Cub Connection November News
Gerner Family Early Education Center
Having a Thankful Spirit
As we enter into the month of November, it is hard to not jump ahead to the end of the month and gear up for Thanksgiving Day. It is always interesting to me how much more I reflect on all the wonderful gifts present in my life during this month and hope to expand the thankful spirit that comes with the upcoming holiday. I hope you are able to get in the spirit of thanksgiving early in the month and will see both small and large scale gifts in your life.
I am so thankful for our Gerner families as we join together to raise such wonderful children. I cannot thank you enough for choosing Gerner as your child's educational foundation. We are grateful to have each of you as a member of our cub family!
Warmly,
Rachel Ward
Coordinator of Early Education Programs
Important School Information
Mark your calendars for the following important dates!
Please plan to participate in upcoming events at Gerner:
- October 29th: Sophie's Run spirit day wear your Sophie's Run shirt
- October 30th: Fall Parties - students only
- November 9th - 13th: Lil Angels Photography
- November 9th - 16th: Park Hill Major Saver
- November 16th: Virtual PTA Meeting 6:00 PM
- November 27th: No School for ECSE, Bright Futures, and Horizon's
- November 26th - 27th: Building Closed for all programs
- December 23rd - January 1st: No School for ECSE/BF/Title 1 students
- December 24th/25th/31st & January 1st: No School for Tuition students
Meet our Nurse - Mrs. Dixon
As the school nurse, I play many roles at Gerner to support our students and staff:
- providing screenings
- injury care
- illness care
- teaching and planning for safety such as plans for students with health conditions or helping with the safety plans to return to school during the COVID-19 pandemic
When I'm not at Gerner, I am cheering on my 3 kids with their sports and academic activities. My youngest is 12 years old and I love being at Gerner to remember what my children were like at their age.
If you ever have questions about illness or whether you should keep your student home, please call me at 816-359-4604 or email at dixonm@parkhill.k12.mo.us. I know things are a little confusing this year with COVID-19, so I'm grateful for those of you who have been cautious about sending your student to school when they are not feeling well. It is important to keep communication open to help keep all our Cubs safe!
5 Pillars of Prevention Review
The 5 Pillars of Prevention include:
- Hand Health
- Physical/Social Distancing
- Masks
- Disinfecting
- Cohort Groups
The graphic below is a great visual to understand how the steps all work together. As you can see from the graphic, each individual step may not 100% effectively stop the spread of germs. However, when we combine and layer the pillars together, that when we see the greatest impact.
Seesaw Accounts - Get Connected Today!
Contact the office at 816-359-4601 if you need information about your unique code again.
Each class/cohort classes will have a specific day and time for photos during the week. Families can order pictures from proofs that are sent home about 2 weeks after photos are taken. Please see the schedule below.
AAC Awareness Month
To conclude our celebration of AAC Awareness Month, we will be having a spirit day for Sophie’s Run in appreciation for all that they have done to help students in our district have a way to communicate! If you have participated in a Sophie’s Run event and/or have a child who has received a device from Sophie’s Run; please plan to wear your Sophie’s Run shirt on Thursday, October 29th.
Major Saver
The schools, in conjunction with Major Saver, work with businesses throughout the district to offer a $15 discount card providing the customer with 21 local businesses. In most cases, redeeming only two offers offsets the cost of the card. Proceeds from the card campaign go to the Park Hill School District Education Foundation and participating schools.
The Major Saver cards will go home to families by November 2nd. Please consider purchasing a card to help support the Park Hill School District Education Foundation and the students within our district.
The 2020 participating restaurants/establishments include: Sincerely Ellis, Dick's Sporting Goods, Price, Chopper, Red Robin, Smoothie King, Pizza Shoppe, Dunkin Donuts, Kate's Kitchen, Texas Roadhouse, Jiffy Lube, and many more!
Major Saver cards can be purchased via cash, check, online at www.majorsaver.com or through the app Major Saver App. The online sale can be credited back to a particular student and school. All cards purchased online will be mailed directly to the customer.
PTA Corner
The Gerner PTA is a vital part of the school community, providing support to the classrooms with fundraisers taking place throughout the year.
Believe Kids fundraiser
Thank you to all of our families that helped to support our Fall Fundraiser. With your support we surpassed our total sales goal of $5000.00, please see actual numbers below. Thanks again for all of your support!
Total Sold: $8,659.00
Gerner Profit: $3760.00
PTA meetings will be virtual for this school year. A Zoom meeting link will be shared to closer to the meetings dates which are on the following dates:
- November 16
- March 1
PTA Meeting: Monday, November 16th 6:00 - 7:00 PM
How can you help and be a part of the PTA work? Become a member and participate in meetings!
Membership forms were shared by teachers, online membership forms can be found at:
https://gernerfamily-pta-membership.cheddarup.com
If you have questions about PTA activities this year, please contact April Setser at Setsera@parkhill.k12.mo.us
To stay current on the happenings of the Gerner PTA, like our Facebook page.
Looking for ways to help your child's school?
There are a number of ways to contribute to our school community. The following is a summary of fundraising opportunities scheduled in the coming months and we wanted to communicate what to expect with all our families.
Major Saver Cards: The Park Hill Education Foundation has an annual fundraiser selling Major Saver Cards. This district wide fundraiser is scheduled for November 9th through November 16th. A portion of the money is used to support classroom scholarships, student scholarships, and other Foundation campaigns throughout the year. Major Saver cards are $15 and present great savings to locations throughout the local area.
Super Cub Expectations
We are so proud of our Super Cubs at Gerner! Our young students are gaining great school skills through their actions in the hallways, classrooms, playground, and the stairways. The goal through PBS is to support the development of prosocial skills and cooperation by contributing to a larger group. Our students are doing a great job by showing how to Be Ready, Be Safe, and Make Good Choices throughout the day.
When a staff member "catches" a student demonstrating any of the expectations, a Super Cub Paw (paired with verbal praise for specific behavior) is given to the student. The student will place the paw on a class bulletin board to contribute to a class celebration.
Safety Drills - Practice to be Prepared!
It is important that students know how to respond to emergency situations that could occur at Gerner. Students and staff will participate in a variety of safety drills every month throughout the school year. Staff handle the drills delicately in order to help students understand the seriousness of the process, yet not make students feel afraid.
For the month of November we will practice two different drills:
- Fire Drill: The goal of this drill is to quickly exit the building and account for all students in case of a fire inside the building. We practice this drill each month we are in school.
- Severe Weather Drill: The goal of this drill is to help the students know where to go in case of severe weather in our area. We conduct this drill twice a year. Rather than actually go to the safe areas, we will talk the children through the process and go over expectations and procedures.
If you ever have questions regarding the processes for drills, please contact your classroom teacher.
Park Hill Star Awards
Do you know of a Park Hill Star? Is there someone at your child's school that you would like to nominate for a Park Hill Star award? The Park Hill Star award is presented monthly to a Pre-K or elementary teacher, a secondary teacher and a support employee. Anyone can nominate an employee for this award by using the Park Hill Star nomination form. The form will ask you to share how your nominee demonstrates our district values of continuous improvement, high expectations, integrity, visionary leadership and student focus.
If you would like to nominate an employee from Gerner please use the link below.
Important Family Information
Parent Corner - Teaching Kids to Have a Grateful Heart
Have you visited our "Parent Corner" yet? Over the course of the year, articles and resources will be posted to support the parenting process.
I don't know about your kids, but for my daughter when Halloween is here, that means Christmas is right around the corner. In her world this also means extra gifts because her birthday is right before Christmas. She has already started circling items in catalogs to make sure I know what she wants. Oh boy! I feel like I work extra hard to not skip over November and help her appreciate the Thanksgiving season. There is a wonderful article published by KC Parent, titled Teaching Kids to Have a Grateful Heart, which has great reminders of the little things that I can embed in the coming weeks to help actively seek thanksgiving in my home. I hope there are a few nuggets that can be helpful for you family as well. Enjoy!
You may also be interested in a couple of other wonderful articles to help with this time of year:
Repeated Information
Case, Contact, or Contact of a Contact
As we continue to maneuver through COVID-19 situations, we wanted to make sure to clarify a couple of layers behind cases that are shared with the community.
- A case is when there is a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19. It is district practice to notify the whole school community if there is a case involving a Gerner student or staff member. This will be an email sharing an update with the general population. Families would receive a direct phone call if their student was in direct contact with a case.
- A contact is an individual who had direct contact while the case patient was infectious. This person should quarantine themselves, meaning they should stay at home to limit community exposure and watch to see if symptoms develop. If your child would be in contact with an individual that tested positive for COVID-19, you would receive a phone call informing you.
- A contact of a contact is an individual who had or continues to have close contact with a contact. This person should take everyday preventative actions, like washing hands, covering coughs and sneezes, and cleaning surfaces frequently, however, quarantine is not necessary. This person should also be alert for symptoms.
While communication may feel vague, it is important to maintain confidentiality at times with situations. It is recognized that some families may feel that more information is needed to make decisions, but please know that information about other people cannot be shared.
Arrival and Dismissal Information
We have a number of programs in our building with different arrival and dismissal times. The following is a reminder of times and processes for families.
ECSE, Bright Futures, and Horizons families:
- AM Session is from 8:40 - 11:40
- PM Session is from 12:40 - 3:40
Car riders unload and load under the awning in the back of our building.
Bus route times can change throughout the year as additional children are added to buses upon enrollment. The office will contact families when adjustments are made by the bus company. Please call the office if there are any questions about buses.
Arrival notes:
- If you arrive after 8:50 or 12:50, staff will not be present to unload your children and you may need to come to the front of the building for arrival.
Dismissal notes:
- Please have the car placard in the passenger window to allow staff to easily see who is ready for pick-up. If you are in need of a new one, please contact the school office.
- Our AM session has more car riders and we are continuing to work on the traffic flow to allow buses to move through the traffic at dismissal. We all appreciate your flexibility.
Tuition families:
We will continue to conduct car side pick up and drop off daily for Tuition students as we do not allow families in the building. We need your help with timing during the day so we can support all families and keep an appropriate ratio in all classes during the day.
Arrival notes:
- Please drop off children between 6:30 - 8:30 AM.
- Family members will need to unbuckle and help children exit their car with masks on at arrival. Students will then be directed to their classrooms by a staff member.
Dismissal notes:
- Dismissal begins at 3:30 PM daily. If you arrive before 3:30, please know that you may be asked to wait until dismissal begins.
- Students will be brought to cars by staff with family members then buckling in the children before leaving.
November Menu
Gerner Family Early Education Center
Email: Wardr@parkhill.k12.mo.us
Website: http://gerner.parkhill.k12.mo.us
Location: 8100 N Congress Ave, KCMO, MO, United States
Phone: 816-359-4600