Garretson Elementary Parents and Guardians:
I hope this letter finds your family safe and well. I share your feelings of frustration and desire for things to be "back to normal" for your kids. Just know that despite the negative reason your family is going through this, you're writing history together and creating memories, good and bad, that will last a lifetime. I encourage you to look for the good in each day, not stress over the things you can't control, and make it your will to create good memories in ways that you can.
This week's material pick up will be on Friday, April 17th, from 8:00 am — 6:00 pm. In an effort to keep you as safe as possible while dropping off and gathering new materials, we will have bleach wipes for the door handles or doors propped open when the weather allows. Materials will be spread out on tables, not in boxes to be filed
through. Each class will have its own table of materials. Please keep an eye on the items under the tables as teachers are starting to clean out desks and lockers. For safety purposes, we ask that you spend minimal time in the building.
A few reminders to make student packet work a success:
- Stay in control of the packet. Many of you have discovered that if you turn all of the work over to your student, things get lost, done out of order or all at once. Please respect the time your teachers have put into planning these packets, many of which have materials that are in sequential order.
- The younger the student, the shorter amount of time you can expect them to be on task. Offer breaks between tasks and if possible, spread work time throughout the day instead of all at once.
- If struggling to engage your child in their work, lean on their teacher or myself. We would be happy to meet with them through a private Zoom or phone call to be the word of encouragement...that you're probably saying, but they are having trouble hearing!
- Stay positive. Like anything, if kids sense your unhappiness with something, they're going to begin feeling the way you do. Contact your child's teacher to see if adjustments can be made to the work load or if additional support is needed, but stay positive.
- Keep the expectation that at least some work is done each day. Building a daily routine that has a schoolwork expectation in it will assist you in this. Again, we are happy to help you with this if needed.
Another survey will be sent out tomorrow to gather information and help guide us as we continue to move forward. Please watch for it and complete it at your earliest convenience. Many of the questions will look familiar to you if you took it a couple of weeks ago, but I want to know how things are going now and if answers and opinions have changed.
Thank you for your time and efforts to make distance learning a success at Garretson Elementary. We are very proud of our parents and students!
Keep safe and be well,
Teresa Hulscher Elementary Principal
