News
from the Office
Mrs. Debra
Mann, Principal
Mrs. Dawn
Kelley, Secretary
Griffin School Newsletter
1. October 17, 2008
GRIFFIN NEWSLETTER
October 17, 2008
What a whirlwind of excitement these first six (6) weeks have been. We are off to a great start and looking forward to the many opportunities for learning ahead of us.
MEET THE TEACHER NIGHT in September was well attended. We appreciate all our families that came to hear what the teachers had to share and to sign up for PTA events. Mrs. Linda Sowles won a $10.00 gift card in the PTA contest for that night. It’s never to late to join the PTA, memberships are just $5.00 and a form can be picked up in the office. Remember, any time you have a question or concern, please feel free to contact your child’s teacher or the principal.
YOUNG AUTHOR’S ASSEMBLY held on Monday, October 6th was a huge success. Our students were mesmerized by an outstanding mime, who not only held their attention and made them laugh but fired them up about writing. After the students returned to their classrooms, they worked on writing projects. In the afternoon, the students returned to the gym to witness some of their stories being performed. Thank you to our PTA for funding such wonderful learning opportunities for our students.
GRAND HAVEN PUBLIC SAFETY will be here on Monday, October 27th to present a short assembly on D.A.R.E., school safety aspects as well as fire, bike, and home safety. We are also grateful to RSVP (retired senior volunteer patrol) who is making a larger presence at Griffin on the playground, at assemblies, and before & after school.
MEAP testing begins October 14th
for all the 3rd – 5th graders. Testing requirements are a little different this year whereas we
have been given specific dates to administer a particular test. Our schedule for the administration of
the MEAP is as follows:
ELA
|
Mathematics
|
Science
|
|
Grades 3-5 |
Grades 3-5 |
Grades 5 |
|
Thursday, October 16 Tuesday, October 21 |
Tuesday, October 14 |
Thursday, October 23 |
Please make sure your child gets a good breakfast and is well
rested for peak performance at these times.
It is very important that students arrive on time as testing occurs first
thing in the morning. At the end of the
three-week period, the students will be rewarded with a swim party on Friday,
November 7, in the afternoon. Students
will be bussed to the Grand Haven High School pool.
SCHOOL PICTURES are scheduled for Thursday,
October 23. See flyer that came home today!
“MOCK ELECTION” at Griffin will be held on November 4, 2008. Each student will have the opportunity to register to vote in our “mock election”. Upon registering, they will proceed to the Media Center with their voter registration card to cast their ballot. Once they cast their ballot in the “voting booth”, they will receive an “I Voted” sticker. 5th Grade students will count the ballots once voting is complete and an announcement will be made as to the winner.
KIDS HOPE—Several of our students benefit by a partnership with a Kids
Hope mentor from either Trinity Reformed Church or Church of the Nazarene. Trained mentors meet each week with their
student and various “special” activities are planned throughout the course of
the year. This is our tenth year with
Kids Hope at Griffin School.
ATTENDANCE HOTLINE—Don’t forget to call 850-5550 to report your child’s absence or tardiness for any reason. You can call this number 24 hours a day/7 days a week. If we do not receive notification of your child’s absence, we will call your home.
MEDICATIONS IN SCHOOL—If it is necessary for your child to take meds (prescription or over-the-counter) during the school day, the medications must be brought to school by an adult, in the prescribed or original container, and you must complete a medication permission form. Please do not send medication of any kind to school with your child.
GOLDEN RULE AWARD –We are going to continue with the Golden Rule Award this year. We initiated this program last year and saw benefits as all our students strive to nurture the qualities of good citizenship. Each month, one child from each classroom will be the recipient of this very special award. This award will be given to students demonstrating honesty, integrity, courtesy, and kindness with adults and peers; respect of self and others; and serving as a role model to their peers. We are proud to announce the September award recipients: Jessica Skinner, Jayden Palarz, Kaylee Ireland, Nikolas Jurista, Trinity Peters, Haley Baxter, Ellie Bos, Addy Tokarczyk, Madison Svoboda, Ty Stafford, Faithann Harp, Makayla Snodgrass, Denver LaFever, and Mary Ferguson. A special thanks to Steve @ Great Lakes Greek Chili Dogs for providing free kids meal coupons.
PTA FUNDRAISERS—
- The PTA is holding a Silent and Live Auction on Friday, November 7, 2008 at 6:30pm at Grand Haven Golf Club. Many items are available, some include: kayak, museum passes, massage certificates, student/class projects, principal surprise donation and many more items. Reservations are required as space is limited. The cost is $20 per person or $25 at the door. The price includes hors d’oevres and dessert by “The Cheesecake Lady”. A cash bar will be available. Contact Laura Byrd @ 296-1467 or Mindy Burza @ 296-1019 with any questions.
- Thanks to those families that participated in the Calloway Discount Card fundraiser. Orders are due back to school on Monday, September 20th with the cards being distributed on Friday, October 24th.
·
D&W School Days; October 12 – 18 and November
23-29. Here is an easy way to support Griffin School. During the above weeks, shop at D & W.
When you check out, give the cashier our school code (94521) and we will
receive 2.5% of your purchase. Thank
you!
PTA ONGOING FUNDRAISERS—The PTA supports many events and activities in the course of the school year. Some sources of money include:
- Meijer Community Rewards—(This is NOT a credit card and is no cost to you.) You can sign up on-line or get an application in the school office. Our school code is 480471. When you shop at Meijer, they will swipe your card, and our school will automatically receive a percentage of your purchase. It is a wonderful and easy way for Griffin School to profit. Please help us out by signing up for a Rewards card if you have not already done so. (Because Meijer put a new system in place last spring, it is necessary to re-apply if you still have the old card.)
- Box Tops for Education—Save and send into school your Box Tops for Education found on General Mills products. Our school receives 10-15 cents per box top. We are continuing with a monthly contest between classrooms. The class with the most box tops collected at the end of each month wins a $10 Meijer gift card for the classroom. This is an amazing and easy way to generate money for the PTA. Last year we collected 7,199 Box Tops for the whole year. For September alone we collected 4,377! Last year in September we collected 1073! Let’s keep the momentum going. The winner for Box Tops for September is Mrs. White's class with 806 Box Tops!
- Campbell Soup Labels—Please send in the UPC code (not the front label) to help earn supplies for our classrooms.
- www.searchandgive.com— Three easy steps to help Griffin School earn money and it’s free! 1st, visit www.searchandgive.com and click on “Sign In.”; 2nd sign-up for a Windows Live ID and select our school on the “My Charity Settings” page; 3rd search the internet using www.searchandgive.com.
PTA BOOK FAIR will be held on November 4, 5 & 6. More information to come at a later date.
FOOTBALL READERS—Once again this season, Griffin School is participating in the Football Reader program. Football players from Grand Haven High School come here at the end of their school day on Fridays during football season and are assigned to a particular classroom. The football player spends time reading with the students. The kids love it, it’s a great way to promote reading, and the players are good role models.
PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCES were
scheduled earlier this year. We had a
great turn-out and want to thank all our parents for working together as a team
in educating our students
SAFETY
- Student
Arrival—Just a reminder that students cannot be dropped off
before 8:30am on school days unless they are registered at open door. Breakfast is served for drop off
students beginning at 8:30am and we have a Playground Supervisor on the
playground at that time. For PM
K arrival, please do not drop your student off before 12:30pm, there
is a Playground Supervisor available at that time.
- Parking/Student Pick-up—For those families new to Griffin School and as a reminder to our “old” families, the pull-in pick-up area directly in front of the school is for parents driving up and waiting in their cars for the student to come out. If you need to get out of your car to come into school or walk to your child’s classroom door, please park in the north parking lot!! There is no parking in the west pick-up/drop-off area.
- Volunteer Assessment Form—Any person volunteering in our school, in any capacity, is required to fill out a volunteer form. If you completed a form for the last school year and want to volunteer again this year, you do not need to fill out another form until next school year.
- Please sign in the office, as posted on our front door, whenever you come to the building for any reason. If you are picking up a student early, you must sign them out in the office.
LUNCH MONEY AND LUNCH CHOICES--At the beginning of the school year, we often find some confusion, especially with the first graders, about the hot lunch program. Briefly, if a child wishes to participate in hot lunch on any given day, a choice must be made 3 business days in advance (so the lunches can be ordered and prepared). Choice sheets and menus are sent home monthly. Ideally, you should have your child make choices for the entire month and return the choice sheet by the due date. The due date deadline will be enforced meaning that if a menu is not received by the due date then salad will be served for 3 days after receipt of your menu. (It is NOT NECESSARY to pay for the entire month's choices in advance. You can send in your money weekly.) Most importantly, all lunch money should be sent to school in an envelope with your child's FIRST and LAST name on the preference form as well as the envelope.
HALLOWEEN PARADE/PARTIES—Halloween parade and parties will be held
on Thursday, October 30th.
Specific information regarding times will be sent home later. Please remember, we ask that costumes not be
of a violent or bloody nature. And NO
weapons (even pretend ones) will be allowed at school. School will not be in session on Friday,
October 31st.
FUN FRIDAYS are held monthly in conjunction with PTA popcorn (sold for 25 cents) and our canned goods/non-perishables collection. September’s canned goods collection of 509 items were delivered to the Salvation Army. This month’s collection will go to Love, INC. A huge thank you is extended to Karen MacNeill for volunteering to chair this project for the school year. If you would like to help her, feel free to contact Karen. The Fun Fridays for the rest of the year are as follows:
Friday, October 24 Something Special Day (have each
student bring a photo showing them with something special or doing something
special)
Friday, November 21 Hat Day
Friday, December 12 Griffin Gator Day (wear your Griffin
clothes or something green)
Friday, January 16 Joke Day (write down your
favorite school appropriate joke to share at school)
Friday, February 20 Teacher Swap & Read (a nice
kick-off to March Reading Month, teachers will
swap classes and read their favorite book)
Friday, March 20 Favorite Book (bring in your
favorite; you can tell about it, share it with a friend,
or display it for your class to see – your
choice!)
Friday, April 17 Who’s that Baby? (bring in
a baby picture, marked with your name on the back, in
an envelope so no one can see….pictures
will be displayed in the classroom
with a contest to see who knows the other
students in the class)
Friday, May 15 Crazy Feet Day (wear crazy
socks & crazy shoes)
UPCOMING EVENTS
|
Monday –
Friday, Oct. 14 – 30 |
MEAP
Testing Window for Grades 3-5 |
|
Tuesday,
October 21 |
Birthday Lunch
for October Birthdays |
|
Thursday,
October 23 |
School
Picture Day |
|
Friday,
October 24 |
Fun
Friday-Something Special Day; PTA Popcorn; Canned Good Collection |
|
Monday,
October 27 |
Grand Haven
Public Safety officers assembly on D.A.R.E., school, fire, bike and home
safety. 9:00am K-2;
9:30am 3-5; 3:00pm Y5-K |
|
Wednesday,
October 29 |
Ms.
Werner’s 5th grade class to Campbell Field Station 9:00am-12:50pm |
|
Thursday,
October 30 |
Halloween
Parade and Parties |
|
Friday,
October 31 |
NO
SCHOOL;
Professional Development |
|
Monday,
November 3 |
PTA
Meeting, 7:00 p.m., Media Center |
Tuesday,
November 4
|
PTA Book
Fair kicks-off; Runs through 11-6-08; “Mock
Election” held in the Media Ctr |
Wednesday,
November 5
|
PTA Book
Fair; Domino
Doughraiser Night |
Thursday,
November 6
|
PTA Book Fair |
Friday,
November 7
|
MEAP Reward
Swim Party at GHHS for grades 3-4-5 PTA Live
& Silent Auction, 6:30pm @ Grand Haven Golf Club |
|
Tuesday,
November 18 |
Birthday
Lunch for November Birthdays |
|
Friday,
November 21 |
Fun
Friday-Hat Day; PTA popcorn; Canned Good Collection |
|
Monday,
November 24 |
“The NED
Show - Yo-Yo Assembly @ 9:15am |
|
Tuesday,
November 25 |
Picture
Re-takes |
|
Wednesday,
November 26 |
NO
SCHOOL;
Records Day |
|
Thursday,
November 27 |
NO
SCHOOL; Thanksgiving Day |
|
Friday,
November 28 |
NO
SCHOOL; Thanksgiving Holiday |