Pioneer Press
November/December 2022
Principal Tapia's Message/Mensaje de la directora
Garrison-Jones Families,
I am excited to share with you that our school has earned a Merit of Distinction as a Magnet program! This is a national recognition to highlight the success of our Dual Language Immersion Program. It truly does "take a village" in order for our program to be successful! Our teachers, staff, parents, community and students all play an essential role in ensuring the dual language magnet program is successful. I have high expectations of ALL students, both those in the dual language and traditional classroom settings and look forward to continuing to share the success of our students with our parents and the community.
¡Estoy emocionado de compartir con ustedes que nuestra escuela ha obtenido un Mérito de Distinción como programa Magnet! Este es un reconocimiento nacional para resaltar el éxito de nuestro Programa de Inmersión en Dos Idiomas. ¡Realmente "se necesita un pueblo" para que nuestro programa tenga éxito! Nuestros maestros, el personal, los padres, la comunidad y los estudiantes juegan un papel esencial para garantizar que el programa magnet de dos idiomas sea exitoso. Tengo altas expectativas para TODOS los estudiantes, tanto para los que están en el salón de clases tradicional como para los de lenguaje dual, y espero continuar compartiendo el éxito de nuestros estudiantes con nuestros padres y la comunidad.
Our AVID coordinator has worked with the AVID team to put up QR codes around campus with names of colleges and universities. Teachers and students can scan the QR codes to learn more about the colleges/universities.
AVID focuses on putting systems and practices in place that prepares students for college and career readiness. Talk to your child(ren) about your career path! Did you go to college? Technical school? Started a business? Followed a passion/hobby and created a career from that? Went to trade school? Share your story with your child!
Our Garrison-Jones student council celebrated Random Acts of Kindness week in February. Students collected personal care items to donate to Dunedin Cares and collected vases to donate to Random Acts of Flowers. The students also sponsored "Notes of Kindness." Each classroom teacher received a bag of paper hearts. Students wrote kind notes to teachers, staff members, administrators, office staff, cafe staff, custodial staff, and their bus drivers or crossing guard. Students also posted hearts on the poles around the school to spread kindness and cheer to everyone walking on campus!
March/marzo
2 - Enterprise Village for 5th Grade
3 - Spring Photos/Primavera Fotos
6-10 - Olympic Field Day Week/Semana del Día del Campo Olímpico
9 - International Night (more details to come)/Noche Internacional (más detalles por venir)
13-17 - Spring Break/ Vacaciones de primavera
20 - School in Session - Hurricane Makeup Day/Escuela en Sesión - Día de Recuperación por Huracán
24 - Movie Night with Your Son sponsored by the PTA/Noche de cine con tu hijo patrocinado por la PTA
31- Round Up
April/abril
5 - 5:30, SAC
6 - WalkaThon
7 - No School/Good Friday / No hay clases/Viernes Santo
10 - 14 - Spring Book Fair/Feria del Libro de Primavera
23 - 5th Grade to Astro Skate . 5to Grado a Astro Skate
24 - 5th Grade Awards and Dance / Premios y Baile de 5to Grado
27 - 6:00, 4th/5th Spring Chorus and Strings Concert / 4to/5to Concierto de Coro de Primavera y Cuerdas
298 - Round Up
May/mayo
3 - 5:30, SAC
4 - 5:30, PTA General Meeting / PTA Reunión general
8 - 12 - Staff Appreciation Week/Semana de agradecimiento al personal
19 - RoundUp
19 - 6:00, Talent Show / Espectáculo de talentos
25 - Students Last Day of School / Estudiantes último día de clases
Last month, Mrs. Valentino took 4 students from 4th and 5th grade, to the district's 1st annual Student Leadership Summit. Students participated in team building activities, leadership activities, and providing feedback to the superintendent through the lens of a student. Students left the conference with the task of creating a system at the school to collect student feedback from all 4th and 5th grade students. This feedback will then be shared with the district leadership team. Students chose to create anchor charts and have students respond on sticky notes. What a great way for our students to share their feedback, while building leadership capacity in those that attended the summit!
Garrison-Jones is the first elementary school to implement a Latinos in Action program in the nation! Latinos in Action, or LIA, is a nationwide middle and high school program that inspires students to become leaders, prepare for college and career, engage in community service, and be role models for others. The group is facilitated by Mrs. Valentino and Sra Vazquez. The program is for 5th grade students! They have been busy this year participating in service projects around campus, building their leadership skills through a curriculum provided by LIA, and now preparing to perform at the LIA conference next month!
The PTA has a few more exciting events for March and April! Movie With Your Son will be on 3/24, and our biggest fundraiser of the year, the Walkathon, will be on 4/6. More details for both will be coming home soon.! For all up to date and official information on all of our events please be sure you are on our Facebook page at Garrison Jones Elementary School PTA.
