PTC Needs You!

To all Grainwood families:

Happy end of Spring Break! We hope everyone enjoyed the break from school and feels ready for a great last two months of school.

The PTC group is gearing up for the last two meetings of the year as well. We have some big plans for a fun spring, including a book fair, staff appreciation, and our 3rd annual Get Up and Go fundraiser. We repeat the invitation to all parents to come, give input, and get involved.

We'll be in the conference room at Grainwood THIS Tuesday, April 1 (no joke!) from 6:30-8. As always, free childcare is provided in the Kids' Co room. 

The following meeting (and last of the school year!) will be Tuesday, May 6 at the same time.

We hope to see you there!

Kim Frantz, president

www.grainwoodptc.blogspot.com to catch up on past meeting minutes

Report Cards for 3rd Quarter

Report Cards for Third Quarter

Student Report Cards will be posted online and available through Family/Student Access on Wednesday, April 2nd.  Please go to the Prior Lake-Savage website where you can review and print your child's third quarter report card.

Follow these steps to access your child's report card:

1.  Go to  http://www.priorlake-savage.k12.mn.us/parents

2.  Click on Family/Student Access.

3.  Enter Login & Password (if you need help accessing your username or password, there is a link to assist you)

4.  Select Report Cards on the left.

5.  Select the report card for 4/2/14 to view and print your child’s third quarter report card.

If you have questions, please contact us at 952-226-0300.

Thank you!

Assertion

Dear Grainwood Families,

Each month at our all-school meetings, we take time to educate our students about our CARES and also recognize a few who demonstrate them often at school.  This particular year, as mentioned in previous posts, our focus has been on the "A" or ASSERTION.  The past few winter all-school meetings have included videos created by grades 1-3 focused on modeling assertion based on picture books.  Grade 3 used the classic story The Hundred Dresses (suggested by some students), Grade 2 used Louder Lili (a recommendation from grade 2 teachers), and Grade 1 used Each Kindness, a book recommended in Lester Laminack's anti-bully curriculum (used here at Grainwood in grades K-2).  Each story helped launch a classroom conversation and then students acted out examples of assertion for their peers.  The videos are highly engaging and always a hit at the meetings.

Educating students about bullying is challenging.  There are still misconceptions of what it is and what it is not.  "Bullying" is repeated and targeted with intention to hurt the other person, while a "poor choice" is often times isolated and there is not an imbalance of power.  Each offers the opportunity for others to step-up and help, which is why we are working to grow our students' assertion skills.  Grainwood believes assertion is a key to reducing both bully and poor choice type behavior.  Through continued video modeling and engagement with rich literature, we can help our students confidently stand-up for each other.  Our mission continues!

Principal Glynn and the CARES Heroes

Tech Help Button now on PLSA website!

A new Tech Help button has been added to our website to assist parents and students with various technology initiatives that are underway in all of our classrooms.

In the Parents web portal, you will now find a green Tech Help button linking to a technology support page containing tutorials, cyber safety resources and support contact information. You will find information and login help for Schoology, Google Apps for Education and details surrounding our new 1 to 1 iPad initiative. We will continue to update the page as new information becomes available.

Please visit our new page for more details. We hope you find it helpful!  

Technology Help Page

Spring Picture Day - coming soon

Please mark your calendar for Spring Picture Day:  Wednesday, April 9th.  

Order forms will be coming home with your child after Spring Break.

SPAN (Synergy/SAGE Parent Action Network) Meeting

SPAN (Synergy/SAGE Parent Action Network) will host our last meeting of the school year on Thursday April 3 at 7pm in the WestWood Media Center.  The meeting will feature Anne Rinkenberger, MS, LMFT, a Twin Cities therapist who focuses her practice on working with gifted children and adolescents, who will speak about Supporting the Special Needs of Gifted Children: Neuroscience Implications for Regulating Emotions and Behavior.  This presentation will describe characteristics of giftedness, including Overexciteabilities (often referred to as sensitivities and intensities) and other special needs of some gifted kids that impact their social, emotional, behavioral and psychological health. The brain science regarding the development of executive functioning skills and the impact on learning for gifted kids and teens will be discussed. Participants will learn strategies to use at home and in the classroom to improve the ability of gifted children to regulate their emotions and behavior. And, participants will learn about some of the indicators when a gifted child may benefit from additional professional services.

Teacher relicensure CEU certificates will be available. 

Please email Apryl at span.priorlake@gmail.com with questions or to be placed on SPAN’s email list. 

Nature Photo Contest!

                

Nature Photo Contest: To help celebrate Earth Month in April, Grainwood is again asking for students to take pictures of outdoor nature (plants, trees, sky, water, scenery, animals).  Photos must be taken by the student and one submission per child. Please, no pet or zoo animal photos. Submit a  3 X 5 or 4 x 6 picture  by April 4 to Ms. Swanson, and remember to put your name and room # on the back.

April Community Education Newsletter

Click HERE for the latest Community Education Newsletter which includes information on the following:

• Upcoming Community Education classes
• The Kidstuff Sale at Edgewood 
• Summer Swim lessons (improve your swimming in two weeks!) 

For more information or to register for classes online go to the Community Education Website

Student Directories Available Now

If you need a 2013-14 Grainwood Student Directory they are available in the office for $2.00.

It's a convenient way to have classmate's contact information handy over Spring Break!

Reminder - Grainwood Yearbook Order Forms Due this Wednesday!

Grainwood 2013-2014 Yearbooks are for sale! The deadline to order is Wednesday, March 19, 2014. The cost of the yearbook is $15.00. Please make payments to Grainwood Yearbook.  Stop by the office or let your child's teacher know if you need another order form.

Our yearbook is planned to include:
1. All color yearbook that vibrantly captures school memories.
2. Sturdy soft cover with protective coating to preserve your keepsake.
3. School name and year imprinted in foil on the cover.

Please get your orders in by Wednesday, March 19, 2014 if you are interested in purchasing a Grainwood 2013-2014 Yearbook!

Club's Choice Wolf Ridge Fundraiser

Club’s Choice is our Spring Fundraiser for the 2014  5^th grade Wolf Ridge ELC trip.  Our fundraising kickoff is today, March 14^th and will run through the end of the month.   

Club’s Choice is a food fundraiser with items like pizza, cookie dough, candy, etc.  All money raised by the 4^th graders will be  used to help offset the full cost of their trip for next school year.

CARES Students of the Week

Butter Braid Orders Due Monday!

Dear Grainwood Families,

This is your last weekend to sell Butter Braids!  All orders are due on Monday, March 17th!  Please double check that correct payments are included in the envelope and your order form has your child's name, teacher, grade and phone number.  Thanks!

Please mark your calendars!  Orders need to be picked up in the Grainwood gym on April 8th from 3-6pm.

In-District Transfer Requests

We are already beginning to plan for the 2014-2015 school year.  Families that might be requesting a change for next year, possibly due to a daycare change, will need to fill out an In-District Transfer Request form.  Forms for in-district transfers can be found on the district website.  These forms are due by April 1^st and will be acted upon later in April.  Requests received from families during the summer months will not be acted on until August.

For those families whose children attend Grainwood through an In-District Transfer Request already, please be aware that you do not have to fill out a new request for the coming year. Requests in place will be honored through the 2014-2015 school year.

Pennies For Patients

Grainwood's Pennies for Patients drive was a success! Our school collected $1,627.17 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. With Leukemia being the most common form of cancer in children and young adults less than 20 years old, our school wanted to give to the youth in need. Thank you families, students and staff for giving to this service learning collection. A special congratulations to Ms. Swanson's 3^rd/4^th grade combo class for collecting the most coins, totaling $198.94.

Spring Break and Upcoming Days Off

Thursday, March 20th will be a full school day rather than an early release day.  This make-up time is the result of school closures due to weather in which four instructional days this quarter were lost.

There is NO SCHOOL Friday, March 21st.

Spring Break is from Monday, March 24th - Friday, March 28.

At this time Friday, April 18th remains a NO SCHOOL day as it is a professional development day for staff.

Please let our office know if you have any questions.  Thank you!

Student Placement Form

A Student Placement Form is available for parents who wish to inform the school as to how they view the learning styles and issues for their child in preparation for the 2014-2015 school year. The form does not allow for the request of a specific teacher. You can pick up the Student Placement form in the Grainwood office.  The deadline for submitting the form is Friday, April 4th.

CARES Students of the Week

March 2014 Nurse's Note

March is National Nutrition Month!

Kids can learn fun facts about nutrition at this Fuel Up to Play 60 website:

NutritionExplorations