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Dear Gem Prep Families,
With nearly three-quarters of our first year behind us, we are gearing up to some exciting changes next year, as we add fifth grade, and in the years to come!
Physical Location
Next academic year, 2017-18, Gem Prep: Nampa will continue to lease space at New Horizons, so we will remain at the same physical building. To accommodate our two new fifth grade classes, we will be adding two modulars outside our wing of the building, near the “big toy” on the playground.
New Teachers
Additionally, we are thrilled that all of our teachers are planning to return for next academic year! We are in the process of hiring two new teachers, to accommodate our growth, so they can spend time at Gem Prep: Nampa before the school year is out learning from our staff and seeing blended learning in action. Once the teachers are hired, we will announce them to our school community.
Requesting Teachers for 2017-18 School Year
As you begin to think about your child transitioning to the next grade level, you may be thinking about the teachers and grade your student is moving into. As a school, we will send out a request form in May that asks families to consider the best learning environment for their child(ren), and with this information, and the input of teachers, class lists will be created and shared with families by June 2017.
School Calendar
We are working on finalizing next year’s school calendar so families know what is to come next year. We hope to have this shared with families by June 2017.
Busing and Food Programs
Next year we will continue to have busing with Brown Bus Company and a breakfast and lunch program through the Nampa School District. Over the summer, Brown Bus Company will reach out to families to reconfigure their busing routes based on the needs of most of the families. When we receive this form, we will send it on to you to ensure the bus stops are as close to our families homes, as possible.
Looking Ahead
For the 2018-2019 school year, we will be moving to a permanent location where we hope to build and grow as our K-12 campus. We hope to have this land purchased and share the final location with our families by the beginning of the 2017-18 school year.
Thank you for all of your support in this exciting time for our school!
Kindly,
Stacey
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Our lottery application closed on February 16, 2017, with a 94% re-enrollment rate, and the lottery was held on February 22nd. All of our families who re-applied for the 2017-2018 school year have received offer letters via email and will receive Power School registration information and instructions by the end of this week, once the offer letter has been returned.
If you missed our lottery application deadline please go onto our website https://www.gemprep.org/nampa/ and fill out the application for enrollment. Your students will be placed on the roster on a first come, first serve bases. |
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We are excited to announce that we have hit maximum enrollment for grades K-1st and 3rd. We appreciate the current involvement from our Gem Families in helping us grow as a community.
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Hot Chocolate Social 3/9/17
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Do you know friends with kindergarten through grade 5 age students looking to join the Gem Prep: Nampa community?
Please invite any interested friends or family to join GPN staff, and all newly enrolled families from the 2017-18 academic year, for a Hot Chocolate Social as they explore Gem Prep: Nampa on Thursday, March 9th from 5-6pm. If you are a current family, you are invited to come and welcome the new members of our community. Please click on the following link to RSVP.
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All public Idaho Schools take the Idaho Reading Indicator (IRI) assessment to track students reading fluency in kindergarten through third grade. The results were shared with you in September about your individual students and again last week from our winter IRI assessment. As a school we’ve made some incredible growth and we wanted to share it with you! In all, 48% of our students were proficient (at benchmark, or level “3”) in fall to 58% proficient in winter, which is an incredible growth in half a year! We are hoping for each of our grade levels to meet our target proficiency listed below, and all of your help reading with your students at home encourages fluency. If you have specific questions about your child’s IRI score or strategies to implement at home, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your child’s classroom teacher.
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Hallway Challenge (School Values)
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Our students and their teachers were challenged to create bulletin board outside of their classrooms to showcase Gem Prep: Nampa’s school values: excellence, integrity, kindness and perseverance. We are so proud of the concepts being displayed in our schools hallway, and encourage you to take a look yourself!
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Movie Night and Learn to Connect
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We would like to invite all Gem students and their families to attend our upcoming event, Movie Night & Learn to Connect with Your Devices at Home. The movie being featured will be Disney’s new movie, Moana. Students will enjoy the movie while parents rotate through three rotations learning: how to log on to Canvas with their student’s account, how to access PowerSchool, and how to access your students report cards in their shared Google folder.
Where: Gem Prep Nampa
5226 Southside Blvd.
When: Tuesday, March 14th
Time: 5:30PM-7:30PM
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Attendance Policy Reminder
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Gem Prep: Nampa is committed to fostering the academic and personal growth of its students; therefore, every child in the School is required to attend school regularly in order to make a successful transition to the next grade level and to graduate with a high school diploma. Each day your child is absent from school they miss out on important classroom instruction. We realize that many absences are due to illness and are understanding of these situations, however, we must also ensure that students are in class as often as possible to help create academic success for your child this year and for all years to come.
Below contains the attendance plan in place as per the school’s parent handbook which can also be found on Gem Prep: Nampa’s webpage. Gem Prep: Nampa students are required to be in attendance at school at least ninety percent (90%) of the time that school is in session during each school term.
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Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO)
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The Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO) had their two meetings and elected our first executive board!
President – Connie Nielson
Vice President – Megan McGowan-Fullmer
Secretary – Sara Teats
Treasurer – Brooke Fischer
Communication Specialist – Kelley Almanza
We are excited about having an organized way for our parents to support Gem Prep: Nampa. If you are interested in being a member, all parents and/or guardians of currently enrolled students are encouraged to attend. We will have our next meeting on Wednesday, April 5th from 3:30-4:30 in Kristal Simon’s, one of our first grade teacher’s, room. We will meet the first Wednesday of every month at the same time and location. If you’d like to help with any of the upcoming events, please send an email to Stacey Walker – [email protected]. |
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Maternity Leave- Principal Walker
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As many of you are aware, my husband and I are expecting our first child, a healthy baby boy on April 2nd. We are thrilled, and a little terrified, about the upcoming parenthood adventure! During the last two months of school, I will be on maternity leave, but working from home part-time during May, before returning full-time during summer. Dr. Laurie Wolfe, Gem Innovation Schools Chief Academic Officer, will step in to be more physically present at Gem Prep: Nampa. If you have any concerns operationally or questions about registration, please continue to reach out to our School Operations Manager, Brenda Pina, and if you have any questions about academics or student concerns, please reach out to Laurie Wolfe, [email protected], during April, and myself, [email protected], during May so I can assist remotely. Thank you for the many well-wishes and congratulations! |
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It’s that time of year for a Spring Book Fair at Gem Prep: Nampa! We will have our first Gem Book Fair March 13th-17th hosted in the school Library. There will be scheduled times before school, after school and during our event: Movie Night and & Learn to Connect with Your Devices at Home on March 14th. We will also be hosting an online Book Fair for those unable to make the scheduled times.
If you are interested, in volunteering please email Katie at [email protected].
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Interested in Volunteering at Gem Prep: Nampa?
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We are looking for volunteers who are interested in coming in during our school recesses and during breakfast/lunch hour or helping out with office tasks and/or the book fair. The following are the times we would love to have you:
Breakfast 8:35AM-9:00AM
Morning Playground Time – 8:35AM-9:00AM
AM Recess 10:40AM-11:00AM
Lunch Recess 11:55AM-12:50PM
Lunch Room 12:10 PM-1:10PM
Please fill out the following google form and we will get in contact with you.
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Upcoming Events Overview:
Thursday, March 9: Hot Chocolate Social from 5:00-6:00pm
Friday March 10: No School for Students- Professional Development Day for Teachers
Monday, March 13- Friday, March 17: Gem Prep: Nampa Scholastic Book Fair
Tuesday, March 14: Movie Night and Learn to Connect With Your Devices from 5:30-7:30pm
Friday, March 24: End of Third Quarter and report cards emailed home
Monday, March 27- Friday, March 31: Gem Prep: Nampa Spring Break- No School for Students
Wednesday, April 5th: PTO Meeting in Kristal Simon’s room from 3:30-4:30
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