Diwali (English: /dɪˈwɑːliː/; Deepavali, IAST: Dīpāvalī) is the Hindu festival of lights with its variations also celebrated in other Indian religions. It symbolizes the spiritual "victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance".

Wishing all of our families who celebrate a Diwali filled with sweet treats, happy memories, and bright beginnings. Wishing you a Diwali filled with the warmth of loved ones, the joy of celebration, and the sweetness of success.

Please review these important dates:

NOVEMBER

• November 13th - 18th: Grant commUNITY KINDNESS Week: Have your child wear ORANGE on Wednesday to show their commitment to kindness. More information about activities planned for this week is coming soon.

• Monday, November 13th: First Parents of Neurodiverse Students Resource and Support Group Meeting @ 8:45 AM in the Sky Room

• Tuesday, November 14th: Fire Drill #3 @ 2:00 PM

• Wednesday, November 15th: Bike it! Walk it! Ice Cream Party close to each dismissal.

• Wednesday, November 15th: PTA General Meeting @ 6:30 PM in the Library

• Thursday, November 16th & Friday, November 17th: Reflections Art Contest Art Gallery Open: Auditorium
  

• Saturday, November 18th: Grant Family Beautification Day #2

• Saturday, November 18th: Grant Parent Gala & Fundraiser: See below for all of the details of our annual gala!
  

• Monday, November 20th: School Site Council Meeting @ 3:15 PM

• Wednesday, November 22nd - Friday, November 24th: NO SCHOOL - THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY

• Wednesday, November 29th: Grant - Draft Environmental Impact Report Review Community Meeting @ 5:30 PM in the Auditorium

Please do not forget to send with your child every day:

• School materials including books, homework, projects, etc.
• Water bottle
• Snack and/or lunch (lunch available to all students free of charge for the 2023-24 school year.)
• Sunscreen (put on prior to arriving at school)
• Hat
• Layers of clothing (sweatshirt, windbreaker, etc.) Keep an eye on the weather.
• A growth mindset for a successful day!

Dear Grant Parents and Caregivers,

I hope this message finds you all well and enjoying this beautiful weekend!

Please join us tomorrow morning for our Grant Parents of Neurodiverse Students Resource and Support Group meeting at 8:45 AM. This group which we created in 2019 was designed to serve as a space where parents and guardians can share experiences of raising neurodiverse children, access resources, and learn from others including professionals in various specialties. It is not a requirement that your child is neurodivergent to attend! All are welcome!

I hope to see you at the Grant Gala this Saturday, November 18th! Be sure to check out the awesome auction items! All of the proceeds benefit the Grant PTA which goes directly back into your child's classroom and around the campus. You can start bidding on items in the Silent Auction by clicking this link: GRANT GALA SILENT AUCTION

Last Wednesday, we held our annual OLWEUS Anti-Bullying assembly for our students. This event is engaging and fun and reminds our students of the importance of being an "upstander" and not a "bystander". Thank you to Ms. Meshel for leading our entire student body and staff during what has become our anti-bullying anthem dance, Firework by Katy Perry! Take a look at our social media accounts to see some video of this inclusive and fun event!

This week we will celebrate LA vs. Hate/commUNITY KINDNESS Week through Friday. There will be activities before and after school each day. Details of these activities can be found in this week's Gazette. This Wednesday, November 15th, we are asking all of our students, staff, and parents to wear an orange shirt to show their commitment to UNITY and KINDNESS. Lastly, in keeping with the theme of KINDNESS, we will have our all-school read-aloud this Wednesday. Information about the two books we will be reading to reinforce our school's focus on INCLUSION and KINDNESS is also in this week's Gazette.

Finally, if you visit campus this week you may notice that our new portable classrooms were delivered over the weekend! This project is moving quite quickly! You can see some photos of the delivery in the Gazette! Thank you to Grant Grandparent Peaches Robertson for taking such great documentary images of this process!

As always, thank you for your partnership in ensuring Grant is an amazing place for our young scholars!

Have a great week, families, and keep each other safe!

GO GECKOS!

Christian Fuhrer

Principal

Grant School

Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District

cfuhrer@smmusd.org

Neurodiversity, or ND, refers to variations in the human brain and cognition, for instance in sociability, learning, attention, mood, and other mental functions.

Grant School is an inclusive learning community. Our student body represents many types of learners and it is our philosophy that we meet all students "where they are" academically, socially, and emotionally.

Over the last few years, the Grant School staff has been trained to incorporate into the instructional day various strategies to reach all of our students and ensure they can access the curriculum, feel included in the overall school community, and thrive by identifying their unique learning styles and celebrating their many talents.

I am pleased to announce that our Grant Parents of Neurodiverse Students Resource and Support Group will be holding its first meeting of the year soon! This group was created in 2019 and was designed to serve as a space where parents and guardians can share experiences of raising neurodiverse children, access resources, and learn from others including professionals in various specialties. Please contact Principal Fuhrer for details on how you can participate in this group.

This Gazette column is designed to share information with our entire school community so that we can continue to make Grant the most inclusive learning community we possibly can.

HELPFUL RESOURCES FOR PARENTS:

• 10 Things I Wish I Knew as a Neurodiverse Parent
• How to Reduce Back-to-School Stress and Anxiety For Parents of Neurodiverse Children
  

• Neurodiversity at School: A 10-Part Guide for Parents & Teachers

• 4 Ways to Prepare Your Kids for a Neurodiverse World

The LA vs Hate program is a community-driven approach to empower all residents of LA County to unite against, report, and resist hate. United Against Hate Week is a call for local civic and state action to stop the hate and implicit biases that are a dangerous threat to the safety and civility of our neighborhoods, towns, and cities. This campaign, which emerged from a poster campaign by Bay Area Cities, has spread to over 200+ communities. When cities and residents work together against hate, we can work to restore respect, embrace the strength of diversity, foster a sense of belonging, and build inclusive and equitable communities for all.

HERE ARE SOME ACTIONS YOU CAN TAKE TO STAND AGAINST HATE:

• PLEDGE to stand against hate
• SHARE with others in conversation and on social media, you stand against hate.
• TALK with your children, family, friends, and community about hate toward race/ethnicity, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, gender, or sexual orientation they are seeing in the community and in media.
• STAND UP to bigoted remarks, hate speech and acts of hate.
• LEARN HOW TO STOP HATE – Attend a Bystander Training or other UAHW event.
• STOP HATE – If you see an act of hate, safely intervene as a bystander using the 5D’s: distract, delegate, delay, direct, and document. If you or someone is in immediate danger or a crime is being committed, please call 911.
• REPORT HATE – If you or someone you know has been the victim of a hate act Dial 2-1-1 or submit a 211 online report to get connected to help 24/7, contact your local police department to file a police report or pursue criminal charges, or submit an anonymous report to LA Crime Stopper.
• INFORM – Share information about LA vs Hate and United Against Hate with friends, family and your community. Save 2-1-1 to your phone and share the number with at least three people in your friends or family.
• CAMPAIGN AGAINST HATE – Go to LA vs Hate site for Campaign Collateral to get posters, banners, lawn signs, zoom backgrounds, desktop backgrounds, phone backgrounds, and coloring books. Check out Gifs for Social Media to share on Instagram, twitter, and by text and email.

The books our students will read for the all-school read-aloud for November are:

Grades TK-2: All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold (author) & Suzanne Kaufman (Illustrator).

• Readers will follow a group of children through a day in their school, where everyone is welcomed with open arms. A school where students from all backgrounds learn from and celebrate each other's traditions. A school that shows the world as we will make it to be.

Grades 3-5: I Walk with Vanessa: A Picture Book Story About a Simple Act of Kindness by Kerascoë

• This simple yet powerful picture book--from a New York Times bestselling husband-and-wife team--tells the story of one girl who inspires a community to stand up to bullying. The perfect back-to-school read for every kid, family and classroom!
  

All classes will be reading these books on Wednesday, November 15th. Ask your children what they learned from these stories and the discussions they had in their classrooms!

The Grant School Social and Emotional Learning and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committees have planned all-grade read-alouds once per month that focus on empathy, bullying, diversity, inclusion, equity, belonging, curiosity, empowerment, and other important topics. The purpose is to have all students read (or be read to) a specific SEL/DEI-focused book on the same day and have discussions in classrooms that same day. Ideally, we believe this strategy will foster greater empathy and understanding among students and also encourage conversations in their homes.

The new and refurbished portable classroom project is moving along very quickly! Look at the photos below to see the new ones being delivered on Saturday.

Special thanks to Peaches Robertson for being there to document the new classroom delivery and for taking care of our gardens! Peaches is a true Gecko!

A HUGE GECKO THANK YOU to Brittany Graves and Cynthia Leonard for coordinating this Fall's Literati Book Fair!

Also, thank you to our volunteers who put time into ensuring the shelves were stocked, check-out was easy, and supervision was solid! We appreciate each and every one of you!

Grant Gala tickets are now ON SALE! Don't miss out! This event is always a great time and for a great cause: Your child's school! See the image for details! Go to GrantPTA.org for tickets!

The Reflections Art Show is just around the corner! This year our students submitted an astounding 240+ art entries! This is a new record! Please show your support and visit the gallery on Thursday, November 16th and Friday, November 17th. There is no doubt you will be impressed at the talent that walks the halls at Grant!

Huge "thanks" to Jill Jurenka for putting this all together!

The Grant Student Council is currently collecting money for the Maui Food Bank. Let’s support our Geckos in their efforts to raise funds for this cause. To donate go to: https://mauifoodbank.org/donate/

Calling all 5th-Grade parents! We need your help! Please sign up to be a part of the planning and implementation of the many 5th-grade student activities this year!

Help make your child's last year at Grant memorable! Use the QR Code above to volunteer!

GO GECKOS!

We have a special education playdate coming up Sunday, November 19th from 3pm to 5pm. Bring your kids, siblings, and family to meet up at the McKinley Elementary School playyard to hang out. Feel free to bring scooters, skateboards, bikes, ball games, and more. Or just come as you are! I will try to have a bubble activity for the kids.

Calling all used athletic shoes! Youth Ambassadors Mary Gubbins, Rebe Hall, and Leila Nord are working with the Prince Africa Track Foundation and collecting used shoes that you or anyone in your family no longer needs. The leader of the foundation whose name is Prince Mumba takes them to Zambia and gifts them to youth athletes. See the photos below from his last mission.

There will be a bin at the front of the school for shoe donations. The bins will be there for two months. Our goal is to collect 100 pairs - Let's Go Geckos!

We thank you in advance for helping us and will report back on how many pairs of shoes the Geckos have donated.

At Grant School, we believe that a consistent and fair set of policies help to keep the campus safe and students focused on learning. Many policies are grounded in either the guidelines of SMMUSD or in the California Education Code.

To review the Grant School policies and the SMMUSD Annual Notice Handbook please click the following links:

It is important that all students attend school every day. Exceptions may include if your child is ill. Please plan all family vacations during school vacation days. It is important to set your child up for success by ensuring they are in school. For a detailed look at the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District's attendance policies, please click this link > https://www.smmusd.org/Attendance

We realize some absences are for health or other reasons. But, when students are absent they can fall far behind in what they learn. Whether the absence is excused or unexcused It means your child is missing important classroom learning time.

Some Attendance Tips:

• Please notify the office within 72 hours to report your child's absence and the reason they were not in school.
• Illness, bereavement, and court hearings are the only reason for an "Excused" absence.
  
• Make sure your students keep a regular bedtime and establish a morning routine.
  
• Turn off all electronics including TVs, phones, and tablets at bedtime.
  
• Make sure clothes and pack backpacks are ready the night before.
  
• Check with our school nurse or office staff if you are not sure about when to keep your child at home due to illness.
  
• Avoid scheduling vacations or doctor’s appointments when school is in session.
  
• Talk to teachers and counselors for advice if your student feels anxious about going to school.
  
• Develop backup plans for getting to school if something comes up. Call on a family member, neighbor, or another parent to take your student to school.
  

Please let us know how we can best support you and your student so that they can show up for school on time every day.

Grant School is known for being a “neighborhood school” and for its close-knit community. Our goal now is to maintain these special characteristics of our wonderful school. It is important to understand that with these procedures, we are not trying to remove our parents' and guardians’ access; we are merely trying to control who is accessing our campus and when they are visiting.

With this in mind, we will begin the drop-off and pick-up procedures outlined below beginning Monday, August 28th.

During the first two days of school, all parents were permitted to walk their children to their classrooms. Beginning Monday, August 28th, all students will be dropped off at the Pearl Street Gate (Main Gate) and the 24th Street Gate (rear of school) with the exception of our Preschool and Transitional Kindergarten students. See below.

DROP-OFF and PICK-UP PROCEDURES

Preschool and TK Drop-off: Due to State law, all Preschool and Transitional Kindergarten students must be dropped off to their teacher. Preschool parents will continue to enter the campus at the main gates after checking in with the Campus Monitor, proceed to Room 59, and sign their child in with Ms. Reed. TK parents will walk their children to the Transitional Kindergarten yard where Ms. Herman and Ms. Cedillo will greet them each day.

Preschool and TK Pick-up: All Preschool parents will meet Ms. Reed at the main gates for dismissal. Students whose parents have not picked up their child at dismissal will check into the main office and then proceed to Room 59 to check their child out from Ms. Reed.

Ms. Herman's TK parents will enter the Kindergarten playground from the Pearl Street entrance at dismissal time and students will be returned to their parents by Ms. Herman. Ms. Cedillo's TK class will be released at the Pearl Street Gate (Main Gate) at dismissal time.

Kindergarten Drop-off: Kindergarten students will be dropped off by their parent or guardian at the gate next to Room 2 beginning at 8:00 AM Mon - Fri. Students will walk to the Kindergarten playground where they will be met by a teacher or Campus Monitor. Students enrolled in SAP will be walked to their classrooms by SAP personnel.

Kindergarten Pick-up: Kindergarten students will be picked up at the Pearl Street Kinder Gate at dismissal at 1:45 PM. Teachers will be there to greet parents and guardians. No Kinder student will be released to anyone other than a parent, guardian, caregiver, or emergency contact. Students enrolled in SAP will be picked up from SAP personnel in their classrooms.

Grades 1 – 5 Drop-off: All students in grades 1 – 5 will be dropped off by their parent or guardian at the Pearl Street Main Gate in front of the school or at the 24th Street Gate each morning. Students will enter the school and walk to the playground where they will be supervised by a Grant School Teacher, Campus Monitor, or Administrator. Drop-off will begin at 8:00 AM every day.

The start-of-school warning bell will sound at 8:25 AM. The final bell will sound at 8:30 AM. Students in grade 1 will walk to their lineup on the big map on the playground where their teacher will meet them and walk them to the classroom.

Students in Grade 2 will walk to their lineup behind their classroom where their teacher will meet them.

Students in grades 3 – 5 will line up in front of their classroom where their teacher will meet them.

Grades 1 – 3 Pick-up: Students in Grades 1 – 3 will be dismissed at the following times: Grade 1 at 2:40; Grade 2 at 2:45; and Grade 3 at 2:50. Teachers will walk students to the main gate at the front of the school where parents will meet their children at this time. Students in Grades 1 – 3 who are enrolled in an afterschool program, such as CREST or PTA enrichment classes, or Playground Club, will walk or be walked to the lunch tables where their program teacher will meet them. Parents are not to enter the campus until after 3:00 PM and only if they have a Main Gate key card.

Grades 4 – 5 Pick-up: Students in Grades 4 and 5 will be dismissed each day at 2:55 PM. Students will exit the campus either from the Pearl Stree Main Gate or the 24th Street Gate at the rear of the school. Students who are enrolled in an afterschool program, such as CREST or PTA enrichment classes, or Playground Club, will walk to the lunch tables where their program teacher will meet them. Parents are not to enter the campus until after 3:00 PM and only if they have a Main Gate key card.

After-Care Program Pickup Procedures: Parents of students in after-school care programs will receive or have already received a key card that will give them access to the Pearl Street Main Gate only. Please see the office if you have questions about this procedure or if you are having difficulty with your key card.

Early Dismissal Procedures: Wednesday drop-off and pick-up procedures are the same as those during regular school days but will follow the Wednesday bell schedule. Please see the bell schedule ABOVE.

SAP Drop-off: All students enrolled in SAP before-school care will be dropped off in Room 4. Drop-off begins at 7:00 AM. Please use your Pearl Street Main Gate key card for entrance.

Breakfast Club: Students who participate in the Grant Breakfast Club will still arrive at school under the same procedures as all students. Parents will drop their children off at the main gates by 8:00 AM so that there is ample time to eat and walk to their classrooms by 8:30 AM. Preschool, TK, and Kinder students will continue to be accompanied by a parent or guardian to Breakfast Club if the parent so chooses.

Raptor Security System

The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District will use the Raptor visitor management system to strengthen our campus safety programs for students and staff. All schools currently have this system installed.

An important aspect of keeping students and staff safe is for site staff to know who is on our campuses at all times. The Raptor system achieves this interest as it allows office staff to screen visitors, contractors, and volunteers, in our schools and provides us with a safer environment for students, staff, and approved volunteers.

Upon entering campus, visitors will be asked to present identification such as a driver’s license, which can either be scanned or manually entered into the system. If a parent or guardian does not have a US government-issued identification, for any reason, the visitor may submit an alternative form of identification for school staff to enter into the Raptor system.

The Raptor system checks the visitor's name and date of birth for comparison with a national database of registered sex offenders. The registered sex offender database is the only official database checked by the Raptor system. No other data from the identification is gathered or recorded and the information is not shared with any outside agency. The Raptor system will check to ensure that registered sexual offenders are not allowed on our campuses. Once entry is approved, Raptor will issue a badge that identifies the visitor, the date, and the purpose of his/her visit. A visitor’s badge will not be necessary for those who visit our schools simply to drop off an item at the front gate.

Show your Grant school spirit with Gecko Wear! Spirit Day is every Friday.

Purchase your spirit wear here and you will be notified when items are available for pickup in the front office.

GO GECKOS!

Your donation does so much for Grant!

Please consider donating to the two organizations that enhance education for all Grant students: the Santa Monica Education Foundation and Grant PTA. Your donations are so important. Check out the crucial staff, programs, technology, and materials funded by your donations in this chart!

Our goal is for 100% of Grant families to give to PTA and the Ed Foundation. ANY amount makes a difference to our kids. If you have already donated, thank you!

¡Su donación hace mucho por Grant!

Considere hacer una donación a las dos organizaciones que mejoran la educación de todos los estudiantes de Grant: la Fundación Educativa de Santa Mónica y la PTA de Grant. Sus donaciones siguen siendo muy importantes. ¡Consulte el personal, los programas, la tecnología y los materiales fundamentales financiados con sus donaciones en esta gráfica!

Nuestra meta es que el 100% de las familias de Grant den a la PTA y a la Fundación Ed. CUALQUIER cantidad hace la diferencia para nuestros hijos. Si ya ha donado, ¡gracias!

*Some events and resources not sponsored by or affiliated with the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District.

The Weekend Bag Program (WeB) will provide SMMUSD students with nutritious, easy-to- prepare bags of food containing 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches and 2 snacks for the weekends. The Fall 2023 startup date is Friday, September 29th. The Weekend Bag Program will serve students whose families have special situations which may result in food insecurity in the home. Student names are not identified to Weekend Bag Program volunteers to ensure participant privacy. Bags are packed by volunteers with enough shelf-stable food (including UHT milk) for breakfast, lunch and snacks for two days, and then brought to the schools. Participating students pick up the food bags, usually from the school office, and stick them in their backpacks after school on Fridays. The menus have been evaluated by a dietitian to meet federal school nutrition standards and provide a balance of healthy, nutritious non-perishable foods. Grant families wishing to enroll their students should contact our school’s Bilingual Community Liaison, Florencia Rams at frams@smmusd.org, 310 450-7651 x 63110, and fill out a Program opt-in form.

El Programa Bolsa de Fin de Semana (WeB) proporcionará a los estudiantes de SMMUSD que sufren inseguridad alimentaria los fines de semana, bolsas de comida nutritiva y fácil de prepar para los fines de semana, a partir del 29 del Septiembre, 2023. El Programa WeB está dirigido a estudiantes cuyas familias tienen dificultades para poner comida en la mesa. Los alumnos participantes se identifican por medio de un formulario de interés para apuntarse o por las Intermediarias Bilingües de la Comunidad (BCLs). Los nombres de los estudiantes no compartirán con los voluntarios del Programa WeB para asegurar la privacidad de los participantes. Las bolsas plásticas reutilizables son empacadas por voluntarios con alimentos de larga duración (incluyendo la leche UHT) suficientes para dos días de desayuno, almuerzo y merienda, y después las llevan a la oficina de la escuela o al espacio designado para su distribución. Los alumnos participantes recogen las bolsas de comida y las meten en sus mochilas. Los menús han sido evaluados por un dietista para asegurar que cumplen con los estándares federales de nutrición escolar y proporcionan un balance adecuado de alimentos no perecederos, nutritivos y saludables. Las familias que desean inscribir a sus estudiantes deben contactar a Florencia Rams frams@smmusd.org, 310 4507651 x 63110 y llenar un formulario para apuntarse en el programa.

To read the Gecko Gazette in another language please look to the right of the newsletter and click "TRANSLATE NEWSLETTER". You can now choose from 100 languages!

~ ¡NUEVA OPCIÓN DE TRADUCCIÓN A 100 IDIOMAS! ~

Para leer la Gaceta Gecko en otro idioma, mire a la derecha del boletín y haga clic en "TRADUCIR EL BOLETÍN". ¡Ahora puede elegir entre 100 idiomas!

~ በ 100 ቋንቋዎች ውስጥ አዲስ የትርጓሜ ምርጫ! ~

የጌኮ ጋዜጣ በሌላ ቋንቋ ለማንበብ እባክዎን በራሪ ወረቀቱ በስተቀኝ በኩል ይመልከቱ እና “የትርጉም ጽሑፍ” ን ጠቅ ያድርጉ ፡፡ አሁን ከ 100 ቋንቋዎች መምረጥ ይችላሉ!