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Here is the 36th edition of the year of the Gill Listserv News for the 2008-2009 school year. Remember to check out the following links which you may find to have helpful information for you and your children:
Please Complete the PTA Online Survey
Included in this email is a link to a survey being sent to you by the Gill PTA Executive Board. This survey will take you less than 10 minutes to complete. We are trying to gather information to understand the priorities of the families at Gill in order to help us plan our objectives for the next school year. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to send an email to
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or contact Kristin Ebling at 248-476-8964. Thank you very much for your time! Following is the link to the survey: http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e2iq3oyhfuvb7zg4/start
Update on our Staff Changes:
Here’s the latest staffing update as of today:
- We did receive staffing confirmation for Renee Decator and Tracey Williams who will each have their own 3rd grade classroom here at Gill as they decided to discontinue their job share.
- Maria Blanco will be moving to the art position at Gill (all the best to Stephanie Kessler in her retirement).
- Suzanne Kwasniewicz and Laura Moyers who discontinued a job share at Wood Creek will be coming over to Gill in the 4th/5th grade blend and 5th grade respectively.
- Though we are sad that Kate Harris and Erin Hodges are leaving our Gill team, we are we are very hopeful that they will have confirmed placements at another FPS elementary school within the next week. We wish them well at their new schools.
- We’d like to welcome Amy Rabe (Forest) and Heather Shouldice (Wood Creek) who will be working with Eileen Howe to serve as the additional music teachers for us. We wish Kristie Bink well at her new school, Flanders.
- We also want to wish Peg Boschma and our preschool team of Tonia Ryntz and Hana Najar well as they leave their position here with us, as well as three of our noon supervisors who have decided to move on: Jack Heckathorn, Jennifer Peressini, and Julie Skelton.
- We welcome ALL our new team members to the great Gill staff. All the best to everyone for a great summer of new experiences and memories with family and friends!
Compass Learning Online Learning:
Teachers have assigned activities to their student that the students can work on over the summer months through an online tutorial program call Compass Learning that is provide by FPS and available to students for free by going to the following website: http://www.compasslearningodyssey.com/. Once at the website type in the available fields the following information:
Summer Reading – Just Do It!
Research has proven that if students read over the summer months they can avoid the summer learning decline that will occur without a child reading over the summer. So, we’d like students to read at least 500 minutes over the summer. In short, for our students entering K-2nd grade, make sure you read 12 or more books over the summer, and for our students entering 3rd-5th grade, be sure to read 6 or more books over the summer to maintain the progress in reading you made this year. As a record and incentive, complete “Gill Elementary’s Summer Reading Program” ice cream cone that was sent home with students. A tasty surprise awaits those who turn in this sheet in the fall with the 500 minutes read. If you can’t find the sheet, we will have it available on the Gill website within a week. Thanks for reading!
Lost items need to be found!
Please stop by our Lost and Found by Friday, June 12th and collect any of your children’s lost items. Unclaimed items will be given to charity the week of June 15th. Thank you!
Dear 5th Grade Recognition Committee and all those who volunteered to help:
We 5th graders would like to thank you from the bottom of our hearts. You parents put so much thought, time and effort into planning this special event for us. We really appreciated all of the nice decorations, both slide shows, all of the delicious muffins, juice, pizza and especially those outside games and snacks. We had a blast getting wet and muddy with the water slide and we really enjoyed bouncing around and playing all of the other games too. We will cherish the memory books forever and watch the CDs over and over again. Thank you again for creating these special moments for us, we will never forget all that you have done.
Sincerely,
The Class of 2016
Important Dates to Begin the 2009-10 School Year:
Thursday, Sept. 3rd:
- Meet the Teacher from 2:00-2:45 p.m. Come to this “Open House” type event to walk through our school and meet your child’s teachers and classmates.
Friday, Sept. 4th through Monday, Sept. 7th:
Tuesday, Sept. 8th:
- 1st Day for Students (full day for students, 8:13 a.m.-3:18 p.m.)
Curriculum Nights Staff and Teacher Presentations:
Wednesday, Sept. 10th:
- 2nd/3rd grades in the cafeteria from 6:30-7:00 p.m.
- Teacher presentations, 7:00-8:00 p.m.
Tuesday, Sept. 15th:
- 4th/5th grades in the cafeteria from 6:30-7:00 p.m.
- Teacher presentations, 7:00-8:00 p.m.
Wednesday, Sept. 16th:
- Kdg/1st grades in the cafeteria from 6:30-7:00 p.m.
- Teacher presentations, 7:00-8:00 p.m.
Help with Beautification at Gill:
Thank you to the “weed fairies” who showed up this week to help beautify the outside of our school. As the summer vacation begins and you have a few spare minutes and can come by the school to pull some weeds from the garden, we’d love the help. This might be a great collaborative project with the family. Feel free to contact Sue Wolter (
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) if you have any questions or wondering how you can help. Thank you!
Stranger Danger Safety:
With the warmer weather hopefully hear to stay for awhile, the kids will be spending more time outside. Please continually talk with your children about the importance of being safe and “stranger danger” by discussing with them the following tips for safety:
- Do not respond to offers or requests made by strangers. (Help me find my pet. Would you like some candy?).
- Avoid people they do not recognize, strangers in cars, unfamiliar settings.
- Go directly home from school and check in with parents before going out to play with friends.
- Whenever possible, walk with other children and do not talk with strangers.
- Immediately report any approach made by a stranger to school officials, family members, or the police.
Summer Learning Activities for Students:
Family FUNdamentals are activity packets created by the Michigan Department of Education for student entering Kdg through 3rd grades that help prevent the summer learning decline. Click on the link below based on the grade of your child(ren):
Nurturing Your Child as a Writer:
Thank you to all the parents and staff who supported our parent workshop writing initiative this year. We finished off the effort for the year with our third parent workshop held at MTC and welcomed over 100 parents from across the district. Materials from the January and March sessions are available at the Gill PTA website or by clicking on the following link (materials for the April 27th forum will be posted in the coming weeks):
Or click on the links below for specific grade level resources shared on March 24th:
Summer School Offerings through Farmington Public Schools:
A variety of summer school programs are available through FPS for students in preschool through high school. Click on the following link to see more details and for online registration:
Check Out Our Student Podcasts:
Check out our student podcasters and sign up to receive the podcast as new ones are uploaded to the Gill website. The latest podcast is ready for your viewing at the following link:
Gill Student Podcasts
The Gill Gazette is Online!
Our monthly newsletter is available online. The June 2009 issue can be accessed by clicking on our Website and/or at the following links:
Spend some time perusing our website as there is a lot of good information. Enjoy!
If you ever have any questions feel free to email Steve Vercellino, Jessica Friedrichs, Pam Wasko or me. Of course you can always call us, too!
(248) 489-3690
Have a great weekend!
-Mark |
