Weekly GUFS Newsletter
October 29, 2021
Principal's Message
Dear GUFS Community,
This week was full of exciting events that were both in person and via Zoom! It was wonderful to see our K-5 parents on Monday at the Pavilion for the read aloud during DEAR Week. A big thank you goes out to our PTA volunteers for taking time out of your day to run the Book Fair. Thank you to GCEF and the PTA for the many books you purchased from the Classroom Wish Lists. I also want to thank all of our visiting authors for reading to the children and answering their questions. Their expertise, their energy and passion came through in every presentation and they inspired the children and the teachers. They captivated the audience as they explained their process in developing their stories and pursuing their passion for writing and storytelling. Their work was impressive and exceptional. Thank you to Courtney McCarthy who worked hard to secure all of our amazing guest authors! Finally, I want to thank Debbie Earle for helping to ensure that all events throughout DEAR week ran smoothly and successfully.
We ended the week with tradition: Our Dead Authors Presentations and our Halloween Parade. We hope that you have a wonderful, safe and happy Halloween on Sunday!
With Gratitude,
Allison Emig
Calendar Reminders
For a detailed look at what's happening, visit the School Building Calendar for the 2021-2022 school year
- UPCOMING DATES:
- November 2nd: Election Day/ Professional Learning Day (No students)
- November 3rd: 4th Grade Field Trip to the Desmond Fish Library
- November 4th: 2nd Grade Field Trip to the Desmond Fish Library
- November 4th: Kindergarten Field Trip to the Desmond Fish Library
- November 5th: Kindergarten Field Trip to the Garrison Fire House
- November 5th: Desmond Fish library trip with Mrs. Katz's 1st Grade
- November 5th: 3rd Grade Field Trip to the Desmond Fish Library
- November 5th: Veterans Day Flag Planting on School Grounds
- November 8th: 3rd Grade Field Trip to the School Forest
- November 10th: 8th Grade Field Trip to Ellis Island / Statue of Liberty
- November 10th: 6th Grade Field Trip to the Desmond Fish Library
- November 11th: Veteran's Day (School Closed)
- November 12th: 7th and 8th Grade Field Trip to the Desmond Fish Library
- November 13th: GUFS Fall Fest 12pm-2pm at the Upper Parking Lot at GUFS
- November 12th: End of 1st Quarter Marking Period (Middle School)
- November 19th: 2nd & 3rd Grade Field Trip to the Bear Mountain Ice Skating Rink
- November 24th: End of First Trimester Marking Period (Elementary School)
Halloween Celebrations & Parade at GUFS
The Middle Schoolers Performed Skits During Dead Authors’ Presentations Today
The Fire Prevention Assembly Was Held on 10/26
8th Grade Political Cartoon Projects
A political cartoon is a drawing that expresses a certain opinion on a political issue. They are meant to be attention grabbing.
Third Grade Craniums & Jaws Project (Perfect for Halloween)
Mrs. Emig Challenges 8th Graders to Four Square
STEAM with Ms. Arbor
Students in Ms. Arbor's STEAM elective are celebrating fall through introspective nature journaling! Students were given a number of scientific tools (a protractor, ruler, compass, magnifying lens, writing utensil, and colored pencils set) to respond to specific nature prompts, each created to maximize their connection with nature and their student social-emotional growth. One student remarked: "I really loved this activity. I was kind of skeptical at first and didn't think anything would change but after journaling, I feel like everything I was worried about and all my stresses just went away and I feel so much more connected and relaxed."
The Pumpkin Project
Next week, guest speakers will be coming to our school to work with the 5th-graders on the Pumpkin Project. For those of you who are not aware, Pumpkin is the name of our Tortoise that resides at GUFS. At this point in the project, students have created their final designs in groups and voted on the best one, which we'll build as a class. Our team of experts will help guide the design and offer their unique perspectives on both this project and the final student design and careers in the STEM field. The schedule for next week is as follows:
- Monday, 11/1 (Periods 1-3: 8:00-10:30 AM): Reptile Experts
- Emily & Dan Novak From BOCES
- Thursday, 11/4 (Periods 1-2: 8:30-10 AM): Engineer
- David Schunter
- Friday, 11/5 (Periods 7-8: 12:52-2:18 PM): Architects
- Lefty Zagoreos & Madeline Julian
D.E.A.R Week Highlights
Kindergarten: Sixth grade siblings read to the class
Book Fair
Visiting Author: Salina Yoon Reads to the Students
Kindergarten Took A Field Trip to The School Forest on 10/28
Veterans Day
GUFS Fall Fest 2021
Sports
Sammartano's Tech-Talk
Hello GUFS families, Happy Halloween!
Here are some great online educational resources to explore over the holiday weekend!
- The PBSKids Halloween Collection
- Edutopia’s 5-Minute Film Festival - Halloween Collection
- Some Fascinating Historical Halloween Documents from the Library of Congress
- 15 Spooky STEM Challenges for Halloween
- The Best Websites for Learning About Halloween / Day of the Dead
You should have received an email in the past couple of weeks reminding you about the NYS Digital Equity Survey. This brief survey is required by the state and must be completed for all students enrolled in The Garrison School. If you haven’t gotten to it yet, we would appreciate if you could submit the brief questionnaire at your earliest convenience.
Nurse Melissa's Corner
COVID-19 Testing
Hello Garrison Community,
We continue to keep our eye on ways to keep our school safe and open. There is one mitigation tool we feel is under-utilized and that is our testing. Testing is a tool used to identify people who may be contagious even without knowing they are. It is a way to keep our school a safe environment. We would like to expand our testing program to include more students. To this end, we will expand our testing availability into the school day, with help from the Putnam County Department of Health. If you would like to sign your child(ren) up, please complete the attached consent form. With an increased pool of students to test, we expect to test individual students on a rotating basis, so each student would be tested appropriately once a month. The tests we use are BINAXNow which are rapid antigen tests and results are shown in 15 minutes. A nurse would communicate the results to you.
Please consider completing the consent form to sign your student up for testing. If you have any questions please contact Melissa DeFonce, mdefonce@gufs.org or 845-424-3689 x226.
Thank you for your support,
Melissa DeFonce, RN
Community Organizations & Resources on The GUFS District Website
Stay connected to our community and see what's happening locally by visiting the Community Organizations & Resources page of the GUFS District Website
Philipstown Recreation
PTA Corner
GCEF Corner
GCEF Fall Appeal Kick-Off
Your annual support for Garrison Children's Education Fund (GCEF) creates impactful programs where they are most needed.
To continue providing educational initiatives for the students of Garrison, please make a tax-deductible donation to GCEF today here: https://www.gcef.net/donate
The attached PDF contains more information on recent Fall 2021 grants and more.
Thank you for believing in the potential of our students as thinkers and learners!
Best,
Karen Nelson
President, GCEF
GCEF Spring Grant Application Deadline
Calling all teachers, staff, parents and students! The deadline for submitting a grant application for GCEF has been extended to Friday, November 12th. Please consider contacting us at gcef.garrison@gmail.com or 914-261-5425 with any questions as you request funding for new trips, initiatives and equipment this coming Spring. GCEF is honored to partner in the educational journey of Garrison students!
Sincerely,
Karen Nelson
GCEF President
GCEF Database Form
The Garrison Children’s Education Fund (GCEF) is a not-for-profit organization created to enrich the educational experience of children in grades K-12 who reside in the Garrison Union Free School District. Our focus is to create high quality programs in arts, science, history, academics and physical education. This fall, we approved $18,000 in grants, including: Drop Everything And Read (DEAR) Week visiting author fees; costs for a new Carbon Storage measurement project in the School Forest; a multi-grade Mindful Yoga program; and the NYC Immigration experience field trip.
GCEF is in the process of updating our K-12 database of students attending GUFS and neighboring high schools. If you haven't already, please complete the Google Form below so we can share programming information, fundraisers and social events throughout the year. Thank you for your support.
Coat Drive
We are GUFS!
Email: slusardi@gufs.org
Website: https://www.gufs.org/Domain/4
Location: 1100 NY-9D, Garrison, NY 10524
Phone: 845-424-3689
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/garrisonufs/