February 3rd, 2020

​Please see the following email shared earlier this evening: 

Good evening, 

Just a few reminders about events and activities taking place at school. First, a reminder that our annual Winter Walk will be Wednesday, February 5th from 11:00-11:30 am. Should the weather be too cold to be outside that day, we will postpone the walk. However, please assume that students will be outdoors on Wednesday. Students should come prepared and dressed for the weather. 

Second, we are excited to announce that we will be participating in Global School Play Day again this year. On Wednesday, February 5th from 1:15-3:15 pm all students at Christina Gordon (ECDP-Grade 6) will participate in Global School Play Day, along with thousands of other schools from all over the world. Information on Global School Play Day can be found on their website (https://www.globalschoolplayday.com/). What does that mean? Two hours of unstructured play. At Christina Gordon we have the following guidelines for the day:

1. Play! No screens, nos structure, all afternoon!
2. Children will choose what they play. There will be nothing organized but they may choose from things such as board games, dolls, legos, blocks, trucks, cars, racetracks, playing cards, empty cardboard boxes, markers, jigsaw puzzles, blankets (for forts), social games (charades, Pictionary, etc.). NO TECHNOLOGY AND ABSOLUTELY NO DEVICES FOR THIS TWO HOUR PERIOD. 
3. Children will not be told what they have to play with or how they play.
4. Staff will fully supervise the students but won't interfere with students unless they see something that may be dangerous or harmful.  
5. Students may choose to bring along toys or games, but must be aware that they are fully responsible for the game and for ensuring that the game is not lost or damaged. We'd recommend against bringing in special toys or games, unless the child is willing and able to ensure it's taken care of. Please stress to your child the importance that they are responsible for that item and for bringing it home. Understand that it will be impossible for staff to keep track of these items, especially on a day when there will be so many items brought in.

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It's going to be a fun day! There is a mountain of evidence that points to the link between play and learning. Below is an excellent article about the importance of play for school age children: https://www.brighthorizons.com/family-resources/importance-of-play-for-school-age-children.

Third, as some of you already know, there has been a change to our administrative team. Christina Gordon continues to grow and we are currently at approximately 530 students, up significantly from 155 at the end of our first year in 2017. To assist our school as we deal with that exceptional growth, we are pleased to announce the district has approved the addition of a 30% position to our administrative team. This will be in addition to our current administrative team which includes Chris Organ (Vice Principal) and Richard Thorne (Principal). We are happy to announce that our current Physical Education teacher, Ms. Erin Andrews, has joined our Christina Gordon School administrative team as Coordinator of School and Community. The responsibilities for this role will be similar in many ways to the role of principal and vice principal, with the exception of some supervisory and legal functions that are attributed to the principal and vice principal roles. Ms. Andrews will continue to teach most of our Physical Education classes, but to allow her to assume her new role, a new staff member will be hired to assume 30% of her Physical Education teaching responsibilities. We expect that new position to be filled within the next two weeks. As most of you will know, Ms. Andrews has been a key member of our Christina Gordon staff since our school opened in 2016.  We are excited to welcome her to this new role and look forward to the contributions she will continue to make to our already amazing school community.
Fourth, our February School Council meeting will be held on Monday, February 10th at 6:00 pm in the school Learning Commons. Along with other business, at this meeting Mr. Thorne will be presenting the school's Accountability Pillar results. Recognizing that it is sometimes difficult for parents to attend meetings due to child care issues, we are happy to report that for this meeting Bethel Out of School Care is providing a couple of their trained Child Care providers free of charge to provide child care for those parents who need it in order to attend the meeting. They will be able to accommodate up to 12 children. Thanks to Bethel for providing this service to our families.

And finally, just a reminder about the CG Cares Package Project for the Centre of Hope. The CG Cares Club are collecting new and gently used items for the Centre of Hope and the CG Cares Club will be putting together care packages for the homeless in Fort McMurray. Please see the poster attached for more information and a list of items they are looking for. All items are due to school by February 11th. Thanks for helping us prove that #CGcares.

As always, please let me know if there are any questions or concerns in regards to any of the above,

- Ashley Barrington, Grade 3 Teacher

Agenda
- Jr. Tech: Mondays, 3:15-4:15 pm
- Sr. Choir: Tuesdays, 3:15-4:15 pm
- Sign Language Club: Wednesdays, 3:15-4:15 pm
- Hot Lunch Program: Tuesdays, Thursdays
- Global School Play Day: February 5th
- Winter Walk Day: February 5th (dress warmly)
- CG Cares Packages for Centre of Hope (due February 11th)
- CG Pink Shirt Day: February 19th (wear pink)
- Classroom Science Fair (March 3rd)
- Science Fair Boards ($5.15/each)