March 3, 2008
Our extended reading program is being run by our very competent
Brenna Fisher and Pam Dovel. Thanks for working with our After School Reading program.
The elementary teachers will be hosting a Literacy Night on March 13th. Come in and play "are you smarter than a 5th or 6th grader" or "make and take" a second grade game. Joint us at 7:00 pm on the 13th.
Jill Kaminski and I met with several patrons about scholarships for our seniors. These patrons increased our annual scholarship capacity by $4000.
The committee for the Craig Penrod Scholarship will be Kelly Hagele, Ron Richter, Jill Kaminski, Elizabeth Dunn, and myself.
Congratulations to our wrestling team and coach Cody Fisher for taking first place in state for the 1A division.
Garden Valley High School currently has eight students taking classes for college credit. Our students will be receiving a total of 31 university credits this semester. The credits earned are in Biology and in Calculus.
February 2008
Jill Kaminski has completed the training of the high school peer mediators. Peer mediation is an innovative way for schools to handle conflict and discipline as well as teach problem solving and communication skills. This group will be available to mediate conflicts between students, school wide. The program is a part of the Safe and Drug Free Schools grant. Thanks Ms. Kaminski for a job well done.
Our Continuing education classes are off to a great start. Our classes range from French for travelers to Ms. Edgerton's class on ceramics.
Our spring Strengthening Families class will begin this Thursday at 5:00 pm. Dinner is served during this two hour class which is open to the community.
Congratulations are in order for both our girl's and boy's basketball teams. The girls are District 3 1A champions while the boys are the Long Pin Conference Champions. The girls head to state this week and the boys are off to the district tournament.
The trout eggs have become fry in Mrs. Ward's 3-4 combination science classroom where the students are studying the growth and development of trout. This spring they will travel to a creek where the trout will be released into the wild.
The students in Mr. Foote's science room enjoyed playing with and learning about leeches. Every student in his class had the opportunity to play with these fine creatures.
Mrs. Mortimer's senior English class is gearing up for their senior project and internship.
Mrs. Gray's 7th graders raised the funds and will be traveling to the Idaho Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial and the Idaho Historic Museum in Boise. They will be studying such topics as Chinese immigration, Ann Frank, and human rights.
December 2007
Our staff has been very busy getting ready for the holidays. Mrs. Johnson created Santa's Workshop where students could purchase inexpensive items for their parents and siblings for Christmas. In all they made $1060 which will be used for programs for our students. <p>
Kirsten Burkhardt, our music teacher, is busy writing and designing the "Twas the Night Before Christmas" school concert complete with the band, the choir, red noses and sugar plum fairies.<p>
Joanne Gray and her excellent staff of parents put on an amazing Christmas dance. A huge thank you goes to the booster club for the beverages and snacks. The dance included a guess-the-gift contest, a visit from Santa, and the crowning of Mrs. And Mrs. Santa Claus. Thanks middle school student council for such creative ideas! <p>
Mrs. Vandyke and her junior students presented their make-a-difference projects. The total number of community service hours totaled 395. These students completed projects focused on the poor in third world countries, the citizens in Garden Valley, and on discrimination. <p>
The school hosted the Garden Valley Town Hall meeting on community safety. We had a great turnout with much community support for our students. <p>
The school is working with the Parks and Recreation district to complete community service on the trail joining our school to the community of Crouch.<p>
Jon Bart, a professor from BSU and Messr Humphrey Sonny from Sierra Leone met with several staff to present a "sister school" project. Sierra Leone is the poorest country in the world. We will be partnering with them to send school supplies, household items, and clothing. Other supporters will be paying the shipping costs. The Advanced Science class and Mr. Foote have taken on the sponsorship of this program. What a learning experience for our students.
September 2007
The 2007-2008 school year is off to a great start with enrollment up from 226 to 256. We are in the process of ordering books for new enrollees.
The SpringBoard English classes are investigating choice and perspective along with other relevant counterparty issues.
ISAT testing begins on September 24th.
Our 3rd-4th grade combination classroom which began with an enrollment of 18 now has 27 students.
We are excited about Juvenile Justice and Boise County Community Justice providing a behavioral and mentoring specialist to our school. Welcome Greg Harding.
The After School Club, which is run by a grant from the Idaho Women's Charitable Foundation, had its first session after school today. We will be running from 3:15 - 4:45 Monday -Thursday with transportation home each evening.
We have hired Matt Rehl who is working on his Master's Degree in Industrial/Information tech to teach shop, manufacturing, CAD, Geometry and Algebra I.
We have hired Kari Anderson, the wife of our new town veterinarian to teach Advanced Algebra, Pre-Calculus, and Calculus.
Our 4-year old pre-school has a new teacher, Melea Hileman who also runs the Horse Shoe Bend pre-school. The 3-year old pre-school, taught by Cheryl Riedinger, is run through a grant provided by community parents.
Our new part-time 6th grade and Title I teacher, Barbara Sulfridge is completing her parent conferences and has schedules set to tutor students.
Our ESL, English as a Second Language, is off to a great start thanks to an ingenious staff and our two new paraprofessional translators, Monica and Amy
Our cafeteria staff, Terry, Monica, and Rick are amazing. Thanks for the positive attitude and excellent food. The pastries and fresh breads are fabulous.
We would like to extend a warm welcome to our new staff.
