This is Principal Parks with news you can use.

Happy Love Week! Happy Superbowl! May the best team win!

Students may join teachers in wearing sports team jerseys or tshirts tomorrow with uniform bottoms.

Welcome to the place where creativity and critical thinking prepare our students for 21st century living and where a love for the arts make the difference!!

Thank you for your support of our amazing school with 7 different fine arts, sports, and a rigorous academic curriculum preparing our students for success.

Esther F Garrison is Black History and we celebrate her achievements and many others during Black History Month.

Kudos to our incredible theater students who performed Into the Woods, Jr. this weekend! What an amazing production! Kudos to their teachers, Ms. Ali and Mrs. Lanier, and Dr. D who assisted as the Music Director for the production!

Congratulations to Girls and Boys Basketball! They are all headed to the district playoffs!

PTA is sponsoring the Valentine's Sneaker Ball on Thursday February 13th at 6:30pm. The link for tickets will be in the SMORE and no tickets will be sold at the door.

E-learning Day will be on Friday February 14th and No School for Students on Monday February 17 for Staff Development. Enjoy a long weekend!

Daycare drop off and pickup transports have gotten away from signage on their cars. For safety, please ensure that your child's day care is aware that they must have signage on their cars to pick up students. They will need this signage by Monday Feb 9th. We will have some minor changes to dismissal beginning soon due to renovations at the front of the building. Signage is required for day care pickup at the front door. If signage is not provided, students will be sent to their assigned grade level areas and an id check will be needed. Safety over convenience.

CHECK OUT ALL THE DAVIE FUN IN THE SMORE! Get your Ghostpirate seats now! Tickets are selling fast for the Feb 21st Ghost Pirates Game at 7:30 PM! We would love to have a great Garrison Gator presence at this game to support our Garrison Glee club as they sing the National Anthem!

AND DON'T FORGET.....

The class with the highest number of tickets sold receives an EXCLUSIVE tour of the locker room!!!

https://fevo-enterprise.com/group/Garrisonschool

The date for the February student council meeting has been changed. The NEW DATE will be Thursday, February 13th from 3:45 - 4:45 in Ms. Hoffman's room #446. Please check our Brightspace for other announcements.

Heart Heroes are coming back - Feb. 13!

Quack, Quack! The Heart Heroes are coming back! Our school is participating in Kids Heart Challenge, and it’s time for you to sign up your student to become an official Heart Hero.

http://www2.heart.org/goto/Garrison or download the AHA Schools app.

Our student highlight section is here. If your student is doing great things in our community, please send me an email to highlight those efforts in our SMORE.

Attendance Matters! Attendance is more than just coming to school. Attendance also means coming to school on time. Students miss valuable seat time when they are constantly late. Set a goal to be here on time so that your children get a great start to their day! They deserve it!

Late pickup ends at 2 pm. Please do not arrive after 2 pm with the expectation of picking up children early. Thank you for your support as we work to safely dismiss students.

Safety is very important to us as scanning and security wands continue throughout the building each morning as we ensure the safety of all gators in the building and across the district. To make things proceed quicker through the scanners, a separate clear or mesh bag for electronics, water bottles and items that set the alarm off can be used. We are working quickly to ensure the safety of each of our gators.

The Word for the week is Summarize. How many times have we asked a question and the answer seems like it takes forever to come. A Summary is a brief statement or account of the main points of something. Ask your students to give you a summary of their day. This is a great skill to hone in the car!

We are Team Garrison with One Goal: Student Achievement! We are “Gator” Ready and "Gator" Proud and we are gators who will know the importance of summarizing information for understanding! Enjoy the SMORE!

LIGHTS! CAMERA! ACTION!

IGNITE! ENGAGE! COLLABORATE TO

"CONSTRUCT CREATIVE FUTURES"

8:15AM -3:15 PM

The doors will open at 7:45

Gates will close at 8:10. You are tardy at 8:15.

School begins at 8:15 AM

Due to the construction of the new vestibule, the front doors to the school will not be used until the project is complete. This will involve a few minor changes. All arrival and dismissals will use the same process. Daycare and bus drop off will remain the same.

ARRIVAL

Arrival- Bus and daycare Children will walk to the lower drop off from the front of the school. Feel free to drop children off at any of the other locations as well.

Late Arrival will take place in the teacher parking lot. If you arrive after 8:15, walk through the fence and sign in children at the rear door which is opposite your current drop off.

DISMISSAL

Dismissal- Bus and Day Care pickup will occur from the Yamacraw lobby. Signs must be visible on day car transportation. Please advise your daycares.

Late Pickup will take place from the teacher parking lot area. Walk through the fence and sign out will take place there,

More information to come in an email and text

We are always looking for business partners throughout the school. Partnering with our STEAM program, one of the seven (7) Fine Arts Departments: Chorus, Band, Dance, Piano, Theater. Orchestra and/or Visual Arts, or with our school to help us celebrate teachers is an amazing way to show our school community that you care and support our work with children. If you are interested, please reach out to Principal Parks today at aysha.parks@sccpss.com. You will be so glad you did!

The LAST DAY of each week is Spirit wear with uniform bottoms!

Feb 10 LAST DAY TO ORDER Valentine Grams - store closes at 10 pm

Feb 13 Valentine Grams delivered & Sweetheart Dance 6:30pm

Feb 14 eLearning Half Day

Feb 15 & Feb 17 - Auditions for Garrison

Feb 17 - Staff Planning Day - No school for students + SAA Auditions

Feb 21- Garrison Day at Ghost Pirates & Black History Dress Up Day

Feb 28 - International Fest & Black History Dress Up Day

Tickets are limited and on sale NOW! Ticket sales will end Tuesday, February 11th. You can purchase your tickets through this link: https://jointotem.com/ga/savannah/e-f-garrison-k-8-pta

Get your seats to one of the HOTTEST TICKETS in town! Tickets are selling fast! We would love to have a great Garrison Gator presence at this game to support our Garrison Glee club as they sing the National Anthem!

AND DON'T FORGET.....

The class with the highest number of tickets sold receives an EXCLUSIVE tour of the locker room!!!

https://fevo-enterprise.com/group/Garrisonschool

The date for the February student council meeting has been changed. The NEW DATE will be Thursday, February 13th from 3:45 - 4:45 in Ms. Hoffman's room #446. Please check our Brightspace for other announcements.

We want our parents to have all the resources they need to always be informed!! Check out the PARENT RESOURCE page where all the previous buttons are now in one place! Or go to the end of the SMORE where all the buttons are bundled together in an easy layout.

(You can also click on the graphic to go to the Canva View Link)

Have you ever wondered what Clubs are offered at Garrison? Well here is a list and description of the different Garrison Clubs and after school organizations that are offered to students. Click here for a Canva View Link of the image to the left - Garrison Clubs

• Please note our gators and staff must be 24 hours fever free before returning to school.

• Students should not bring medications of any kind to school. Parents will need to bring unopened containers to the nurse and sign in non-prescribed medications. Any prescribed medications must be signed in by a parent/guardian. This includes inhalers.
• Gates close in the morning at 8:10. Please bring students to the front at 8:10 (unless an accident or transportation issue causes us to leave the gates open). Students are tardy at 8:15. Parents will need to walk students to the door to sign them in at 8:15 with a smile.
• The latest pickup during the school day is 2 pm.
• Gates at the drop offs will close at 3:35pm. You will need to exit your car for pickup with your car rider tag and sign the late pickup notebook. Excessive late pickups will result in additional measures being taken.
• Thank you for remaining in your cars and packing your patience.
• Please continue to update your homeroom teachers of any changes to dismissal.
• Uniform Policy is located in the SMORE. Please adhere to the SCCPSS Uniform Policy.

Check out this section for all the upcoming Arts events, activities, and performances.

Congratulations to the 5th - 8th grade Theatre majors on their incredible performance of Into the Woods, Jr. over the weekend! What an amazing display of talent as they took on one of the most challenging musicals by composer Stephen Sondheim. Many audience goers commented that it was "the best production they have seen thus far" and "I can't believe those are middle schoolers"!

Kudos also to Mrs. Lanier and Ms. Ali for their direction and Dr. D who was the Musical Director for the production. All 3 ladies did a fantastic job leading our students and encouraging their creativity.

Athletics are for students in grades 6-8. A physical must be on file with the school before any student is allowed to try out for any of the following sports: https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1715101641/spsccpsscom/bltkss5aiqqel985clsr/AthleticsPhysicalPacket2024-251.pdf

SOFTBALL -CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR DISTRICT CHAMPIONS!!!

CROSS COUNTRY - GIRLS ARE 3RD PLACE STATE CHAMPIONS. AND BOYS FINISH IN TOP 10!!

BASEBALL
VOLLEYBALL- Congratulations on an amazing season!

CHEER

SWIMMING - See schedule below

SOCCER

BASKETBALL - See schedule below

TRACK AND FIELD

As of now we do not have enough students signed up to make a team. Coach Salas is working to see if we can combine with DeRenne MS like last year. STAY TUNED!!

If there are any MS students still interested in signing up for Baseball, please see Coach Salas ASAP!

Get all the MEDIA CENTER news here to keep you informed and up to date!

Greetings All!

We would like to take this time and say ...

Our Media Center is open for Book Circulation and Small Group Visits. We have Online and Print Resources Available for You. Check out our Tutorial and Videos Below to Get Started

PLEASE BE SURE TO WATCH THIS VERY IMPORTANT VIDEOES!!

• Getting Started with Students Tutorial - video
• Welcome to the Student PLAY Program (PINES Library Access for Youth) - video
• iPad Care for Grade K-3 - video
• Chromebook Care - 7 Tips for Kids - video

Greetings Parents/Guardians!

We would like to say thank you for assisting us with distributing our school devices.

Here's a reminder of the process for former and NEW Students:

STUDENT DEVICE LOAN FORMS

• The electronic SY 24-25 Student device form is live on PS.

• If completing forms in Power School, please make sure you receive the green check that the task has been complete.

• We will need a form for each student that will be receiving a school issued device.
• If you declined a student device and will be using a personal device, you will still need to fill out the form and select the option to decline.
• Requesting a student device vis PS is the quickest and fastest way to receive this information to assist with redistribution.
• For those parents who may be having trouble with PS/online, a print version is available.
• For print versions, parents please fill out the front and back of the forms and sign/return as soon as possible to the media staff to process your request.

FAMILY PROTECTION PLAN (Insurance for School Devices)

SCHOOL CASH ONLINE (optional but HIGHLY RECOMMENDED)

• We encourage/recommend parents to sign up for the Family Protection Plan (FPP) to offset repairs and/or replacement of technology - $25 will cover 2 incidents or up to 2 replacements per year.
• Parents will have 10 business days to make a payment upon receipt of the device.

Thanks,

LM Staff

Welcome to the PTA Team for 2024-2025: Jennifer Bolen, President; Mollie Andrade, Vice President; Sabrina Atkins, Secretary; Sallie Gordon, Treasurer.

PTA is always looking for volunteers!!

Our counselors are here to help! Please reach out if you are ever in need of help.

Counseling Team:

Emma Loncon - PreK-3rd Grades

Jacob Lightle - 4th-6th Grades

Kiamber Thomas - 7th-8th Grades

Deanna Bonnell - Counseling Clerk

Esther F. Garrison counseling department is happy to announce our designation as a No Place for Hate School! No Place for Hate is a student-led anti-bullying initiative dedicated to spreading acceptance and kindness throughout the school environment.

Hello Gators! We hope everyone is still staying healthy. Continue to be active for at least 60 minutes a day especially during Summer; make half of your plate veggies and fruits; drink more water and limit sugary drinks.

SCCPSS NEW Respiratory Virus Guidance CHART.2024

CDC Graphic for Preventing Spread of Respiratory Illness

Respiratory Virus-CDC Summary Graphic

Please remember not to block the entrance/exit to the Blake Apartments on Cohen St during arrival and dismissal. Pack your patience for Arrival and Dismissal. Don't forget to use turn signals. Please do not hold your phones to talk on them in the arrival and dismissal lines (it could make all the difference). Please stay in line during arrival and dismissal. We cannot block the oncoming lanes while we wait for gates to open or cars to pull forward. We are glad you are here!

Please try to get students to school on time. There is something to be said for getting students to school before class starts. They can get settled in, they can eat a breakfast, they can work on assignments that need to be completed, they can wrap their minds around the activities of the day, and they may even be able to spend several minutes working with the teacher, which might make all the difference. Getting to school late means students have to try to catch up and get going, which means they may be missing lesson material that is vital.

For those who watch the skies, the Moon will cross in front of Mars, causing an occultation, which will be visible from Canada, Russia, and China. On Feb. 9th, the Moon will look like it is close to Mars, and the stars Castor and Pollux. Happy viewing!!

Our teachers work very hard at arrival and dismissal, often in weather that is extreme. Thank you for your efforts to try to help all arrive and dismiss safely.

We are proud of our Gator Athletes. Woot! The Gator Girls and Boys basketball teams both made the playoffs. Go Gators!

Have a great school year.

Dan Ailes

• Grades 5-6 will now arrive at the Purse Street area behind the gym. Grades 5-6 will pick up at the Lower Ramp off of Boundary and Cohen Street.
• Grades 7-8 will now arrive at the Lower Ramp off of Boundary and Cohen Street. Grades 7-8 will dismiss from the Purse Street Location behind the gymnasium.
• Please note that all other grade levels remain the same for the upcoming school year. Please see the SMORE for the arrival and dismissal maps

We are learning your children which makes the first couple of dismissal days longer. However, the process gets quicker and quicker. Please pack your patience and a smile.

Email: aysha.parks@sccpss.com
Website: https://spwww.sccpss.com/schools/efg/Pages/default.aspx
Location: 649 West Jones Street, Savannah, GA, USA
Phone: 912-395-5975
Facebook: facebook.com/www.garrisonarts.sccpss.com