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2020-2021 School Year: Volume 3: Week of September 14, 2020
Be the Best YOU at Grandview!!!
It is not a sprint, but rather a marathon!
Well, we made it through another week of virtual learning and we are on the horizon of our first 5-day school week, and I've never been more proud of our school. To be clear, I have NEVER-in my now more than 15+ years in public education be more proud of a school nor a school community.
I'm proud of our students who have inspired the adults to be better and do more than we probably thought we ever could. You are why we do what we do.
I'm proud of and grateful to our parents for being so understanding and supportive of the many new details, the many miscommunications, and for raising remarkable young people. Your patience with me and us has held me up in more ways than you will ever know.
And, of course, I'm proud of our staff. I am not speechless very often, but many non-educators might not fully understand what our staff has undertaken through this unprecedented time, but especially these last few weeks. To say they have moved mountains is not an exaggeration, and the entire Grandview staff has done it with grace and professionalism. In fact, I am more than proud of our staff. I am humbled.
Still, my emotions are raw. I know what it took for us to make it through these first couple of weeks, and now we face our first full week of school. I am worried how many more weeks we have to go until this crisis is over and we can get back to in-person instruction. I worry how we can sustain the students and families engagement and have our families continue to ensure the students have great attendance and believe that the students can still learn, even virtually. Oh, I've heard the doubters and I want you to know that we, at Grandview, can and will "reinvent" ourselves. We can and will use this experience to "reimagine" education. We can and will focus on the positives (and there are many) to better address systemic issues in our schools. Yes, I believe we can and we will. In fact, we are.
Still, my emotions are raw. In the last week, I started Tuesday Night Night back. I started singing birthdays to our students virtually. I held our first virtual FOG meeting. I was outside greeting our students and families when they came to get their supplies with masks and at a social distance. My staff knows I do not just lead from my office. That's just not the way our school works. We are a team in our school which means we are vulnerable and open with each other. We share the best and worst with each other. We hold each other up through struggles and celebrate victories together. These past few weeks, the struggles seemed to outweigh the victories, but we kept going.
Still, my emotions are raw. They are raw because everything--I mean EVERYTHING--takes more energy and time to accomplish. Something as simple as getting through my birthdays, visiting a classroom, or passing out or collecting supplies have become an ordeal. Yet, I am in awe of the progress our students made over the last two weeks with their ability to persevere and learn in this environment.
Still, my emotions are raw. My emotions are raw because I had colleagues call me at night this week in tears. They didn't know if they could keep going. (They did keep going, and they are inspirational.) A student cried in front of their teachers--over wanting to come back to school and I won't let him. I have listened to teachers this week and have felt their pain, anguish, and sheer emotional and physical exhaustion. I have received multiple emails from respected educators with phrases like "we're drowning."
Yes, our emotions are raw. This year has just begun. Each of us knows teaching and learning are more a marathon than a sprint. What it took to get through these last few weeks has already felt like a marathon. It's not what any of us want, and I know it's not ideal. But we did "finish" the first marathon--the first two weeks, and we are all connected and we are stronger and wiser because of it. There will be more bumps and bruises. We will stumble. But we will keep going, and we will complete the next week. We will keep moving. We will keep going, and we will complete the week after that. We are on on our way--together, and I truly am humbled and honored to be principal at Grandview Elementary School.
Your Proud Principal,
Mrs. Melissa Carruth, Ed.S
Another Week of At Home Learning
Red, White and Blue
Indoor Recess Fun
Artist in Training
Calling all K-3 Students -- It is Assessment Time
This week, K-3 students will be coming to Grandview to take their fall DIBELS Reading Assessment and their NWEA Math Assessment. These assessments will help us to guide our teaching, small group instruction, and to comply with the Read By Grade Three and the Return to Learn State of Michigan Legislature. We have contacted all families grades K-3. If you did not receive a call, please reach out to the office to sign your child up.
There are some families that could not participate this upcoming week or needed an evening slot, we will accommodate these requests during the week of the 21st. If you do not feel comfortable having your child in the building, then we will reach out to you to attempt to carry out a virtual assessment to ensure equitable learning opportunities were given to all.
When your student comes to school, please only have the student enter the building. Please check your child's temperature before bringing them into the building. Also, we are asking all student's to be masked while they are in the building. Parents may leave and return 60 minutes after they are dropped off or you can stay in the parking lot and wait.
Please note:
- All COVID-19 safety protocols will be followed during testing including 6 ft Social Distancing, mask wearing, disinfecting, and health screenings.
- Attendance during testing would not impact attendance in the live classes. Students would be counted as present.
Thank you for your help with this!
Live Online Class Meetings
Thank you to the families that have already filled out this survey. If you have not, please fill out this immediately. The reason for the survey is because teachers, in our remote settings, are asked to record their class meetings. The meetings are then shared with the class within the class learning platform (ie Google Classroom or Zoom) so that students that were absent or those needing a second viewing can review material. Please complete this form to provide consent to have your child's class recorded.
PLEASE COMPLETE ONE FORM PER CHILD. The form is attached!!
Constitution Day is this Thursday!!!
Thursday is Constitution Day! In honor of this day, we ask for all Grandview students to wear Red, White and Blue on Thursday. Even though we are virtual, we still want to have some virtual fun celebrating and honoring our freedom thanks to the Constitution.
Why do we celebrate Constitution Day?? See below for more information......
Curriculum Night Date Change
The new date is September 29th. Your children are already on-line add day and we do not want them to continue their virtual learning into the evening. Therefore, we have moved our Curriculum event during the day. Classrooms will hold this event virtually on September 29th at 2:00. This event is devoted to the families to help them to gain the knowledge of what your child will be learning this school year. It is not a time to communicate with your child's teacher about your specific concerns about your child, but rather a time to ask general questions and to learn about your child's new year and teacher's expectations. This event will run 2 - 20-25 minute sessions with a 5 minute break between the 2 sessions. The reason for the two sessions is to allow you to visit multiple classrooms for your multiple children. If you only have one child at Grandview, then you only need to attend 1 session, but you could attend both sessions. The sessions will be from 2:00-2:25 and 2:30-2:55. Remember attendance is important as this virtual journey is a shared effort between home and school. We look forward to having you attend this important event!!
Pictures.....We Need Pictures
Remember that we are trying to capture this school year as best as we can, as well as, still have a yearbook to commemorate this memorable year. If you have any pictures of your student doing some amazing virtual learning, please share it with me via email, social media, or to the classroom teacher. Mrs. Thomas and Mrs. Hayes are our yearbook experts and need lots of pictures in order to make this yearbook complete.
School Schedules
If you are a hybrid remote student, you ARE required to be present for your morning session AND your afternoon session. Attendance is taken at both of these sessions.
Special's Schedule
Grandview Kindergarten: ofcqivi
Grandview 1st grade: rmme3md
Grandview 2nd grade: wate4um
3rd-5th grade received their codes last week. Please refer to their grade level Google Classroom to receive the code.
All content is in the Classwork tab at the top. Happy Learning!
This Week's Specials Content Introduction Video
School Supplies and Distribution
These supplies are VERY important to your child's success whether they are hybrid remote or virtual. Therefore, we expect all families to come to school to pick up the necessary supplies.
I have also included a copy of the school supply list. If you need help with any supplies on the list, please let us know.
Mark your calendar for September 25th! That will be the 2nd distribution day!!
School Hours and Attendance
Attendance IS taken daily. Attendance will be monitored. Truancy laws will be upheld. Under State of Michigan legislation, truancy is defined as a child who has 10 or more unexcused absences per school year. If you are option 1 - hybrid remote, teachers will take a morning and afternoon attendance, just like in brick and mortar. If you are in option 2 - virtual academy. You have a little more flexibility, but daily contact with the teacher is still expected. You can still call into the attendance line to excuse your child, but please do not get yourself into trouble with attendance. Unlike the spring, attendance is mandatory.
Free Breakfast and Lunch
Curbside meal pick-up for all children 18 and under or any mentally or physically handicapped adults ages 19-26 will take place on Thursdays at Clarenceville High School, Door 21. On most Thursdays, students will be given 7 days’ worth of breakfast and lunch meals. Parents/students can pick up their meals during one of the following service times: 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM OR 4:00 PM – 7:00 PM. See the 2020-21 First Semester Meal Pick-Up Schedule for a complete list of service dates and the number of meals to
be provided on each date.
If you are in need of food, but cannot get to Grandview for food, please reach out to myself or the Grandview office so that we can help you to get food. I have included another free food resource from Bush's.
On-line Registration for ALL Grandview Students
The enrollment process is 100% on-line. To process the paperwork, you need to log into your child's parent portal site. The parent portal site can be accessed from the main page of the Clarenceville website by clicking on the blue on-line registration button or you can click the following link https://mistar.oakland.k12.mi.us/clarenceville/parentportal/. You will need your PIN number and password. If you do not know it, please contact the Grandview main office at 248-919-0404. For this process, you will be asked and prompted to go through the annual registration forms and approve the forms for this year, as prompted.
If you are new to Grandview, you need to click on the pre-enrollment button (has a pencil) located on the Clarenceville home page.
If you want to enroll on a phone or tablet.....
We now have a mobile version of Mistar that can be used on phones/tablets. It must be downloaded from the Google Play Store or Itunes. I have attached instructions if you would like to share with your parents. With the app a parent can now complete their re-enrollment forms.
Students can also download their Student Connection through Google Play Store or Itunes.
Parents can now can report absences through the app. To report an absence or complete the re-enrollment packet there is a drop down icon that they need to click, I highlighted it in red and attached a screenshot of what it looks like from their perspective.
Once they click they can choose from the options.
The instructions for the app are included below......
FOG Positions and FOG News
The following positions are available:
FOG President:
Treasurer: Nomination - Jackie Hart
Secretary: Nomination - Mallary Louiselle
If you are interested, please reach out to myself or Nick Dorst at fogvp2020@gmail.com
First Family FOG Dinner Event - MOD Pizza
Tech Support this School Year
Click here for Google Meet Support Link
Click her to access Google Meet for Tech support
Tuesday Night Night
Interested in Cub Scouts
Grandview Sports
In the meantime, check out this great communication piece for our families!!
Important Dates and Upcoming Dates
September
17: Constitution Day - Wear red, white and blue to your Google Meet
22: MOD FOG Dinner Night - Take the night off cooking and give money back to Grandview
24: Board of Education Meeting @ 6:30 pm
25: Second Supply Distribution -- More information to come on this