grosvenor school april 2021 newsletter
TRANSCRIPT
April 2021 Phone Number:
204-475-5242
Welcome back! I hope that your family
was able to enjoy some time together
during Spring Break. Although travel
plans were put on hold again this year, I
hope you enjoyed a change of routine
as it feels good to catch one's
breath! As April falls upon us, so does
spring rain! I am eager to see the
children move away from snow shovels
and forts to exploring water and
puddles at recess. Please send in an
extra pair of clothes for your child in
case they get wet. Thank you!
I wanted to share with you the
incredible new bike racks that the
students at RB Russell have made for
us! As part of a Heathy Schools
Initiative through Winnipeg School
Division, I wrote a grant asking for
money to purchase bike racks to house
the growing number of students riding
their bikes to school. We were
awarded $1000.00 and the money
went back into the welding
department at RB Vocational School. I
am not sure when they will be
delivered… the work order is in and we
can anticipate them coming soon.
I have received word that Mr. Kehler
will be on leave for the remainder of
the school year. As you know, Ms.
Madill is expecting in May and a Grade
5 TERM position will be posted at that
time. Ms. Haw will have graduated by
then, and it is my hope that we can
hire her to finish the school year. She
has been the constant all year and I’d
really like to keep that continuity for the
kids. As time gets closer, I will keep you
in the loop.
It is at this time of year that the staffing
process begins. Our enrollment has
dropped from 185 to 157 this year. We
are projecting about the same amount
of students for next year. We are
seeing a noticeable drop in Nursery
and Kindergarten then in previous
years. This could be pandemic related
as some parents are choosing to keep
their children home.
In the month of April, I will receive our
staffing complement for the 2021-2022
school year and from there, we will
map out staffing positions and
classrooms configurations, based on
our current/anticipated student
numbers. Please stay tuned, as soon as
further information is available, you will
be notified.
On behalf of the Grosvenor Staff I want
to hank you again for spoiling us rotten!
A special “thank you” to Ashleigh for
all her hard work organizing. We felt
VERY appreciated!
We look forward to a wonderful month
of learning!
Warm regards,
Camie
Administrative Message
GSA News 2-4
WSD News 8
School News 5-7
April Calendar 9
Inside this issue:
GROSVENOR SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
Upcoming No Class
Dates:
• April 16th, 2021
• May 3rd, 2021
• May 24th, 2021
Page 2 GROSVENOR SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
News from the GSA Welcome back! We hope you found Spring Break to be restful respite as we enter the home stretch for the school year and,
comparing this year to last year which had our break in March lasting through to June, we are most certainly grateful to see
classes remain in session. In this spirit, we must offer much heartfelt thanks to Ashleigh Mitchell who spearheaded Staff
Appreciation Week this year, March 22 to 26, with daily gifts of gratitude to our wonderful administrators, teachers, and
support and custodial staff. Thank you to Ashleigh for taking care of that from all of us in the Grosvenor School community.
(She has provided photos to accompany the standalone feature on this as well.) And, of course, thanks must go to you, the
parents, for your generosity in donating to the fund which made it all possible.
As we anxiously await news from Winnipeg School Division on developments around before- and after-school-age
programming, Stephanie and Maureen opted to divide and conquer. Maureen continued efforts to recruit suitable
candidates operating licensed school-age programs (as a licensed program is required by WSD for September) by
contacting every facility offering school-age programming in the city to indicate the division issued a Request for Proposals to
replace our ABC program at Grosvenor while Stephanie absolved herself from that campaign in order to stay clear of any
perceived conflict of interest and therefore remains eligible to sit on the school division panel to pick a replacement for our
parent-run program for the start of 2021-2022.
At the information session held mid-March by Winnipeg School Division, we were told the process of picking a replacement
for ABC would fall to a panel which included, but was not limited to, a chair from the Grosvenor School Association as well as
our principal and a parent at Grosvenor School. If you are interested in serving as that parent representative and can declare
yourself free of conflict of interest (i.e. strongly-held opinions, association in the past or present with existing licensed facilities
who may be submitting a tender) and can vouch you will act in accordance with helping to decide what is best for the
school community at large as opposed to what might be better for your family or families close to you, please let us know
TODAY (April 5) as we must submit a name to administrators at the division tomorrow, Tuesday, April 6.
We want what is best for the school community today and into the future. The assurance of available before- and after-
school care is an important factor in selecting an elementary school for many families. And, as our longest-serving GSA staff
person will tell you, when she came to Grosvenor School as a parent herself more than 30 years ago, the school had no
before and after school care programming in place and enrolment sat 89 children as opposed to last year (pre-pandemic)
when enrolment hit a high of almost one hundred students more than that, 185 students if memory serves. Healthy enrolment
is key to a healthy school community and school-age care outside school hours is a critical component in that. We are doing
everything within our powers to ensure that continuum of before- and after- school-age care is met despite no longer being
allowed by Winnipeg School Division to offer it ourselves.
2020-2021 GSA Officers
Co-Chairs: Maureen W.L. and Stephanie E.
Vice-Chairs: Lorna T. and Kara M.
Secretary: Shauna W.
Treasurers: Jeff S. and Jocelyne L.
Members-At-Large: John M., Ashleigh M., Dianna R., Alex
V., and Tallula W.
Contact GSA: [email protected]
Principal: [email protected]
GSA meetings will be held:
April 7 *will be a Zoom meeting
Contact GSA for an invitation at:
May 4 and June 2
News from the GSA Page 3
With a healthy break from school routine now behind us, it seems prudent to offer a reminder of behavioural expectations
for students enrolled in our programming. As of late, there have been issues within select groups. When your child enrolled
in one of our programs, taking Lunch for example, they agreed to maintain a standard of behaviour of which we ask you to
remind them.
Expectations of Students:
▪ Show respect and courtesy to all staff and students;
▪ Eat at their assigned tables/classrooms and stay seated;
▪ Use an inside voice whilst eating;
▪ Be respectful with their food and eat appropriately;
▪ Be respectful of other people’s personal space, belongings and lunch;
▪ Clean up garbage and eating area before going outside;
▪ Return recess equipment, games, supplies to storage areas;
▪ Ask to use the washroom. Only one child in the washroom at a time;
▪ Remain in the designated area and school grounds at all times. Parents must sign their children out in the
office if they will not be at lunch that day;
▪ Dress appropriately for the weather, and
▪ Follow the school playground rules and encourage safe play for all.
When these behavioural expectations are not being met, Lunch program staff will try to redirect a child’s behaviour by
using the following protocol:
▪ First Reminder: Verbal reminder of expectations by lunch staff.
▪ Second Reminder: Time out or loss of lunch hour privilege with phone call or note home to parents
▪ Third or Subsequent Reminder: Student and/or parent/guardian meets with principal understanding the
potential for suspension from the lunch program.
Let’s all continue to work together to ensure lunchtime is a time when students and staff alike feel safe, respected and
valued.
Finally, our next monthly Grosvenor School Association meeting will be held this week, on Wednesday, April 7 at 6:30 pm via
Zoom. With only a handful of monthly meetings remaining in this school year, your current co-chairs wish to make it known
they will not be seeking a second term when this one ends at the AGM in June. Both Stephanie and Maureen remain
grateful for the experience the role has afforded during this uniquely challenging pandemic school year but neither can
take further time away from their responsibilities at work and home. (Stephanie is a nurse and Maureen requires a
sabbatical from volunteer work to get her business affairs back in order. Maureen would be pleased to return to these
volunteer duties after a break of a year or so and will attempt to convince Stephanie to join her again when that time
comes but neither can manage a second consecutive year at it.) Everyone involved seems to feel that co-chairing is a
system of volunteer board governance that works here at Grosvenor School for its parent association so now is the time to
start thinking about who you might ask to be your co-pilot should you decide to answer the call to volunteer. Our school
community depends on its parent association for lunchtime supervision as well as fundraising initiatives that support the
efforts of the school and its staff so they are able to offer the best to our children, their students. If you have questions
around volunteering your time to the Grosvenor School Association and what it may involve, please don’t hesitate to ask us
See you at school and (hopefully) the meeting on Wednesday evening.
Maureen and Stephanie
Page 4 GROSVENOR SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
News from the GSA Staff Appreciation Week!
Much heartfelt thanks must go to Ashleigh Mitchell who spearheaded Staff Appreciation Week this year, March 22 to 26, with daily gifts of gratitude to our wonderful administrators, teachers,
support and custodial staff. Thanks to the generous contributions from families within our school
community, we decorated the staff room, stocked it with fresh fruit, chocolates, tea and drinks,
gave individual roses, brought in fresh coffee daily from The Canteen and baking from Lilac
Bakery, Tall Grass Prairie and Oh Doughnuts and hosted a pizza party on Friday! Staff were
presented with the group gift of a gratitude jar, filled with loving messages expressing how
much their endless efforts to educate, support and guide our children through this ever-so-
challenging year have been appreciated!! So very lovely. Thank you to Ashleigh for taking
care of that from all of us in the Grosvenor School community and, of course, to all the families
who gave so generously to see it happen.
Kindergarten students finished learning about friendship in the month of March. Kindergarten stu-
dents were randomly placed in pairs to take turns drawing their friend’s self-portrait focusing on the details they noticed. Next we brainstormed ideas of what we appreciate about our friends in Kinder-garten. Then students choose three things to write on a strip of paper. These will be displayed on the
bulletin board outside the Kindergarten classroom.
In grades 1-4 students wrapped up their friendship drama skits. They were in various random group-ings from pairs to groups of four. They were invited to write a skit following a beginning, middle and
end. Students collaborated together around a friendship conflict of their choice where the middle of the skit the problem started and at the end of the skit the problem was solved. Each of their skits
were performed for the class and recorded on video.
In grades 5 and 6 students finished their mindfulness mini-inquiry projects. Students had a choice on how to share their learning with their classmates, some choose to present their findings with a slide presentation or write a guided breathing exercise for the class to participate in. Then some students
choose to display their learning verses present by typing up a writing piece, make a poster, design
an interactive poster or build an animation model of the brain.
News from the School Page 5
Mindfulness by Ms. McMurtry
News from the Music Room by Ms. Hanton
Looking forward to music classes during April at Grosvenor, we will be trying to get outside as our
schedule and the weather permit to kick up our heels and dance! Younger grades will learn about circle formation and basic movement in place. The older grades will also be dancing outside in
traditional and not-so-traditional dance formations. We will also be re-visiting bucket drumming, tone chimes, and ukulele lessons to create small ensembles and music together. Over the coming months
Grade 6 will be focusing on traditional music notation in preparation for Grade 7 band and choir.
News from the Gym by Ms. Squair
Students are enjoying being outside and feeling the warmth of the sun and higher
temperatures. Grades 2-6 have been excited to walk to Community parks to explore different equipment, and either race, climb, swing, throw a football, kick a soccer ball or toss a frisbee. Grade
ones have learning new tag games and enjoying kicking and throwing activities (number soccer,
volcano dodgeball).
During April, the focus for classes will be badminton, volleyball, basketball, soccer baseball, relay-
type activities, skipping, Community walks, scootering and biking around the track. Grades 1- 3 will be exposed to frisbee and beanbag golf, balloon badminton and invasion games. Grades 4, 5 and
6’s will have the opportunity to try golfing in our field with the Divisional equipment.
All of these activities will support and enhance the Fundamental Movement Skills, utilizing all areas of
the School ground.
News from the School Page 7
Learning About the World
Hello! This is Kate, Margaret and Savair. We will be talking about some of the country research projects that the Grade 2/3 students in Room 8
have been working on throughout the year. We have been learning about many different countries and the continents of Antarctica and Australia
as well. Here are some of them!
The first one was Jeremy’s project on Norway. He taught us the Norwegian expression UFF DA (oof-duh) which can show bafflement, surprise,
relief or exhaustion. Next was Halina’s project on Canada. One cool fact we thought was interesting was that in Canada, you can find some of the
oldest rocks in the world! Violet was up next. She studied the U.S.A. and she put a song from the musical “Hamilton” called “My Shot” in her
slideshow. Alexander Hamilton was one of the founders of the U.S.A. when they fought for independence from the British. Anik did a project on
Australia and taught us that it is both a country and (a huge part of) a continent! Next was Brennen who taught us about Mexico, which is famous
for its Mayan temples. After him was Charlie’s project on Japan. She built her own version of the Tokyo Skytree, which was completed on Febru-
ary 29th, 2012, the day she was born!
The next presentation was Isaac’s project on Greece! We learned that the official name of Greece is Hellenic Republic. Next, Bb did a project on
the continent of Antarctica! She taught us that blue whales live in Antarctica and they are the biggest animal to live on planet Earth. They blow
water out of their blowholes up to 10 metres high! Savair then did a project on France. She taught us that the Eiffel tower is covered in names of
scientists! Izzy did a project on England. Her presentation taught us that that the saying “cheerio” means goodbye and “yo” means hello! Coy
taught us about the country of Chile. We learned that the oldest mummy in the world can be found in Chile!
We then learned about Thailand from Kate. She taught us about monks and how they cannot speak or laugh loudly in public and that they must
shave their heads and eyebrows! Next, Emily taught us about China. In China, they celebrate “Children’s Day” every year as well as Chinese New
Year! Lastly, Mabel did a presentation on Spain. We learned that Spain has a food fight festival every year and that they use 150 000 over-ripe
tomatoes in the fight! Sterling studied the country of Italy. He built a model of the Colosseum, which is located in Rome, Italy. Margaret taught us
about Egypt. She was surprised to learn that Egypt has hyenas.
Mr. Mont’s class also did country research projects and we had a mini in-school field trip to check them out! Similar to our class, Mr. Mont’s stu-
dents built awesome famous structures. Their class even researched some of the same countries that we did!
We have learned so much about different countries and continents all around the world, but we still have more to learn! We are looking forward to
Lennox’s project on Germany and finally, Cole’s project on Barbados!
Be sure to come upstairs and check out Room 8’s country research project displayed in the hallway!
Thank you ,
Kate, Margaret and Savair
April 2021
Spring Break
Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri
1 2
5 6
7
8
9
12
13
14
15
16
19
20
21
22
23
26
27
28 29 30
ZOOM
GSA Meeting 6:30pm
Parent Virtual Workshop
with Tanya Hoover
6:30-7:30p.m.
*More Information
to follow
Spring Break
Day 4 Day 3 Day 2 Day 5
*Grade 6
Immunization is
CANCELLED!
Day 6 Day 5 Day 4 Day 3 Day 1
Day 2 Day 3 Day 1 Day 5 Day 4
Pink Shirt Day!
NO CLASSES
Inservice Day
Day 6
Day 3 Day 2 Day 1 Day 6 Day 4