PEEK AT THE WEEK

We are entering our second month of GSRP preschool and our second session of tuition based preschool at the Cardinal's Nest. Our student numbers continue to increase in both programs. Because of recent state legislation, we were able to begin taking Tier 2 students in our GSRP program and completed 7 new student intakes on this past Friday. We have also been filling our new p.m. GSRP classroom at the Cardinal's Nest. Session 2 tuition based Cardinal's Nest numbers slightly increased as well in our 3 and 4 year old 1/2 and/or full day classrooms. We have an October 7th start date planned for Cardinal's Nest p.m. GSRP students and also for the new group of students at Davison GSRP. I will be communicating with the transportation department on Monday to finalize arrangements for our new students that will be busing. Keep up the good work of getting the word out that we still have openings in both programs. Also, a special thanks for staff that have helped with intake appointments.

We had our first parent advisory meeting of the school year last Thursday, September 26th. The topic was Curriculum and Assessments. We had a good turn out that included parents from both the Cardinal's Nest and GSRP. Staff members Lindsey Tate, Sara Swoyer, Robin Waite, Melissa Schwab, and Heather Williamson did a great job presenting on the topic of daily schedules, Creative Curriculum, and preschool assessments. Thank you to our child care providers Jennie Lewandowski and Sabrina Quick for assisting with child care and overseeing our high school child care volunteers. The evening went off without a hitch! Our next parent advisory evening will be held March 26th and the topic will be "Transition to Kindergarten." Please mark your calendar for this event!

This Friday, October 1st, there will be a Synergy training for Cardinal's Nest office staff. The training will take place from 10:00-11:30. Tammi Brandes will be coming over from Central office to do the training for the Cardinal's Nest office staff. Cardinal's Nest teachers, please continue to remind parents that still need to provide birth certificates for 3 and 4 year olds to do so ASAP. We need birth certificates in order to get these preschool students added to Synergy. Thanks for your help with this.

Latchkey sites should have all parents and authorized caregivers set up with their fingerprinting ID numbers. Please continue to help any parent that needs assistance with this check in and/or check out attendance process. Now that all parents should be all set up with fingerprinting capabilities, we will no longer need them to sign in and sign out on both the paper sign in/sign out sheet and fingerprinting computer. All parents and/or authorized regular pick up persons should be able to use the fingerprinting computer. However, sites will need to continue keeping an updated sign in/sign out attendance sheet for each session to use as a back up for any parent/authorized pick up person that may not be fingerprinted or in case your Procare fingerprinting computer is not working on any given day. Let me know if you have any questions. Tami O'Neil and Renee Shelman, our a.m. and p.m. Cardinal's Nest latchkey/office site supervisors can get you updated ID numbers as needed. We will be training our other program directors and site supervisors so that they can do the same. Also, please note that a Davison Latchkey Policy letter should have went out to parents at all sites this week defining general latchkey policies and procedures. If you need additional copies of the policy letter, the letter is attached. You should continue to have parents sign the policy letter and keep it on file at your site. Thank you for your help with this!

Please continue to review the Cardinal Code featuring the Cardinal Code weekly vocabulary focus. Make sure to include what "Big Rule" of the Cardinal Code that you are focusing on each week in your classroom newsletters so that parents can reinforce the vocabulary at home. PBSC staff from the GISD will be listening for the specific language of "Big Rules and Little Rules" when they do classroom walkthroughs. Heather Williamson, GISD ECS reviewed this at our early release PD last week. She reported that she is already hearing this language while visiting classrooms this year. She referred to the "First 7 Week" PBSC lesson plans. I would like to set some time aside to review the lesson plans and how they specifically relate to the Cardinal Code at our next PD session. Please take a minute to review the lesson plans so we can be prepared to have a productive discussion. If you need a copy of the plans, let me know.

Many of you attended the recent Creative Curriculum PD at the GISD on September 20th. The trainer presented new "Studies" that are theme related lessons included in Creative Curriculum Teacher Resource books. Catrina Wiskur confirmed that sets of the studies have been ordered for all Davison GSRP teachers. Stay tuned for more information on these resources!

Homecoming is this week and that means Spirit Week!! All elementary buildings are following the same themes. Here is the list:

Monday, September 30th- Past Decade: Dress like the 50's

Tuesday, October 1st- Present Decade: Come as you are & wear a hat

Wednesday, October 2nd- Future Decade: Dress for your future career

Thursday, October 3rd- Favorite Decade: Student choice..pick a decade

Friday, October 4th- School Spirit Day: Wear your favorite cardinal gear or maroon & gold.

The Davison Varsity football team will be playing Grand Ledge. Let's Go Cards!!

*GSRP theme days will be adjusted to having Spirit Day on Thursday.

As you know, this past year was the first year that a school improvement plan was required by the Advanced Ed Accreditation process for our Early Learning programs. Angie Hards, School Improvement District Chair and Coordinator presented details about the school improvement process during our first teacher work day on September 9th. I met Angie Thursday to give her an update on the progress that our Early Learning team made during the early release day this past Wednesday. I was happy to be able to report that our team was able to review the purpose of the school improvement process, establish a math, literacy and social emotional goal, and discuss the common assessments we will use to measure our goals. We will continue to work on the Early Learning school improvement plan during all future early release day PD sessions. We will continue our work by establishing research based strategies to implement our goals. Thanks to all of your for your input and work on our plan!

A very special congratulations to lead GSRP teacher Alicia Bautista and her husband Jonathan on the arrival of their beautiful daughter, Marzia Marguerite Bautista. Marzia was born on Thursday, September 26th and weighed 7 lbs. 11 oz and measured 19 inches. Mom and baby are doing good and brother Luciano is excited for Marzia to come home and join their family.

Staff, just a friendly reminder to check student backpacks and bus tags right away at student arrival. If a student does not have their backpack or there is a question regarding the bus tag, please notify the office immediately. Transportation arrangements are top priority for student safety. Waiting until dismissal time and then requesting temporary bus tags or parent pick up tags creates hardship for the office staff. Thank you for your help with this!

Excessive use of screen time and the effects it can have on the developing brain can cause negative impact on infants all the way through adulthood. We know that parent communication is a key component to student success, so why not share the recommended technology use by age chart below? Sharing useful and interesting information with your parents helps to develop connections and increases awareness. The chart below was shared with Davison Administrators at the "Why Poverty Matters and Why Schools can Matter More" workshop.

C.A.P.E. is an acronym that stands for Children and Parents Empowered. The GISD is promoting C.A.P.E. events and trying to send the message that parents can be their child's everyday hero. Davison GSRP will be hosting the 3rd GISD C.A.P.E. event in the county. The event will take place at Central Elementary in the cafeteria on Tuesday, October 15th, 2019 from 4:30 p.m.-6:00 p.m. GSRP parents from around the county will be able to attend and listen to a presentation from a GISD social worker on the topic of "Social-Emotional Health" Snacks will be provided by the GISD and child care will be provided by our Davison GSRP staff. Space is limited and parents must register by October 11th. Melissa Belanger will take RSVP's at 810-591-4542 or mgelanger@geneseeisd.org. A flyer for this event from the GISD went home with GSRP last week. Please encourage your parents to attend.