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2019-2020 School Year: Volume 31: Week of April 19, 2020
Be the Best YOU at Grandview!!!
Distance Learning 2.0 begins Monday!!!!
Dear Families,
This week, Mr. Shepich, Superintendent of the Clarenceville School District, shared our district Continuity of Learning Plan 2.0 to students and parents both through an email and through a Town Hall session. This is the plan that our teachers are committed to following to ensure that quality instruction with new learning and content can still continue despite these unprecedented time.
This issue will hi-light a few details of the plan that relates to elementary and Grandview, as well as, how we can continue to support you.
As my last issue stated, learning is still happening. Grandview teachers will be teaching new content, as well as, they will encourage, motivate, challenge, and support the students the best they are able to virtually. They will do their best to create a virtual environment where students can learn. Grandview teachers also want to continue to prepare our students for the future, but they cannot do it alone because we know that it is not the same as face-to-face instruction.
We are launching this distance learning using a virtual platform. We want 100% of our families connected on a device with Internet. If you are not connected by now, you need to reach out to the building principal or the classroom teacher to let us know how we can support you in getting connected..
Teachers will be assessing your children and giving feedback during this time too. They are looking at participation and engagement, as well as, the mastery of the new learning. They are responsible to teach ALL students at this time. So please help to make this happen. Though we are also not asking for a full day of learning as we know that there are other added stresses happening right now because of this pandemic. So therefore, if you put learning first, there will be more time to devote towards family, which is so essential right now, just like learning.
Starting this week, teacher's will be posting videos in SeeSaw and Google Classroom, as well as, holding live sessions and office hours. All of this is to help support the students and the parents to find success. The videos and daily live sessions are to present the new learning to your children. If you cannot view the videos at the time the plan states, the videos will be posted so that you can view them at the time that is best for your family. In the end, we want this plan to be flexible to that we can maximize the number of students engaged in their learning.
In the end, spend them time enjoying being together as a family and enjoying each other and staying healthy, but remember we also want time each day set aside for learning. Be that adult to help to make that happen for their child!!! We Miss You!!!
Your Proud Principal,
Melissa Carruth, Ed.S
WE MISS YOU!!
Clarenceville Continuity of Learning 2.0 Plan
The Clarenceville School District has put together a Continuity of Learning plan to ensure that learning continues for our students. The plan aligns with the 17 page executive order that the Governor stated ensuring that all orders will be carried out for our students. I have included images below to hi-light key components that relate to elementary with this plan.
1). The first image below discusses how the teachers will be delivering information to your children, as well as, how your child can be supported. There is a table that also hi-lights how much time should be devoted to learning each day. Please note that enrichment time can be provided to children, but should not exceed 30 minutes beyond the maximum time for each grade level.
2). The second image is the elementary schedule of teacher availability. That table hi-lights when videos will be posted and live instruction will take place for each grade level. If you missed the live sessions, do not worry as all live sessions will be recorded. These sessions are very important for your child to view as they will provide you with necessary information, practice, tips and tricks for your child to learn to be successful with their new learning.
3). The third image hi-lights the elementary student schedule. Having your child read for at least 20 minutes each evening is the most important skill to do with your child and ask your child questions about their reading too!!
In the end, the plan asks for 100% of our students to be connected with a device and Internet. Again, we have resources to make this happen for every student, but we can't make it happen, unless you let us know that you need help.
This plan will be carried out with fidelity for our Grandview students, but the plan will only be as successful as the support is at home. We know that you all are parents and guardians, not teachers. Just know that we recognize that and the best thing you can do is support the plan. We will do the teaching with the teachers. We need parents and guardians to be the supporters and cheerleaders for our students.
Continue to check into Google Classroom and Seesaw daily to see the activities that are being posted for your children to enjoy and to keep the brain thinking, the body moving and the students learning.
Distance Learning Weekly Plan
Teacher Appreciation Video
Please send your pictures to gviewfamily@yahoo.com or you can always email them to me at melissa.carruth@clarencevilleschools.org and I will pass the pictures along.
Think Green Grandview
2020-2021 Latchkey and Preschool Registration
To locate this registration, please visit the Clarenceville web site. Select Grandview. Then select either Preschool or Latchkey and right under Ms. Jackie's picture, on the right-hand column, is the pre-registration form. It is a google form so Ms. Jackie will receive the pre-registration forms during this closure. PLEASE DO NOT WAIT!! Both programs fill up quickly and will have a waiting list. These programs are licensed and needs to follow the guidelines of teacher-student ratio. So do not wait!!!
2020-2021 Friends of Grandview (FOG) Board Elections
The positions that are available are:
- President
- Co-Vice President
- Treasurer
If you are interested in any of these positions, please email Mrs. Carruth expressing your interest and which position you are interested in serving.
We hope you will join this rewarding and super important organization!
Family Charter to help regulate Emotions
Grandview uses the RULER program to help our students to recognize and handle dealing with their emotions. Each issue, I want to bring RULER into your home. In the fall, the classrooms will be making class charters with their class. What about if families also make a charter.
I included the recent blog article from Marc Brackett, lead developer of RULER and founder and creator of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. His thoughts mirror my thoughts and give a great resource at the bottom about how to make a family charter to support your family during this challenging time and to support your children through distance learning 2.0.
Emotions at home: How do we want to feel?
It’s been just over a month since the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States changed the way we work, learn, shop, and interact. So, how are you feeling? If you are like me, you might be going a little stir crazy at home. I’m not used be home every day all day. It hasn’t been easy. How about for you?
My last blog and a recent article I wrote with Diana Divecha provide some helpful strategies to manage emotions that many of us are experiencing these days –anxiety, stress, and fear. I’ve also delivered a number of free webinars on how to manage emotions during uncertain times.
But what else we can do to make a difference in how we feel?
When writing Permission To Feel, I heard from families that most people want their homes filled with love and laughter, kindness and compassion, joy and hope. But what’s the best way to create a so-called positive emotional climate in our homes?
There’s a tool that can help. We call it the Emotional Intelligence Family Charter (“Charter”). It’s one of the core tools in RULER, our Center’s evidence-based approach to social and emotional learning.
The Charter is a written document detailing how everybody in your home (or “virtual home”) wants to feel. You can do this for yourself, as a couple, or as an entire family. If you have children, depending on their age, they may need help with the writing part. But even young kids can share how they want to feel.
The first question that you have to answer is: How do we want to feel as a family? Some of the words we’ve seen people us over the years are loved, respected, included, safe, happy, calm, grateful, and playful. The second question is: What do we need to do to experience these feelings more frequently?
Building a Charter presents an opportunity to improve the emotional climate in our homes. In many households, this can be a big step forward. For children, it gives them a chance to have a sense of agency over their home environment. It also can benefit parents by accommodating their needs. After a certain hour, adults want to enjoy peace and quiet and no conflicts or excess noise—and so the Charter requires everyone to respect those wishes. It’s a way of reminding children that their parents are human, too, with all the same emotional needs as anyone else. In the long run, that’s an important lesson for kids to learn, but too many parents try to shield them from that reality. As an unintended result, children have a hard time acknowledging adults’ feelings, let alone respecting them.
Putting our emotional needs in writing has a way of making them real for ourselves and everyone else. It serves as a contract—a formal agreement drafted in a moment of calm consideration, to help you during moments when you are anything but calm and considerate. You may feel a little self-conscious posting a Charter on your refrigerator door, or hanging it on a wall. But if you try it, you might find that it works. Below are the instructions for building a family Charter. The same process can be done by individuals living on their own or couples.
How to Build the Charter
What will you need?
- Chart or construction paper
- Blank sheets of paper
- Colored pencils or markers
- Or, you can build it on the computer with whatever program you prefer
It’s important to find a time when everyone is feeling calm, focused, and ready to work together. We suggest building the Charter in a comfortable area like the living room or at the dinner table.
Step 1: Ask everyone to write down 5 feelings in response to: How would you like to feel at home?
- Ask each family member to think about that question. (For example, you might want to feel respected, loved, connected, appreciated, and understood).
- Tabulate all of the words into one master list.
- Discuss each word and notice which feeling words have similar meanings (e.g., appreciated and valued). Can we choose just one?
- Narrow down your list to the “top 5” words and write them down.
Step 2: For each feeling word, discuss the things that would help each person experience more of that feeling.
- What are one or two specific behaviors that could help each family member have the feeling as often as possible? For example, being ‘nice’ is not very specific. But smiling, saying good morning, knocking on the door before entering are specific and even observable behaviors.
- Be creative! Use your family’s talent and have fun. The Charter can be big or small, colorful, or filled with drawings.
- What’s important is that you have a final document that includes the top 5 feelings and the specific behaviors.
- Once the Family Charter is complete, everyone must sign it!
- Display the Charter prominently in your home.
- Have each family member set a daily or weekly goals to uphold the Charter.
- Schedule weekly or monthly family meetings to review the Charter. What’s working? What’s not? What can we do differently?
- Be creative – post weekly quotes, send out family emails, perform random acts to demonstrate the feelings in the Charter and show appreciation for your family members.
- Revise the Family Charter, as needed. It should be a living agreement.
Putting our emotional needs in writing is a way of making them real for everyone. But the process of building a Charter takes courage and the willingness to be vulnerable. We have to be open to filling the gap between how we currently feel and how we want to feel. And for many of us, that gap can be scary, because it often reveals what’s not working so well in our homes. But look at the flipside: everyone can benefit from having their basic needs of being seen and heard met. I’m almost certain that benefits of building a Charter will outweigh the risks. Go for it!
Still need a Computer or Internet
On Friday, we distributed HotSpots and Chromebooks to families. We have distributed over 200 Chromebooks to GV families. If you still need one, please reach out to the classroom teacher and we will see what we can do, but at this time, we do not have another formal distribution set-up.
Please let us know if you need help getting connected. We want ALL of our Grandview students connected and learning digitally! Our continuous learning plan is for ALL students to be connected virtually.
How Do I Engage My Children?
Here are a list of creative ways to engage with children. Here is a list of Clever activities that parents can give to families wanting to stay connected at home and in the community.
How Can I Support My Children??
Dr. Stephanie Grant, Director of Infant Mental Health & Trauma Informed Communities, has put some wonderful resources to help families to support our children through COVID-19.
A very informative and thoughtful video created to support parents (and teachers) with practical information and strategies during social isolation. A resource sheet is included.
Food distribution Schedule
Please remember that the food is for ALL of the Grandview students. We fed your children two meals during the school year and want to continue. If you need help getting to the school or the bus route to pick up the food, please let me know. I have wonderful parents who are delivering food, just please let me know!!
Looking for other areas for food?!?!
IEP and 504 Meetings
New IEP's or 504 meetings will not meet during this shutdown. These will be occur and conversations will resume in the fall.
Again, if you have a concern, please reach out. We are here to help you!!
Yearbooks
Getting supplies from the classrooms
Missing Grandview Students
Classroom Code is.....3s2rma3
No M-STEP this year
Additionally, the Read By Grade 3 law will go into effect for the 2020-2021 school year, not this year.
To read more information, please see the article below.....
Report Cards
Additionally, teachers will report on the fourth marking period based on participation and engagement and mastery of new learning. There will not be formal marks, but instead, teachers will make a comment on each student's report card about the level of participation and engagement during this time. Again, we want all students on-line learning and want to report on this accordingly.
Distribution of the report cards have yet to be finalized.
Kindergarten Round-Up
Looking for new Kindergarteners or Junior Kindergarteners for this fall! You can STILL enroll online.
If you have a child who will be five years old by December 1, 2020, he/she may be eligible for Kindergarten or Junior Kindergarten next fall. Please complete the Round Up Registration form online by visiting this link https://forms.gle/cTJPR8cuwUFmsxPR7. Please pass this link along to friends and neighbors who have a future Kindergarten student but do not have siblings at Grandview or Botsford.
For Questions, contact the Grandview Office: 248-919-0404
Tuesday Night Night
If you cannot view Live, no worries, it is published to the Grandview Facebook Page so that families can view it at their earliest convenience for your children and their evening schedule. The point of this activity is to foster the importance of 10-20 minutes of reading each night. Remember it is super easy to view.....just visit the Grandview Facebook Homepage. I will be taking suggestions for books, so post away in our site so that I know what my Grandview readers want to hear at night. Can't wait to do what I love most....reading to students!!!
Parent Walk-Up
If you child walks home, they may, but they will not be dismissed by adults.
Please do not express your displeasure by just picking your child up at 3:15. That misses excessive learning time. We are doing this for safety. Please support us.
Grandview Sports
All sports have been cancelled for the remainder of the school year. Therefore there will not be any Softball this year. We look forward to having sports to resume next school year.
Stacey Wittscheck, Grandview Sports Director, has a Grandview Sports website that has the documents linked. All of the information from schedules, rules, code of conduct, sign-up, forms, etc. will all be housed in one location. Check out this great communication piece for our families!!
Questions, reach out to Stacey at her email at GVSportsDirector@gmail.com.
Also be sure to follow the Grandview Sports Facebook Page at https://www.facebook.com/GrandviewSports/
School Store Fundraiser
This fundraiser is still open as you shop through this crisis. The teachers received some gift cards this past week at the mid-way point in this fundraiser and were so excited with what they received. Remember, this is a Win-Win fundraiser as the school earns money, as well as, the classroom teacher. This fundraiser helped to purchase the clay that is used for art, this spring's assembly, as well as, the supplies for March is Reading Month.
School Store is an online shopping mall with over 400 nationally-known merchants including Sears, Target, Oriental Trading Co., Office Depot, Toys"R"Us, Family Book Store and many more. When your family and friends make everyday purchases from their favorite merchants through SchoolStore.com, your school, and classroom teacher earns money.
All you need to do is going to www.schoolstore.net and enter Grandview Elementary School's code (0000009438) and then shop away.
Box Tops for Education
Please remember that Box Tops are moving away from clipping paper box tops and moving to scanning qualifying receipts to earn school money.
Last year, Grandview earned $757.50 with Box Tops and we do not want to lose that revenue.
There is a Grandview parent that is already earning box tops via apps. Please download the app and log in, it is easy. Questions, stop in the office!!!
The Importance of Sleep
Kroger and Grandview
Kroger and Grandview
We get money from Kroger if you add Grandview to your profile. Thank you to all of you who have already added Grandview to your account. Though know that it is never too late to sign-up and join!!! So shop away, Grandview is benefitting from your grocery shopping!
Simply encourage your participants to visit http://www.kroger.com. Once logged into their Kroger account they can search for Friends of Grandview either by name or TH003 and then click Enroll. New users will need to create an account which requires some basic information, a valid email address and a rewards card.
*Customers must have a registered Kroger rewards card account to link to your organization.
*If a member does not yet have a Kroger rewards card, please let them know they are available at the customer service desk at any Kroger
REMEMBER, purchases will not count for your organization until after your participants register their rewards card.
Participants must swipe their registered Kroger rewards card or use the phone number that is related to their registered Kroger rewards card when shopping for each purchase to count.
Volunteering at School
iChats are also needed to be filled out if you wish to be a WatchDOG dad or chaperone a field trip.
Job Opportunity
Important Dates and Upcoming Dates
All events have been cancelled. A refunding process will occur once we know when the Shelter in Place band has been lifted.