Principal's Message
Parent – Teacher interviews are taking place this month, and we would like every parent to attend the interview for each of your children. The first report card of the year is a very important one; so parents/guardians and teachers can meet to see how we can work together to help your child succeed! You will be able to choose between an in-person interview, or a virtual one. A sign-up will be provided by your child’s homeroom teacher in the next couple of weeks.
Our year is off to a fabulous start! Our teachers have been offering numerous extra-curricular activities for our students. When a new club or team is offered, we announce it in the mornings for students to join. Please encourage your child to listen to the announcements, and to become involved in an activity. Thanks so much to our teachers for offering these activities!
We are also offering “Power Play” during first and last recesses in the gym. We have a schedule with different classes each day that send some students to the gym for fun activities and sports. Thanks to Mackenzie and Mateo for leading “Power Play”.
We are pleased to announce that we have created an “Anti-Racism Committee” of staff members at school. We will be meeting to plan activities and learning experiences that promote anti-racism, respect, and inclusion. We will also be forming a student committee (with our older grades) to get some student input and support later in the month.
The weather is very different from day to day; so please be sure to check the weather daily to ensure your child has appropriate clothing.
Wishing everyone a fabulous month!
CHANGE OF CLOTHES
All children can benefit from having a change of clothes at school. Accidents such as; food spills, wet slides, falls into puddles, etc. can happen to anyone.
We have limited items with limited sizes here at school, and it is no fun to sit in wet or soiled clothes all day.
Please send a change of clothes with your child to be kept at school or in their backpack incase of such a situation.
Events at School
PEACE BUCKET REWARD
We are so proud of our students for following the Peace Agreements. The popsicle stick bucket is full! The reward will be a movie and popcorn in the gym during the school day on Friday, November 4th.
TOUCH FOOTBALL
Students from grades 5 & 6 who were selected for the football team will be going to Lord Aylmer Elementary to compete in a Touch Football tournament on November 3rd. We wish them luck!
REMEMBRANCE DAY
On November 11th, Greater Gatineau School will have our Remembrance Day Ceremony to remember all those who have fought and died while serving our country. The ceremony will be held at 10:30 AM. Parents from the armed forces, police, RCMP, etc. are welcome to attend. We are still required to limit numbers, so other parents are unfortunately unable to attend. Members from the Norris branch of the Royal Canadian Legion will be in attendance as well.
Students and staff are encouraged to wear RED on November 11th for Remembrance Day. Lest we forget.
PROGRESS REPORTS
The Book Fair will take place in the gym during the parent/teacher interviews. Parents are welcome to visit the Book Fair in the evening on the 17th and in the morning on the 18th.
GRADE SIX BAKE SALE
Grade 6 students will run a bake sale during parent/teacher interviews. All baked goods will be nut free and proceeds will be used to buy books for the school. Please stop by the bake sale, and support our students love of reading!
MAZZOLA LUNCH ORDERS
We will continue to offer the Mazzola hot lunch program on Mondays and Fridays. Here is the Mazzola Menu for November and December.
Outdoor Education
OUTDOOR EDUCATION TRIP
The Grade 5 classes will be hiking to Lac Beauchamp on November 9th for an outdoor education day experience.
Students will participate in activities that promote team building, with their classes and as a large grade 5 group. Hot Dogs will be served for lunch! Funds will be provided by a ministry grant.
ORIENTEERING
We are very lucky to have Mr. Alan Earwaker, our Outdoor Education Consultant, joining our Grade 4 students in exploring how compasses work and how we can use them for orienteering.
Students should be dressed appropriately for outdoor weather on their “Orienteering Day.”
The orienteering activities will be held on the following dates:
- Ms. Cusin’s class November 22nd
- Ms. DV’s class November 23rd
- Mrs. Plue’s class November 24th
MONTHLY ASSEMBLY
Our next assembly will be on Monday, November 28th, where we will celebrate the students who have shown the chosen virtue throughout the month.
- 10:05 – Kindergarten and Grade 1+2
- 10:55 – Grade 3+4
- 12:35 – Grade 5+6
Please remember to wear your purple Greater Gatineau shirt to all of our monthly assemblies. This creates a sense of community at school.
November is INCLUSION month. We hope to see students making an effort to include others who are left out.
PEACE LEARNING CIRCLES AT HOME
How well does your child know their information about home or how well do parents know information about their child’s school?
Parents/guardians can sit on the floor in a circle and pass the ball to one another and asks them the following questions:
- Who is your/my teacher?
- Who is your/my French teacher?
- Who is your/my Gym Teacher? What is the name of your/my bus driver?
- What is your/my bus number?
- What is your address?
- What is your phone number?
These are just a few very important pieces of information that parents and children should know about their home and school.
We have noticed that this information is not known by some parents and students and thought it would be a good exercise for everyone to learn this information.
Home & School
Thank you to everyone who attended our first in person event – Movie night. We had a great turn-out, we really appreciate everyone’s support. We will be hosting more movie nights in the future.
We have some exciting fundraisers and events coming soon, stayed tuned for more details! Some old favourites will be returning now that we can host in person events.
If you would like to join us, please contact us via email at gghomeandschool@gmail.com or through our Facebook page.
For the upcoming year we will be posting our communications on our Facebook page, if you haven’t done so already, please follow us to stay up to date on upcoming events https://www.facebook.com/GreaterGatineau
The next Home & School meeting will be on Tuesday, November 22nd at 6:30pm.
Daycare
There are two PD days this month. November 18th is open to all Greater Gatineau School students. The deadline for registration is Friday, November 11th. Please sign up for @ggdaycare on the Remind app to get the notifications regarding PD days.
The November 25th PD day is “Global Day” at the Western Quebec School Board. There will be no program offered for GG students that day as the daycare is closed for a day of training for all support staff.
Should you have any questions about our program or to register for the PD days please do not hesitate to contact Jennifer by phone at (819) 663-4842 ext. 3 or e-mail jplaxton@wqsb.qc.ca
Special Notes
FOOD DRIVE FOR CHRISTMAS
We will be collecting canned food, pickles, pasta, rice, toothpaste, laundry detergent, and any other non-perishable items from Wednesday, November 23rd to Wednesday, December 14th.
Please give generously so we will have enough items to help out some families in our school.
Please make sure that you check the expiration dates on the items.
If your family is in need of a food basket, please email Mrs. Link at vlink@wqsb.qc.ca.
ANGEL TREE
This program helps our less fortunate families at Greater Gatineau make the Christmas season a little brighter.
Starting November 23rd you can receive an angel tag which would have “boy” or “girl” marked on it with their age. You would purchase an age appropriate gift valued at approximately $25.00. You wrap the gift and send it back to the school with the angel tag taped onto the gift so we can make sure it gets to the right person.
If you are interested in an Angel Tag, you can email Julie at jcaron@wqsb.qc.ca and we will be happy to send one home by email (or hard copy if requested).
We will record your name to help us keep track of who has the Angel Tags and ensure that all children receive a gift.
Please make sure that all gifts are returned to school no later than Wednesday, December 14th, so they can be organized for distribution.
Christmas is for children and we hope you can help us put as many smiles as we can on the faces of Greater Gatineau students.
WESTERN QUEBEC CAREER CENTRE – FRENCH CLASS
French conversation classes are back at the Western Quebec Career Centre! Classes for beginners and intermediate French speakers are
starting again on November 7, 2022.
The cost is only $50 for a 8 week session. If you are currently working and would like to improve your spoken French, this is the course for you. See the flyer for more information.
MASCOT SEARCH RESULTS
After a school-wide voting process we have selected our new mascot. We will be the Greater Gatineau Grizzlies!!!
Our colours will be purple, black, and grey. We will continue the process to come up with a new logo to represent the Greater Gatineau School community.
Let’s go Grizzlies, let’s GO!!!
LOST AND FOUND
We have many items in our lost and found here at school. Please remind your children to check for any lost items.
It is also very helpful if you label your children’s items. The first thing we do is check for names in the items so that we can reunite them with the appropriate person.