Merry Christmas from GCMS!

This Week at GCMS:

The hustle and bustle of the holidays has certainly arrived at GCMS this week!  With five days of merriment, four school play productions, three holiday concerts, two home ball games, and a 7:40 Christmas flash dance, the middle school has been a whirlwind of activity.  As our week winds down, and everyone heads off for Christmas Break, I would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  Get your minds off of school for a while, and spend some time with family and friends.  In the words of Charles Dickens, “God bless us every one.”

Good Luck:

Good luck to our Regional Champion GCMS Cheerleaders as they compete at State Competition Saturday in Lexington! 

Thank You!

Thank you to everyone who has worked so hard to make this a special week for our students at GCMS.  While lessons and learning have continued, we have also been able to spread some Christmas cheer to the GCMS Cougars!  Thank you to everyone who has worked to make it a great week for our kids.

Congratulations!
Hats off to Melanie Manion for winning a $500 MAC grant from McDonald's this week!  I appreciate the hard work that Melanie does on behalf of our GCMS students.

CIITS Entries:

Just one more reminder, make sure to complete your roster verifications and PGP mid-year review in CIITS before you go home on Friday.  Merry Christmas from CIITS.

Instructional Rounds Follow-Up:

The top responses from our Instructional Rounds Follow-Up Gallery Walk were as follows:

• Establish common expectations for questioning by 2/15/16
• Continue focus on open ended questions and building common understanding
• Continue to work through the PGP process to improve personal development of questioning techniques
• Work in grade level PLC’s to develop open and closed questions
• Develop common terminology when discussing higher order questioning
• Those were the top five responses for our Next Level of Work for our focus on questioning at GCMS.  We will be concentrating our next PLC day on this focus area. 

Observations:

Each non-tenured teacher will need to complete your second mini-observation by January 15.  Also, those in your summative year will need to complete your peer observation by January 15.  Thank you to all those who have already completed these observations.  Just get with your administrator or peer observer to schedule your observations.

Quote of the Day:

“’For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.’ That’s What Christmas is all about.“  ~L. Van Pelt

Coming Attractions:

Dec. 17…Drama Club Christmas Play (during school), public performance at 5:30

Dec. 17…Home Boys Basketball, 5:30

Dec. 18…due date for Teacher’s CIITS items (teachers, see earlier email)

Dec. 21-Jan. 1…Christmas Break

Jan. 8…Due date to have distributed parent permission (passive consent) forms for student voice survey

Jan. 15…Due date for 2^nd mini-observation for non-tenured teachers

Jan. 15…Due date for all peer observations

Jan. 15-29…Student Voice Survey Window

Busy, Busy, Busy!

This Week at GCMS:

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas around the halls of GCMS!  Many classrooms have decorations, Christmas scene doors, trees, bulletin boards, etc.  Thank you to everyone for spreading a little holiday cheer for our students.  Many of our students don’t get a lot of this sort of thing at home, so it is good to experience the season a little bit at school.  I have just a few notes to share this week.

Congratulations KYA Delegation!

Hats off to the GCMS delegation that participated in the Junior Kentucky Youth Assembly in Louisville this week!   GCMS won the Statesmanship Award for having the best overall speakers at KYA.  Payton Abney became the first Grayson County student ever to  be elected as KYA Governor.  Several other students were recognized or won awards:  Spencer Cannon, Hunter Pendergest, Stetson Higdon, Bailey Richardson, CJ Johnston, Kennedy Ferguson, and Ryan Haycraft.  We are also very proud of Teresa Blain and Melanie Manion, who were inducted into the KYA Hall of Fame for advisors.  Great job!

Congratulations Academic Team!
Our GCMS academic advanced to the final match of the Knowledge Masters television tournament at Elizabethtown today.  I have not heard yet how we fared in the finals, but we are very proud of the team for advancing to the finals!

Good Luck Lady Cougars!

We would like to wish the best of luck to our 8^th grade lady cougar basketball team!  The girls have advanced to the championship game of the GRVC Tournament.  They will play against Edmonson County at Edmonson County on Thursday night.  Good luck ladies!

Thanks for Breakfast!
Thank you to the district and to our food service department for this morning's Christmas breakfast!  Everything was delicious!

Instructional Rounds:

We appreciate everyone who participated and helped with our instructional rounds at GCMS this morning.  The group of observers was able to share some great suggestions for our next level of work in the area of questioning.  We will take a look at the recommendations at our after school teachers meeting on Monday.

Christmas Lunch:

GCMS would like to thank our teachers and staff and say Merry Christmas with a Christmas Lunch catered by Kay’s Café on Friday.  We will have the lunch set up in room 140, so you will have plenty of room to stay and eat with colleagues or take a plate back to your rooms.  Merry Christmas from GCMS!

Quote of the Day:

“He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree.” ~Roy L. Smith

Coming Attractions:

Dec. 11…Christmas Lunch catered by Kay’s Café

Dec. 11…Meet the Lady Cougar Volleyball Night, 5:00

Dec. 13….Orchestra Concerts, 2:00

Dec. 14-17…Mon is Santa Hat Day, Tues is Raindeer Antler Day,

                       Weds is Elf Day, Thurs is Christmas Sweater Day
Dec. 14...Teachers' Meeting, 3:00

Dec. 14…Chorus Concert, 6:00

Dec. 15…Home Boys Basketball, 5:00

Dec. 15…Band Concert, 7:00

Dec. 17…Drama Club Christmas Play (during school), public performance at 5:30

Dec. 17…Home Boys Basketball, 5:30

Dec. 18…due date for Teacher’s CIITS items (teachers, see earlier email)

Dec. 21-Jan. 1…Christmas Break

Welcome Decemberrrrrr!

This Week at GCMS:

December has come in with some wintery temperatures that seem way too soon, but fortunately we are not getting wintery precipitation like many parts of the nation.  I am always very hopeful that the wintery weather will hold off until at least Christmas break, and I am optimistic about this year as well.  December is a very busy month, and I have several notes to share as this week winds down.

Staff Concerns:

It seems like we have many staff members and their family members with health concerns right now.  Eugene’s brother, Pendleton, is still at Norton’s but Eugene says that he is making progress.  Tonya’s husband is back home after a few days in the hospital with pneumonia.  Elaine Holley’s brother will be having surgery on Monday.  Charlotte McDonald’s daughter is recovering from surgery, and Charlotte has an appointment coming up about blood pressure issues.  Please remember these, along with Shela Herman, Jerry Poindexter, Stephanie Brey’s mom, Cassie Jarboe’s daughter, Allyson, Gail Smallwood’s husband, Angie Escue’s mom, Paige Shiarella’s father, Rita Mullins’ daughter, and many more.  Please keep your GCMS family in your thoughts and prayers.

Congratulations!

Congratulations to the GCMS academic team for winning their first round match over LaRue County on Wednesday.  The team will take on T.K. Stone next Thursday. 

Three more GCMS chorus students have been honored!  Jessica Manion, Liberty Payton, and Nathan Meredith have been named the KMEA Jr. High All State Choir.  Great job!

Good Luck!

Good luck to our GCMS KYA delegation!  Our delegation of about 60 students will be in Louisville for this year’s Kentucky Youth Assembly from Sunday through Tuesday.  We wish them the best of luck!  Also, since my wife is one of the sponsors of this group, I will get to have my annual Mr. Mom days with our 7 year old daughter.  Wish me luck!

Good luck to our GCMS girls basketball teams as they start GRVC Tournament play at Edmonson County.  The tournament starts on Friday, but our girls will play their first games on Saturday morning. Go Cougars!

Good luck to all GCMS groups competing and performing this weekend, including boys basketball, archery, band, and academic team 6^th grade showcase!

Instructional Rounds:

As you know, we plan to have our instructional rounds at GCMS next Thursday, Dec. 10.  We will have teams of observers including central office staff, principals from around the district, three GCMS teachers who are in the Leading to Learn grant, Mrs. Pearl, and our GCMS administrators visiting classrooms during 2nd and 3rd period that morning.  The observers will focus on our questioning practices.  Are we asking open ended questions that make our students think?  Do our student responses match the level of questioning?  Are the students asking questions (open and/or closed)?  The instructional rounds are a positive process by which a “fresh set of eyes” will look at our questioning practices and make some recommendations to help us get better at an area that our school has identified for improvement.  Most all of you have questioning as an improvement goal on your PGP this year, so I know that you have really worked to improve in this area already. 

Observations:

Teachers, please be thinking about scheduling formal classroom observations.  Non-tenured teachers must have your second mini observations completed by January 15.  Get with Mr. Blain, Mr. Whitmore, or Mrs. Miller to schedule your observations.  Thanks.

Quote of the Day:

“Try not. Do or do not. There is no try.” ~Yoda (Star Wars)

Coming Attractions:

Dec. 4…Recognize Girls Basketball with Pep Session, 7:40 am

Dec. 5-10…Girls Basketball at GRVC Tournament (Edmonson Co.)

Dec. 5…Academic Team at 6^th Grade Showcase

Dec. 5…Archery at NASP Competition

Dec. 5…GCMS Band at Hometown Christmas Parade and Nursing Homes

Dec. 5-6…GCMS 8^th grade boys basketball at TK Stone Tournament

Dec. 6-8…GCMS Students at KYA

Dec. 10…Christmas Breakfast provided by GCBOE

Dec. 10…Instructional Rounds at GCMS

Dec. 11…Christmas Lunch catered by Kay’s Café

Dec. 13...Orchestra Concert

Dec. 14...Chorus Concert

Dec. 15...GCHS Symphony at GCMS, 10:00 am

Dec. 15...Band Concert

Dec. 17...GCMS Drama Club Christmas Play

Dec. 18…due date for Teacher’s CIITS items (teachers, see earlier email)

Dec. 21-Jan. 1…Christmas Break