Beginning of the Year Newsletter

Welcome to Grade 2!!

Welcome to St. Gregory Catholic elementary School-Grade Two!  My name is Mrs. Laurie-Ell Bashforth and I am looking forward to teaching your child for this school year.  I hope your child is equally excited to become a Grade Two student!  I consider it a great privilege and responsibility to be your child’s teacher.

I also look forward to working together with you, the parents, this year. You are always welcome to stop in at school to speak with me.  You can also email me at lbashforth@ecsrd.ca.  You can also phone me at school at 780-865-4555, or call or text me at 780-817-8441.  

Encouraging Healthy Habits

Students will have an opportunity for snack and outdoor recess play two times per day.  They will have snack time before morning recess at 10:35.  I would like to emphasize the importance of healthy eating and would encourage the morning snack to be fruit if possible. 

Lunch time is from 12:10-12:25.  Again, I would like to encourage healthy lunch choices.  It is recommended that your children use reusable containers as this cuts down on the amount of garbage we generate daily.

The children will be encouraged to drink water only, unless they get milk.  Your child is allowed to bring a water bottle into the classroom and it will stay here from Monday-Friday.  On Friday it will come home to be washed thoroughly.  Please send it back the following Monday. 

If you have any questions or would like some helpful information regarding Canada’s Nutrition Guide please visit Health Canada at this webpage   http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/food-guide-aliment/index-eng.php

Allergy Aware

As you have been informed, St. Gregory is an Allergy Aware environment.  This means that it is all our responsibility to know all the ingredients of any food that is sent to school, and to avoid bringing possible allergens to school.  We ask that you and your child be Allergy Smart and be sensitive to what you put into your child’s lunch kit.  Thank you.

Student of the Week

As in Kindergarten and Grade 1 each class has a Student of the Week.  During your child’s week I ask that they bring in photograph’s that tell about themselves.  I will scan the photos onto the smartboard for your child to present to the class.  If you would like to email the photos to me, or put them on a flashdrive, this is acceptable to.  You can email me through my St. Gregory website.

Appropriate Outerwear

A reminder to always make sure that your child is dressed appropriately for the weather.  Please do not ever make the assumption that there will be an indoor recess.  All children love to have fun outside, but they can’t enjoy themselves if they are cold and wet.

Teacher’s in your child’s Grade 2 Classroom

As my job title this year also encompasses a role entitled Instructional Coaching your children will have the pleasure of  Mr. Lemire for Social Studies, Music and Math. 

Contact Information and Keeping Up to Date

I am always available to you.  You can reach me through your child’s agenda, through the school 865-4555, or on my cell 780-817-8441.  You can also email me at lbashforth@ecsrd.ca.  My teacher webpage has all of this information and more about the classroom. I update it weekly, and sometimes daily if we are doing interesting things in the class.   Please make sure to access it so that you can keep abreast of what is happening in the class.  Go  to http://www.sgces.ca/ and click on teacher pages.  Scroll down to my name and click.  It’s that easy.

God Bless,

Laurie-Ell Bashforth