Weekly Update: March 12, 2021
Weekly Update: March 12, 2021
Dear Grinnell-Newburg Board of Education, Staff, Families, and Friends:
Happy Friday! On Monday we will begin our third and final trimester for the 2020-21 school year. All students, specifically at the high school, will be either attending school on campus daily or some of our students will remain virtual! The A/B day will no longer be implemented for our students. It is important to know that staff are getting vaccinated, we continue to require masks on campus, we will also continue to remind staff and students to wash hands and socially distance when possible. We are not out of the woods just yet, but getting ever so closer each day! Way to go Tigers on your valiant effort to limit the spread of COVID-19.
Summer Learning Fun:
Save the dates for summer learning! We will be hosting the SLICK program from June 9-July 1, Monday-Thursday this summer for students in grades K-4. Students who participate in SLICK may also be interested in the LINK program and will be eligible to participate in field trip activities. Next, we will take a three-week break from SLICK (LINK will still be running), and then return for a two-week booster program from July 26-August 5. (Held at Davis Elementary School)
Enrichment opportunities opened to any student will be offered too during this same time frame. Staff members who want to develop a course will be able to submit their ideas to the program coordinators. (Information will be sent out next week). These courses will then be published for families to sign up. Watch for this flier information within the coming weeks. Hold the dates for now! All activities for SLICK will be on campus as we partner with LINK at Davis Elementary School. Enrichment opportunities locations will be determined at a later date.
Board meeting:
This past week we welcomed many of our families to share their concerns about a recent article that was published and our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusive efforts. We want to thank all of our community members and families who participated in sharing their concerns. It is my hope that all of us can agree that we want to ensure that every student who walks through our hallways feels welcomed, has wonderful learning experiences and relationships that are free from bias, racism, or oppression. Please feel free to contact me if you would like to be a participant on any committee in which we host these discussions about this work.
We want to reiterate that there is no new curriculum being implemented and the staff who are reviewing the current curriculum are involved in reflecting on current teaching to see where improvement can be made to ensure that it is relevant to students' lives and accurately reflects the culture in which they live.
The culturally responsive scorecard that the team has been using as a guide to review their curriculum was originally designed to be used to evaluate Language Arts curriculum in a more racially diverse school system, so we knew that it could not be used by us "as is," but would need to be adapted for social studies subject area and community setting. The scorecard was adapted from the framework original format written by J.Bryan-Gooden, M. Hester, & L.Q. Peoples (2019). Culturally Responsive CurriculumScorecard. New York: Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools, New York University.
Since Jan. 4 the high school social studies team has been adapting the scorecard and developing a process to use as a social studies high school team to evaluate and improve our lessons. We are currently in the stage of testing our revised scorecard and process. When we're satisfied with the scorecard and improvement process, the district will decide whether and how to expand its use beyond the high school social studies department.
The scorecard will be available for public display at the District Office to review. Since it is authored by a publishing company, I can not disseminate it electronically, but I can have it available for you to look at in our office and will be on public display. This will be done in the same manner that we put new materials on public display that are purchased for comment or feedback. There will be a form for you to provide your feedback on the scorecard. It will be on public display beginning Tuesday, March 16, 2021. The District office is located at 925 Broad Street and is open from 7:30 AM-4:00 PM Monday through Friday, with the exception of April 2 and April 5 and the office will be closed for Spring Break.
Special Recognition and Thank You:
Tanner Hoffstetter, Hoffstetter Lawn Care, donated service to assist the district as he cleared snow off the alleyway area, between Broad and Main on 9th avenue used for school bus boarding. We thank you for your donation so that students could board buses safely during those cold wintery snowy days.
Knocked Your Socks Off! Keep those nominations coming into janet.stutz@grinnell-k12.org
Gina Beck:
You have knocked your socks off! Gina was nominated by a parent who stated, “Our ELP kids are so lucky to have her as a teacher. She is so knowledgeable and shares so much that our kids wouldn't learn about without her. My son can't wait to ask me if I knew this or that- from what he has learned in Mrs. Beck's class. Thank you Gina for caring so much about our kids and pushing them to think outside of the box.” Gina shared what brings her joy to teaching: "It's rewarding to work with multi-grade level students in a variety of content areas. Some of the extensions my students explore include: debate, math extension units (Egyptian Math, Mayan Math, Fibonacci, Pascal’s Triangle, etc.), philosophy, various STEM challenges, anthropology, independent studies, coding, creative writing, field trips, guest speakers and so much more. Each year lessons change and evolve as student interest and passion drive topics. Facilitating experiences that allow students to critically examine, question, and research complex issues is essential. I try to be thoughtful when creating and refining lessons to ensure they are culturally responsive and create spaces that represent and support all students as part of our committed work in diversity education and inclusion. I also get the opportunity to work and collaborate with teachers, in a concerted effort to help meet students’ academic and social-emotional needs. Every day is a new day with new discoveries to be made!" Way to go!
Chris Coffman: Activities Director, you have knocked off your socks too! The life of an activities director is to plan by day, and be at activities at night, as many as humanly possible! Mr. Coffman was nominated by a parent who shared: “We are so blessed to have him as our activities director for our district. He misses out on so much with his family to attend all the activities in our district. He volunteers to help out younger athletic teams and athletes to better them with all his knowledge of sports. Thank you Chris for all your countless hours supporting all our young athletes”. When I asked Chris during our interview as to what brings him joy in his work he shared, “No matter what sport, activity, or sponsored event we host for students, what brings me joy is the passion that is displayed whether it be a coach, sponsor, athlete, or fans that attend the events. I enjoy watching the effort, dedication, and growth in our students. I absolutely enjoy working collaboratively with our coaches and sponsors to make it happen for our kids.” Way to go, Chris!
Fay Maschmann: You too have knocked your socks off!
Fay is a paraeducator at Grinnell Middle School who works very hard to support her students and colleagues. She was nominated by her colleagues at the middle school and it reads, “We would like to nominate our friend and fellow paraeducator colleague Fay for the “Knocked Your Socks Off” award. Fay is not only an outstanding paraeducator with our kids but she is also the para representative for all of our schools. As a paraeducator, she performs a variety of duties including offering students an extra level of support and guidance to assisting the teachers in day-to-day routines and procedures. As our para representative, she takes any issues that the paraeducators may have and makes sure that they are addressed at the building leadership meetings. She is always willing to come in early in the mornings and stay late to attend all meetings serving on our behalf. Fay goes above and beyond her job responsibilities. As a reasonable voice for all, she is an excellent advocate for all our needs. So we would like to acknowledge and thank her for all her hard work, time, and dedication towards taking care of all of us”. What brings Fay joy is working with students daily and watching them grow when they find success when something was really hard. She also stated that it is a great team effort here at the Grinnell Middle School. This team is wonderful. Way to go Fay!
Here is the link for this evening’s variety show that will be virtual! Enjoy the show!
Join GHS Choir Variety Show YouTube Live
Have a wonderful weekend! Please remember to complete your student’s registration.
Preschool Registration:
You can register at this link https://forms.gle/
2021-2022 Registration is OPEN:
It's that time of year again to register your student(s) for next school year!
Log into your parent portal to register.
If you have questions about your parent portal please contact Katie Osborn at katie.osborn@grinnell-k12.org or 236-2676.
Have a great weekend!
Sincerely,
Janet