Lynda G. Crandall, Principal
Happenings from Gearing Elementary
200 N. Carney Drive – St. Clair, MI 48079 - (810) 676-1650 – Attendance Line (810) 676.1666 – www.ecsd.us
Volume XVII, Issue 6
SNOW‐much news to share! Thank you for taking time to read about what’s happening at Gearing Elementary. Leaving School Early? Every minute of our school day is important. Emphasis is placed on daily instruction and therefore, we discourage students leaving early. If for some reason your child needs to be released prior to the end of the school day, please notify your child’s teacher in writing. Students will be called to the office when you arrive. Please be reminded that parents are required to sign out students at the time of pick up. Brrr. . .It’s COLD Outside!
Winter continues to bring cold days. Please
be sure your child comes to school dressed
appropriately for the colder temperatures. All
students go outside for recess each day and
should have a coat, hat, mittens and boots.
It’s time to register children who
will be entering kindergarten
in the fall. Children must be 5
years of age by September 1st.
East China School District
will be hosting a kindergarten
round-up on March 11th and 12th at the district
office on Meisner Road. Registration times are
12:00 noon – 5:50 p.m. No appointment is
needed.
Frankenmuth Fundraiser
Science Fair
Valentine Parties
Classroom Happenings
Birthdays
Spring Pictures
RAZ-Kids
Recess Reminder
Title I Tidbits
WOW Words
Student of the Month
PTO News
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Enrollment packets will be available at both the
district office and in our school office.
It’s a Great Idea!
It’s always a good idea to place money sent to
school in an envelope labeled with your child’s
name and the purpose of the money. When
sending cash, please be sure to send the exact
amount. Our office does not have the capability
of making change. Thanks for your help!
WIN A FAMILY FUN VACATION
AT FRANKENMUTH
Our Gearing PTO is offering all Gearing families a chance to win a FAMILY FUN VACATION to Frankenmuth. Raffle tickets were sent home with your child to sell to friends and neighbors. Tickets are $1.00 each for a chance to win a $300 gift card to any of the Zehnder’s properties. The raffle will be held on Tuesday, February 24, 2015 at 7:00 p.m. during the Spaghetti Dinner/Science Fair. You do NOT need to be present to win!! In compliance with our State of Michigan Raffle License, all tickets (both sold and unsold) need to be returned. All raffle tickets are due back February 18, 2015 in the original envelope. Checks should be made payable to Gearing PTO. If you are unable to sell all of your tickets please return them as soon as possible. If you would like more tickets, please call 586.524.3236. Thank you for your support! Our Annual Science Fair is planned for February 24th from 5:30‐7:00 p.m. It’s an event for the entire family. Come support Gearing’s future scientists and observe the scientific process in action. Projects completed by our 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students will be on display in the gym. An all‐you‐can‐eat spaghetti dinner will be served by our Gearing PTO with serving beginning at 6:00 p.m. Tickets will be on sale February 9th‐11th for just $5.00 per person. Watch for your order forms to come home. It was indeed a fun evening when Gearing families
gathered for our recent FAMILY MOVIE
NIGHT. A special thank you to Amy Pergitone
for coordinating the event and to each parent
who helped pop delicious-tasting popcorn and
selling the concessions. We also thank Mr. Eric
Linarski for helping with the sound system.
It’s time for our next PTOsponsored Box Top and Label
clipping contest.
Labels and box tops collected from February
9th – 19th will be counted. The winning
classroom will participate in a “pie in the face”
for the participating teachers and principal!
Start clipping now!
Do you know how much sleep your kids need each night? If they’re between the ages of 5 and 10, they should be getting 10 to 11 hours. Kids age 11 and up should sleep for 8.5‐9.5 hours a night. Parents can promote better sleep habits by: 
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Finishing meals two to three hours before bedtime. Turning off the television and other electronic devices at least one hour before bedtime. Enforcing consistent bedtimes. Having a calming bedtime routine. Class parties are scheduled for Thursday, February 12th. Miss Tomasek 1:45 PM Mrs. Alley & Mrs Beauvais 2:45 PM Mrs. Brosky and Mrs. VanHecke 2:20 PM Mrs. Kemp 1:45 PM Mrs. Milligan 2:45 PM Ms. Eitniear & Mrs. Roehring 2:45 PM Mrs. Jasionowski 2:45 PM Mr. Larson & Mrs. Osowski 2:45 PM Early Childhood 10:30 AM & 2:30 PM The students in Ms. Michelle’s Early Childhood
Preschool class are feeding more than their minds as
they turn learning into a delicious experience. Each
week the students learn all about a letter of the
alphabet and the letter “I” was especially “sweet” as
the students got to make homemade ice cream.
Kolton Vanderlinden is
adding ingredients to
the ice cream ball.
The students in Mrs. Milligan's classroom love to read!
They love to read with others, read by themselves, and listen to
others read to them. Because of this, Mrs. Milligan started the
Mystery Readers Program. Mystery Readers are family
members that come on Fridays to read one or two of their
favorite books. The students do not know who they are until
they walk through the door. Mrs. Milligan reads clues prior to
the reader coming in, and the students then do what they can
with the clues to try and figure out who the reader will be. The
Mystery Readers not only read their favorites to the students,
but they also share with them what they love about reading.
Because of the Mystery Readers, Shel Silverstein is a favorite
author in Mrs. Milligan's classroom!
The Mystery Reader Program was started to help create a love
for reading as well as a sense of unity in the classroom, but the
students have also learned more about our St. Clair community
through the program. The students study about what makes
our St. Clair community special in Social Studies. One
question that is often asked to our Mystery Readers is, "What
is your favorite part of our community?" The students love to
hear what the readers have to say. They also love to have
members of our Gearing Gator community take the time to
read to them! Thank you to all parents and grandparents who
have been a part of our Mystery Readers Program!
Each Friday our class spends some time in the afternoon exploring different science and math concepts through small group projects. Some of the activities are science experiments like which house hold item melts ice the fastest or how to construct a tin foil boat that holds the most weight. While other activities are construction projects like when we made habitats for our crickets and catapults to learn about levers/simple machines. These activities involve gathering materials, planning, designing, experimenting, trial and error and a whole lot of fun. Daniel Dupine enjoys
eating some ice cream.
Friends having fun rolling the ball to churn the
ice cream.
Please review the following Information found on Page 19 of the East China School District Elementary Handbook. GEARING PTO IS AWESOME!
Our Gearing students LOVE using RAZ-Kids as one
additional way to increase their reading proficiency.
Ask your child about it! We appreciate the commitment
of our Gearing PTO in making this excellent learning
tool available and for renewing our license subscriptions
through August 13, 2015.
RECESS: Outdoor lunch recess is scheduled Evie Alley Pietro Billiet Cameron Bleasdale Anne Brennan Kyle Briggs Calvin Brown Tyler Browning Brooke Buckley Ty Delockroy Gryphon Dunning AnnElise Eitniear Dustin Forsythe Evan Fugate Brayden Garant Chyann Garant Dante Gratti Noah Jenkins Aiden Jones Chase Klieman Maci Knott Grace Lang Jacob Nowakowski Andigoni Patsalis Eleni Patsalis Kendra Pauly Ryan Pickett Riley Podolan Russell Randall Kaylee Sands Addisen Schmidt Parker Stoltz Jeffrey Ureel Jeffrey Welser Joseph Wolak Just a reminder: Latchkey services are available each school day both before and after school hours. daily. Students should come to school appropriately dressed for the weather. During inclement weather or when the temperature/wind chill falls below zero, children remain indoors. Recess supervision is provided and students are expected to obey staff members for the safety and welfare of themselves and others. A doctor’s note is required for a child to be excused from outdoor recess. Coming in March!
All students will be
photographed March 9th
for school pictures.
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6:30 AM – 8:45 AM 3:30 PM ‐ 6:00 PM To register your child, please contact Marla Zammitta at 810.676.1640. The run/walk begins at 9:00 a.m.
Go to http://www.chiliheart5k.com
to register.
Is your child returning his/her books on
time?
All books checked out from the media center
are due the day before the scheduled media
class period. Books are due back on the day
of the week indicated below.
Evie Alley Brynn Beauchamp Bria Dill Mathew Harrington Carter Peterson Kendra Pauly Hunter Richardson Tarub Saiyad Thomas Skuta James Ursitti Case VanSingel Colin Watson Wednesday – Ms. Eitniear, Mrs. Jasionowski, Mrs. Osowski
Thursday – Miss Tomasek, Mrs. Beauvais, Mrs. Milligan,
Mrs. Roehring, Mrs. Alley, Mrs. VanHecke
Friday –
Mr. Larson, Mrs. Brosky, Mrs. Kemp
Allow Time for Correction
If your child makes a mistake, don’t correct him/her
immediately. Give your child every opportunity to selfcorrect. Prompt your child by holding your finger under
the word. If your child does not say the word after a few
seconds, say the word.
Help your child decipher words by giving them clues
when necessary. Ask questions referring to the picture
cues e.g. “What is the boy holding?” or compare the word
with a word they know e.g. “It rhymes with cat.” Ask
your child “Does that make sense? What word would
make sense?” Your child might also be able to decipher a
tricky work if he or she reads to the end the sentence.
Source: rocketreader.com/newsletter
Brynn Beauchamp
Tessa Freeland
Noah Jenkins
Faith Johnson
Sylvie Larch
Colton Miller
Anthony Mustazza
Sofia Russell
Gearing PTO
“We’re here for the Kids”
NO FEBRUARY GENERAL MEETING
Our next PTO meeting:
March 10th at 7:00 p.m.
Coming in 2015:
Spaghetti Dinner February 24th 6:00 PM
Raffle tickets for $300 gift card for
Zehnder’s in Frankenmuth
Science Fair February 24th 5:30-7:00 PM
Daddy-Daughter Dance February 27th 6:30 PM
(tickets required in advance)
Annual Carnival March 27th 6:00-8:00 PM
Thank you for downloading this app to help us raise
money for our school.
http://app.shoparoo.com/r/bland497 Week of February 2nd
Kindness
Week of February 9th
Patriotism
Week of February 23rd
Integrity
OUR HARD AT WORK PTO BOARD
Leslie Peterson, President
Nicole Prieskorn, Co-Vice-President
Bridget Magel, Co-Vice President
Dee Patsalis, Co-Secretary
Charlene Vo, Co-Secretary
Tara Blank, Treasurer
Lynn Eitniear, Teacher Liaison
Lynda Crandall, Principal
“Educating Today’s Children for Tomorrow’s World”