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Here is the 24th edition of the Gill Listserv News for the 2009-2010 school year. We hope you find this communication helpful each week. Kindness efforts continue at Gill! Click here for a blank Kindness Link for you to encourage your child to fill out, decorate, cut out and turn into the kindness link box outside the office! There is no limit to the number of kind acts we can do!
March is Reading Month
Theme: We’re Going Bananas over Books
Time Frame: March 1st to 25th (Letter and record sheet went home with students on February 26th)
Goal: For students to team together to turn in a total of 800 reading record sheets as a school by March 25th which includes a short written response to a book that student has read during that week. Ten dollar Barnes & Noble Gift Cards will be given each week to one student at each grade level (thank you Gill PTA). These winners will be randomly selected from the sheets turned in.
Facilities Study Information
At the School Board meeting on Wednesday, 2/24/10, the Board took action and voted in support of the following option for school closings and reconfiguration for the coming 2010-11 school year:
Option D from the Facilities Study Team’s Addendum
· Middle schools are reconfigured into two 5-6 and two 7-8 schools. Elementary buildings are reconfigured as K-4 schools. (The decision on whether Highmeadow remains a K-5, or changes to a K-4 or K-6 school, still needs to be determined.)
· Alameda, Farmington Community School (FCS), Visions, Cloverdale programming and locations remain as is.
· Wooddale, William Grace, Flanders and Eagle Elementary Schools are closed.
· The Maxfield Training Center would close. Staff would be absorbed by the Ten Mile building and other District education buildings. District science center moves to the warehouse at central office.
· The District could expect to save about $2.3 million a year. The total capital expenditures (estimated by TMP) related to the closed buildings for the five-year window that could be avoided amount to approximately $2.1 million. The one-time costs required to implement this option may approach $3.6 million.
As this decision will affect students, families, and staff in our district we wanted to share the information with you about how you can talk to your 4th and 5th grade children about the stress they may feel and how to handle any feeling of stress in a healthy way. To that end, we sent this sheet home with the 4th and 5th graders recently, and it was also a conversation piece at Wednesday’s PTA meeting. With the Board’s decision made, we look forward to supporting our 4th and 5th graders in their transition to their 5th/6th school and celebrating with them their years at Gill, well as supporting the transition of any students joining or leaving our Gill community based on revised district boundaries.
Volunteers Needed for the Gill Talent Show:
District Budget Information
Below is the most up-to-date budget information which include potential budget reduction information for the 2010-2011 school year.
Helpful Information Links:
Important Dates in the next few weeks:
Wednesday, March 10th:
· Join SOS-FPS and other Michigan parents and educators at 1:30 p.m. at the Lansing Center for a march to the State Capitol in Lansing for a Rally for Public Education. The Farmington PTA Council is sponsoring buses for group transportation. Buses will leave at 11:45 a.m. from FHS, HHS and NFHS parking lots and are expected to return around 5:00 p.m. T-shirts and car flags will be available for purchase on the day of the event. To reserve your spot on the bus, please contact PTA Council President, Chris Greig, at
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. For further information on SOS-FPS, please visit their web site at www.sosfps.com.
Thursday, March 11th
- 4th/5th grade year-end recognition parent committee meeting, 2:00 p.m. in the media center (If you’re a 4th or 5th grade parent and are interested in helping coordinate and volunteer for year-end recognitions for the 4th and 5th graders, please feel free to join the team.)
Friday, March 12th:
· Early Release Day for students, 12:48 p.m. dismissal. Lunch and Recess times will be adjusted as follows to accommodate the early dismissal:
o Kdg/3rd grade lunch and recess: 10:35-11:35 a.m.
o 1st/2nd grade lunch and recess: 11:05 a.m.-12:05 p.m.
o 4th/5th grade lunch and recess: 11:35 a.m.-12:35 p.m.
· Gill Skate Night at Bonaventure, 5:00-7:00 p.m.
Sunday, March 14th:
· Daylight Savings Time – Spring Forward – Be sure to set your clocks ahead one hour
Wednesday, March 17th:
· Parent/Student/Teacher conferences, 5:00-8:00 p.m.
Thursday, March 18th:
· Parent/Student/Teacher conferences, 5:00-8:00 p.m.
Friday, March 19th:
· Half Day for student – Dismissal at 11:16 a.m.
· This is the end of the 2nd trimester and teachers will begin working on report cards which will be sent home on Monday, March 29th.
· Safety Drill practice – This morning we will be practicing our 3 levels of lock down safety drills (building lock down, classroom lock down, and lock down/take cover) for the second and last time of the year. We like to let you know about our safety drills in case the students come home and mention them to you. We still have two more evacuation drills and two more tornado drills to practice this year.
Tuesday, March 23rd:
- Barbara Park, our Book Parade Author will visit Gill’s 4th and 5th grade qualifiers, 2:00-3:00 p.m. in the media center
Thursday, March 25th:
· Family Literacy Night, 6:30-8:00 p.m.
Read Alouds by Gill staff (Kdg/1st: 6:30 – 2nd/3rd: 6:50 – 4th/5th: 7:10)
All other sessions are repeated 3 times, 6:30/6:50/7:10. Sessions include:
· Reader's Theater
· Mad Libs
· Poetry (Reading and Writing)
· Crafts (make a bookmark, design a new cover to your favorite book)
· The night ends with a session at 7:40 p.m. Milk and Cookies in the cafeteria/read aloud by Mr. Morawski
Friday, March 26th:
- Another Gill Themed Dance in honor of the impending warmer weather: A Gill Luau Dance, 6:30-8:00 p.m. in the gym and cafeteria. All children must be accompanied by an adult (please do not drop your child off as student must be supervised by parents/guardians). Pizza and refreshments will be sold. Proceeds from this dance will be used to support the recognition and celebrations for our 4th and 5th grade students whose last year at Gill will be this year. Please plan to join in the fun.
Monday, March 29th:
- Kdg-5th grade report cards for the 2nd trimester are sent home with students
Friday, April 2nd – Sunday, April 11th:
- Spring Vacation – School is not in session
Monday, April 12th:
Friday, April 23rd:
- 1st grade Assembly “Sharing their Learning about Weather”, 2:15-3:00 p.m. in the gym (note date change from March 26th)
- PTA Spring Social, 5:00-7:00 p.m. in the gym, cafeteria, classroom and school grounds
ATTENTION 5th GRADE PARENTS!
As part of our end of year graduation celebration, we are in need of pictures from all of you. We need a 1-year old picture of your 5th grader as soon as you can send it in. Also, anyone who has any pictures from any or all six years at Gill, please gather them and send them in as soon as possible. These pictures should be of any/all 5th graders at any grade at Gill. Please make sure you are able to see the child’s face in the photos. We will be putting together a slide show and booklet for them to have as a keepsake. Please send any 1-year old pictures as an email in .jpg format to Kim Couture at
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or an actual photo to Meghan Couture in Mrs. Gumas’s class. PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU PUT YOUR CHILD’S NAME ON THE EMAIL OR PICTURE. Also send any other pictures of all students as an email in .jpg format to Anna Firestone at
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or to Hunter Firestone (Mrs. Gumas’s class) or Dakota Firestone (Mrs. Moyers's class). AGAIN, PLEASE INCLUDE NAMES OF STUDENTS TO HELP WITH MAKING SURE WE HAVE AT LEAST ONE PICTURE OF EVERY STUDENT. Thank you very much for your help in making our 5th graders remember their awesome years at Gill Elementary.
The Gill Gazette is Online!
Our monthly newsletter is available online. Our most recent issue is available by clicking on our Gill Website or at the following link:
Spend some time perusing our website as there is a lot of good information. Additionally you can access our PTA website from the Gill homepage or go directly to the PTA site by clicking on the following link:
Enjoy!
If you ever have any questions feel free to email Emily Walker, Jessica Friedrichs, Pam Wasko or me. Of course you can always call us, too!
(248) 489-3690
Have a great weekend!
-Mark |
