Dear Grizzly Families,What a morning! Thank you all for the patience you showed as our transportation department worked to get busses to school safely. I want to celebrate our Granite team who came together and supported students and their colleagues as our staff made their way to school in the snow too. In the end, everyone arrived safely and enjoyed the rest of the day. I’m also very pleased to share that all of our busses were able to leave school on time today. 2023-2024 Staffing – I am very happy to share that our staffing for next year is complete. We had a few changes as we added full day kindergarten and are bidding farewell to our largest grade of 5th graders. Here’s what to expect:
- Kindergarten: Ms. Fenton and Ms. Simmons
- First grade: Ms. Anderson/Ms. Mohr (job-sharing), Ms. Kristin Homer (an amazing new teacher to Granite from another school in CSD), and Ms. Aardema (Jamie Aardema has been in our office and I’m thrilled to share that she’ll be a classroom teacher next year!)
- Second grade: Ms. Walker and Ms. T. Smith
- Third grade: Ms. Hekking and Ms. Velazquez
- Fourth grade: Ms. Zisakis and Ms. Snow
- Fifth grade: Ms. Frickelton and Ms. Smith/Ms. Witkamp (job-sharing)
- Essential Elements Classes: Ms. Laura, Ms. Robin, and Ms. Taylor Hekking (an amazing teacher joining us from SLCSD)
Goodbyes: The end of a school year is always bittersweet as we say goodbye to people we adore. I’m happy and sad to share that Ms. Felt and Mr. Biggerstaff will be leaving us for new opportunities. I’m also pleased and sad to share that Ms. DiPietro is retiring after 27 years of dedicated service to children as a first grade teacher. I know you’ll join me in wishing these three wonderful educators all the best in their futures.What about a 4th/5th split? – I recognize that many families have had students participate in Ms. Zisakis’ 4th/5th split class in the past. I have heard nothing but wonderful things and seen amazing data from this program. We will not be able to bring this multi-grade class back this year. Unfortunately we had to make the difficult choice between small first grade classes to support the development of students’ foundational reading and math skills, or alleviate the class sizes of 4th and 5th. After input from our teachers, and school community council, I have determined that we need to prioritize smaller classes in the lower grades. Unfortunately, the staffing allocation doesn’t exist this year to be able to do both. All of our upper grades will have instructional aides to support with large classes, and we are adding additional student support systems next year to upper grades. It is very important to me that we support our teachers and students to ensure that all students are getting the support they need to achieve the learning outcomes they need.Full Day Kindergarten! – I am very happy to share, that it is now state law for schools to offer full day kindergarten. Because we currently have the space and the resources we need, we will start in the 23-24 school year. Please reach out if you have any questions about full day kindergarten. Kindergarten orientation will be on April 24 at 4:00pm. Please enroll now if you have students who will be entering kindergarten in the fall. We can’t wait to welcome the class of 2036!Questions to Ask Your Students:
- 3rd – 5th – Tell me about your field trip this week! What did you see? What did you learn?
- Tell me about the hardest thing you accomplished this week?
- Tell me about the March Madness competition in the library! Which books are you voting for this week?
Upcoming Events: This Week:– Mon. March 27 – School Book Blitz Competition (Book Blitz Participants only) – Tues. March 28 – School Book Blitz Finals (Families of final competing teams invited) – Thurs. March 30 – Teacher of the Year Announcement! Next Week: April 3 – April 7 – No School Spring BreakNext Week:– Mon. April 10 – SCC Meeting 4:15 in the library– Wed. April 12 – District Book Blitz Competition (field trip for school champion team) As always, please reach out with feedback, questions, or concerns.Elcena SalinePrincipalelcena.saline@canyonsdistrict.org
