Parents,
I am offering a similar opportunity for a student to be, "Vice-Principal for a half day."
This will be for one boy and one girl. The student will perform duties of administrators, including morning and afternoon announcements, classroom observations, and additional activities. Lunch will be provided and an overview of the morning's activities will take place.
The Gala Auction will be held February 4, 2012 at Olde Towne Athletic Club from 7 to 11 PM. Tickets are on sale at http://gmefoundation.org - $35 and $45 at the door or you can Download 2012GALATicketform to purchase tickets in advance. Visit the website for a sample of items to bid on. All proceeds go back to GMEF.
The proceeds will be used to improve our school by providing funding for programs such as technology, educational curriculum and facility improvements. The GMEF will accumulate and distribute resources beyond those provided by Cobb County or the PTA, in order to further enhance, foster and enrich the educational experiences of all students at Garrison Mill.
Thank you!
Dr. Stasiak
Parents,
I just wanted to let you know that, as a Gala Auction item, I am offering an opportunity for a student to be, "Principal for a half day."
This will be for one boy and one girl. The student will perform duties of administrators, including morning and afternoon announcements, classroom observations, and additional activities. Lunch will be provided and an overview of the morning's activities will take place.
The Gala Auction will be held February 4, 2012 at Olde Towne Athletic Club from 7 to 11 PM. Tickets are on sale at http://gmefoundation.org - $35 and $45 at the door or you can Download 2012GALATicketform to purchase tickets in advance. Visit the website for a sample of items to bid on. All proceeds go back to GMEF.
The proceeds will be used to improve our school by providing funding for programs such as technology, educational curriculum and facility improvements. The GMEF will accumulate and distribute resources beyond those provided by Cobb County or the PTA, in order to further enhance, foster and enrich the educational experiences of all students at Garrison Mill.
Thank you!
Mr. Giesler
Garrison Mill welcomes a new Principal, Mr. Kyle Giesler.
Please click on the link below to read a letter from Mr. Giesler to the community.
Dear GM Families:
We sent home an article from the Cobb District Web Site this week highlighting the county gains on the 5th grade writing assessment. As I'm sure you know, Garrison Mill has had a focus on writing as a school goal for the past few years. We've been working hard to improve our writing, specifically focusing on the traits of ideas and conventions.
This year we are happy to report that our GM 5th graders did better than ever! Our 5th grade students had a 96% overall pass rate with 29% of our students scoring in the exceeds category. Our scale score was 241 (ten points higher than last year and third in Cobb County). The article below gives additional information but we wanted to be sure that everyone saw our good news! We are very proud of our greyhounds!
Paula Huffman, Principal
Cobb Fifth Graders Improve Writing Scores;
Subgroups Continue Impressive Gains
Cobb County students' scores on the Fifth Grade Writing Assessment improved five percentage points over 2010. The 2011 results show 83 percent of Cobb students met or exceeded expectations, compared to 78 percent in 2010. Cobb students' average scale score of 218 topped the state average by four points.
The writing performance of students in special populations (Students with Disabilities and English Language Learners) continues to show strong results. In Cobb, 57 percent of Students With Disabilities (SWD) met or exceeded standards compared to just 44 percent statewide. English Language Learners (ELL) in Cobb County also performed well with 63 percent of ELL students meeting or exceeding standards, 2 percent higher than the state average of 61 percent.
Emphasis on writing in all academic areas resulted in 27 Cobb elementary schools showing an increase in scale scores from 2010. Brumby, Due West, Eastvalley, Garrison Mill, Sky View, Still and Teasley elementary schools each posted gains of 10 points or higher on the assessment. Sky View Elementary showed the greatest gains from 2010, with 25 percent more students meeting or exceeding standards over last year. The District's highest scale scores on the Fifth Grade Writing Assessment were posted by Tritt (246), Sope Creek (242), Garrison Mill (241), Timber Ridge (236), East Side (234), Murdock (233) and Kemp (232).
Principal Paula Huffman at Garrison Mill and her staff placed a high priority on better understanding how the state scores students' written essays. Ms. Huffman said, "Once teachers understood that process, they were able to help students understand the importance of writing to the topic, a critical component in the writing process." Due West Elementary School administered a mock writing test in January, allowing teachers to prescriptively address individual students' writing strengths and weaknesses. Due West principal Peggy Fleming said, "The mock test results are being used by teachers to conference individually with each student and target areas for additional instruction before the state writing assessment in March."
As a part of the statewide testing program, the Fifth Grade Writing Assessment was administered in March and requires students to write a composition on an assigned topic. The assessment provides fifth graders with a measurement of their writing performance. The assessment includes different aspects of writing or domains, which include Ideas, Organization, Style, and Conventions. Domains are rated on a scale of 1 to 5. Performance of Cobb fifth graders as a whole was similar across all domains, ranging from 2.9 in Conventions to 3.1 in Style. This information can help students, parents, and teachers understand areas where students may need to focus their efforts to improve writing skills before taking the Eighth Grade Writing Assessment.
Each exam essay is scored by professionals trained to evaluate student writing skills. Evaluators score student compositions on four qualities, or domains of effective writing - Ideas, Organization, Style, and Conventions.
The scale score range for the Grade 5 Writing Assessment is 100 to 350, and scores are reported in the following performance levels: Does Not Meet (100-199), Meets (200-249), and Exceeds (250-350).
Summary data for the Fifth Grade Writing Assessment by school is available in Tables I and II.
Dear GM Families:
It is difficult for us to believe that this school year is almost over! We’ve had a very successful year and show positive academic gains in all grade levels based on our local data. Dr. Stasiak and I have truly enjoyed serving as your school administrators and working with the families and staff of Garrison Mill each day.
Over the next few weeks we look forward to our First Grade (May 5th) and Kindergarten (May 17th) Musicals, Volunteer Brunch (8:30-12:00 on May 11th) and 5th grade celebration (May 24th). I hope you will all join us for the Volunteer Brunch when our staff shows their appreciation for all of you!
At this time of year we enjoy looking back and celebrating our successes! This year we wish to congratulate the three different groups that play a large role in our overall success. Our PTA has worked tirelessly to advocate for our students and earned another District 9 award for the third year in a row! This year we were named 2nd place for Outstanding Local Unit for Elementary Schools at 750 enrollment and lower. District 9 includes all schools in Cobb, Marietta City, Douglas and Paulding Counties so we have some tough competition!
We also wish to thank our School Council for the work they have done to support our school writing goal and citizenship through our “Thank a Veteran” Thanksgiving letter writing campaign followed by the Valentines for Veterans project. Both of these projects provided meaningful ways to both support writing and honor those who have served our country.
Additionally, we want to celebrate the success of our GME Foundation and the monetary support we have received in the areas of science and technology from the proceeds of the first ever Greyhound Gala! This event replaced Boosterthon and was a successful and fun new event for Garrison Mill!
Finally, we are of course still thrilled with our Platinum status for Highest Achievement on the Spring 2010 CRCT. We should receive our CRCT results for 2011 soon and will share those with you when we are able to do so. We also would like to congratulate our 5th grade students on the fantastic writing assessment scores. We should be able to release those scores to you very soon.
In closing, Diana Whitson, a long time Garrison Mill teacher is retiring this year. We will have a celebration for her on May 10th from 4:00-5:00 in the Media Center. Light refreshments will be served. We hope you can join us to celebrate her dedication to our students and her teaching career.
Please take time to rest and relax as a family this summer. Always remember to READ all you can and to practice those math facts! We’ll see you in August!
Paula Huffman
Principal
Spring testing is underway! It's great to see how everyone is well rested and here on time ready to do their best each day. Thank you for your support this week with having your child(ren) ready to test.
This Friday, April 15th is Bingo Night. We hope you can come out that evening at 6:30 for some fun and prizes! On Saturday morning we will have our annual Spring Habitat Day from 8:00-12:00 to help beautify our campus. We would love any help you can give that morning. In closing, please see below for a letter sent home this week regarding placement for 11-12. Thank you.
Dear GM Families,
With spring upon us, thoughts are not only of this school year, but also of our next school year. Dr. Stasiak and I would like to outline our procedures for student placement for 2011-2012.
At Garrison Mill, we take the placement of our children very seriously. Our staff gives much time, thought and effort in the careful placement of our children. A variety of factors are taken into consideration when making these decisions. To the best of our ability we create proposed classes of students by paying close attention to balancing a heterogeneous blend of boys and girls, learning styles, academic performance and work study habits, and using the individual teacher’s knowledge of every student. Specialists, support staff, counselors and administrators will review the proposed class lists.
If there is information that you would like to share with administration regarding your child’s placement, you are certainly welcome to give us input about your child. Letters can be sent either via email or hard copy. We respectfully request that you do not name specific teachers in your letter, however it is perfectly fine to describe your child’s learning needs and the style of teacher with which he/she will work best. Naming specific teachers does have one exception, if an older child has had a teacher that you feel would/would not be a good match for your younger child then we would appreciate having that information. All letters are due by April 30th.
One exciting change for next fall is that we are strongly considering the implementation of a departmentalized model for our fifth grade team. Our proposed model will have four 5th grade homerooms allowing all students to rotate between three of four teachers for Math, Science and Language Arts/Social Studies. Homeroom groupings will still be a heterogeneous blend of students and students will rotate together as a homeroom to different subjects.
In closing, please remember that letters are not required but are certainly welcome. With or without a letter, each Garrison Mill student will be placed with great care. Your child’s continued success is our goal. Thank you for the trust that you place in us to meet your child’s needs.
Paula Huffman
Principal
Dear GM Families:
Welcome to Spring! We have enjoyed several special weeks so far this month. We celebrated National PTA Exceptional Children's Week March 7-11. All of our students watched an excerpt of Front of the Class- a movie about Brad Cohen and his successful career in education while dealing with Tourette Syndrome. I know Mr. Cohen personally as he is also the Asst. Principal at Addision Elementary and his story is truly inspirational. From March 14-18 we celebrated PTA Health and Nutrition Week with special school to home activities and a Recess Boot Camp sponsored by Sports-A-Rama!
Looking ahead we have an Honoring our Heroes Reception for all essay winners on March 23rd at 8:00 a.m. Brusters Night is also that evening (Trickum Road) from 5:00-8:00. Finally, we have Teacher Appreciation Week from March 28th-April 1st followed by Spring Break.
Below is our March PAWS Article from Dr. Stasiak with some great testing tips for the upcoming CRCT which begins April 12th. We hope you find these helpful!
The CRCT is fast approaching! The test starts on Tuesday, April 12th and ends Monday, April 18th. Students in grades 3-5 will be tested in the areas of Reading, English/Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies.
When you think of the word “testing,” what comes to your mind? A racing heart, sweating palms or your mind going blank may be a few responses. So how do we prepare our children so this experience is less painful? Some of the following tips are just common sense but are often overlooked.
Before Testing…..
The very best way to prepare your child is to let them become familiar with the testing format. You can go to https://www.georgiaoas.org, login with your child’s GTID # (given to you by the teacher) and the password “education” and have them take a practice test. Other important components include: Getting a good night’s sleep. Go to bed early. You will perform better if you are wide awake and well rested (and so will your brain!) Solve family/friend problems before the testing date. Talk to your child about any concerns that he/she might have about the test.
Morning of Testing…..
Start the day as you always do. Eat a good breakfast, don’t skip it. Food is brain power! Eat a balanced breakfast. Load up on protein, but avoid junk food, too much sugar, or anything that might make your child “crash” during testing. Be sure to pack a light nutritious snack that can be eaten between test subsections, but avoid salty foods that may make them thirsty later during the test. Another important component is to “think positive.” Say things to your child that will boost confidence. “This test can’t scare you, you are totally prepared.”
Reassure your child and put the test in perspective…
Tell your child that the test will be used to evaluate how well a school is educating its students. Explain that the scores are looked at along with many other pieces of information in determining your child’s achievement level. It’s only one piece of information and it is not expected that students answer every question correctly. However, remind your child that he/she should always try to do their personal best and to focus on the questions in other words not letting themselves get distracted because someone else has finished earlier.
Take a deep breath….
If your child is a very nervous test-taker, have him/her do deep breathing exercise before the test. He/she can take a deep breath and count to ten. Then take shorter deep breaths in between passages or section of the test counting to three. This exercise is fast and simple but really works! Also consider dressing your child in layers so he/she can take clothes off or put them on, depending on the temperature of the room or their own personal thermostats.
Other testing strategies….
Vicki Stasiak, Assistant Principal
Dear GM Families:
I hope you are all enjoying the Winter Break and finding time to rest and relax as a family. On February 28th, we will have a special celebration of Read Across America Day! All students are invited to wear their pajamas to school. Classes will have a special focus on reading that day along with a Performing Arts program from singer/speaker Chris Rumble. From 6:00-8:00 p.m. that evening our Media Center will be open for Reading Night. As a parent you are also invited to attend our quarterly PTA parent workshop at 6:30 p.m. in the cafeteria. The topic for this workshop is nutrition. We will have a speaker from Whole Foods in Alpharetta to guide us in healthy eating choices for our children. I hope you can join us! See you on the 28th.
Paula Huffman, Principal
Dear GM Families:
This year is moving forward quickly! Spring testing will be here soon. Please be aware that our testing dates are different than listed in your PTA calendar. Our CRCT will be given on April 12-18 to all 3rd-5th graders. This is a 5 day assessment based on our Georgia Performance Standards for each grade level. Tests are given in Reading, English Language Arts, Math, Science and Social Studies. You can help your child prepare by accessing our OAS (Online Assessment System) from our GM Website- Links for Students- CRCT Practice or here: https://www.georgiaoas.org/servlet/a2l
Each child in 3rd-5th was given a login. We sent the student logins home again in January. If you can’t locate your login- please email me at [email protected] and we will be happy to send a new one home for you! We recently sent a required district letter describing our Maymester program. I wanted to take this opportunity to review and expand on what this program entails. According to Georgia state promotion guidelines, all third graders are required to pass the Reading CRCT in order to be promoted to fourth Grade. Fifth graders are required to pass both the Reading and Math CRCT in order to be promoted. All parents of third and fifth graders have been notified of this requirement. Students in 3rd and 5th who do not pass will be given the opportunity to retest on May 20th (Reading) and May 23rd (Math).
This year Cobb County will not have summer school for elementary students. However, we still wish to provide remediation for students who do not pass the CRCT prior to them being retested in late May.
In order to meet the potential academic needs of these students, we are providing a short remediation session called “Maymester”. Maymester will provide remediation in reading for 3rd and remediation in both reading and/or math for 5th. This Maymester remediation is ONLY for students who are at risk of not passing the CRCT. ALL 3rd and 5th grade parents were sent a letter explaining about Maymester. These letters were marked as to whether their child was identified as a potential candidate based on test scores and classroom performance. Maymester will begin in late April. If your child is participating, they will be a part of this remediation until the scores arrive in mid-May. Sessions generally last around two hours per day in each subject. Our current third and fifth grade staff will share responsibility for this remediation and classes will be covered by substitute teachers on a rotational basis for two hours if your child’s teacher is teaching Maymester on a particular day. We will give you a more complete schedule in April.
Scores from our April CRCT will hopefully come in by mid-May. If your child participates in Maymester and does pass the CRCT on the first try, then they will not need to continue and will return to their regular class for the entire school day. If they do not pass the CRCT, they will continue with their remedial instruction and retake the test in late May. You also have the option for your child not to participate in Maymester and can decline this opportunity if you so choose.
I do want to reassure you that NO student will miss fun end of the year activities such as Field Day, 5th
grade banquet or visit to Mabry. We will work our remediation schedule around these activities to make
sure all students can participate.
If you have any questions about this process, please contact either myself or your child’s teacher for more information. It is our hope that we can help all children be successful. We truly appreciate your help in makingthis happen.
Paula Huffman
Principal