Cougar Staff:
It’s been another very busy week at GCMS! As the week winds down, I have a few notes to
share with you. Head em up, move em out, and have a great day!
Congratulations!
I would like to congratulate our newly elected GCMS site
based council members. Parent
representatives for 2014-2015 will be Keith Lucas and Jenny Cummings. Teacher representatives for 2014-2015 will be
Elaine Holley, Lea Ann Frank, and Ashley Johnson. I appreciate all those who have served on the
council, and I look forward to working with the new council this coming year.
I would also like to congratulate some of our GCMS teachers
on being selected for participation and been awarded scholarships for some
prestigious summer institutes. Both
Ellen Thomas and Laura Goff have been selected to participate in the McConnell
Center’s Summer Institute for US History in Annapolis, MD this summer. Lea Ann Frank and Angie Escue have both been
selected to participate in the NEED Energy Conference in Savannah, GA.
Thank You!
I appreciate everyone who went with us on Monday evening to
ECTC! The 7th graders and
their parents seemed to really enjoy the experience, and I heard many positive
comments that evening and since.
I want to thank Tez Hawkins and Mary Anne Hack for serving
with me on the School Culture Assessment team.
We finished the process by presenting the school culture report at Allen
County-Scottsville High School yesterday afternoon. Each school will take the data received and
work to continue improvement of school culture.
I want to thank Lori Carroll for serving with me on the District Certified
Evaluation Committee. We have
had lots of meetings about developing next year’s one year evaluation plan
before we go to “full blown” PGES the following year.
I want to thank Melanie Gallagher for serving as Math Plus teacher leader for our new Math Plus grant program.
I want to thank Melanie Gallagher for serving as Math Plus teacher leader for our new Math Plus grant program.
Holly Milliner and Shane Decker are serving in the content
network and district instructional leadership team for science and social
studies. Again, lots of meetings, time,
and effort goes into this work.
I know that there are lots of others going above and beyond
at GCMS! Thank you everyone for what you
do to make things better for students and fellow staff members!
Tuesday Assembly:
We have a motivational assembly scheduled for our student
body this coming Tuesday afternoon, April 29.
This assembly will take 6th period that day. Check out the group from Remix Education at www.remixeducation.com.
8th Grade Career Camp on Friday:
Our 8th grade Career Camp is planned for Friday,
April 25. Staff from the GC Tech Center
will be here at GCMS to present the program.
Remember, we will be going to our
Mon-Thurs schedule that day. All
students will report to their regular first periods and then start the rotation
schedule promptly at 8:00. Please notice
that I have related arts teachers scheduled to take some groups so that team
teachers do not lose all their planning time that day. Also, please notice that we are flipping 7th
with 8th grade lunch schedules. We will
plan to have 8th grade band, 8th grade chorus, and 8th grade advanced math to
have class that afternoon, knowing that many of those students will be
participating in the career camp at those times and miss those classes. This should be a great opportunity for our
students to get a closer look at the types of activities offered by the GC Tech
Center and the related careers.
KPREP is Coming:
As you know, our KPREP testing is slated for May 15, 16, 19,
21, and 22. Mrs. Majors emailed out our
testing schedule last week. Yesterday, I
also sent you the afternoon schedule for each day so that we will not be missing
the same class periods every day during the testing. Each teacher will need to diligently monitor
students during all testing sessions. I
expect teachers to be up and circulating during testing sessions rather than
sitting at the computer or reading a professional journal. I (and central office staff) will be coming
around and may be in and out of rooms some.
We will be quiet and careful not to disrupt. It will be necessary to leave all classroom
doors unlocked, and as always all door windows uncovered during testing. I emailed the good faith effort checklist a
couple of weeks ago, and I will email that out again. Please mark this checklist for each
student. At the end of the testing, we
will have a good faith effort reward afternoon on May 22 in which students who
have received 100 percent good faith effort will be able to choose activities
in the gym (battle ball), a movie in the auditorium, fun activities outside (Frisbee,
whiffle ball, etc.), or chill zone electronics time in the cafeteria.
One on One Meetings with Students:
Mr. Whitmore, Mrs. Miller, and I will begin meeting with
students about the upcoming testing starting on May 5 during study skills
classes. We will review student data
from last year’s KPREP as well as current year data from DEA and try to help
motivate students to do their best. Our
plan is to come to your team area during your skills time starting on May 5 and
visit each day until we have had a chance to meet with every student. When we finish the study skills groups, we
would also like to visit with students who are in music classes toward the end
of that week.
Quote of the Day:
“Luck is the dividend of sweat. The more you sweat, the luckier you get.”
~Ray Kroc
Coming Attractions:
May 9…Jean
Day for $5 donation to Relay for Life
May
15-22…KPREP Testing
May 21…GCMS
Site Based Council Meeting, 3:00
May 22…Good
Faith Reward, 1:00-2:30
May 23…KPREP
Make-up Day
May 20…No
school for students – Staff training day
May
26…Memorial Day – No school for students or staff
May 30…Students’
Last Day, 8th Grade Commencement Programs, 8:00, 9:30, 11:00
June 2, 3,
4, 5, 6 will be staff training days.
June 7…Closing
Day
