Gator Gazette

Home of the Gators - Gary L. Bates, Principal

Secretary - Michele Klaas www.port-huron.k12.mi.us/Garfield Message from the Principal . . .

October 2011
Dear Parents, Our new school year is off to a great start; our staff and students are working together each day to make the most of the time they are together. All of our K-5 students just completed the DIBELS reading assessment and our third, fourth and fifth grade teachers are preparing our students for the state assessment, the MEAP. This will take place from October 11 27. The data from these assessments helps our teachers identify the strengths of our students and develop plans to work on areas needing improvement. This school year, the District is continuing its working agreement with the International Center Leadership in Education, (ICLE). Working with ICLE, we will continue to evaluate our school, look at our strengths and weaknesses and update our plan that will assist us in improving the educational opportunities for all of our students. We look forward to focusing on the positive things we do and providing improved educational programming for your children. We will continue to seek parent and community input as it takes all of us working together to ensure our schools are able to meet the needs of all of our students. One way to keep up on the happenings in the school and be provided with an opportunity to give your input is to attend our School Advisory/Parent Teacher Association meetings on the first Tuesday of each month at 6:00 pm in the newly refinished meeting room upstairs. We discuss the schools day to day activities as well as long term projects and commitments. On Tuesday, October 4, we will be holding our Title I Annual meeting; at this time we will discuss the many components of our Title I program, its offerings to students, the home/school compact and the building parent involvement policy to name a few. I invite you to attend and take an active part in your childs education. Working together, we will prepare your child for the future. Join us, wont you?

4 Annual Title I Meeting/School Advisory/PTA Mtg 6:00 5 Official Count Day 11 MEAP Testing Begins 17 Board of Ed. Mtg McKinley. 7:00 pm 28 PTA Fall Family Dance 6:00-8:00 27 MEAP Testing Ends 31 Halloween Parade Day Dismissal at 11:43

HALLOWEEN PARADE Please watch for information coming home from your childs teacher.

November
2 3 4 8 9-11 Election Day School Advisory/PTA Mtg. Picture Retakes 1:00-3:00 pm End of 1st Marking period Parent/Teacher Conferences Evening Appointments Parent/Teacher Conferences Afternoon Appointments (DISMISSAL @ 11:43) Board of Ed. Mtg McKinley NO SCHOOL Thanksgiving Break

Sincerely,

Gary L. Bates, Principal

Wednesday, October 5, 2011 is the states Official Count Day. Please make every effort to ensure your child is in school.

14 23-25

Garfield Elementary School 1221 Garfield Street Port Huron, MI 48060 984-6509 Absence Line: 989-2741 Fax: 989-2743

Sign in At the Office PLEASE PTA NEWS

Thank you to all of those parents who come directly to the office to sign in! We appreciate your help in keeping our school safe.

Hot Lunch Orders

When your child is going to be late for school, it is VERY IMPORTANT that we receive a telephone call by 8:45 a.m. School lunches are called in at that time. If you cant all by then, please pack your child a sack lunch. You may prearrange for a hot lunch the day before if your child is going to be absent in the morning due to an appointment. Thank you for your help with this matter.

Wednesday, October 5, is our Official Count Day, every student in school that day gets a free raffle ticket and is entered in the Count Day Drawing for a chance to win a baskets of goodies.

PTA Book Fair We will be holding our book fair in the media center during the week of conferences. Please watch for more information to come

Picture Retakes!!!
Please mark your calendar Thursday, November 3rd from 1:00 3:00 pm. Lifetouch will be here to photograph any student who may have missed picture day. If you need a picture package flyer, please come to the office or ask your childs teacher to have one sent home. If your child is in the a.m. Young 4s, you will need to make arrangements to have them at the school between 1:00 and 3:00 pm.

MEAP MEAP MEAP

STARTING THE WEEK OF Oct. 11th

Cell Phones & Pagers Parent/Teacher Conferences Plan Ahead

Conferences are scheduled for Tuesday, November 8th thru Friday, November 11th. ALL students will be dismissed at 11:43 Tuesday thru Friday. No lunches will be served. PLEASE MARK YOUR CALENDARS!!!

Cell phones and pagers are NOT ALLOWED at elementary schools!! Please do not allow your child to bring one to school.

Port Huron Area School District does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, disability, height, weight, religion or marital status in its programs and activities.

MEAP From October 11 through October 21, third fourth, and fifth graders at Garfield Elementary School along with third, fourth, and fifth graders across Michigan, will be participating in the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP). All students in these three grades will be measured in the areas of Language Arts (Reading) and Math. Fourth graders will also be tested on Writing. The fifth graders will be tested in the Science area. Please make sure your child attends school on these dates: -Tuesday, Oct. 11 -Wednesday, Oct. 12 -Thursday, Oct. 13 -Monday, Oct. 14 -Tuesday, Oct. 17 -Wednesday, Oct. 18 -Thursday, Oct. 19 -Friday, Oct. 20 How can you help? Make sure your child attends school on testing days. Be sure your child gets a good nights sleep during the testing period. Provide breakfast on the mornings of testing. Remind your child to ask the teacher questions if he/she does not understand the test directions. Encourage your child to approach the test with a positive attitude. Be an encourager for them. Let him/her know that you think he/she will do well on tests. Be sure your child leaves home happy and arrives to school on time.

Accelerated Reader

Tardy Slip
For the safety of our students, all entrance doors are locked by 8:30 a.m. with the exception of our MAIN ENTRANCE DOORS. If your child is late for school, he/she must enter the office to receive a tardy slip before walking to their classroom. This is to ensure that your childs attendance is changed from absent to tardy. If your child does not stop in for a tardy slip, he/she may be marked absent and the office will not know if they are in the building, therefore a call home may be made to inquire as to why your child his absent.

The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places youll go. -Dr. Seuss The Accelerated Reader (AR) Program provides a fun and exciting way to promote reading at home and in the classroom. It is a computerized testing program that increases literature- based reading. There are a wide variety of AR books available in our media centers and individual classrooms. These range from a first grade reading level and higher. The children are able to check out, read, and test on these books to earn points toward ice cream parties and year end rewards. Points Club: 5pt. club- Kindergarten 10pt. club- 1st Grade 20pt. club- 2nd Grade 30pt. club- 3rd Grade 40pt. club- 4th Grade 50pt. club- 5th Grade
1 800 Call . . . Mom
Only emergency calls will be allowed by students on the school telephone. Emergency calls do not include such things as forgetfulness or calls home for permission to go home with a friend after school. We also strongly discourage parents from calling to relay routine messages during the day concerning matters which should be handled before your child leaves for school in the morning.

Summer Reading All Stars

The following students successfully completed the Garfield Summer Reading All Star program by reading six books over the summer. They were rewarded with a treats and a certificate this fall. Congratulations to: Jacob Ciccarello Serenity Dean Riley Feil Hailee Fountain Jove Haywood Drew Jamison Kaylee Karvonen Trevor Knox Jocelynn LaFave Brenna Lindsay Mikayla Madley Ethan Nelson Alexis Roman Tymora Shuler Lexie Simpson Austyn Smith Gohan Smith Analisa Visga

Whats For Lunch? Every month, we will send a menu home with each student. Please remember that even though there are sometimes two choices for lunch, your child should be willing to eat EITHER selection. We are sent a certain number of each choice and may run out of your childs favorite before they come through the lunch line.

MOnday, October 31 Halloween Parade At 9:15 am

We ask that parents wait outside the building to view. The hallways get too congested with students, staff and parents/visitors.

2011-2012 PHASD School Calendar

Parent/Teacher Conferences Thanksgiving Break Classes Resume Winter Break Classes Resume Teachers Records Day Classes Resume Mid-Winter Break Classes Resume Spring Break Classes Resume Memorial Day Recess Classes Resume Last Day of School November 8,9,10,11(Early Dismissal @ 11:43 am) November 23,24,25 November 28, 2010 December 21 December 30, 2010 January 3, 2011 January 27, 2011 January 30, 2011 February 17-20, 2011 (Off Friday/Monday) February 21, 2011 April 2 - April 6, 2011 April 9, 2011 May 25, 2011 May 29, 2011 June 14, 2011

Garfield PTA Page!!!!

Parent involvement is key to a childs success!! A great way to be involved as a parent is to join PTA! Come to a meeting and see what we are all about.

Next Meeting will be held on October 5 at 6:00 in the Meeting room upstairs. We will be finalizing plans on the Fall Child care is provided during Family Dance.
our meetings!!!

Upcoming Events: Meeting October 4th at 6:00 Count Day raffle October 5th Fall family Dance October 28th

Reminder: Popcorn every Friday!!! $.50 a bag!

Help Wanted: We are in need of help for our Friday popcorn sales. We are looking for volunteers for our Fall Family Dance We are starting to recruit volunteers for our Annual Book Fair If you are interested in helping with any of these things please let us know!!! You may contact Sarah at 810-887-9136.

Our PTA now has our own voicemail at the school. You may dial 984-6509 and extension 640. Leave us a message and we will get back to you as soon as possible! Make sure you leave a call back number.

2011 Officers: President: Sarah Driscoll Vice President: Susan Savedra Secretary: Pam Smith Treasurer: Brandy Smerer Membership: Jeff Smerer

Our PTA has decided to hold a Monthly raffle for our students. We will be holding the raffle the first Wednesday of each month. The students will be able to purchase raffle tickets the day before the raffle for $.25 a piece. Our first raffle being held will be on Wednesday October 5th. This is count day for our school, so we have decided that every student that shows up on this day will be entered free!!!! We will be raffling off two gifts on Count Day!