Dear Glengary Families,

I wanted to take a moment to wish all families a relaxing and enjoyable Thanksgiving. Whether you are traveling or staying local, I hope you are able to slow down and enjoy your family and loved ones.

The Glengary staff is so thankful we are able to work with our amazing community each and every day. Thank you for trusting us with your children and supporting us along the way. We appreciate our Gator families and we are so grateful to partner with you each year!

As always, the Glengary Staff is here to support you. Should you have questions or if concerns arise, please reach out to your child's teacher or myself and we will work together to find a solution. I can be reached at rosaleighjohnson@wlcsd.org or at 248-956-3100.

Here's to a GREAT (short) week ahead!

RosaLeigh Johnson, Principal

If any parents have photos of any special events thus far this school year, please email them to glengary.yearbook@gmail.com so we can review them for the yearbook! Thank you!

Below you will find the topics of focus for the next 2 weeks. I strongly encourage families to click on the links below and use the family resources to reinforce the learning at home! Once you click on the P2 for Families, you’ll find 1 quote, 1 video, and 3 questions to help you and your children discuss The Positivity Project’s character strength of the week. Please join us!

The character strength of focus for this week continues to be Gratitude. After gratitude, the character strength of focus will be Kindness (Nov. 26-Dec 2). This character strength will be our focus through Thanksgiving.

Please take a look at the links below about Gratitude and Kindness as they will provide you with the knowledge and tools needed to partner in this important work. The resources in the links below were created to help parents reinforce this important learning at home.

Gratitude means you are aware of and thankful for good things that happen. Gratitude is the quality of feelings and expressing thankfulness and appreciation. Out of all 24 character strengths, gratitude is the single best predictor of individual well-being. It is correlated with increased energy, empathy, happiness and optimism. And, the great thing about gratitude is that it can be intentionally cultivated.

Kindness means you are generous to others and you are never too busy to help out. You enjoy doing good deeds for other people.

Kindness is grounded in the belief of a common humanity in which others are worthy of care, attention, affection, and compassion. Kind people think about the needs and feelings of other people, and then act to help those people. Kind people are selfless. Kindness is something that can be intentionally practiced every day.

One of the things we are teaching our students about is The Size of the Problem.

Problems can cause these emotions. These problems can be large or small. We teach students that the size of your reaction should match the size of your problem. You can help reinforce this learning at home by talking about the size of the problem with your child when issues arise.

The district has prepared an FAQ document for families to share information about revisions to the previous report card. We look forward to sharing your child’s first trimester growth in December when report cards are available and conferences take place.

• December 7th - Report Cards Posted on Skyward Family Access (after 4:00 p.m.)
• December 8th - Parent/Teacher Conferences (Virtual - via Zoom)
• See below for information about signing-up for conferences!

This year, parent/teacher conferences will be held virtually via Zoom on Thursday, December 8. On this date, students will be dismissed at 11:25am.

Parents and guardians can sign-up for parent/teacher conferences using Skyward Family Access. Online sign-up for conferences opens on Monday, November 21 at *approximately* 7:00 a.m. and closes on December 5.

Below are directions to help you sign-up:

• Elementary – Skyward Family Access Online Conference Sign-Up (PDF)
• Elementary – Conference Sign-Up – Directions for Parents (Video)
• Link to Skyward Family Access
• IMPORTANT: When you login to Skyward, you will notice that Skyward says conferences will be in-person. This is incorrect – Conferences will be virtual via Zoom this year. Please still sign-up per the directions above.

Please Note:

• In addition to your child’s classroom teacher, you may also choose to sign-up for virtual conferences with our FAPES teachers: PE, Music, Art, and Media. These conferences are OPTIONAL but we encourage you to sign-up if you have concerns, would like more information, or want to connect with our wonderful FAPES staff. Mr. Vogt (PE), Mr. Burr (Music), Mrs. Brucker (Media), Mrs. Starler (Art) and Mrs. Warner-Sarlow (Art)
• If your child receives support from our resource program, social work, reading intervention, speech, etc., you will be directly contacted by those staff members to discuss conference scheduling.
• If you need help logging in to Skyward Family Access, please e-mail familyaccess@wlcsd.org for tech support.

Much of what we experienced amidst the core of COVID will gladly be forgotten and left behind. Yet, some of our experiences during that time offer potentially improved and more efficient ways of doing business and making connections. For this school year we are holding conferences virtually. Many factors influenced this decision:

· Attendance rates of virtual conferences from the last two years

· The privacy offered between teachers and families

· The time saved for families with multiple children in our schools

Once our conferences are completed, a survey will be sent to all families, teachers and building level administrators. Survey results will then guide which way conferences will be held (virtual/ in-person /hybrid) next school year and potentially school years beyond the 2023-2024 year. Thank you for your continued partnership for every child, every day.

PLEASE NOTE - Virtual conferences were a district wide decision.

Diversity week will be celebrated November 28- December 2. All schools in Walled Lake will be discussing this year's theme, “Listen your way to kindness,” and celebrating diversity!

At Glengary Elementary, we believe in celebrating individual character strengths, respecting differences, and learning from those around us as we develop a spirit of empathy.

The Walled Lake Consolidated School District is seeking nominations for the 2023 “Alec Bender Friend of Diversity Award”. This award honors individuals who are true friends of multicultural diversity in our school district and community. This honor will be bestowed on the recipient(s) WLCSD 24th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Celebration on January 16, 2023.

Any student, staff, community member, local business, or local organization is eligible to be nominated. Any member of the Walled Lake Schools community may submit a nomination.

Nominations must be submitted using the link below by Friday, December 9, 2022.

Students of WLCSD are welcomed to submit an Express Yourself project. The theme for this year’s project is “Listen your way to kindness.” Students should create a project that expresses what this theme means to them. Projects can be a speech, an essay, a picture, a poem, a drawing, a video, a musical piece or any other format to express “Listen your way to kindness.”

The winner(s) of this contest will share their projects, on stage, at the 24th annual WLCSD MLK Day Celebration. This is a great opportunity to recognize students, their creativity, and engagement in Diversity Week. It is by far the crowd’s favorite part of the MLK Celebration. Project details and entry form are linked below.

All entries must be submitted to a school office by Wednesday, December 14.

This year, Glengary is taking steps toward becoming a "Green School."

Michigan Green Schools is a non-profit 501(c)3 agency dedicated to assisting all Michigan schools – public and private – achieve environmental goals which include protecting the air, land, water and animals of our state along with world outreach through good ecological practices and the teaching of educational stewardship of students pre-kindergarten through senior high school.

We have some ideas for Glengary and invite you to participate as some of our initiatives begin!

Attention families! We are now offering a free ink cartridge recycling drop off at Glengary! There will be a bin where cartridges are collected inside the main vestibule; Glengary will return these recyclables to Empties4Cash. Empties4Cash will send a check to Glengary's PTA once they receive our donation. Thanks for supporting Glengary, and "going green"!

This past weekend we had our inaugural planting for our new monarch butterfly garden. The cold temps and snow on the ground seems like an odd time to plant a garden, but it is actually a great time to start milkweed plants since they need cold stratification to help them sprout in the spring.

We planted 10 varieties of milkweed and pollinator flowers. These will serve as shelter and food for monarch butterflies, which are on the endangered species list.

Special thanks to Rachel Gribas for designing the butterfly garden and to the Nutter family for volunteering their time to help with the planting. We are excited to see the garden grow in the spring and hopefully have some new monarch butterfly visitors!

Glengary Elementary, in partnership with the Glengary PTA, is proud to again help several local families for the 22-23 holiday season.

Each year, the Glengary Community shows an overwhelming desire to support families that may need a little extra support during the holiday season. We are so grateful for your support and partnership! Below you will find links to 15 families that we are supporting this Holiday Season. If you are able to help in any way, please click on any of the links below to see which gifts are needed.

· Gift Drop off will take place on Tuesday, December 13 from 9:10 am- 10:30 am. We also have an evening drop off on Wednesday, December 14 from 4:10 pm -6:30 pm. Finally, families may also drop off gift items during the Glengary Helping Hands Event on Friday, December 16 from 6:00-8:00 pm.

· Drop off will be in the front bus loop. You will pull up in front of the main door and a volunteer will be there to take your donation.

· It is very important that you attach a note to your gift that tells the Family Number, Gender and Age. Please do not wrap the gifts.

Thank you for your consideration in our efforts to make this a wonderful holiday season for every family. Questions can be emailed to andreahalimi03@gmail.com. Thank you!

Date: Friday, December 16

Time: 6:00-8:00 PM

Location: Glengary Elementary

What: Join us at Glengary Elementary for a night of Giving Back! Students will get to put a variety of character strenghts to practice while engaging in interactive activities that help build the Other People Matter Mindset!

*More details coming very soon!

The Holidays are right around the corner and so is our Scholastic Book Fair! Although more information will be forthcoming, we want our families to save the dates, as books make excellent holiday gifts!

The Scholastic Book Fair will take place from December 1st - December 8th.

To help make the Book Fair a success, we will be in need of parent volunteers. A Sign-Up-Genius will be coming out soon with volunteer opportunities. In the meantime, feel free to take a look at some of the needs below and consider saving a date that may work for you.

We need parent volunteers to make the Book Fair a success! Click on the link below to volunteer! Thank you!

If you have any questions, please contact me at pamelabrucker@wlcsd.org. Thank you for your help and support to make our Book Fair awesome!

-Ms. Brucker, Media Specialist

There was a typo on the Book Fair letter that came home last week. The correct date for shopping at the Book Fair for Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade is Wednesday, December 7, 2022.

PAC MISSION STATEMENT

“Our mission is to increase awareness and current best practices in special education while working towards a larger voice, meaningful communication and more inclusive practices and parental involvement.”

TIME COMMITMENT

Approximately 2 hours per month (Not including optional training/activity participation)

PAC Executive Board

Please contact a member of the Executive Committee for more information:

President - Cory Hensley knackcor@yahoo.com

Aimee Page - aimee.page2@gmail.com

Denise Dunn - denisedunn@wlcsd.org

*Please email rosaleighjohnson@wlcsd.org if you are interested in taking on this role.

School Portraits and Yearbooks go hand and hand, order your Glengary Elementary YB today! This special collection of school year memories can be treasured by your student for a lifetime! Friendly Reminder: New this year, yearbooks are no longer provided through the school picture program. Yearbooks must be purchased separately to receive one. Be sure to place your yearbook order!

In years past, yearbooks have been given to all students at no cost to families. These books were provided by Lifetouch, the company contracted to provide school pictures. Unfortunately, due to a significant decline in families purchasing individual student pictures, Lifetouch can no longer offer yearbooks at no charge.

In an effort to offset the cost of the yearbook for families who may not have the means to purchase one, the Glengary PTA is selling advertisement space in this year’s

yearbook. Each ad will be in color and consist of ⅛ (or the size of a business card) of a page at the conclusion of the book. The cost per ad is $50.

If you would like to purchase advertisement space, please do the following:

1.Complete the form linked below

2. Provide Andrea Halimi with the ad (exactly as you would like to be printed in the yearbook)

3. Submit payment, either cash or a check made out to Glengary Elementary PTA. All items can be sent to Glengary Elementary School PTA, 3070 Woodbury St, Commerce, MI

48390 (℅ Andrea Halimi).

New for the 2022-2023, families can only access iReady lessons at home through the Classlink website. If connecting with iReady has been a challenge, please check out the one minute video tutorial below.

i-Ready is an online program for reading and mathematics that diagnoses the just right next steps for students. It is one tool that your student’s teacher will use to guide class and small group instruction. iReady lessons support classroom instruction and are designed to meet your student’s specific needs, personalize their learning, and monitor progress throughout the school year. It is a great tool to fill gaps and support classroom learning.

Your child's teacher can provide his/her login information if your child chooses to practice iReady at home.

We are ready to build some excitement around i-Ready at Glengary! i-Ready is a district-wide program that Walled Lake Schools uses to not only assess students’ academic levels, but to enrich and supplement instruction so that we can close academic gaps and differentiate appropriately. As we work to build a positive culture around i-Ready and ignite excitement among our Gators, we will again be implementing some friendly competition.

At the front of the building, we have put together a large bulletin board entitled, We are Nutty for i-Ready. Each grade-level has a squirrel labeled with their grade and they will earn 1 acorn for every 10 i-Ready lessons passed in their class. Lessons will be tallied each week and a bar graph of acorns displayed to show grade-level progress. You can find more details below:

November Theme: We are Nutty for i-Ready

November Competition Dates: 10/31-11/27

Week 1: 10/31-11/6

Week 2: 11/7-11/13

Week 3: 11/14-11/20

Week 4: 11/21-11/27

Competition Focus: Each class will earn 1 acorn for every 10 lessons passed. Classrooms will earn 1 bonus acorn in math and/or reading if 80% of the class has met their goal of 45 minutes. We will have a K-2 competition and a 3-5 competition.

Purpose: To increase student engagement with the i-Ready instructional lessons which target specific focus areas for each student based on their individualized fall diagnostic. i-Ready is research based and while it does not replace the core, quality instruction happening in the classroom, it certainly serves as a great way to close gaps and enrich our learners that are ready for the next challenge.

How Can you Help? Encourage students take their i-Ready lessons seriously. Teachers will do their best to ensure students have the appropriate number of minutes built into their weekly schedule to complete the recommended number of minutes per week at school (30 minutes for K and 45 minutes for grades 1-5). If students have not been able to complete the recommended amount of time on their i-Ready lessons at school, please encourage them to complete them at home if possible. Unfortunately, at this time, we do not have Chromebooks available to send home with students.

Consistent, on-time attendance is a key component to school success. Over the past few years, it has been a challenge to prioritize school attendance while also following COVID protocols. This letter is to inform families of the District’s attendance procedures and COVID protocols. Please click on the link below to read the full letter.

Check out the resources below from our school social worker, Ms. Abbo! It contains a lot of resources to support families in need.

This year, the PTA is excited to use their own communication platform to help organize important information all in one place. The Glengary Gazette is often loaded with info and sometimes the PTA updates can become buried. The link to the first edition of the PTA Post is linked below and will be regularly blasted out via Skyward and linked in the Glengary Gazette! Be sure to check it out!

November 17, 2022

Good afternoon WLCSD families:

Today marks my 30th day serving as your Superintendent of Schools. This first month has been filled with a great deal of listening and learning and I am eager to continue to develop relationships across this great district. In just a short period of time, it has become clear to me why this school district is such a special place and I am even more excited by what the future has in store for the students, staff and families of the Walled Lake Consolidated School District.

Please find some of my additional thoughts and points of pride in the video linked below:

· Dr. Bernia reflects on his first month as WLCSD Superintendent of Schools

Earlier today, I had the pleasure of meeting with members of local law enforcement agencies from across our school district. Today’s meeting continued the important conversations regarding keeping our learning spaces as safe as possible. I appreciate the insights and perspectives shared by our law enforcement partners and I look forward to continuing to foster these collaborative and supportive partnerships.

Participating in today’s meeting were our school liaison officers from the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office (OCSO), as well as Chiefs/Representatives from police departments throughout our community. Recently, Sheriff Michael Bouchard requested schools across the region share a video message with families regarding school safety. Following today’s discussion, we all agreed it was advisable to share that message with you. Please find Sheriff Bouchard’s message below:

· Sheriff Bouchard’s Message on School Safety - November 2022

If you have any questions, thoughts or concerns related to today’s meeting, please feel free to contact me.

Dr. John Bernia, Superintendent of Schools

In an effort to find additional ways to celebrate our staff, the WLCSD Community Relations department requests that families fill out the information below for staff who are rock stars in their classrooms and school communities. Please complete the form below and contact Dan Durkin (danieldurkin@wlcsd.org) with any questions you may have.

Click on the links below to see the great offerings currently available!

The Walled Lake Consolidated School District, following the guidance of the Oakland County Health Division, requires individuals that are positive for COVID-19 AND individuals that exhibit symptoms of COVID-19, (one symptom from the top section or two symptoms from the second section), to follow certain steps before they can return to school. The link below contains a symptom screener as well as the options a family can take for their student to be eligible to return to school when a student is suggestive of COVID.

Many symptoms of COVID overlap with symptoms of other common illnesses and seasonal allergies. Current guidance requires us to follow COVID protocols for individuals that cannot pass the health screener until COVID is medically ruled out or a certain period of time has passed.

At this time, communication to families regarding COVID-19 cases at school is the same as it was at the end of the 2021-22 school year. When I learn of a positive case, I will send a letter to the classroom of the positive individual, as well as a letter to the entire grade level, to notify families of a possible exposure. For privacy reasons, names and identifying information will not be disclosed.

If you have any questions or need additional guidance regarding a sick child and school attendance, please contact our GLE Main Office. We recognize the added layer of responsibility on parents and school staff when an individual presents with symptoms during the pandemic and appreciate your partnership.

If your child tests positive for COVID-19, it is critical that the office staff and classroom teacher are quickly informed.

Please send an email to:

RosaLeigh Johnson - rosaleighjohnson@wlcsd.org

Melissa Roth - melissaroth@wlcsd.org

Cheryl Maten- cherylmaten@wlcsd.org

Your child's teacher

In the email, please include ALL of the following information:

Your child's name

Your child's grade

Your child's teacher

Your name

Your contact phone number

The date of symptom onset

The date your child was tested

The last date your child was in school

Type of test that was given (Home test, Rapid test at a testing site, PCR test at a testing site)

Name of testing site, if tested in a facility

*Note: Once staff are informed, the following action items occur.

1. Office reports to WL Human Resources Department

2. Families receive quarantine timeline via email from WL Human Resource Department

2. Office alerts custodians who deep clean the impacted classroom

3. Office sends a letter to the classroom of the positive individual & a letter to the entire grade level, to notify families of a possible exposure. Individual's names and identifying information is NOT shared.

As we prepare for the colder fall/winter weather to hit, please take a moment to review the recess wear guidelines.

Please make sure your child has an appropriate coat or jacket for the weather. Many classes have an early morning block recess and we are looking ahead at some chilly mornings.

Hopefully we are still a ways away from snow, put please note that IT IS ESSENTIAL that students have boots and snow pants when there is snow on the ground.

If you need help providing winter wear for your child, please reach out to me and we will help you! We want all of our Gators to have the items that they need!

A strong home/school partnership is one of our core values at Glengary Elementary. As parents or guardians, we welcome your engagement and collaboration. When concerns arise, we ask that you assume positive intent and seek information first, before drawing conclusions.

When you have a concern specific to your child:

1. Contact the teacher or staff member involved first.

2. Ask for information, express a concern, suggest a solution through a respectful conversation or meeting.

3. Collaborate to generate a plan and agree to a timeline for resolving the issue.

4. Monitor and evaluate the success of your plan and make adjustments as needed.

After genuine collaboration and open communication with your child’s teacher, if resolution cannot be reached, it is then appropriate to contact the principal. Working with the teacher and principal, generate a plan that meets the situation’s needs and agree to a timeline for trying the solution. If you are unable to agree to a solution at the building level, the principal will invite the next most appropriate administrator to join the process.

The Student Pantry is a local resource we have available for any families in need. If your family has a need for basic school supplies, clothing, or food, please email RosaLeigh Johnson, Principal, Kristen Abbo, Social Worker, or Laura Locke, Teacher Liason. We will work in partnership with the Student Pantry to get you resources and supplies at no cost while respecting your privacy.

rosaleighjohnson@wlcsd.org

kristenabbo@wlcsd.org

lauralocke@wlcsd.org

Those who are interested in volunteering or making a donation should visit the Student Pantry website, www.thestudentpantry.weebly.com.

During the 2022-2023 school year, breakfast and lunch will NO LONGER BE FREE for ALL students. It will only be free (or reduced) for those who qualify.

Congress voted not to extend the waiver which provided free breakfast and free lunch for all students. The waiver ended June 30, 2022.

Your family may qualify for free meals or for reduced-price meals. You can complete a free and reduced lunch application during registration in August.

If you do not qualify for free or reduced meals, you may begin depositing money into student accounts at any time to prepare for the cost of school lunches next year. Information on meal prices for the 2022-2023 school year are listed below

Breakfast costs

• $1.50 for Elementary
• $1.75 for Middle/High School

Lunch costs

• $3.00 for Elementary
• $3.25 for Middle/High School

If your student has a negative lunch account balance, we encourage you to pay it off as soon as possible and then begin depositing money into the account to prepare for the 2022-2023 school year.

Your family may qualify for free meals or for reduced-price meals. Reduced-price is $.30 for breakfast and $.40 for lunch. Completing an application is the only way to be considered for free or reduced meals next school year. Please take action now. You can complete the online free and reduced meal application located in Family Access once registration is open.

This free and reduced meal application information is critical in determining the amount of money that the District receives from a variety of State and Federal supplemental programs like Title I A, At-risk (31a), Title II A, E-Rate, etc.

These supplemental programs have the potential to offer supports and services for our students including, but not limited to:

• Instructional supports (staff, supplies & materials, etc.)
• Non-instructional services (counseling, social work, health services, etc.)
• Professional Learning for staff
• Parent and Community engagement supplies and activities
• Technology
• Pandemic-EBT

Our food service department is asking families to complete and submit the free and reduced meal application as soon as possible to ensure that additional funding for our school is available to meet the needs of our students. All information on the application submitted is confidential.

Please contact Anne Merchant at 248-956-3081 or at annemerchant@wlcsd.org with questions.

Glengary Elementary welcomed Romeo, our therapy dog, in the fall of 2021. We are thrilled to welcome Romeo as therapy dogs provide a host of benefits to students and staff.

Our program would not be possible with the support of many donors and sponsors. If you are interested in making a donation for Romeo's ongoing care, you can contact lauralocke@wlcsd.org or rosaleighjohnson@wlcsd.org.

Thank you to our AWESOME sponsors below!

Communication is important to us at Glengary. Parents will be notified and updated in a variety of ways throughout the school year. The majority of information for parents will be available on our school and District website and through email.

SKYWARD FAMILY ACCESS

It is critical that parents keep an updated email address and let us know if it changes as soon as possible. Parents may update this information for us on Skyward Family Access. All teachers at Glengary utilize Skyward Family Access to communicate with parents.Report cards, lunch account information, progress reports, attendance, and other important information will always be posted on Skyward Family Access. If you are a new family to Walled Lake Schools or have misplaced or lost your Family Access ID and password, please click HERE to get connected.

Glengary Gazette AND School Web Page

Our Glengary Gazette newsletter will be sent electronically to families. This is typically a bi-weekly communication filled with all important school and PTA updates. As we begin the year, the communication may be sent on a weekly basis if needed. An archive of newsletters will be posted to our school website. Please visit this page often for information about our school. You will find links to important documents, websites and blogs from your child's classroom, PTA forms and information, and important updates and forms that you will need to access.

PTA Post & Website

Our PTA will share updates via a PTA Post. Additionally, the PTA has an excellent website with upcoming events, fundraiser information, PTA membership links, and other pertinent information and forms.

Social Media

Glengary Elementary also has a Facebook page, Instagram, and Twitter which are linked below!

RosaLeigh Johnson

Principal: rosaleighjohnson@wlcsd.org

Cheryl Maten

Principal's Secretary: cherylmaten@wlcsd.org

Melissa Roth

Building Secretary: melissaroth@wlcsd.org

Important Phone Numbers:

Main Line: 248-956-3100

Fax Line: 248-956-3105
Attendance: 248-956-3190