Mustang Messenger
2020-2021 School Year: Volume 24: Week of March 8th
Be the Best YOU at Grandview!!!
Brace Yourself.....another change is around the corner!!
Dear Families,
Bringing students back for in-person instruction five days a week is right around the corner. The Board has approved for us to be back with small classroom sizes and social distancing upheld. More details about 5 days a week are listed below.
With another change this school year, may bring about a whirl of emotions. Some feelings come about because they are sending their child back to school for the first time in a year. Some feelings are because your child's teacher is changing. Some feelings are because your child is going back to school five days a week and you worry about their stamina, latchkey, transportation and finding a new routine. Your feelings are warranted. Your feelings are justified. Just know I am here for you to help you to understand and regulate your feelings.
I also know that some of you are not happy with another change. With every change, I will not please everyone. I have parents upset their child's teacher is changing. I have parents upset thinking we are going back too soon. Please know that decisions are not made to upset you, but to ensure that our students continue to be safe and that we maximize the learning while keeping students safe. Remember I am a quick phone call away to help you to understand and process the decisions and to help you and your family to make this next change to be successful.
This week's Grandview Virtual Parent Session or GPS is on the Mood Meter. We use the Mood Meter every day with our students. We want you to start bringing the Mood Meter into your home too. Talking about emotions and strengthening our emotional intelligence, both the adults and the students, makes for a healthier home and school. So be sure to join us on Tuesday at 6:00 and Tuesday Night Night will be at 8 pm.
Your Proud Principal,
Mrs. Melissa Carruth, Ed.S
Another Week of Learning!!
Reader Leader
Hats off to Reading
Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss
5th grade Super Scientists
4th grade poets
Paper or Cardboard Challenge
Important Info to support your children at home
This Week's Specials Content Weekly Video
Return to 5-Days a week
- When does 5-Days start: The Board approved us to go back five days on March 15th. However, we our new staff need to close up their old classroom in their old district and get to Grandview. A firm start date will be announced no later than Thursday. Please plan on a potential one-week delay.
- What are the school day hours? 8:30-3:40. We are back to our original start and end time. School doors open at 8:20. Instruction begins at 8:30. Tardy starts at 8:40. Dismissal is at 3:40.
- Will there be specials during the day? YES! We are working with the special teachers to decide if they can host their content safely in their rooms or if the special teachers will travel to the classrooms. Though the special teachers will still be posting their lessons virtually for our CVA students.
- Do I need to turn in my child's Clarenceville Chromebook? YES! Though not until after spring break. We will be sending home return guidelines to all of you, but we want to be sure your child has a device over spring break to catch-up on any lost learning, give time for STMath, and other online platforms as we do NOT want learning to be lost.
- Will my child still have free breakfast and lunch? YES! There will also still only have one option for our children as they will still be eating in the classroom for both breakfast and lunch.
- Will my child still have recess with only their class? YES! We are still cohorting each class as we know that is the safest for our students.
- Will parent walk up return? NO! We need to ensure social distance can occur and students to be safe.
- Will there be latchkey? WE HOPE!! We are interviewing for a new director, as well as looking for other options for our families. We know that this is essential for some of our families.
March is Reading Month Details
This first week has been amazing! The number of basketballs that were turned in were amazing! Another drawing will be this Friday too!!! Keep on turning them the basketballs in and keep on reading for 20 minutes.
Also it was amazing how many people sent pictures of their child carrying out the reading calendar. I loved seeing all of the readers having fun while reading. I can't wait to see what happens this week readers!
A couple of events to plan for and to get excited for a month of reading are:
March 1-15: Virtual Book Fair
Fun days at GV will be a fun activity to do in honor of reading -- look at the flyer!!!
- 9 & 12th - Crazy Hair Day!!
- 16th & 19th - Flashlight Fun with PJs
- 26th - Wear a shirt or jersey of your Favorite Sports Team
March 19th: Bookmark Contest deadline
March 24: Virtual Milk and Bookies Night -- 6-8:00 pm
Friday, March 27th - Virtual Closing Assembly to celebrate our month of Reading and name the reading MVP in each class!!
NOTE: We are asking the kids to read each evening. When you read the grade level appropriate amount, remember to fill out a slip (paper or virtual) for each evening read and have the parent sign or acknowledge the slip and return to the classroom. These slips will come home with the letters on Friday/Monday! Drawings will happen on all Fridays or Mondays in March to win prizes!! Again, your child cannot win without a signed slip!!
Spring Book Fair
The book fair will be a virtual book fair. Please visit the school virtual website at https://www.scholastic.com/bf/grandviewelementaryschool5. All orders will be delivered directly to your home.
You Missed Picture Day.....No Problem
If you were unable to come in for picture day, but would still like an opportunity to purchase school pictures, please take a look at the attached flyer. Lifetouch has teamed up with Shutterfly to assist you in taking your own school pictures with a Lifetouch background. If you decide to use this app, it will allow us to have access to your child's picture for the yearbook.
If you do not want to purchase a picture package, but would like your child to appear in the yearbook, please take a picture of your child (from the chest up) with a blank wall behind them. You can then email that picture to gviewyearbook@gmail.com. Please include your child's full name, grade, and teacher's name in the email. Please email pictures no later than March 20th.
Picture packets and yearbook purchasing forms were sent home. Below is the website and code to purchase on-line.
Website: mylifetouch.com and use the code: EVTHV3MZX
Questions, please contact the Grandview office.
Kindergarten Round-Up
Looking for new Kindergarteners or Junior Kindergarteners for this fall!
Grandview's Round-Up is Tuesday, March 23rd at 6:00 P.M. This meeting will be virtual.
Botsford's Round-Up is Wednesday, March 24th at 6:00 P.M. This meeting will be virtual.
If you have a child who will be five years old by December 1, 2021, 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/tRdGGq6FchLFjYF77. Please pass this link along to friends and neighbors who have a future Kindergarten student but do not have siblings at Grandview.
For Questions, contact the Grandview Office: 248-919-0404
Grandview Virtual Parent Cafe -- RULER -- The Mood Meter
This Tuesday, March 8th at 6:00 pm, is our next VIRTUAL PARENT CAFE!!! This session is to continue our RULER training. This month is about the Mood Meter. The Mood Meter is a self and social awareness tool a that we can use to better recognize, understand and label our own emotions and those of others. We also use the Mood Meter to build emotion regulation strategies. Below is a video introducing the Mood meter, as well as, what the mood meter looks like, and some questions and resources to support you when you or anyone in your family verbalizes what color they are feeling.our monthly FOG meeting. Come join our meeting to hear how you can integrate the Mood Meter into your home!
Look for the Mood Meter activity to come home with you. There is a video and a general overview of the mood meter included below.
Click here for the Link for our Weekly Parent Meeting.......
When should I keep my student home??
Thank you to everyone for being so diligent in screening your child and keeping them home when symptoms appear. We also appreciate the transparency and communication with your classroom teacher and the office to ensure that it is safe to send your child to school.
Remember that if your child just has a runny nose or allergies, you can send them. We want our children in school learning as much as possible!
WIDA
All students who have a language other than English spoken at home and are identified as English Learners must take a state test called WIDA ACCESS for ELLs (Accessing Comprehension and Communication in English State to State for English Language Learners). The Enrollment Office form that was completed when your son/daughter enrolled in Clarenceville Schools tells us this information. Students will take the test even if they are not attending ESL/EL classes. The test is for Reading, Writing, Listening, Speaking and Comprehension in English. Even though we are in a pandemic, we still have to test your child. Even if your child is a virtual learner, we still have to test your child. We will bring our health risk compromised students in on Wednesday, when there are no other students in the building. We did not receive an exemption from the State of Michigan, therefore, we are testing. We will mail your child's test results to you when we receive them from the Michigan Department of Education. If you have any questions, please contact Karen Morrison at 248-919-0404.
School Store Fundraiser
A school fundraiser is underway and we are so excited with how much has been sold in the 1st week. It is 100% online so there is no selling or handling of money or products. This is a Win-Win fundraiser as the school earns money, as well as, the classroom teacher and the students can earn some really cute prizes. This fundraiser helped to purchase the clay that is used for art, paint for the playground, as well as, the supplies for March is Reading Month.
School Store is an online shopping mall.
All you need to do is going to www.schoolstore.net and enter Grandview Elementary School's code (9438) and then shop away.
Here are three ways your family, friends, and co-workers can help our school.
1. Make a 100% tax-deductible donation to your child's classroom with the purchase of a CaringFor Classrooms.org gift card for your child's teacher to use for classroom supplies and equipment.
2. Renew or purchase magazine subscriptions, DVD's, cookbooks and more. We earn up to 50% of their purchase.
3. Shop online with over 400 major merchants including Walmart, Kohl's, Best Buy, Disney, 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.
Free Breakfast and Lunch
On Tuesday, the red cohort will have a choice to bring five breakfast and lunch meals home with them from school and on Friday, the grey cohort will have a choice to bring five breakfast and lunch meals. Your child can bring the meals home on the bus. Milk will be sent home too. This is a choice, but strongly encouraged as meals will be made for all parents. If you do not wish to have the food be brought home, please contact your student's teacher or contact the office so that we can put your child's name on the do not send list.
On Thursday, 7-day meal distributions will still happen at the High School. This is a great way for our CVA students to receive meals. Please remember if you cannot get up to school to pick-up your meals, please reach out to Grandview and we will deliver the meals to your home.
Meals for this week:
Monday: Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Chicken Patty on a bun
Tuesday: Breakfast: Chocolate Chip Muffin
Lunch: Chicken Spaghetti and Meatball
Thursday: Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Chicken Patty on a bun
Friday: Breakfast: Chocolate Chip Muffin
Lunch: Chicken Spaghetti and Meatball
Remember to also visit Food Service Website for up-to-date menu changes and to help with planning ahead.
Hybrid Schedule both in person and at home
Arrival and Dismissal
Please remember to stay in your car when you drop off and have your child sitting on the right side of the car so that it is easy for them to get out of the car and for the staff to assist the students.
If your child is a car rider, you should have a tag by now to hang in your car. If you have not received one, please reach out to the office or the classroom teacher. Displaying these in your car makes the process go by faster.
If your child is a walker, please put it in writing and send it in an email to myself and/or the teacher or a written note. Your child will be dismissed from the back with the car riders.
Remember that in the back, please form three lines to help us to get more cars through quicker and more efficient. Do not get out of the car, there will be staff on site to help get your child out of the car.
Bus Schedule
If your child is not riding the bus, they have to be dropped off and picked up in the back of the school. We will NOT allow for parent drop off before or after school. We need to monitor social distancing and that not occur if parent walk up is happening amongst our bussers.
School Attendance
For the students that are returning to school, attendance is taking two times a day. Students are marked tardy starting at 9:35. Please be timely so that absences do not add up. You are only at school two days a week, so attendance should be upheld.
On virtual days, two-way interactions are monitored. Attendance at your two times a day virtual Google Meets, turning in assignments and responding to feedback are all ways to achieve your two-way interactions.
Truancy laws will be upheld. Under State of Michigan legislation, truancy is defined as a child who has 10 or more unexcused absences per school year. If you are option 1 - hybrid remote, teachers will take a morning and afternoon attendance, just like in brick and mortar. If you are in option 2 - virtual academy. You have a little more flexibility, but daily contact with the teacher is still expected. You can still call into the attendance line to excuse your child, but please do not get yourself into trouble with attendance. Attendance is mandatory.
Spring Weather is right around the corner.....Dress Appropriately
March is here and the weather is getting warmer! The playground can be muddy and we still would ask you to send boots (snow or rain) with your child. Be sure to send in another pair of shoes should your child's shoes get extremely muddy or wet.
We also are noticing that a lot of children are not wearing socks with their boots. Please be sure your child wears socks too!!
Also, please send the kids in layers as the temperature varies from the morning to the afternoons and we keep our windows open all day.
2020-2021 Annual School Survey
Please help Grandview to continue to improve! We ask for ALL parents to complete our annual survey to help to drive our instruction, conversation, and improvement. This was the same survey that was in the lobby of Grandview during conferences. Thank you to the families that already completed it and I so appreciate all the families that will complete it. I would love to hear all of your voices as we strive to make Grandview the very best school!!!!
Looking for employment and want to join the Clarenceville and Grandview Family.......
1). Officer Rebandt with LPD's traffic division is in charge of Botsford's two crossing guards. Currently there is one available position for the crossing guard on Angling at the stop sign. He asked for our help to find a replacement by notifying our parents to see if there is anyone out there who would be interested or knows of someone who might be interested in the crossing guard position. (He also has other openings for crossing guard positions in Livonia and is finding it impossible to find candidates to fill any of the positions.)
The position is for the Botsford/Angling Road crossing guard. Hours are: Monday - Friday the 1/2 hour prior to Botsford's starting bell and the 1/2 hour following their dismissal bell. The pay is for 2 hours a day, on school days. He is asking that interested candidates contact him (Officer Rebandt) directly at 734 466-2683 for further information about the position and/or to apply. Please leave a message if he is not available.
Grandview Parent Website
- Have you attended a Virtual Session and wanted resources from the session?
- Were you unable to attend a parent session, but wanted to gain some new learning?
If you answered yes to either, I would encourage you to check our Grandview Virtual Website. It is a website created just for Grandview families filled with a ton of resources for Grandview students. It is updated with each session that is held on Tuesday nights. So be sure to visit often.
Parent Support Learning Sessions
There are a ton of amazing sessions on super relevant and impactful session!!! I encourage you to take time out of your schedule to support yourself to support your children.
Take a look and let me know if you attend and what you learn!!!
Clarenceville District and Elementary Calendar
Yearbook Pictures
First Day of School, Grandview FOG Facebook Page, Constitution Day, Virtual Spirit Week has all brought in some great pictures for our yearbook committee, but we need more. Thank you to those families that have sent me pictures, but we still need more. If you have some great pictures of your child learning virtually, please email them to the following address.....gviewyearbook@gmail.com. It will take a village for us to ensure that we have enough pictures to mark this historical year.
Still Not In the Special's Google Classroom, here are some tips to help you.....
Junior Kindergarten through Second Grade students who have not yet enrolled in their Specials Google Classroom have been added to the classrooms. You will not need to follow instructions for joining with a code. Instead, go to classroom.google.com and you'll see the Specials class automatically listed. Click the "Join" button and then the classroom will open. Look at the image below to help guide you.
Third through fifth grade students who have not yet enrolled in their Specials Google Classroom should follow the instructions to join with the code provided. Each of your classroom teachers have the codes listed.
FOG Positions and FOG News -- JOIN OUR TEAM!!!
The following positions are still available:
FOG President:
FOG Co-VP with Nick Dorst:
If you are interested, please reach out to myself or Nick Dorst at fogvp2020@gmail.com
Tech Support this School Year
Click here for Google Meet Support Link
Click her to access Google Meet for Tech support
Tuesday Night Night
I will read this Tuesday and next Tuesday and then will take a break until January 5th where we will continue reading great stories in 2021!!
Grandview and Kroger
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.
Interested in Cub Scouts
Grandview Sports
In the meantime, check out this great communication piece for our families!!
Important Dates and Upcoming Dates
March
8: Oakland County Health Department Vision Screening
9: Crazy Hair Day
11: Board of Education Meeting - Virtual @ 6:30 pm
12: Crazy Hair Day
End of the 3rd Marking Period
15: Virtual Spring Book Fair Ends
16: Flashlight Fun with PJs
19: Bookmark Contest Deadline
Flashlight Fun with PJs
23: Kinder Round-up
24: Virtual Milk and Bookies Event 6-8:00
25: Board of Education Meeting - Virtual @ 6:30 pm
26: Favorite Sports Team
29-April 2nd: Spring Break