Principal's Letter

Hello Grant Families,

Research shows that when students feel connected to their school community, their sense of belonging strengthens. This, in turn, increases school attendance and academic outcomes for students. One of the data points that we track at Grant is our student engagement in extracurricular activities. Currently, 30% of our students have participated in an extracurricular activity this year. All our extracurricular clubs and activities at Grant are free for students and families. Activities so far have included cross-country, Hoop Town basketball, ASB, EWU Reading Clinic, Drummers and Dancers, Choir and Young Club, Indigenous Club and more!

Students who are participating in these activities are learning valuable life skills. Clubs focus on building connections with your community, learning about history and heritage like our Indigenous Club, making friends and cooperating and communicating with others. I encourage all students and their families to consider joining one of our extracurricular clubs. Coming up, we are offering a Ceramics Art club for some of our intermediate students, we also will be hosting an LBGTQ+ Book club for 4th and 5th graders and we have a Homework club starting, as well as Volleyball. Permission slips and flyers will be coming home with your child. If you need more information, or help signing up for a club, contact Mr. Gessler.

Love,

Mrs. Searcy

Principal, Grant Elementary

Calendar at a Glance

Feb 26 9:30 Late Start Monday (breakfast begins at 9:10)

Feb 26 3:00 Drummers & Dancers practice

Feb 26 5:30 Screenagers #2: LC Feeder School Event

Feb 27 3:00 Choir practice

Feb 27 3:00 Homework Club begins

Feb 28 3:00 EWU Reading Club

Feb 28 3:00 Ceramics Club

Feb 29 Happy Leap Day!

Feb 29 10:00 Citizen of the Month assembly

Feb 29 3:00 Young Kids Club

Feb 29 3:00 Homework Club

Feb 29 3:00 LGBTQ+ Book Club begins

Mar 1 Reading Challenge Calendars due

Mar 4 9:30 Late Start Monday (breakfast begins at 9:10)

Mar 4 3:00 Drummers & Dancers practice

Mar 5 3:00 Choir practice

Mar 5 3:00 Homework Club

Mar 5 3:00 Volleyball begins

Mar 5 6:30 T.E.A.M. Grant meeting

Mar 6 3:00 EWU Reading Club

Mar 6 3:00 Ceramics Club

Mar 7 3:00 Young Kids Club

Mar 7 3:00 Homework Club

Mar 7 3:00 LGBTQ+ Book Club

Upcoming Events (more information to come)

Mar 15 NO SCHOOL-Weather Makeup Day

Mar 17 Happy St. Patrick's Day

Mar 22 Silverwood's Read2Ride Reading logs due

LC Feeder School Event

Afterschool Activities

Grant offers many afterschool activities for students to be involved in. Most activities run from 3:00-4:15. There is an activity bus for students who are eligible to ride the bus and have registered to ride.

Mondays: Drummers & Dancers

Tuesdays: Choir, Homework Cub (begins February 27), Volleyball (begins March 5)

Wednesdays: EWU Reading Club, Ceramics

Thursdays: Indigenous Afterschool Club (for American Indian or Alaska Native students, 3rd Thursday of the month), Young Kids Club, Homework Club, LGBTQ+ Book Club (begins February 29)

ELD Testing

State WIDA testing for English Language Development (ELD) students is happening now through March 6th. Please make sure your student is in attendance and on time!

Reading Challenges

We currently have 2 Reading Challenges for your student to participate in!

Grant Reading Challenge Reminder: February's Reading Adventure is coming to an end! Next week is the last week of February. Turn your Reading Challenge Calendar in by Friday, March 1, to earn a Personal Pan Pizza from Pizza Hut!

Grant is also participating in Silverwood Theme Park's Read 2 Ride challenge! If students read 600 minutes by Friday, March 22, they will earn a FREE ticket to Silverwood Theme Park to use this summer. Parents, please make sure to sign the reading log and mark whether you want your ticket emailed or printed.

Hello Grant families,

The time seems to be flying by and March is almost upon us! As we begin the transition to spring, we are beginning the first of our middle school transition activities. On February 21st, Sacajawea Middle School hosted a Future Thunderbird family information night. Families of incoming 6th grade students were invited to explore the beautiful new building, to meet school staff and to learn about the amazing activities and programs that will be available to them next year! 😊

This upcoming week, we are excited to welcome the Sacajawea team to Grant. Our 5th grade students will learn about their options for classes and will receive a registration form to complete with their families and return to school. This is an important step in the scheduling process for next year! In the upcoming months, our 5th graders will also have the opportunity to travel to Sacajawea for a firsthand look at where they will be learning next year.

Is your 5th grade student attending a middle school other than Sacajawea? No worries. We will be working with the counseling teams at other schools to ensure that no matter where your student attends that we help with the registration process, help students navigate the transition and to help get families connected to their new school.

This time can be both exciting and anxiety provoking for students and families, as it is a big change. The Grant and Sacajawea teams will be working closely together to ensure that students feel supported and prepared for the transition.

As always, don’t hesitate to reach out to Mr. Pride or Ms. Campbell if we can do anything to help support with this process.

Proud to be a Husky!

Love,

Ms. Campbell & Mr. Pride

Family Assistance Survey

If you haven’t already and would like to sign up for supports throughout the year, please take a moment to fill out the Family Assistance Survey to sign up for programs such as mentoring, food or clothing supports, mental health and parenting resources, and/or volunteer opportunities. 😊 There are several ways to sign up: Scan the QR code, follow this link, or come to the office to get a hard copy.

Don't Forget: Wear your PE Shoes!

We are seeing an increase in the number of students who are forgetting to bring their PE shoes on PE days. Shoes with laces make for a fun time in PE! Please talk with your student about responsibility and putting those PE shoes on or putting them in their backpack before coming to school. Thank you for your support!

T.E.A.M. Grant Updates

Our next T.E.A.M. Grant meeting is Tuesday, March 5, at 6:30 pm. There is free childcare available and we would love to have you join us!

Attendance Line

Whenever your student will be absent from school, we ask that you call our Attendance Line to report the absence. Remember to include your name, your student's name, and the reason for the absence. You can save the number in your phone for quick and easy access! The number is 509-354-2818 and is available 24 hours a day.

When to Keep A Child Home From School

It is important for the health of all students, staff and families that your child not attend school when they are sick. The following guidelines are appropriate reasons to keep your child home from school:

A fever of 100 degrees F or higher in the last 24 hours. Your child should be fever free (without the use of fever reducing medicines) for 24 hours before returning to school.
A consistently goopy, runny nose.
Drainage from the eye and/or redness of the eyelid or skin around the eye.
A bad cough-one that you wouldn't want your well child to be around.
A sore throat, especially with fever or swollen glands in the neck.
Shortness of breath or other problems with normal breathing.
A child that seems ill-unusually tired, pale, or difficult to awaken, headache or body aches; seems confused or irritable, and/or lacks normal appetite.
A rash that is associated with fever or severe itching.
Vomiting with/without diarrhea within the last 24 hours. Your child should be free of vomiting or diarrhea for 24 hours before returning to school. NOTE: A child who has one episode of bloody diarrhea or two episodes of diarrhea at school must be sent home and cannot return until the diarrhea has resolved. Some diarrhea may be associated with bacteria or virus. If your child has severe diarrhea you should contact your health care provider.
Your child needs to remain at home 24 hours after starting an antibiotic.
Any contagious disease such as chicken pox, influenza, whooping cough or gastroenteritis.
As directed by your health care provider.

If you have any questions, please contact Nurse Heidi Hash at 509-354-2785.

What's For Breakfast or Lunch?

Breakfast and Lunch menus are always available online. All students eat free thanks to the Community Eligibility Provision Program.

Students who would like to have a second entree, known as a super, can put money on their Nutrition Services account. The cost of a super is $2.00. Your student can bring cash to the office or you can use your credit or debit card online or on the MySchoolBucks app.

Bussing Reminders

Zum is the new transportation company for Spokane Public Schools. Zum is committed to safe, reliable student transportation.

Students who qualify to ride the bus must be registered. Once registered, students will receive a bus pass to scan when they get on and off the bus. If a student loses their bus pass, parents can call the school office to order a new one. Register to ride the bus here . You must know your student's ID number and birthdate to register.

Parents are encouraged to download the Zum app on their phones which provides the following benefits:

view your student's upcoming rides
track your student's rides in real time and receive alerts when the bus is arriving
get notifications when your student gets on and off the bus
cancel your student's same-day and upcoming rides
view driver and vehicle information for your ride
chat with a live support agent
rate your ride and provide Zum feedback

For more information, please visit ridezum.com/getstarted.

Free Preschool Available at Grant

We have a few openings left in our preschool program for both morning and afternoon sessions. If you have a 3 or 4 year old and are interested in learning more, please contact our Family Support Specialist at 509-354-2774 or email her at CelinaH@spokaneschools.org.

Husky Highlights

In library, the students in Ms. Schoenfeld's class picked picture books, made popsicle puppets, and practiced reading to younger students. Then they invited 1st grade students to a small group round robin style where small groups 1st grade students sat with a 4/5 student to be read to.

Mrs. Kestell's classroom had a great time on the 100th day of school! They have been learning so much and they are obviously 100 days smarter!

Congratulations to Ms. Kim, Mrs. Cornmesser, and Mrs. Williams' classrooms for having the best attendance during the months of December and January! They earned a cheese quesadilla for their efforts!