Garfield Elementary
We Encourage, Teach, and Empower Leaders to Succeed!
Principal's Corner
Dear Garfield Elementary Families,
As we find ourselves approaching the final stretch of the school year, it's important to encourage our students to finish strong! With summer break only a few weeks away, it's tempting to start winding down, but maintaining focus and routine until the very end is key to ensuring continued success for our students.
We understand that as the weather warms up and daylight stretches longer into the evening, it can be tempting to relax bedtimes and daily schedules. However, maintaining a consistent routine, including regular bedtimes is crucial for academic success. Consistency provides stability and helps our students stay focused and motivated.
In the coming weeks, we will be conducting end-of-year assessments to gauge our students' progress and growth throughout the school year. These assessments are valuable tools that help us understand each student's strengths and areas for improvement. We encourage you to speak with your children about the importance of doing their best on these tests. Your encouragement and support play a significant role in motivating our students to excel.
As we wrap up the school year, we have many exciting events and activities planned for our students to enjoy. From field days to class parties and field trips to dance parties, there will be plenty of opportunities for our students to celebrate their hard work and accomplishments. We look forward to ending the year on a high note and creating lasting memories together.
Lastly, we want to express our heartfelt gratitude to all of our Garfield families. Thank you for entrusting us with your children's education and for partnering with us to help them reach their goals. Your support and involvement make all the difference! Together, we can ensure that our students finish the year strong and end on a positive note!
Warm regards,
Kristin Skogstad, Principal
Garfield’s Family Engagement and Student Lighthouse teams are working hard to prepare a wonderful educational event designed to connect families and strengthen our amazing Garfield community.
We need your help to make this night a success!
This is an opportunity for you to share your culture. Help us bring one or more aspects of your heritage to life for the students and families of our school community.
Please click on THIS LINK, or the button below, to indicate your ability to help with this special event.
Schools use a Lighthouse Rubric to measure outcomes in three areas:
- Teaching leadership principles
- Creating a leadership culture
- Aligning academic systems
The Lighthouse School Designation was earned by Garfield for demonstrating the following:
- Staff engage in ongoing learning and development as leaders, while championing leadership for the school.
- Leadership principles are effectively taught to all students, which results in students that are able to think critically about and apply leadership principles.
- Families and the school partner together in learning about the 7 Habits and leadership principles through effective communication and mutual respect.
- The school community is able to see leadership in the physical environment, hear leadership through a common language, and feel leadership through a culture of caring, relationships, and affirmation.
- Leadership is shared with students through a variety of leadership roles and student voice leads to innovations within the school.
- Leadership events provide authentic environments to celebrate leadership, build culture, and allow students to practice leadership skills.
- The school identifies and tracks progress toward Wildly Important Goals (WIGs) for the school, classroom, and staff.
- Students lead their own learning with the skills to assess their needs, set appropriate goals, and carry out action plans. They track progress toward goals in Leadership Binder and share these with adults.
- Teacher planning and reflection, trusting relationships, and student-led learning combine to create an environment for highly engaged learning.
Check out the photos below to see our Garfield Leaders leading with the 8 habits!
Garfield P.B.I.S.
How can we use PBIS at home?
Sit together with your family and celebrate the times you have seen each other practice the Garfield school-wide values.
- L: Lead with the 8 Habits
- E: Everyone is Safe
- A: Act Respectfully
- D: Do Your Job
Take turns sharing your responses to the following prompts, or make up your own!
Celebration Prompts:
- What family member do you want to celebrate for (leading with the 8 habits, everyone is safe, acting rspectfully, doing their job) this month?
- What is one way you were a leader this month?
Do you have questions, ideas, or input on how we can improve our behavioral initiative?
Please reach out to Mrs. Skogstad or Mrs. Bell. We would love to hear your ideas and share more with you about this impactful framework.
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Contact Us
Principal: Mrs. Kristin Skogstad
Email: Kristin.Skogstad@k12.sd.us
Dean of Students: Mrs. Alisha Bell
Email: Alisha.Bell@k12.sd.us
Location: 705 S. Roberts Dr. Sioux Falls, SD 57103
Phone: 605-367-6180