect to our big ideas, looking for the sparks of excitement as they connect and intersect. We feel the weight of our responsibility to our students constantly as we see them grow their understandings. There is power in education – not just from the answers we may find to our questions but in the questions that remain unanswered – the ones that percolate in the back of our minds and make us see connections wherever we go. As the quote above says we need our young scribes to be adventurous, creative and original – we know that we can inspire them to use their youth to push the future forward… our journey has just begun and we cannot wait to see the where it leads us! Talk about joyful literacy – writing in real time…here we go! I hope you are all enjoying your time with family and feeling relaxed and rejuvenated. It has been an amazing summer filled with sunny days and tropical temperatures it makes it hard to believe that the 2017-2018 school year is upon us! I am so excited to be leading our amazing staff at Haysboro School once again and look forward to all of our innovative and creative learning opportunities ahead this year. The start of a new year brings excitement and anticipation with old friendships reconnecting, new friends waiting to be made, teachers to meet, learning to experience and wonder to be nurtured. We have a great year planned ahead filled with diverse and exciting learning opportunities for all students. We look forward to making thinking visible through documentation, personalizing learning, rich task design, living in the disciplines, authentic experiences, cultivating curiosity, engaging in innovative ways of looking at the world, inquiring, exploring and continually challenging our students help us unfold our story of Haysboro. Our guiding question this year will be, “How Do We Story Our World?”. We will be digging deep into literacy and writing as well as celebrating working with many outstanding experts in the field as we write our very own story of Haysboro through our year long Opera Residency (What's the Story Hasyboro?). And of course we will be celebrating many other learning events along the way; Outdoor School (Gr. 5/6), Swimming (K-3), Skiing (4-6), Garden Harvesting, Planting, SoundKreations, Learning Through the Arts (LTTA), DrumFit, Concerts, Performances, Celebrations, Assemblies and SO much more!
We look forward to meeting you all on September 5th. Supervision starts at 8:30am – Please look for teachers’ signs with your grade on it and they will direct you to your door! See you soon! This year we will continue to keep you informed in multiple ways. Watch for our Welcome Back email through School Messenger next week for further details of our year ahead. Other ways you can keep updated: Teacher blogs, school messenger, and twitter. Our office will be open for registrations starting August 28, 2017 at 8:30 am. Please contact us with any questions and look for weekly blog post updates on the “Principal Kohan” blog button on the Haysboro School homepage. Our Webpage is changing! We have been updated to the new format and are working on thank you for your patience as we are working to ensure that all of our information is correct. Check us out at: http://school.cbe.ab.ca/school/haysboro/Pages/default.aspx Follow me on Twitter: @PrincipalKohan, Check out #haysboroloveslearning on twitter, or contact me via email: [email protected] Tracy Kohan, Principal 403-777-8530 Our School Hours are as follows: Grades 1-6 8:45-3:30 Lunch 12:00-12:55 Early dismissal Fridays 8:45 - 12:52 Kindergarten 8:45-11:25 **Kindergarten Staggered Entry: The staggered Entry day for students’ last names beginning with the letters A-H is on September 5th, 2017 (no school on Sept. 6th). For those students with last names beginning with the letters I-Z you will begin on September 6th, 2017 (no school on Sept. 5th). All students attend on September 7th. Upcoming Dates Open House: September 8 – (1:30-2:30) Conferences: Sept 21 4:00 – 7:30 Sept 22 8:00 – 1:00 Jan 25 (Thurs) 4:00 – 7:30 Jan 26 (Fri) 8:00 – 1:00 Apr 19 (Thurs) 4:00 – 7:30 Apr 20 (Fri) 8:00 – 1:00 Non-Instructional Days (No School for all students) Oct 16, Nov 17, Dec 8, Dec 22, Jan 8 Mar 23, May 18, Jun 28, June 29 Kindergarten Only – Additional Non-Instructional Days Sept 5 or 6 (Staggered Entry) Nov 16 April 19 Report Cards Home: Dec 21 June 27 “A-B-C, It’s easy as 1-2-3”… It’s funny when you see a story from a different perspective. Being able to see students through the eyes of someone else is truly a gift each day and are teaching we’re focused on achievement assessment emotional well-being so many layers to learning these days. While you navigate this complicated and complex terrain each day with each student we find ourselves seeing them for who we think they are. What an interruption comes her way it’s a gift to refocus and see our students in a different light. This week we have the gift of telling our Haysboro story through dance hip-hop to be precise. Working with an Artist in Residence has been a gift – allowing us as teachers to step back and work alongside students as they learn new skills (or show off ones they already know). This is a medium that while familiar to some is new and complicated for others. Our instructor has taught us things like “the snake and shrug”, “ arm wave", "the robot" ... ways to move our body to tell her story in a different way. It’s fascinating to watch the students moved the story of music and start to be able to create their own interpretations. Students who we might normally think would embrace these opportunities are sometimes shy and nervous to be so open with their movement, while other students we might have normally thought would shy away from such opportunities find a place to shine! Is it the instructor? Is it a change of scenery? Is it the music? Whatever it is it’s inspiring, invigorating, and insightful. With only two days under their belt are students are already moving to the beat and enjoying creativity in ways that I bet they didn’t even know they could! A way of expression a way of release a way of telling their story. We can’t wait to see their final productions and have a chance to see the story told in a new and movement filled way. The movement stories are creating class by class, song by song will definitely be something to celebrate and add to the ‘Story of Us’ as a school this year! “You went to school to learn, Things you never, never knew before…” (Words of wisdom from The Jackson 5) Learning comes in many forms!
I wonder… how will you seize the opportunity to look at the world a bit differently and perhaps interact in a way that you might not have before? The word community means many things to many different people I bet if I asked five of you right now we would all have a different understanding based on your context and your experiences. When I think of community I first think of houses, an area of the city, community centers … and then I think of the people. Ultimately it's the people that make a community. Young and old, families and individuals, it's about how to celebrate, work within a space, or… how we to come together for a common cause. When I think of our school community it's the same kind of thing. Not only do we have children we work with every day in our classes, we have teachers, support staff and we have parents and grandparents … All of these people come together to create community. These ‘community members’ coming together helps define a story of place. This week Haysboro School had the opportunity to come together for a couple of occasions first our winter celebration, and second an off campus experience at a sporting event together. While these two opportunities were very different, they brought us together in common ways. We had the opportunity to celebrate together… we have a chance to come together through song, and even had a chance to cheer, dance and share laughter together. For me it's the looks on the children's faces, that is how we know… that's how we know what the difference community makes, that is how we know what community means. When we allow ourselves to experience moments together and allow ourselves to be influenced by each other our story unfolds. To experience something for the first time together is a rare opportunity, a way to build meaning, understanding and craft the story. At our concert we asked, “What's the Story Haysboro?” and found out that our story is a pretty darn good! It is filled with excitement, suspense, and even some comedy…that's what makes us who we are and helps us continue to add chapters. After experiences this week I think we can add a few more chapters, possible titles: Kindness, Generosity, and now I know for sure our first chapter will be Community. I wonder… how will you come together help define your story and further build your Community this week? Often as I sit down to write my blog I am stumped, stymied and stuck, in 'no mans land' of not knowing where to start. Sometimes there are too many ideas floating in my head and to just grab one and pin it down into a series of thoughts that make sense seems overwhelming. This is one of these times...
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AuthorI am a Calgary Board of Education Principal, proud to be leading learning. I am driven by curiosity and believe that each day welcomes new learning. I am passionate about intellectual engagement and task design and I treasure "wonder-filled" moments with students. Archives
July 2018
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