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Here is the 18th edition of the Gill Listserv News for the 2009-2010 school year. We hope you find this communication helpful each week.
Volunteers Needed
As a caring learning community at Gill Elementary, student achievement is a huge priority. We are in need of volunteers. We are appealing to you to consider spending one or two hours a week helping us with this endeavor. There is an exciting opportunity to tutor second grade students in reading, writing, and math. Gill Elementary is working toward a goal of holding afterschool tutoring for second graders in need of support and practice with these skills. The tutoring sessions will be held on Mondays from 3:30-4:30 p.m. at Gill and on Saturdays from 10:30-11:30 a.m. at the Farmington Hills library on 12 Mile Road. If you are interested in supporting second grade students with their work, please attend a brief orientation on Sat. Jan. 30th at 9:00 at the library on 12 Mile Road. For more information or if you plan to attend the orientation, please contact Emily Walker (
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) or Nadirah Pitts (
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).
Budget Information
Yearbooks Selling Quickly
There are a few yearbooks still left, but we’re almost out. If you have yet to purchase a yearbook for this school, send in the cash or check made out to Gill PTA in the amount of $13.00. Place the money in an envelope with your child’s name, teacher, and “Yearbook” written on the front of the envelope. If you have questions or need additional information, contact Colleen Pace at (248) 474-3897.
Kindness Connects Us All – Links of Kindness
Keep our “Kindness Chain” moving! Our kindness chain is on the move throughout the west hall. Our goal is to get the students thinking about acts they do to be kind and to be able to self-nominate an act of kindness they do. We want students to explicitly identify the kind things they do everyday and how much those acts are appreciated by those around them. We do not want to replace the A+ tickets; we want to help students recognize kindness and act with kindness among themselves and each other. The A+ tickets are given out by us as staff; however the chain links can be given out in the following ways:
- Students may nominate themselves for a kindness chain link
- Students may nominate other students for a chain link
- Parents and Staff may catch a student doing a kind act and remind them it is worth a kindness chain link.
- Let them know they can make a difference with a kind word, a smile and a positive attitude.
Please remind the students to cut out and decorate their links! Once completed, they can put the cut-out and decorated link in the box outside the office (near the fish tank). 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!
Helpful Information Links:
Important Dates in the next few weeks:
Monday, Jan. 25th:
· Book Parade for 4th and 5th grade students continues through February 11th. Continue encouraging your 4th or 5th grader to keep on reading. Book Parade is a district-wide reading incentive program whose purpose is to:
o Promote the joy of reading through quality literature
o Introduce a variety of genres to readers
o Challenge students to set and achieve a reading goal
o Bring a noted author to the schools
· School Funding Town Hall Meeting with State Representative Vicki Barnett
o Vicki Barnett invites you to her town hall meeting to discuss the state budget and how it impacts local schools, as well as reforms needed to properly fund our children’s education.
o 7:00 p.m. at the Maxfield Training Center
33000 Thomas Street in Farmington
o Guests include:
Mitch Bean, House Fiscal Agency Director
Sue Zurvalec, Farmington Public Schools Superintendent
Tuesday, January 26th:
· 2010-11 Budget Public Forum #3 (repeated session), 11:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. at Maxfield Training Center
· Board of Education Meeting to hear committee’s recommendations, 7:30 p.m. at North Farmington High School Auditorium. The Board meeting is open to the public and will be cablecast LIVE on TV-10.
Wednesday, January 27th:
· Safety Drills, 8:30 a.m. (We will be practicing the three levels of Lock Downs. We like to let you know about our safety drill practice in case your child talks about them, or if you’d like to talk about them with your child.)
Thursday, January 28th:
Friday, January 29th
· Assembly, 2:30 p.m. in the gym (2nd grade Map sharing/Reflections Awards)
Saturday, January, 30th:
· 10th Annual Midwest Fathers Conference
“Embracing the Challenges of Fatherhood”
Oakland Schools' Conference Facility
2111 Pontiac Lake Rd., Waterford, MI 48328
o “Fantastic Father: The Seven Traits of a Great Dad”.... Thomas Haller, family counselor & author
o “Dads and Daughters”... Bob Stien, founder of the New York Fathers Conference
o “Getting to YES by Saying NO”.... Bob Howe, Executive Director of Michigan Elementary & Middle School Principal's Assoc.
o “Navigating Divorce without Losing Your Sanity”... Henry Gornbein & Larry Herren, family attorney & family and adolescent counselor.
These are just a sample of the powerful workshops available at the “10th Annual Midwest Fathers Conference” that will provide you with strong insight & ideas. To learn more about the conference, please click here.
Monday, February 1st:
· Farmington PTA Council meeting, 7:00 p.m. at the Maxfield Training Center
· Gill Family Night at Chuck E. Cheese in Novi, 3:00-9:00 p.m. and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to our Gill PTA.
Tuesday, February 2nd:
· Public Forum on Study Team Recommendations, 7:00 p.m. at North Farmington High School Auditorium. The Forum is open to the public and will be cablecast LIVE on TV-10.
Tuesday, February 9th:
· Special Workshop of the Board of Education to review and discuss the recommendations of the Facilities Study Team. The meeting will be held at the Maxfield Training Center (MTC). The Workshop is open to the public and will be cablecast LIVE on TV-10.
Friday, February 12th:
· Classroom Valentine’s Parties, 1:30-2:30 p.m. (cleanup from 2:15-2:30 p.m.)
o If you’re planning to attend the classroom parties, please be sure to park your car in a designated parking spot only. Please do not park in the circle drive as that is a fire lane. If all the designated parking spots in the Gill parking lot are full, please park over at Power Middle School in a parking spot there and walk over to Gill on the sidewalk connecting the campuses. Thank you so much in advance for your consideration of this.
Tuesday, February 16th:
· Board of Education Meeting, 7:30 p.m. Board considers taking action on the Facilities Study Team recommendations, North Farmington High School Auditorium. The Board meeting is open to the public and will be cablecast LIVE on TV-10.
Wednesday, February 17th:
· 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.
Thursday, February 18th and Friday, February 19th:
· Winter Break – school not in session. In past year’s this has been a weeklong vacation. Please note that this year’s Winter Break is two days rather than five.
Monday, February 22nd:
· School Reconvenes
Tuesday, February 23rd:
· 2010-2011 Kindergarten Information Night, 7:00-8:00 p.m. at the Maxfield Training Center (for families living north of 11 Mile Road)
Wednesday, February 24th:
· Special Board of Education meeting, 7:30 p.m. at North Farmington High School Auditorium. Review of public/staff input/public comments on budget priorities and suggested reductions. Budget Reduction Plan presented. No Board action will be taken at this meeting. The Board meeting is open to the public and will be cablecast LIVE on TV-10.
Thursday, February 25th:
· 2010-2011 Kindergarten Information Night, 7:00-8:00 p.m. at the Maxfield Training Center (for families living south of 11 Mile Road)
Tuesday, March 2nd:
· Board of Education meeting, 7:30 p.m. at North Farmington High School Auditorium. Authorization to implement 2010-2011 Budget Reduction Plan as presented on 2/24/10. The Board meeting is open to the public and will be cablecast LIVE on TV-10.
Registration for Math Pentathletes will be completed online this year
Tournaments Dates are:
- DIV I (kdg/1st grade), 3/27/10 at Stony Creek High School-Rochester
- DIV II (2nd/3rd grades), 4/17/10 at Farmington High School-Farmington
- DIV III (4th/5th grades), 5/8/10 Royal Oak Middle School-Royal Oak.
Our DIV I Gill MP Team must complete registration by Wednesday, February 17th.
Our DIV II & III Gill MP Teams must complete registration by Monday, March 1 to receive a discount. Parents/Guardians must follow the links below to the Math Pentathlon Registration information to register and pay for their own child(en) to participate in a Tournament this year. Each Student/Sibling must be registered for participation in their Tournament. The fee for each participant is $35 if registration is completed |
