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Hello!
Welcome to the 2017-18 school year! We will be wrapping up testing in the next week and half, and be in the full swing of rotations and personalization for your students. Your students are becoming experts at logging in to their online programs at school, and we want you to be able to access them at home, as well, by following the directions below and/or attending our upcoming event “Leap to your Feet!”.
Thank you for a wonderful start to the school year, and we look forward to seeing you soon,
Stacey
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Join us by leaping to your feet on Thursday, September 28th from 5:30PM-6:30PM to kick off the Fit 4 Fun program (Courtesy of Wahooz Family Fun Zone) in our first ever, Gem Prep: Nampa Walkathon! We want to also encourage you to explore your students online programs within their classrooms using hands on experience from students themselves and teacher assistance! We look forward to seeing you at this family fun event, making new friends and sharing in the many resources Gem Prep has to offer for your students/families success!
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Accessing Online Programs
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In order to access the online programs at home, please go to our new single sign-on portal, Clever at: https://clever.com/in/geminnovation. I would recommend bookmarking this page so your student can always access their programs from home. When you go to our Clever page you will see this log in. Please click “Log in with Google”. |
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Next you will see this slide where you choose an account. If your child’s has not logged on with your computer before click, “Use another account”. They will need to type in their username and password to log in. If your student does not know their username and password, we will be handing this out at our event, Leap to your Feet, or you can email your child’s classroom teachers and they can email it to you. In addition we are using “badges”, or QR codes to help the log in process go faster for our younger students, and will pass these out at our event, as well.
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After the students are logged in, you will see all of your child’s applications. From here the students will be able to access their online learning platforms. It is not a requirement to work on online programs at home, but we always encourage it! If you want to know more about the programs and our curriculum, you can see what is offered and available for each grade level here. |
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What is our homework policy? Please see the attached letter describing our home goals, and be on the look out for the appropriate home reading log for all students, and information from your child’s Idaho Reading Indicator (IRI) assessment for grades K-3.
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**Every month we are going to highlight a frequently asked question knowing that if we’ve heard it a few times, there are probably a lot of other families wondering the same thing!
What is your discipline policy?
Have you heard your student mention a 5 minute reset? Gemstones?
We are focused on providing a positive environment for all students to learn. We do this by having a school-wide management system that encourages and rewards students for showcasing our four school values, excellence, integrity, perseverance, and kindness, and natural consequences, when appropriate. To be rewarded, students collect gemstones, or little “pom poms”, individually and as a class and decide as a class what they are interested in receiving as rewards. As a school we found that our students excelled in this positive reinforcement system, particularly in structured environments, but there were times they needed more support during unstructured times such as in the hallways, lunchroom, bathroom, and recess.
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To be consistent we implemented a school-wide system called the 5 minute reset. A 5 minute reset is a chance for the students to sit or stand strong, depending on if they are outside or inside, for a set 5 minutes so they can take a break from the task before reengaging in a positive way. Students will participate in a reset if they have been given two warnings and continued the off task behavior. This is not a punitive time, but rather a chance to regroup, take deep breaths, reflect, and reengage appropriately. Our school-wide management system is all built to provide our students the skills and independence to develop their self-regulation skills in structured and unstructured environments. If you want more information, we encourage you to read our school’s Culture Guide. |
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Gem Prep: Nampa offers breakfast and lunch for our students at a price of $1.85 and $2.15. We have free/reduced lunch applications available at our front office with Katie. Note: this form needs to be filled out yearly.
Student’s will need a positive account balance in order to receive breakfast or lunch. Please create an account on Myschoolbucks.com using your student’s name and student number (this number can be obtained from our school operations manager). **New students will have a new student number that pertains to our school**. The cafeteria also accepts cash or checks written out to the Nampa School District.
Note: If your student’s account goes negative they will be charged on the Principal’s account. If this happens you will then have an outstanding balance with the Nampa School District and with Gem Prep: Nampa. Please keep track of your student’s account, we send home daily notes if accounts are negative.
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Picture day is coming! We will have individual student pictures on October 3rd & 4th, please take a look at the schedule below to know which day your student will be taking pictures. Our teachers will be handing out order forms this week or you can order online at mylifetouch.com with the following picture ID: ID117251Y0.
October 3rd:
Kindergarten-Sapphires
1st Grade
2nd Grade
3rd Grade: Mrs. Taylor
October 4th:
Kindergarten-Opals
3rd Grade: Mrs. Plante
4th Grade
5th Grade
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Wednesday’s are early release at 3PM.
Morning drop-offs begin at 8:35AM. Please note that there is no staff available to supervise students before 8:35AM.
When visiting Gem Prep: Nampa we ask that you sign in at our office before venturing into or around the school. Visitors will first receive a visitors sticker from the front doors and then proceed down the main hallway to our GPN Office where you will check in with Katie Hartshorn the school receptionist.
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Helping Make A Difference
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Gem Prep: Nampa encourages families to volunteer 20 or more hours per school year. This helps not only the teachers and school, but your student, as well!
With nearly 3000 hours donated by last year’s families, we are looking forward to the success in parent involvement that we can strive for this school year! If you are interested in volunteer opportunities either at school, home, or both, please reach out to your student’s classroom teacher. We also ask that you watch for volunteer opportunities within our Facebook posts, newsletters and weekly emails home from the classroom teachers.
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Our PTO is an amazing way to get involved, meet other parents, and help out Gem Prep: Nampa. We had our first meeting yesterday, and our in the process of finalizing the consistent day and time to meet for the remainder of the year. If you are interested in joining please email Principal Walker at [email protected] for further details. |
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One of the many resources for Gem Families to access and stay connected is through the school’s Facebook page. If you haven’t already liked and explored the page click here or search @gpnampa. We look forward to sharing information with you along our journey throughout the school year. |
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Remind is an app that we will be using to stay in contact with parents in case of emergencies, updates and events. By using Remind we are able to contact parents quickly with the latest information necessary.
Sign up for Gem Prep’s Remind app in moments by texting the number #81010 with @gemnampa in the text field ( the picture to the side will show you in detail). You will be asked to share your full name with us and to let us know if you are a student, parent or teacher. Once completed, you will receive a text stating, “You’ve joined Gem Prep: Nampa with Katie Hartshorn/ Stacey Walker”. You have now completed Remind registration and will begin receiving messages when we send them!
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We would like to give a BIG SHOUT OUT to Ms. Elaine Gross for her countless efforts and time invested in helping make Gem Prep: Nampa excel. Elaine strives to assist classroom teachers in the many tasks that help make a classroom flow, by cutting items, sorting curriculum, taking home projects, assisting students on classroom tasks and even assisting in the school office. We are all thankful for the extra set of hands and positive personality that Elaine brings to our schools community. Next time you see her in the school hallway be sure to wave hello!
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Bryn is a fifth grader that has gone above and beyond by demonstrating Gem KINDNESS within her classroom. She has welcomed several new students with open arms and helped in their overall transition to Gem Prep: Nampa. Not only has she created welcome letters that have been signed by fellow classmates to give on their first day of class, but Bryn makes it a point to included the new students at recess, in the lunchroom and during small group work. Her goal is to help create friendships to make the big transition to a new school a little easier. Thank you Bryn, for showing kindness and helping those around you persevere through a new situation.
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As a reminder, fidget spinners are considered toys unless given direct permission otherwise. Thank you for your understanding and reinforcing our school’s policy, listed below, with your students.
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Wednesday, September 20th:Early Release at 3PM.
Wednesday, September 27th:Early Release at 3PM.
Thursday, September 28th: Leap to your Feet! from 5:30PM-6:30PM
Tuesday, October 3rd: Picture Day
Wednesday, October 4th: Picture Day
Thursday, October 5th: No School-Professional Development Day
Friday, October 6th: No School-Professional Development Day
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