Happy New Year! First Week Back!

Hello Kindergarten families.

Let me start off by saying Happy New Year.  I hope everyone enjoyed their holidays and I hope your children enjoy the first week back at school.  I was personally very excited to get back to work.  I also want to thank everyone once again for all the lovely gifts and the warm welcome I have received since I have arrived.

I'll start off will a little introduction.  My name is Skyler Fellner and I am from Weyburn, Saskatchewan (only 1 hour away).  I have really adapted to the city life now and hope to continue my future in Regina.  I convocated last summer so this is the very first year of my teaching career.  I have spent a large amount of time volunteering in Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten rooms throughout my university career, so getting to fill in for this job was a dream.  I started off the year as a substitute and I even got to substitute in Ms. Stuart's class early on in the year.  I never forgot my experience working with both groups of Kindergartens.  I was lucky enough to receive my first temporary contract in the middle of October. It was halftime so I only spent afternoons with the students.  I got to spend 6 weeks with a wonderful group of grade 2's at Coronation Park.  Next, I received a phone call with an offer of a full time classroom.  Although it was sad to leave my previous class, the offer of a Kindergarten classroom full time was too much to pass up.  What made it even better was knowing the kids beforehand and getting to see them again.  The rest is history. It has been a wonderful 2 months with the students and I look forward to spending more time teaching all of them.

Last week was my first real taste of flying solo (With the assistance of Ms. D and other Mr. F).  It has been amazing getting to plan my very own centers and lessons.  The mixture of winter and science has given me a lot to work with for the month of January.  I hope everyone has enjoyed all of the new stuff in the classroom.  The highlight was introducing these little guys.

These are the Penguin Pals and they have added a lot of extra fun in the classroom.  Every day we have two special helpers in the classroom.  In addition to being line leaders and helping me in the classroom, the students now receive either Paul or Patti.  They get to sit with them on the carpet, play with them during explore, and hang out with them at the tables.  My helpers get to spend the entire day with them, but only if they show me the best behavior and truly special helpers.  If they are not showing positive behavior then they lose their Penguin Pal (that has yet to happen).  Piper the last Penguin Pal, usually is hanging out with me.  But, I keep my eye out for positive behavior from the rest of the students and when I see it from a student I usually reward them with Piper.  It has been great adding this reward system and having some extra friends in the classroom.

Thank you for everything so far, and I look forward to getting to know everyone even more during my time here.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me via email, message, or even calling the school.

- Mr. F