Dear GGB Families,

Happy New Year! This is my favorite time of year! Our vision for

our student scholars is to continue to support them in developing

their 21st Century Skills. What is it we want every child to have

here at GGB? We want them to:

Acquire and apply core knowledge and critical-thinking skill sets

that are essential in an information age.

Demonstrate creativity, innovation, and flexibility when

partnering with business and community members to advance

common goals.

Make decisions and solve problems ethically and collaboratively.

Use technology to gather, analyze, and synthesize information

for application in a global economy.

Exhibit positive interpersonal relationships that value multiple

languages, cultures, and all persons.

Display leadership skills that inspire others to achieve, serve,

and work together.

Our kids have been growing and building their brains! Our GGB

staff is busy seeing just how much growth our kids have made

this first half of the year on achieving those skills and meeting

the common core standards. Right this very minute teachers are

busy assessing students, reviewing work, making observations

and getting ready to write report cards giving you the latest

progress for your child.

Report cards will be sent home on February 5th! Remember this

is just one moment in time. Students learn and grow at different

levels and times. You may not compare siblings, you may

celebrate the baby steps and work together with us to support

each and every GGB student in being successful when they are

not at level yet!!!

Love in Children and their Learning,

Margot Hightower

Margot Hightower, Principal Jim Wright, Counselor

Green Gables

Gazette

January 2016

Diane French, Dean of Students

Upcoming January

Events

4 First day back to school

8 Coffee House 9-9:30

18 NO SCHOOL Martin

Luther King Jr. Day

26 PTA Skate Night 6-8 pm

27 Student & Citizen of the

Month Assembly 2:40

29 NO SCHOOL Semester

Break

Upcoming February

Events

2 Pancakes with Pops

5 Report Cards Go Home

11 Concert 4th & 5th

15-16 NO SCHOOL

(Mid Winter Break)

24 Early Dismissal 1:50 PM

25 Multi Cultural Night 6 pm

26 Student & Citizen of the

Month Assembly 2:40

District Wide Safe Arrival Program

We recognize regular attendance is essential to the safety, academic

success and well-being of all students. Because student safety is of

utmost importance, parents need to be notified as soon as possible if

their child has not arrived at school.

We are expanding the use of the automated notification system to

make morning attendance calls for all students, at all schools, as

part of our Safe Arrival Program. With the automated system,

parents will be contacted more quickly than is currently possible

with a manual system.

Within an hour of the school start time, a morning attendance

call will be placed to the primary phone number for each parent/

guardian listed in student information system.

Families of students who have arrived late to school, and those

whose absences have not been verified by a parent or guardian,

will receive a morning attendance call.

If parents have notified their child’s school of the absence, the automated system will not contact them. There may be times when a parent has contacted the office regarding an absence, but the information has not been entered into the system prior to the call being made. If you have already contacted the school regarding the absence, please disregard the call. We appreciate your continued diligence in informing the school of your child's absences; by calling as soon as you know your child will not be in school, you'll help our schools' staff keep the number of unneeded attendance calls to a minimum.

Attention All 3rd, 4th, and 5th Grade Students Join our Strengthening Program

Where: Green Gables Elementary Gym When: Starts January 13, 2015 and continues every Wednesday and Friday in January. Sessions run from 8:00 – 8:30AM. Why: Improve health and skill related components of physical fitness emphasizing muscular strength endurance, agility, power, and speed in students at Green Gables Elementary School. The Green Gables Elementary Strong Star Program is a program geared towards allowing students to participate in health and skill-related exercises before or after school with a large emphasis on upper body strength. The program will be free of charge and will consist of various exercises primarily requiring students to move their own body weight. Each week an exercise routine will be created that students will work through two times that week. Students will focus on im-proving their scores with each exercise session and will track their progress on at home exercises. Students will be allowed to move freely between activi-ties but will be expected to stay on task if they wish to participate in the pro-gram. If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to email me , Tom Wallat, PE Teacher twallat@fwps.org

Thursday, February 11th

Federal Way School District is hosting

a 3 v 3 Basketball Jamboree

at Thomas Jefferson High School

for 3rd, 4th and 5th Grade Students.

Mr. Wallat will handout permission

slips with dates and times in

Physical Education Class

Make note of the following pages

attached in this newsletter

1. Updated school calendar with new

early release dates starting with

the first one on Feb 24th.

2. Nutrition services web page. You

can view lunch menus, pay online,

apply for free and reduced meals,

etc.

3. Battle of the books list of

reading material

Watch D.O.G.S. (Dads of Great Students)

Thank you December Watch

DOGS Mr. Ordonez, Mr. Funderburg

and Mr. Hay

Fathers and Father Figures:

You and your students are invited

to attend our 4th annual

“Pancakes with Pops” event

sponsored by IHOP

Bright and Early on Tuesday

Feb 2nd from 7:20 am—8:20 am

Enjoy pancakes and sausage

together in the Cafeteria

Cost is $3.00 per person

Register for this event with

Shelby Acuña in the front office or

return the RSVP form by Jan 28th

December 2015

STUDENT OF THE MONTH

Aisha Perkins, Maadiou Diallo,

Dorys Easley,Kaden Yearby,

Kaden Funderburg, Sully Hedden,

Braylen Albritton, Sean Haney,

Aubreigh Hoover, Fisher Luft,

Caroline Kao, Iceses Jackson, Nika Ty,

Asher Kvenvolden, Haley Meerdink,

Ava Bowers, Kahlea Joseph,

Dayton Lopez, Aboubacar Keita

December 2015

CITIZEN OF THE MONTH

Austin Irons, Zachary Bailey,

Sherlyn Mateo-Alvarado,

Archer McQuistin, Cole Psachos-Dannelley,

Lily Ordonez, Sophia Kim, Yelin Chung,

Elizeh Irajpanah, Thoma Holden,

Rachel Nechiporuk, Hannah Rose,

Alethea Giuffre, Jaxon Storms,

Maxwell Kao, Hannah Peterson,

Isaac Abbasi, Hudson Dondie,

Nathan Drake, Audrey VanderSanden

Parents and Guardians: Coats and

Jackets are overflowing in our Lost

and Found bin and coat rack. Come in

and check to see if any of these coats belong to

your student. First, check in with the office, then

proceed to the foyer located upstairs by the

recess doors.

KINDERGARTEN REGISTRATION

IS COMING!

Kindergarten Registration for

2016-2017 will begin January

19th. If you have a child who will

be turning 5 by August 31, 2016,

they are eligible to enroll in

Kindergarten. A registration

packet will be available in the

main office. The following

documents need to be

accompanied with the completed

registration packet :

Proof of Residency

Copy of Birth Certificate/Passport

Immunization Record

Pass this information along!

THE BATTLE BEGINS

Students are in the midst of reading their

chosen battle books from the list. We

will soon be organizing teams of 2 to 4

members to compete in our yearly Battle

of the Books competition. The battle will

be held on March 30, 2016 at 9:00AM in

our school gym. The battle usually lasts

approximately 90 minutes. Beginning in

February, practice questions will be

asked on the morning announcements

and during some morning recesses there

will be opportunities for teams to prepare

for the battle with mock battles in the li-

brary. Refer to the attached page for a

list of books.

If you have any questions please feel

free to contact me either at

sfint@fwps.org or at 253-945-2720.

Sue Flint

Teacher/Librarian GGB

Camp Invention

Mark your summer calendar ! August 1-5 is Camp Invention.

More information to come soon. Questions email Laura Clausen lclausen@fwps.org"

Instructional Coach Corner

For the months of JANUARY we would like to focus our school wide attention on PURPOSE. The School Instructional Improvement

Target outlines THREE areas of focus for this Target. Each Teacher at GGB reviewed the school goals below and set a personal goal

and wrote an action plan for implementation (see table below).

At the end of the month each teacher will be asked to evaluate and reflect on your progress toward implementing this Target.

Additionally we will have a building professional development dedicated the Purpose March 11th (Not Student Day).

Additionally, here are some of the many New Year’s Resolutions by teachers established at PLC this last week.

More 1:1 intentional conferences based on student academic goals

Complete my ProTeach Certification

Support more powerful dialogue with students

Get Multiple videotapes done for National Board Certification

In 2016 be more organized and have intentional planning

Create more time in classroom for students to set goals and self-check their work

Contribute more to my team

Use Data from PLCs to drive instruction in the classroom

Learning Targets and Success Criteria a fluid part of my planning and teaching

Balance- more efficient- reasonable expectations for self

Help student in my class be more organized and support seeing multiple sides to a story

Be more prepared for small group instruction and material prepared before school starts

Priorities work needs and work from that ranked list- current priority grading

Continue to use assessments to guide instruction. Use more questions and thinking around DOK for meaningful discussions in

class.

Danielle Fischer Instructional Coach Green Gables Elementary dfischer@fwps.org 253-945-2708

5D SUBDIMEN-

SION TEACHER GOALS STUDENT GOALS

PURPOSE

STANDARDS Teachers collaborate to create inquiry based, backwards designed units through the support of PLCs. Students have ownership and communi-

cate verbally, in writing, or visually what they are learning and how it connects to their lives.

LEARNING TARGET & TEACHING

POINT

Teacher posts big ideas, standards, and learning targets in the classroom and communicate with families.

District News:

Our Strategic Planning Initiative will create a road map toward a future vision for

enhancing student achievement and success in the coming years. Your Child’s Future:

How Big Can You Dream? What should our schools do and be for all of our children? Tell

us your hopes and dreams for your child’s academic learning. One of the most important

components of the planning process is student , parent and community involvement. Please

attend one of the five community forms around the district. You may find them on the

following web page: http://www.fwps.org/site/Default.aspx?PageID=2133

Math Whizz Update

Happy New Year! Congratulations to Alexa Rumsey

for having the most usage on Math-Whizz over

Winter break! We are happy to see some students

are practicing their Math skills over the Winter

Break in December and January. As always reach

out to your teacher to see how your child is pre-

forming using this program.

Here are some additional top performers over the

break: Phoe be Thomasy, Amira Wallace, Jackson

Young, Hannah Pinon, Ethan Penaflor, Branden

Thomasy, Hector Ruiz-Amandor, Joseph Coker,

Kadin Warren, Annalise D'Angelo, and Madison

Pederson.

Green Team School Coin Drive

Green Gables Green Team is starting

a “We Create Change” school-wide

coin drive. The Club fundraiser will

start January 11th-February 12th.

The Club is working to raise funds

for World Wildlife Fund. If you

have any spare change in your house

and are willing to make a donation to

help us reach our personal

fundraising goal of 150.00. Each

classroom will have a donation bottle.

The intermediate and the primary

class with the most bottles filled will

earn an ice-cream party. Students

contribution will help protect wildlife

and habitats around the world.

This school year’s theme is

“Our Ideas Can Change the World”.

That is exactly what this small team

of dedicated students is hoping to

accomplish. Thank you in advance for

your support!

-Green Team 2015-2016

(Club Advisors Mrs.Trantina and

Mrs. Fischer) Remember to Dress

appropriately for the weather.

Indoor Recess will only be on

extreme weather conditions.