GSD E-Blast
November 2022
Dear Parents and Guardians,
We have now completed almost two months of school and that means it is parent-teacher conference and report card time! Communication between home and school is crucial and we encourage all parents to be as involved as they can be in their child’s education. Checking MiStar Parent Portal, reviewing report cards or progress reports, and meeting with your child’s teacher during conferences is a great way to stay connected with your child’s progress and know their areas of strength and areas that might need to be strengthened. Ask your child’s teacher ways that you can support your child at home and ways the school can support them if they are struggling. Additionally, talk to your child about what subjects they like in school and what are their favorite activities to do in school. This is a great way to start a conversation about school and to keep it positive!
Keeping up with your child’s official building’s Facebook page and Twitter accounts will also help you stay “in tune” to what amazing learning opportunities your child is experiencing every day and events that are going on at the school.
Please read below to see all the outstanding things our students and staff are doing to make Gibraltar Schools a great place to be!
Your partner in education,
Amy Conway
Superintendent
Sparks Corner
Research shows that being happy and positive primes the brain to be more successful and productive. Promoting positivity will enhance our student’s academic ability and develop them into happy and positive thinkers and leaders. Each month we will highlight a building or staff member that is spreading “The Orange” (Happiness) through Gibraltar!
Community Involvement and Support for Hunter
Did you know that students in schools with a strong sense of community are more likley to be academically motivated?
Hunter Elementary was showered with positivity, happiness and community support in October. The fire departement from both Brownstown and Detroit provided hands-on presentations for Young 5's through Second Grade Students. The second grade students went on tours of the Woodhaven Police and Fire Departments. Dr. Abed's Orthodontics Office created an anti-bullying challenge, provided a pizza party for Mrs. Poslaiko's class, and a $500.00 dollars check to Hunter. Beacon Baptist Church dropped off donuts and thank-you notes for the entire staff. The HFSA (parent group) and Mrs. Mullins hosted a fill your cup Friday to show their appreciation for the staff. Also, the Hunter families donated candy and created close to 30 creative trunks for an awesome Trunk-or-Treat experience.
Hunter is thankful for the family, school and community partnerships that spread happiness throughout the school.
Carlson High School
Creativity Flourishing at CHS
While learning about organelles in Biology, students chose an organelle to develop a "Wanted" poster for it. They had to draw the organelle and identify such things as its name, what it was wanted for, its description, and the reward. It allowed students to learn and research about organelles in a fun way!
In English 10, students were to create a story box to represent the book that their group was reading. Students had to collaborate together to decide on its theme, color, art, and artifacts for it. The finished product was to be a representation of their group's book and be able to explain their choices for the story box.
Students in Spanish II are currently learning vocabulary used to explain getting ready. They were given different pictures of people getting ready in order to create a story board in 1st and 3rd person. Students had to collaborate together to create their story, the order of their pictures, and write the sentences in Spanish for each picture.
Chapman Elementary School
Chapman Kindergarteners Follow the Yellow Brick Road to Phonological Awareness
Phonological Awareness is the understanding that our spoken language is made up of words and that our words are made up of individual sounds. Children must be able to hear and manipulate sounds before they can make the connection to print. Phonological awareness activities are so important for young learners to develop the skills needed for future reading and writing success.
Kindergarten students at Chapman are participating in phonological awareness activities. Students began with the skill called Concept of Word. These activities involved listening to a sentence, repeating the sentence, and isolating each spoken word. Students were able to practice this skill in a variety of multisensory tasks. This involved activities that allowed them to clap their hands, as well as push up bingo chips to represent the number of words within a given spoken sentence. Students were also given a chance to walk down the yellow brick road by taking a step for each spoken word that they heard.
Hunter Elementary School
Fire Prevention and Police Station Tours for Hunter Students
October 9th is the start of Fire Prevention Week. Hunter Elementary young fives and kindergarten students kicked off the week with a visit from Mr. Carter and Mr. Davidson, both are firefighters in Detroit and dads of some of our very own Hunter hornets. Students learned about the importance of having a home safety action plan, and were able to see all the equipment used to keep firefighters safe.
Later in the week, Hunter Elementary students attended presentations put on by the Brownstown Fire Department.
The month ended with the second grade classes getting in-depth tours of both the Woodhaven Police and Fire Departments.
Parsons Elementary School
Parsons Students Celebrate Great Behavior
Parsons students were able to celebrate great behavior for the month of October with a ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS extravaganza. We worked hard all month being respectful, responsible, safe, and kinder than necessary. Everyday students where presented with different kindness challenges and consistent reminders on how to show respect, be responsible, and be safe in different school settings. Students then had the opportunity to participate in a fun rock, paper, scissors relay as a way to celebrate their successes. Keep up the great work, students!
Downriver STEM at Weiss
DCTC comes to Weiss
The DCTC(Downriver Career Technical Consortium) came to Weiss recently to show our 5th graders about different careers and trades they might be involved in as they get older. The students learned about carpentry, welding, culinary arts, dentistry, auto repair, graphic design, media, and more. The students were placed in groups of threes and had about 10-15 minutes to learn from our presenters with a hands-on application component. This was a great STEM experience for all our 5th grade students!
Lakeshore Virtual School
Spreading the Halloween Spirit
Shumate Middle School
SMS Poetry SLAM!
Mrs. Hoover's Poetry and Songwriting Class has made a comeback for the 2022-2023 school year. Students enrolled in this elective, have the opportunity to write a parody, make a music video for their parodies, write an original poem for the Poetry Slam, and participate in a Rap Battle. The quarter 1 Poetry Slam took place on Monday, October 24th. Students participated individually as well as in pairs. Mr. Bouwman and Mrs. Cislo were guest judges and scored the event. Nolan Hoover and Jordynn Powell served as hosts of the show and kept things interesting and lively. When the scores were tallied, Jordynn Powell took 1st place with "Gaming Possibilities," Belle Martin and Tony Gonsalez achieved 2nd place with "Parents Misunderstanding," and Miley Nguy secured 3rd place with "Listen To Your Parents." All students showed guts and gave it their all during the Poetry Slam!
Transportation Department
10th Annual Fill the Bus Food Drive!
Beginning Tuesday, November 1, 2022 through Friday, December 16, 2022 the Gibraltar Transportation, Custodial, Maintenance Departments and the Gibraltar/Rockwood Rotary Club will be conducting their 10th annual "Fill the Bus" food drive. The bus will be located at the Transportation Building, 28291 Fort Street. Donations may be dropped off Monday through Friday, 6:30 am to 4:30 p m.
We will be collecting non-perishable food items and daily essential supplies. All donations go to the Gibraltar Food Pantry. This is an opportunity for our community to come together and help those in need.
We also want to take this time to wish you all Happy Holidays and thank everyone for their support of our mission to feed the hungry in our community.
Gibraltar Transportation, Custodial, Maintenance Departments and Gibraltar/Rockwood Rotary Club.