Welcome to Novembrrrr!

This Week at GCMS:

Winter has visited the Land of the Cougars a little early this year with daytime highs only in the 30’s right now!  I am hoping that the wintery precipitation stays away until Christmas Break, but the forecasts are already mentioning that four letter word that starts with S and ends with NOW.  If you have to travel this weekend, please drive carefully.  If you don’t have to be out, it would probably be a great weekend to put another log on the fire and stay at home!  We have some student groups on the road on Saturday, but any inclement weather should come later in the weekend.  I have just a few notes to share as the week winds down.

Personnel:

Please remember those GCMS staff members who are dealing with health concerns right now or have family members with health concerns.  I know that there are many, but please remember Wendy Butler, Cassie Jarboe, Holly Milliner, Pam Armstrong, Stacy Pierce, Charlotte McDonald, Nycol Hart, Becky Miller, Karen Van Metre, Venita Wilson, Jeremy Meredith, Melanie Gallagher, Gwen Franich, Teresa Elmore, Charlene Noblett, Bonnie Bowman, Vickie Staley, Eugene Decker, and Eddie Dennison.  We have lots of health issues right now.

Back to the Future Day:

Our 7th and 8th grade Back to the Future Day is scheduled for Wednesday, November 19.  We invited the parents of our 7th and 8th grade students to come to GCMS that day to spend all or part of the day going to class with your 7th or 8th grader.  Come for one or two periods or stay all day!  We have found that Back to the Future Day is a great way to get more involved and engaged in your child’s education.  We hope to have a lot of GCMS parents here that day!

Morning Announcements Power Point:

Mrs. Pearl prepares a morning announcements power point each morning to help keep students and teachers up to date on what is going on at GCMS.  It is very important that every teacher shares the morning power point with the students.  If your team does that as part of first period, that is great.  If your team designates a different time, later in the morning, that should work as well.  We get calls from parents asking about club meeting dates, sports team practices, Cougar Zone events, etc. when those items are almost always posted in the morning power point.  Let’s make sure that we are taking advantage of this information for the benefit of our students.  I appreciate Mrs. Pearl putting in the extra time that it takes to prepare this daily power point.

Great Job!

I was very pleased with how our students did for our annual Veterans Day program on Tuesday morning.  The GCMS Choir, our Scouts from Troop 631, and Adam Minton sounding Taps all added greatly to the tribute to our local veterans who were in attendance that day.  We had 26 veterans here this year, and I heard many of those veterans comment that they appreciated the program and that they were impressed with our students.  I appreciate our staff helping to stress the importance of recognizing and thanking our veterans.  I want to again say a special thank you to GCMS staff members who are veterans:  Ellen Thomas, Mike Blair, and Eddie Dennison.

An Outside Pair of Eyes:

Many of you likely saw a young man trailing me around yesterday at GCMS.  He is from Barren County and is in the aspiring principal cadre that Ashley Johnson and Lea Ann Frank are also participating with.  He was impressed with what Ashley and Lea Ann had mentioned about GCMS in class and wanted to see for himself.  Mr. Pniewsky was very complimentary during and after his visit yesterday.  He was impressed with our teachers and students and said that he was going to borrow lots of great ideas from how we do things here.  When you are “right in the middle of it”, you (and I) sometimes take for granted some of the great things that happen here every day.  It is nice to get a reminder once in a while from an “outside pair of eyes”. 

Quote of the Day:

“Act as if what you do makes a difference.  It does.” ~William James

Coming Attractions:

Nov. 17…Faculty Meeting after school

Nov. 17…Girls Basketball hosts Hancock Co., 5:30

Nov. 18…Girls Basketball hosts Muhlenberg South, 5:30

Nov. 19…No Team Leader Meeting (cancelled)

Nov. 19…7th and 8th Grade Back to the Future Day

Nov. 19…GCMS SBDMC Meeting, 3:15 in the conference room
Nov. 20...Team Four Showcase Lessons

Nov. 20…Academic Team at Knowledge Masters (TV Tournament)

Nov. 22…Cougarbots Team at WKU Robotics Competition
Nov. 22...GCMS NASP Archery Competition at Edmonson County

Nov. 24…Hooked on Science Program (6th grade science)

Nov. 26-28…No School, Thanksgiving Break

Dec. 8…Staff Christmas Dinner at GCMS, 6:00

Dec. 17…Drama Club Christmas Play (7^th grade at 8:15, 8^th grade at 9:45, 6^th grade at 1:00)

Dec. 20-Jan. 4…Christmas Break