Principal's Message
The holidays are a wonderful time of year, but sometimes there are families that are in need of assistance to help them through this time of year. Please help out some Greater Gatineau families by donating some food items or by requesting an angel tag from our angel tree to buy a gift for a child.
We will be delivering food baskets and gifts to 20 families from our school. We are working with St. Aloysius Church on this Christmas project.
With winter upon us, there is the possibility of “Snow Days” or bus cancellations. You can sign-up for the free “Remind” app to receive notice of any snow days. You will receive a message immediately if school or buses are cancelled. You also receive any new information about Covid-19 or other school events through Remind.
Reminder that the last day of school before the holiday is Wednesday, December 22nd. We return to school on Thursday, January 6th after the winter break.
I’d like to wish everyone a wonderful holiday season!
PROPER DRESS
With the weather turning colder, we want to remind you that children must be dressed appropriately for the weather. Hats, mittens/gloves, warm coats, snow pants and boots are needed so they can play outside comfortably.
Events at School
TRIBES REWARD DAY
We are proud to announce that our Tribes Popsicle stick bucket is full! Students have been doing a wonderful job of following the Tribes Agreements during recesses. The reward for students will be “Crazy Hair Day”, plus a snack of chocolate milk and cookies. (Dairy free and gluten-free options will be available for those with a food intolerance).
Our reward day will be on Friday December 3rd. We will be taking pictures of the “Crazy Hair” for December Assembly.
We will be following all Public Health Guidelines when distributing the snack.
Congratulations to all students!
COVID VACCINATIONS AT SCHOOL
We will be offering Covid vaccination at school to children from age 5-11. Permission must be granted for the children to get the vaccine. The vaccination date will be December 13th. The details are in the Vaccination Letter to book and approve online.
If you would like to receive a paper copy of the consent form to fill out; please email your child’s teacher with a Cc to Katharine: kandriano@wqsb.qc.ca.
HOLIDAY TRIVIA
A new trivia question will be announced each day between December 13th and 22nd, with one winner from each cycle for a special prize.
DOOR DECORATING CONTEST
Each class and daycare group will be decorating their doors with a holiday theme. The winning room will have a pizza party!
SPECIAL ACTIVITIES FOR THE WEEK OF DECEMBER 20th
HOLIDAY SWEATER DAY -Monday
Put on a holiday sweater or something red and green to start the week of festivities.
HOLIDAY HAT DAY -Tuesday
Break out the Santa hat or reindeer antlers for holiday hat day.
PAJAMA DAY -Wednesday
Please wear your favourite pajamas to celebrate the last day of school for 2021.
HOLIDAY CONCERT
On Wednesday, December 22nd we will send a link via Remind and email to our concert. Classes will be recorded singing a song, doing a short skit, telling holiday jokes or other presentations. You can enjoy it from home with your families.
Here is our Holiday Staff Video for you to enjoy.
Here is the link to the Holiday Concert to share with your families.
MONTHLY ASSEMBLY
Our next assembly will be on Tuesday, December 21st, where we will celebrate the students who have shown the chosen virtue throughout the month.
Please remember to wear your purple Greater Gatineau shirt to all of our monthly assemblies. This creates a sense of community at school.
December is COOPERATION month. We hope to see students making an effort to work together as a team.
TRIBES AT HOME
Here is a quick and fun energizer you can do at home with your whole family.
It’s called “Do After Me” Sit in a large circle. One person begins by entering the circle and making a gesture, sound, or movement (the more ridiculous, the more fun), and then points to someone else in the circle to succeed them. This person makes the same gesture, sound, or movement as the proceeding person made, and then adds their own performance. They then choose the next person, and this person need only repeat the preceding action and add one before choosing someone new.
The game is over when everyone has had a chance in the circle.
Home & School
Thank you to all families who supported our Greater Gatineau H&S Cookie Dough and More Sales! fundraiser. Reminder, order pick-up is coming soon, please watch your email for exact date and time.
In the spring we are planning our online auction. We are looking for donations for our auction. If you know of any companies who would like to donate or maybe even your own company, please send us an email.
We are also always looking for new members to join us or ideas for upcoming events, please contact us via email gghomeandschool@gmail.com or through our Facebook page.
We will continue to post on our Facebook page, if you haven’t done so already, please follow us to stay up to date on upcoming events facebook.com/GreaterGatineau. We will have some new activities coming in the new year.
The next Home & School meeting will be on Tuesday, December 7 at 6:30pm. We hold our meetings virtually, please reach out to us via email if you would like to attend.
The Home & School would like to wish all Greater Gatineau families a very happy holiday season!
Daycare
Our daycare is divided into animal groups this year. Ask your child if they are a rabbit, wolf, fox, or owl. We love our menagerie of daycare friends.
Please sign up for @ggdaycare on the Remind app to get the notifications regarding PD days or other daycare updates.
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 until Wednesday, December 15th,2021.
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.
We will be following Public Health protocols by isolating the food items for a few days before they are prepared for families.
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 make the Christmas season a little brighter.
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 $20.00 or $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 Katharine at kandriano@wqsb.qc.ca and we will be happy to send one home by email.
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 15th, so they can be organized and isolated for a period of time to follow health protocols.
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.
GIFTS FOR STAFF MEMBERS
Gifts are not expected. If you do feel like sharing some holiday cheer, your happy thoughts and well wishes are more than enough to make our holidays bright.
If you would like to send something in with your children to give to their teacher or other staff member, feel free. Teachers will be quarantining their own gifts in the classroom this year.
NEW MENU FOR MAZZOLA HOT LUNCH
We offer hot meals on Mondays and Fridays here at Greater Gatineau. Mazzola has offered their new menu for December and January.
Place your orders online at order.mazzola.ca