Welcome to the Garfield Public Preschool Annex 3 at Head Start!
While the start of the 2020-2021 school year is a very exciting time for you, your child, and your family, we also know it comes with many challenges due to the current pandemic. Like you, we were looking forward to the first day of school pictures, packing new lunch boxes and back packs, and entering the classroom for the first day of school. Although this year may look different, at GPPA 3 we are determined to make your child's experience as exciting and engaging as possible.
As you have come to know, we will begin our school year with remote learning. The first phase of remote learning will begin September 8th and continue until November 6, 2020. During this time, your child will have the opportunity to work with their classroom teacher over the internet. Live instruction, special activities, and one on one instruction will take place during these virtual meetings. Although they may not necessarily meet in person for the first time, our teaching staff looks forward to building relationships with your child that will help make the transition back into the classroom a positive experience. Teachers will also have office hours at the end of the day and will be available to meet with you virtually, answer emails, and answer phone calls if you need any assistance during remote learning.
As you will see on this portal, all students have been divided into two groups, Purple and Gold. When school reconvenes for Phase 2 on November 9th, students will be placed in cohorts for a hybrid school day. All students will have two days of in-class instruction and three days of remote learning. The in-class instruction days will be based on which cohort your child has been assigned. Every effort has been made to ensure all students in your family have been placed in cohorts that allow them to attend school on the same days. If you find your children are not in the same Purple or Gold cohort, please let your child's teacher know as soon as possible so we can make the appropriate arrangements.
Please be sure to fill out your lunch application forms and to review student handbook so you are aware of our preschool policies. Additional forms, including emergency cards, walking field trip forms, etc. need to be completed prior to starting school. Please update your contact information and make sure that your email is correct, as we will be notifying you through your email and phone number.
If you should have any questions, please feel free to me at your convenience at the email or phone number below. While I know this is not how we intended to start the school year, I do want to let you know that we are so happy to have your child become a member of our preschool family. We look forward to meeting you all soon! In the meantime, we hope you and your family remain safe and well! Please let us know if there is anything we can do to be of help.
Sincerely,
Valerie Stewart
Principal, GPPA 3
vstewart@gboe.org (973) 772-0116