From the Principal:

It is my pleasure to welcome you to our Gurney website and hopefully to our school as well! Gurney Elementary School is an amazing place where students are nurtured and yet held to rigorous expectations at the same time. Our children thrive in this child-centered environment, which has truly been developed by a very devoted staff and dedicated parents. We have had a wonderful start to our 2006-2007 school year and look forward to continuing with a very productive and exciting school year.

About Gurney Elementary School

Gurney Elementary School serves as the only elementary school in the district and houses approximately 600 students in preschool through third grade. Our student population comes from seven surrounding villages and townships in two different counties.

Our school building sits on a 35-acre campus with beautiful woods, two playgrounds and a legendary sled-riding hill! The campus includes the district's high school athletic fields for softball, lacrosse and junior varsity soccer. We also house the district bus garage. The school opened in 1966 and was closed in 1983 for five years due to declining enrollment. The building reopened in 1988. The district reconfigured in 1998 establishing our building as a preK-3 facility. At that time, an additional wing of classrooms and a new gymnasium with a full-sized stage were added. Each grade level has a wing of the building. Our fully equipped art room, music room, library and computer lab are centrally located. We have a full kitchen offering daily hot lunches. Students eat lunch in our multi-purpose room.

The Gurney Teaching Staff -

focuses on providing research-based, differentiated instruction to meet the needs of all students. Naturally, in an early childhood setting, there is an emphasis on developing strong skills in the areas of language arts and mathematics. Staff development opportunities and school goals reinforce this commitment. Our teachers incorporate a varied and multi-sensory approach to teaching to address the learning needs of all students. Teachers use a balanced approach to literacy instruction emphasizing elements of phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. Data from diagnostic assessments indicate students' instructional reading levels. Teachers match appropriate quality literature to each child's level. Students write for a variety of purposes often integrating the writing process, grammar and spelling study with other subject areas. A developmental spelling program is utilized to best meet the needs of each student in their study of word features in the general education classroom. Math instruction in the Math Trailblazers program incorporates the use of many manipulatives to reinforce learning. To secure competency in math, multiple strategies for obtaining answers are explored. Content area subjects are taught using science Foss kits, literature, speakers, field trips, student self-discovery research and individual, small group or class projects.

This We Believe:

In addition to assuming the district's mission, there has been tremendous effort on the part of the Gurney Staff to create a set of belief statements, unique to our preK-3 school culture. The entire staff, both certified and classified, worked collaboratively to create these belief statements and are committed to demonstrating daily practices that support them. The belief statements are as follows:

• We believe we are preparing children for an increasingly complex, global society.
• We believe the purpose of schools is to provide a safe environment in which we create and empower lifelong learners who will become productive citizens.
• We believe all children can learn and that learning is maximized when individual, high expectations are set for all.
• We believe the primary role of the teacher is to assess and instruct students utilizing engaging activities that maximize learning.
• We believe the home and school partnership is critical for a successful education and the development of strong character in our children.
• We believe educational experts, families and community agencies must cooperatively participate in decision making to ensure that the needs of our children are met.
• We believe the success of our school is enriched by the efforts of all employees who have daily contact with our children.
• We believe all staff should participate in professional development activities and those opportunities provided by the school district are most effective when based on the needs and interests of staff and students.

This school is energetically and positively involved with its students and community. Our more than highly qualified staff contributes their creativity, passion and dedication to the daily operations of the school. Our learning environment nurtures respect for each individual from custodian to teacher, from principal to preschooler, establishing the priorities for successful results. The school is creative, the school is caring, but most of all the school has academic rigor guaranteeing that all children learn.

TIGER P.R.I.D.E.

As a school-wide positive behavior support program, all staff at Gurney Elementary School emphasizes Tiger P.R.I.D.E. The acronym stands for Polite, Responsible, In Control, Don't Quit, and Encourage Others. These dimensions of Pride are taught, examined, and applauded all year in our school. Each class has an opportunity to share with Mrs. Jones their ideas about Tiger Pride and how they exemplify Pride on a daily basis to help our school.

Dr. Rachel L. Jones