March 21, 2011

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April Update Spring testing is underway! It's great to see how everyone is well rested and here on time ready to do their best each day. Thank you for your support this week with having your child(ren) ready to test. This Friday, April 15th is Bingo Night. We hope you can come out that evening at 6:30 for some fun and prizes! On Saturday morning we will have our annual Spring Habitat Day from 8:00-12:00 to help beautify our campus. We would love any help you can give that morning. In closing, please see below for a letter sent home this week regarding placement for 11-12. Thank you. Dear GM Families, With spring upon us, thoughts are not only of this school year, but also of our next school year. Dr. Stasiak and I would like to outline our procedures for student placement for 2011-2012. At Garrison Mill, we take the placement of our children very seriously. Our staff gives much time, thought and effort in the careful placement of our children. A variety of factors are taken into consideration when making these decisions. To the best of our ability we create proposed classes of students by paying close attention to balancing a heterogeneous blend of boys and girls, learning styles, academic performance and work study habits, and using the individual teacher’s knowledge of every student. Specialists, support staff, counselors and administrators will review the proposed class lists. If there is information that you would like to share with administration regarding your child’s placement, you are certainly welcome to give us input about your child. Letters can be sent either via email or hard copy. We respectfully request that you do not name specific teachers in your letter, however it is perfectly fine to describe your child’s learning needs and the style of teacher with which he/she will work best. Naming specific teachers does have one exception, if an older child has had a teacher that you feel would/would not be a good match for your younger child then we would appreciate having that information. All letters are due by April 30th. One exciting change for next fall is that we are strongly considering the implementation of a departmentalized model for our fifth grade team. Our proposed model will have four 5th grade homerooms allowing all students to rotate between three of four teachers for Math, Science and Language Arts/Social Studies. Homeroom groupings will still be a heterogeneous blend of students and students will rotate together as a homeroom to different subjects. In closing, please remember that letters are not required but are certainly welcome. With or without a letter, each Garrison Mill student will be placed with great care. Your child’s continued success is our goal. Thank you for the trust that you place in us to meet your child’s needs. Paula Huffman Principal