GORDON HAPPENINGS

That was quite an eventful winter break here on the West Coast with all the different weather events. I hope everyone was able to get to where they wanted to go safely and were able to connect with friends and family. We are happy to welcome back our students to Gordon and are ready for a great term of leaning! We have some new staff members with us that I would like to welcome to Gordon. Mr. Scott Mcisaac will be filling in for Ms. Rassias three days a week as our ELL resource teacher, Ms. Emma Engh will also be with us as a resource teacher three days a week and we are welcoming back Mr. Chuck McNicholl who will be helping us out two days a week. We are also happy to welcome Jodie Buckley who is a new addition to our SSA team.

A huge thank you to all our families that supported our Student Council with PJ Day and donations to Covenant House. Together with the Holiday Bazaar donations, we raised just short of $3000!

Hazel and Dylan in Division 6, with the help of Dylan’s mother, Jessica, came up with a great idea during a playdate. They wanted to collect clothing and pet food to help those in need. They were very surprised by the amount of donations given by Gordon families. It took three car loads to take it all away! The items were donated to: The Look Out Society Shelter and WISH Shelter. These societies were very appreciative and amazed by your generous donations!

Reminder that Monday, Janaury 16 is a Pro-D day so there is no school for students.

Lastly, incase you missed it, click HERE to visit our website and view our Gordon Holiday Art Display.

GORDON HOLIDAY BAZAAR

What an amazing success this was! Huge shout out to all the parent (and grandparent) volunteers. You made this event truly special for all our students. Thank you to the grade 7’s that helped wrap as well as all the families that made donations. I am sure there was some very surprised and wonderful gift unwrapping over the holidays! Coventant House was very grateful for donation as well!

JESS DANCE

We are excited to have Jess Dance coming to Gordon starting on Thursday, January 5. Each class will have four sessions that will lead up to a final dance extravaganza on Thursday, January 19. Classroom teachers will be communicating with their families the days of their classes dance lessons. Please make sure your child is wearing comfortable clothing and has runners on those days. For those families that would like to watch the final performance, please note some important reminders. The performance will start at 2:15 pm but families will be lining up outside beforehand as we will be doing a dress rehearsal first. Please do not come too early! Also, because of fire regulations, we are only allowed a certain number of people in the gym at one time. We ask that you consider others and only bring one to two members of your family. Lastly, all the students and teachers will have put in a lot of effort and time for this perfomance, we ask that those of you that are coming to watch stay for the whole performance. We are thinking the performance will be about 40 minutes long.

CSL REPORT CARDS

Report cards go home to families on Tuesday, January 31st. These report cards are part of the VSB Communicating Student Learning or (CSL). This means that we honour learning as a continuous journey that focuses on growth and improvement over time. These reports are what we call strength based, and therefore this approach gives information that advances learning, rather than focusing on measuring learning. The approach helps students and parents answer three questions about their learning:

• Where is the student now?
• Where are they going?
• How do they get there?

Please visit our school website (click here) for more information about CSL and how to interpret your child’s report card. I have also uploaded the slides I presented at the PAC meeting last year. I would like to acknowledge how hard all our students have worked this term and that these strength based report cards should be a cause for celebration. Families should take the time to review their child’s report card with them and recognize the hard work and accomplishments that they have made in their learning journey, as well as how they can support and encourage their child in their areas of growth.

KINDERGARTEN REGISTRATION

Priority registration for next years Kindergarten students ends on Monday, January 31st. Families must register online and submit their documents to the school before this deadline. As we are considered a full school, there will be a lottery for entrance into Gordon if our registrations exceed the number of spaces we have. Any family that registers after this deadline will only be considered after our waitlisted students.

UPCOMING EVENTS

February is Black History Month. Each year, the Vancouver School District marks Black History Month through a number of events and school-based activities. This year, teachers and students will be participating in activities that honour and celebrate Canada’s Black History and how all of us can make a conscious effort through our thoughts and actions to make this a community and world where everyone feels accepted and valued. Stay tuned for upcoming events.

Movie Madness Spirit Day: Our Student Council would like students to dress up as their favourite Movie/ Book/ TV Show character on Wednesday, January 18.

Wednesday, February 22 is Pink Shirt Day. Our SOGI Club is planning some activities around this important day that focuses on Anti-Bullying and accepting everyone for who they want to be and showing empathy toward others. We ask that all staff and students wear something pink to show their school spirit.

PAC NEWS

Make sure you stay up to date on all that is happening with Gordon PAC. Please visit their website- gordonpac.ca for all the news! Monday, January 9 is the first day for Hot Lunch.