Once upon a classroom: A touch of Tinkerbell at Wildwood School

In the middle of a math problem, or maybe while reviewing the weekly spelling list, there’s going to be a magical moment.

It hasn’t happened yet. But Emma Tink knows it’s coming. She waits for it every September.

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“There’s going to be a moment where we’re all going to laugh,” she said, her eyes twinkling.

“I don’t know what it’ll be — maybe a kid falls off their chair, or maybe I’m going to trip. But that will be the moment that we all come together and you’re going to actually feel like, ‘OK, this is my team. This will be my little family for the year.’”

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For Tink, the new school year truly begins when the nerves settle, the classroom warms up and a room full of strangers turns into a team.

Fresh pencils, empty notebooks and a desk waiting to be claimed. It’s the quiet before the classroom becomes a community. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)

Tink teaches grades 5 and 6 at Wildwood School in Saskatoon.

Her last name almost always gets a smile. Especially when she follows it with a cheerful, “Like Tinkerbell.” And honestly, it fits.

She might not fly or carry a wand, but there’s something undeniably magical about her. It’s in the way she talks about the career she loves and how her whole face lights up when she describes her students, her classroom and the quiet, everyday joys of teaching.

The way she believes — in her students, in the process, in the possibility of what a school year can become — is its own kind of enchantment.

Tink said she’s been dreaming about the job since she was a kid, lining up her stuffed animals and giving them spelling tests.

“My grandma was a teacher, so I’d always play with her sticker bin,” she recalled. “And when I’d write my fake tests, I’d give my stuffies a sticker. I just always wanted to teach.”

That little girl even made a bucket list: Graduate university, get a dog and, of course, become a teacher.

“And now,” she said, “little Emma can say ‘I did that.’”

The words are simple, but the meaning runs deep. A new year begins — and with it, the quiet hope of connection, growth and laughter. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)

Of course, even fairy tales have plot twists. Sometimes the math unit makes no sense. Sometimes the questions are harder than expected — even for the teacher.

“Sometimes you go to teach something in the curriculum and realize… ‘I don’t know what this is,’” she said, laughing. “So I bring the book home and study it. Or I’ll ask my fiancé. Or my dad is an engineer, so those math questions I am phoning and I’m like, ‘Remind me how to do this again?’ You’ve done Grade 6 math before, sure, but you have to remember how to do it again!”

And just like her students, Tink still gets nervous on the first day of school.

“As much as kids don’t know who we are, we don’t know who they are yet either,” she said. “And there are how many kids in the classroom — times two eyes? That’s a lot of eyes on you. So as much as they might feel nervous, the teacher also probably feels just as nervous.”

Pinned behind Tink’s desk are photos of the people who shaped her story — reminders of where she came from, and why she believes so deeply in the kids in front of her. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)

But even on the hard days — especially on the hard days — Tink shows up with the same hopeful spark and a steady belief that this job matters.

It’s not always the test scores or perfectly completed assignments that define a successful year for her. Sometimes it’s something quieter. Something deeper.

“The kids who sometimes need that extra love or need that extra bit of patience to achieve their goal… once they achieve it, that’s the feeling of ‘We did it. We got there,’” she said.

“I’ve had some students before that really needed a second to figure out the math equations, or even figure out how to make friends or get into a friend group. I think more of the personal moments, not even the academic. It’s the mindset growth — when that clicks, or something like that happens, that’s what makes me stand back and I’m like, ‘Yes!’”

Even the smallest things in Emma Tink’s classroom, like a cheerful pineapple plant on the windowsill, are nurtured with care. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)

It’s because at the end of the day, she isn’t just helping kids learn grammar or equations. She’s helping them find their place in the world.

“When we’re told that we can make change in the world, you think, ‘How can one person make a change?’” she explained. “But being a teacher is one way you actually can. The kids in my classroom — one day, they might be that change.”

For Emma Tink, every child who steps into her classroom carries endless potential.

And while she can’t grant them wings, she offers the next best thing: faith, trust and a little bit of pixie dust.

And sometimes, that’s all it takes to fly.

Before the noise, before the names are learned, there’s this moment — a teacher at her desk, ready to turn strangers into a team. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)