Griffith Woods School

Mar 11

Olsen, Tracy L on 3/11/2021 2:01 PM

I cannot thank the whole community enough for such a wonderful transition to Griffith Woods School. I feel fortunate that each day I am able to meet more students and share in their learning experiences. I have loved having K-9 in the same building and I feel privileged that I will be able to be here to be part of many students learning and growth over-time.

Over the past couple of weeks, Ms. La Montagne and I have met with all staff in one-on-one meetings to seek input on successes and ideas for moving forward in our work at Griffith Woods. My takeaways from the meetings are that all staff are highly invested in the learning needs of your students and view their work as being adaptive and responsive to changing to better meet the needs of students. I know it can be hard to send your children off to a school all day, especially in these unique times, but the staff here are beyond exceptional in their support for students, and students are being well cared for emotionally and provided with meaningful learning opportunities.

The parent community here is equally as wonderful. I had the chance to connect virtually with many parents at the February parent council meeting and I look forward to the days when I can meet many of you in person. The evidence of parent support is clear in the committees such as: “The Traffic Committee", “The Garden Committee" and “The Ever-Active Committee". It makes a big difference to the school, when families are there to support us in our work. On behalf of the staff, thank you for your continued support even in the little ways such as making sure your student comes to school with a mask each day. Little things always add up!!!

As we head into spring, I am mindful that we will be soon receiving our budget for the upcoming year. We will remain stable in our student numbers and will continue to follow the process for schools that are capped at maximum numbers. I value transparency in terms of resources and allocations so will be sharing information at a Parent Council meeting once I have greater clarity to how the budget will shape our upcoming year.

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Nov 13

November Update

Olsen, Tracy L on 11/13/2020 12:53 PM

We want to express our gratitude to all Griffith Woods families for your support, the positive ways you reach out to our staff and for your diligence around the necessary and important health measures needed to keep everyone as safe as possible. We truly are stronger together.

Remembrance Day

A sincere thank you to Ms. Nail and Mr. Rattan for their outstanding leadership with our virtual Remembrance Day assembly. We were so pleased to have so many join us from Hub online to make our community complete. Thank you to the following students and staff for their contributions to our assembly:

Mia, for her important Acknowledgement to the Land
Gemma and Emerson for their outstanding role as MCs
Anna, Rojka, Shannon and Anita for gifting us with their beautiful music as a string quartet
Ms. Fortin's grade 3 class for teaching us how to Sign Oh Canada
Avery, Charlee, Kian and Rory for being brave and representing your class by reading your poems
Bennett, Ava, Quinten, Ella and Zayn for showcasing their beautiful watercolour art and sharing important reflections about those who have served in the war
To all grade groups for their stunning wreaths
Mr. Downey and Ms. Hicks for supporting everything technical

Conferences

We very much look forward to connecting with our at school parent community next week through our virtual parent teacher student conferences. Your child's teacher will be reaching out to you to confirm whether they will conduct conferences by phone or through using Microsoft TEAMs. The conference manager through your My CBE account opens this evening, Friday, November 13^th at 6 pm and closes Wednesday, November 18^th at 6 pm.

Conferences for our Hub online learners will be in December 3^rd and 4^th.

Masks

Thank you to all students and parents for their diligence with the health measures and guidelines, including the wearing of masks. Please make sure your child always has a few extra masks in their backpacks for instances where one gets dirty or lost during the day.

Purdy's Chocolate

Griffith Woods School Band is holding its annual Purdy's Chocolates fundraiser, just in time for Christmas!

If you would like to support us through purchasing some very sweet Christmas gifts for your business, friends, family and yourself, please click the link below:

https://fundraising.purdys.com/731390-78676

Upon clicking on the link, please enter your email and Join the Campaign, Register your information and Start Shopping.

Order Deadline is November 25, 2020 and pickup will be on December 11, 2020. Pick up this will be socially distanced and in compliance with AHS COVID 19 protocols either in Discovery Ridge or Springbank Hill.

Catalogues will also be sent out this week.

If you have any questions please contact Jodena at 403-835-7102.

Girl Power

Thank you to one of our parents, we were fortunate to watch the Lionheart Foundations Girl Power Hour. It featured two local psychologists sharing their expertise around youth, anxiety and Covid.

Follow-up from the event: The link to replay the event is GirlPowerHour2020. If you encounter difficulties connecting go to the Girl Power Hour 2020 web page, drop down the Menu and toggle 2020 Recording. You have the ability to fast forward to any portion you wish to replay – for instance the panel discussion on 'Kids and COVID – Anxiety Amped – How to Help' starts at 43:21.

'Best Parenting Tips in the Time of COVID' are attached from both Tasha and Danelle. In prior years parents often shared that they kept these in conspicuous places to help remind them of ways to contribute to having the healthiest kids possible. We also attach the Tasha 'Dear Mom & Dad Letter from a Child' that was part of Tasha's moving introductory remarks.Danelle's Best Parenting Tips in the Time of COVID.pdf Dear Mom & Dad Letter from a Child - COVID.pdf Tasha's Best Parenting Tips in the Time of COVID.pdf

Recommended Reading List

For Parents:

Anxious Child Anxious Parent - By Lyons & Wilson

This Too Shall Pass: Stories of Change, Crisis and Hopeful Beginnings - By Julia Samuel

Untangled: Guiding Teenage Girls Through the Seven Transitions Into Adulthood - By Lisa Damour

The Power of Showing Up: How Parental Presence Shapes Who Our Kids Become and How Their Brains Get Wired - By Daniel J. Siegel & Tina Payne Bryson

7 Simple Steps to UNDERSTANDING YOUR TEENAGER (Just Kidding, That's Impossible) – By Danelle Spence

For Youth:

What To Do When You Worry Too Much: A Kid's Guide to Overcoming Anxiety, by Heubner & Matthews

The Story of the Oyster and the Butterfly: The Coronavirus and All the Parts of Me - By Ana M Gomez

What Do You Do With a Feeling? Your Guide To Becoming a Feelings Expert – By Tasha Belix

Yearbook Cover Contest Reminder

Calling all Griffith Woods students - entries for this year's Yearbook cover are due December 1. Please email to gwyearbook2020@gmail.com.

Gratitude to Parent Council:

The Hub team teachers (also known amongst ourselves as the “Hub Club") would like to send you a very big and heartfelt thank you, for the amazing gifts of technology. We are all finding that these tools have truly changed our daily lives while teaching the Hub students, and has made the technology side of things so much better and easier to work with. It's made such a difference for us!

With all the changes and new learning we are experiencing, knowing that we have such immense support from our parent council makes us feel very lucky and grateful.

Happy Downey.JPG

With sincere thanks,

Mr. Downey, Ms. Hicks and Mrs. Sawko

Hub Teaching Team at Griffith Woods

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Oct 14

October Update

Olsen, Tracy L on 10/14/2020 2:29 PM

Dear Parents/ Guardians,

We want to wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving with family this long weekend. Please note, there is no school for students this Friday or Thanksgiving Monday. We continue to be grateful for your support and for your childrens'ability to take up rich learning opportunities this year whether it be via the HUB or in person.

The staff of Griffith Woods is thankful for the opportunity to work together this Friday during our professional development day. We will be focusing on reviewing our past school development goals and setting new targets for this year. We will also be setting up our professional learning communities based on building our capacity as a staff and narrowing down on areas we see needing attention with respect to student growth.

Thank you for following absence protocols during this time. If your child will be absent, please let your child's homeroom teacher know and also call or email the office (griffithwoods@cbe.ab.ca). If your child will be absent for multiple days, please specify so we can record the absence correctly.

We wanted to let you know that all staff now have their Google classrooms set up. Should your child be ill or away for extended periods of time, please use the Google class as a resource to support ongoing learning and allow them to maintain learning with assigned tasks. If you need assistance in navigating this platform, please reach out to your child's teacher.

Congratulations to all Terry Fox runners and walkers. We ran a total of 4691.75km making it to Thunder Bay. As a school so far, we have raised $1505.00 from our generous parent and staff community online. Way to Go Griffith Woods! To commemorate the 40th year Anniversary and honour Terry Fox, we continue to welcome any further online donations. If you wish to donate please click on our Griffith Woods link below.

https://secure.terryfox.ca/registrant/TeamFundraisingPage.aspx?TeamID=917807

A reminder that student fees are now uploaded to your My CBE /PowerSchool account. We thank you in advance for logging on and reviewing what is posted for payment. We have already been busy purchasing games and outdoor equipment to support opportunities for your children over the noon hour connected to the noon activity fee. G

With the cooler weather approaching now is the perfect time to buy a Griffith Woods toque! Just send the attached order form with $20.00 and your child will be given a toque right away.

Watch for updates on Instagram, Twitter (GWGreyWolves) and our school website. It's a great way to see whole school activities, events and the amazing work being done within our school community.

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Sep 23

GW Organization Update

Olsen, Tracy L on 9/23/2020 2:33 PM

Dear Parents/ Guardians,

We would like to thank you for your incredible support around this year's school start-up. It has been complicated to say the least, but so comforting to know we have the most exceptional village of students, parents, and staff connected to Griffith Woods. Our students have handled new protocols well and are so excited to be back in session. As a parent community, you have been patient and understanding of the many new features present this year and supportive of the knowledge that we are doing the very best we can and updating you as quickly as possible.

We have a total population of 935 Griffith Woods students. Of this total, 102 are learning online though a central HUB platform, leaving 833 in person for face to face learning. Please see the chart below for information regarding numbers of classes at each grade level. Our total population has decreased by 32 students based on last year's projections. This decrease in students registered has had a negative impact on our overall budget making for larger than planned for classes. To support the shift in class sizes, we have re-organized internally to allow for greater adult support in literacy, numeracy, and wellness in targeted classrooms across K-9.

All elementary and middle schools were informed this week how many staff were needed from their ratio to move to teaching in an on-line format. We have learned that we are to supply three of our Griffith Woods staff to teach HUB online learning based on the total of students registered. These teachers will be working with our HUB online students as well as students from other schools. Teachers from other schools will also be supporting Griffith Woods HUB students in our other grades. As we awaited final decisions around this we made plans to support students as they entered school. We have had to do some re-organizing to support this plan and allow for all students to have access to fantastic teaching and learning whether it is for in person learning or online. Change and reorganization is affecting many CBE schools.

We are proud of our staff for coming together to re-do class lists in certain grades and for thier flexibility in shifting into different teaching roles at some grade levels. We spent a great deal of time with staff looking at balancing classes and ensuring that friends were present within each space. We are pleased to announce that Mr. Downey, Ms. Sawko and Ms. Hicks will be our HUB representatives. The remaining face to face teaching staff are listed below.

AM Kindergarten	Ms. Michelle Bamford
AM Kindergarten	Ms. Elizabeth Essex
PM Kindergarten	Ms. Elizabeth Essex
Grade One	Ms. Nancy Baines
Grade One	Ms. Stacy Roll
Grade One	Ms. Emily Smith
Grade Two	Ms. Danielle Beach
Grade Two	Ms. Kirsten Peters
Grade Two	Ms. Sheena Williams
Grade Two HUB learning	Ms. Pam Sawko
Grade Three	Ms. Jeanna Day
Grade Three	Ms. Jillian Fortin
Grade Three	Ms. Kathy Papas
Grade Three	Ms. Jillian Roberts
Grade Four	Ms. Tricia Sebo
Grade Four	Ms. Sarah Walter
Grade Four	Ms. Anita Viitala
Grade Five	Mr. Brent Sheen
Grade Five	Ms. Lorie Timmins
Grade Five	Ms. Pam Winter
Grade Six	Ms. Natasha Barrie
Grade Six	Ms. Larysa Hart
Grade Six	Mr. Judson Innes
Grade Six	Mr. Kelly Rathje
Grade Six Hub learning	Ms. Amanda Hicks
Grade Seven	Ms. Kayla Bouchard
Grade Seven	Ms. Ada Hoeksema
Grade Seven	Ms. Jenny Miller
Grade Seven	Mr. Andrew Finlay
Grade Seven Hub learning	Mr. Josh Downey
Grade Eight	Mr. Ryan Molyneux
Grade Eight	Ms. Natasha Mueller
Grade Eight	Ms. Erin Quinn
Grade Eight	Ms. Tara Vandertoorn
Grade Nine	Mr. Matt Sloane/Ms. Sheryl Burrows
Grade Nine	Ms. Leslie Coderre
Grade Nine	Mr. Will Sherstabetoff

Music Kindergarten to Grade Five	Ms. Heather Nail
Music/Band Grade Six-Nine	Mr. Jesse Rattan
Physical Education Kindergarten to Grade Four	Ms. Ali Goodman
Physical Education/Mental Wellness Gr 6 to 9	Ms. Liz Sewart
Physical Education/Health Grade 7 to 9	Mr. Doug Jordan

Student Services/Resource	Ms. Sheryl Burrows

Our HUB teachers will be working in our building, planning and collaborating alongside our in-person teachers in all aspects of our daily school routines. Their classes will be virtual and begin on Monday, September 14. For this week, they have been supporting our students and staff with the new transitions ensuring everyone is settled.

Thanks for your continued patience and understanding.

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