Dear GMS Families, Our first week is in the books and we look forward to our first full, five day week next week. We appreciate everyone's patience and understanding as we work through the kinks and realities of this "new world" we find ourselves in. Each day we learn new things and each day is better than that last. Thank you, thank you , thank you! As our students begin their school year, it has been so nice to see the many ways our parents are celebrating along with us. We have received a number of photos of our remote learners engaged and connected from home. As you share these photos please remember to take and share with caution. While we love seeing your children learning, please be careful that the photos do not capture the image or name of any other students that may be on the computer screen or in our school. As some ad makers may say: Please Celebrate Responsibly. We take great care to respect the privacy and confidentiality that we all expect and deserve. This Thursday evening, we will be having our annual Open House. This year it will be done remotely. Teachers will be sending out a link for parents to join and participate. Each teacher will have two session at 6:00 and 6:30. These will be the same presentation but will allow parents of more than one student to attend multiple classroom presentations. Prior to this, Mr. Mitchell will be hosting a brief introductory meeting with parents. The link to this meeting can be found HERE. Mrs. Clinton-Jones will also be having volunteer training for any parent who may have not had this training yet, but would like to volunteer in the future. The link to these meetings can be found here: 5:15 Volunteer Training; 7:00 Volunteer Training. As we work through the new procedures for parent drop and pick up, we have been so pleased with how fluid it has gone. Your support and cooperation has not gone unnoticed. One change that we do need to put into place however involves signing out children. We know from time to time appointments and other matters require parents to sign their children out from the office early. Because parent pick up takes up the entirety of the parking lot and loop we ask that all parent dismissals happen prior to 2:30. After 2:30, we cannot guarantee that you will be able to easily get your child and exit the parking lot with any ease. So if you do need to dismiss early, please notify the office and have your child dismissed prior to 2:30. Thank you for your understanding in this matter. Finally, as a way to further connect with families and the community, we have launched our very own GMS Twitter account. If you are on Twitter, please follow us and share with us @GMSLitchfield .
As always Be Well and Be Curious,
Dan Mitchell, Principal Maura Clinton- Jones, Assistant Principal
Upcoming Dates | Thursday, September 17 6:00 PM | GMS- Open House | | Thursday, September 24 | Picture Day |
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GMS News A Message from Mrs. Prevel Turmel September is National Card Sign Up Month. This is an especially important time to sign up for a card since the GMS Learning Commons is closed at this time. Signups can be done by clicking on the link in the flyer. The Litchfield Public library is closed to the public, but the staff will check out books for you and leave them outside for porch pick up. There are also free electronic books, audio books, movies and music through Hoopla with your Litchfield Public Library card!
Birthday and Other Celebration Treats With all that is going on, we still like to find ways to celebrate birthdays and other milestones. If you would like to send in treats to celebrate, you may still do so, however we ask that anything sent in be store bought AND factory packaged. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation with this.
Picture Day Once again Hockmeyer Studios with Barksdale will be doing our student pictures. Our picture day is scheduled for September 24. More information and order forms will be coming out shortly. Remote Learners will be allowed to come in during this day for pictures only and parents will still be asked to wait outside, however alternative times are also being worked out for outdoor shots that will take place outside the school day. These dates will be finalized shortly. It is important that every student get a picture taken, regardless of purchasing, for our student files and information system. More information and details will be coming soon! News from the SAU/ Superintendent No news to share at this time News from the PTO “Hello everyone! We hope all of our GMS students, teachers, staff and admin had a fantastic first week. We will be kicking off the year with our first virtual PTO meeting of the year next Tuesday, September 15 at 6:30pm. The Zoom link for this meeting is: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81466226059. You can also call in using this telephone number - 1-646-558-8656 with a meeting code of 81466226059. All parents/guardians, teachers and staff are welcome to "attend" or listen in. We will be reviewing the budget and discussing some options for virtual events this fall. A few things to note: All parents, teachers and staff are members - no dues required! We do ask that folks fill out our membership, volunteer and directory forms via google forms - those links will be available next week! We have decided to postpone our fall fundraiser, Raise Craze - we have money left in our budget and understand that many of our families are facing various financial hardships during this time. We will reassess the decision in the Spring. We are open to any and all ideas for virtual events for our GMS families - if you have an idea, please come to the meeting and/or send it to us! Even more, we would love volunteers who would like to RUN these virtual events.
In these uncertain times, the GMS PTO will do its very best to support our amazing teachers and staff, our dedicated admin, and, of course, the best bunch of students we could ask for! Please stay safe and positive - we can do this together! - Heidi Ames & Jenny Eisenbeis, GMS PTO Co-Presidents
News from the Community No news to share at this time
Repeated News and Announcements Parent Pick Up To account for the increase in parent pick ups this year as well as to be able to offer a contact-less pick up process, the following will be the procedures for parent pick up. Parent pick up will occur in four shifts based on the alphabet. It is of utmost importance that you arrive for your assigned pick up time. If it is unavoidable and you arrive early we ask that you wait in the staff parking portion of the lot until your assigned time, colored signs will be used to show which group is currently picking up and where to wait if you are early. When it is your assigned time, please enter the large loop, pull as far forward as possible, and then wait outside your driver’s side door. Each family is being given two labeled, colored pick up slips. If you are having someone other than you picking up your child please provide them one of these slips. Please hold this pick up slip while you wait (think airport valet),or you may place it in your passenger side window. The students will be dismissed by group and will be reunited with their parents. Once all students in a group are safely secured in a vehicle then the entire group will leave. No car will be allowed to move until all students are safely secured. The group times are as follows: Last Name Color Time A-D Pink 2:45- 2:52 E-L Yellow 2:53- 3:00 M-Q Blue 3:01- 3:08 R-Z Purple 3:09- 3:15 Powerschool Parent Portal This summer we switched our Student Information System to Powerschool. As part of Powerschool, you are able to access the Parent Portal in the Infinite Campus feature of this syste. Please follow the link below to set up you parent portal account. Please contact the main office if you have an issues creating an account. For Parents - Directions for Parent Access A Letter from our nurses Please click on the LINK to find a letter from the three district nurses. Recess Protocols Recess is such an important aspect of the elementary school experience. In an attempt to provide recess during this time of awareness and precaution recess will follow certain protocols and procedures. Further, our schoolyard will be divided into four areas that classes will access on a weekly basis. These area assignments will have to be reviewed and reassessed at the time of inevitable snow cover. Please see below for the detailed protocols.
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