Principal's Message
A big thank-you goes out to parents for arriving quickly to pick up your children during our “No Water” day. Your quick response was appreciated. We were aware that there was a boil water advisory, but La Ville de Gatineau did not advise us beforehand that we would have no water for flushing toilets, washing hands, etc.
May and June are busy months with students completing evaluations for the final report card in June. Please pay close attention to your child’s homework and assignments, as the final term of the year is very important. May and June are also month’s with various activities for the students, so please pay close attention to upcoming dates on the calendar.
KINDERGARTEN REGISTRATION
If you have not registered for kindergarten next year, or if you know anyone who has a child turning five before September 30th please make arrangements to register by emailing our secretary Michelle at mcomple@wqsb.qc.ca or calling (819)663-4842 extension 2.
Events at School
DEBATES AT GREATER GATINEAU
Students from the grade 6 classes will participate in debates this month. Each class will choose one team to represent them in the final debate. Students from grades 5 and 6 will attend as the audience.
MINISTRY EXAMS
During the month of May and June the students in Grade 6 will take part in Ministry Exams. What parents need to know
MUSEUM OF HISTORY TRIP
Cycle 3 has it’s turn to take a trip to the Museum of History to watch a movie. This trip is funded by a Cultural Grant from the Ministry of Education.
Grade 6 – May 5th – Coast to Coast to Coast
Grade 5 – May 6th – Coast to Coast to Coast
MEET THE AUTHOR
On May 11th the grade 4 students are excited to have an opportunity to work with Catherine Austen, who is an author who has written many fiction books from comics to drama for children and young adults.
We will be reading one of her books and having a “Meet the Author” session where she will discuss how she came up with the idea for the book and do a small writing project with the students.
PERFORMING ARTS AUDITIONS
We are happy to announce that our school will be hosting its annual Greater Gatineau Performing Arts Show in person this year! We can’t wait to see all of the wonderful hidden talents at our school. We will be accepting video submissions for talents that aren’t able to be performed in the gym. We will have three assemblies for students only to limit the number of people in the gym.
Auditions for in person talents will take place the week of May 16th.
ROCKS & RINGS (Rescheduled)
On May 17th the grade 6 students will participate in the Rocks & Rings program. The students will engage in friendly competition while learning curling terminology, scoring, and more. Custom scoreboards and four mini curling lanes will transform our school gym into an iceless curling rink ready for fun!
DANCE AT SCHOOL
- May 24th – Kindergarten, grade 1 & 2
- May 26th – Kindergarten, grade 1 & 2
- May 31st – Grade 1 & 2 only
ONLINE AGRICULTURE MUSEUM
The grade 4 students will be participating in a virtual field trip with the Agriculture Museum. They will be learning about soil and how it is one of the richest habitats for biodiversity. Students will get to investigate the composition of soil, meet some of its inhabitants, and learn about its food chain.
- May 24th – DV’s class
- May 25th – Plue’s class
- May 27th – Cusin’s class
SYMMES INN MUSEUM AND MARINA TRIP
On May 19th the three grade 3 classes will be going to visit the Symmes Inn Museum in Aylmer to learn about this historic building. They will also spend time playing games, doing a scavenger hunt, and enjoying a pizza lunch at the nearby Aylmer Marina. This trip is funded by the Culture and Nutrition Grants.
ADRÉNALINE PLUS TRIP
The students from Kindergarten and Grade 1 will each go on a trip to Adrénaline Plus. They will play in the indoor playground, spend time in the laser maze, and play a game of “time freak”. They will also have a pizza lunch paid for by the nutrition grant. The trip is partially covered by a grant to promote physical activity. We will ask for a parent donation to cover the remaining cost.
- May 27th – Grade 1 classes
- May 31st – Kindergarten classes
MONTHLY ASSEMBLY
Our next assembly will be on Wednesday, June 1st, where we will celebrate the students who have shown the chosen virtue throughout the month.
Please remember to wear your purple GG shirt for all of our monthly assemblies. This creates a sense of community at school.
May is SPORTSMANSHIP/ FAIRNESS month. We hope to see students showing us fairness while playing with others and good sportsmanship whether they win or lose.
PEACE LEARNING CIRCLES* AT HOME
SHAPING UP WITH “BLOCKS”
You will need two sets of the same items, can be done with blocks, Lego, or even just a group of household items. The first person (the director) sets up their objects in some sort of shape or design on the table or floor out of sight of the second person. Then the object is to explain to the second person (the listener) how to place the items so they match the first design. Switch roles and try the activity again.
Questions to ask after the activity has been completed:
- What did you learn giving directions to others?
- Why is this a difficult or easy activity?
- Why is listening and following instructions important?
- How did the director and listener work together?
- How can they improve working together?
- How did you feel having to follow directions without being able to see the pattern?
*Please note that Tribes is now known as Peace Learning Circles. The principles remain the same, just the name has changed.
Home & School
Thank you to everyone who participated in our Greater Gatineau Greatest Auction 4.0, we hope you had fun bidding! With your help, we raised over $1300 for the school to to benefit from enhanced technology solutions to support children and teachers during in class and remote teaching and support green initiatives.
Current Fundraisers:
- Plantables, there is still time to place your orders for all your gardening needs. Use promo code GGHOMEANDSCHOOL at checkout. We get 10% of all sales.
- Mabel’s Labels get ready for summer camp. Label your child’s items so they can be returned when misplaced.
For our last fundraiser of the year, we will be selling cotton candy once again to end off the school year, stay tuned for details.
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.
As mentioned, we have postponed our elections until the end of next school year, the hope is that a few more parents join H&S to replace some parents whose children are moving on the other schools.
During our next H&S meeting we will be conducting some of the AGM activities such as the President’s report and the Treasurer’s report, it will be a great time to attend our meeting to get a summary of all the activities and fundraisers we did for the 2021-2022 school year.
The meeting will be held via zoom Tuesday, May 10th at 6:30pm. Please send us an email at gghomeandschool@gmail.com if you would like to attend.
Daycare
We have two PD days this month. Both days are open to all Greater Gatineau students. The first is on Friday, May 20th and we will stay at school for some activities planned by the educators. The second is on Monday, May 30th when we will have PARK DAY and our Dairy Queen trip.
Please sign up for @ggdaycare on the Remind app to get the notifications regarding PD days.
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 x3 or e-mail jplaxton@wqsb.qc.ca
To reserve a daycare spot for next year please complete the Daycare Survey 2022 and return it to school. All current students will be re-registered with the same reservation unless you advise a change.
Special Notes
DAYCARE WEEK
May 9th to 13th is Quebec School Daycare Week. This week is to recognize the importance of the complementary role of school daycares in the school team. The theme this year is “School Daycare Staff, An Essential Link”.
Wednesday May 11th is the “Journee de reconnaissance du personnel en garde scolaire”.
Feel free to send a message of encouragement to your child’s educator.
JUMP ROPE FOR HEART
Greater Gatineau will once again participate in Jump Rope for Heart. During the month of May students will have access to skipping ropes during recess and lunch time. This promotes physical activity and a healthy heart.
Join the fundraising efforts here at Jump Rope for Heart, register your child or click “Join Us” and choose Greater Gatineau. There are also some great challenges to take part in that promote healthy eating, physical activity, and other healthy habits.
More information available here in the Parent Letter.
ARE YOU MOVING?
As we prepare for next year, it is very important that you notify the school if you are moving. Please call the school at 819-663-4842 and speak to Katharine at extension 1, with your change of address so we can update our files for transportation.
OUTDOOR EDUCATION PROGRAM
The students at Greater Gatineau participate in a variety of outdoor education experiences throughout the year. We have highlighted some of them in this PowerPoint Presentation to show you some of the great learning opportunities they enjoy.
CUBE ÉNERGIE
Greater Gatineau has registered for the “Grand Defi” from Pierre Lavoie. Students will be encouraged to participate in physical activity to gain as many Energy Cubes as they can between May 2nd and May 23rd.
15 minutes of physical activity = 1 Energy Cube, which can be accumulated at home and at school using a logbook. Parents can encourage their children to do physical activity while at home and help to complete the logbook. Logbooks are to be returned to school for May 24th to give the teachers a chance to tally the Energy Cubes.
If our students participate well, the school will have a higher chance to win several prizes. See the Information Sheet and Website for more information on the program.
SPECIAL EDUCATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE WEBINAR
Check out the SEAC Website for information on the webinar titled “Accepted and Understood“. On Thursday, May 5th from 6:00 to 7:30 pm special guests, Kristina Findlay, M.Sc.O(C) and Emma Hadeed, B. Ed., M Sc. Spec. Ed., share strategies on how to support special needs students’ social interactions through communication.
DENTAL HYGIENIST
The dental hygienist will be at school starting on May 12th for the grade 2 dental screening. She will also be here to see some students for dental sealants and preventive follow-ups between May 9th and May 24th.
DART – Drug Awareness Resource Team
On May 13th the WQSB Drug and Alcohol Technician, Erica Tomkinson will be meeting with our Grade 6 students to give a presentation on drug and alcohol awareness and prevention. Erica works at Hadley and will be a resource for the students next year.
MUSIC LESSONS
The Ottawa Youth Orchestra offers Saturday morning classes for elementary aged students at Philemon Wright and other locations for some instruments*.
Elementary Percussion* (ages 6-9) | Jumpstart Harp* (ages 6-11) |
Percussion ensemble* (ages 9+) | Jumpstart Bassoon (age 9+) |
Beginner strings (age 5+) | Jumpstart Oboe (age 9+) |
Beginner winds (age 9+) | Jumpstart Viola (age 8+) |
Preparatory Music (kindergarten) | Jumpstart Double Bass (age 10+) |
Preschool Music (ages 3-4/preschool) | Jumpstart French Horn (age 8+) |
Recorder (age 6-10) |
None of these programs require an audition and they would love to welcome new students to the program! For the Jumpstart programs, they provide an instrument on loan free of charge, and private lessons for the students, alongside a group experience. The fees are very low for the year, and they also have financial aid available.
Anybody interested can email Tasha Ausman at admin@oyoa-aojo.ca or tausman@wqsb.qc.ca. Registrations are open now.
See more on the website www.ottawayouthorchestra.ca