Community Nest
"Relationships are the agents of change." Dr. Bruce Perry
February 28 - March 4, 2022
Our Gray Hawk Mission Statement
OUR GRAY HAWK FAMILY works together to help students feel safe, loved, and inspired so they can be empowered learners and engaged citizens.
Gray Hawk Kindergarten Round Up Parent Meeting - March 22 6:30 pm
World Down Syndrome Day is Monday, March 21!
Mrs. Loseke STAR Award Winner
On Thursday night, BLEF President David Gunn announced Ashlee Loseke as the first ever Gray Hawk Elementary School STAR Award winner! Please read her nomination from her fellow co-workers:
Ashlee is a structured learning teacher at Gray Hawk Elementary. She is a fantastic team player that is always willing to help where needed and is flexible with ongoing needs and changes. She is a great team leader to her paraprofessionals. She has led them in insightful training and support that ranges from toileting needs to behavioral needs.
Ashlee has had several “new” students that have joined her caseload since the beginning of the year. While this could be stressful to many, Ashlee welcomes the students with open arms and is always positive and has a smile on her face. She is great at building relationships with her students.
Ashlee also serves on the Autism Intervention Team for the special education cooperative providing consultative input to teams among the district. She builds independence in all her students and the growth they have made this year is absolutely phenomenal.
Congratulations, Mrs. Loseke!
OUR 1st Annual Talent Show was A M A Z I N G!
Thank you for your generosity in donating to our friends at Joy Meadows
Spring Break 3/11 to 3/18! No School Friday!
Featured Literature
With March being Women’s History Month, we’ll be taking a look the next few week’s at books that celebrate women who have made major impacts across the world. Women have a large place in history ranging from the Arts to the Sciences and just fighting for equality. There are too many stories to tell them all but we will focus on a wide variety of women and their place in history.
We have two featured stories this week. The first is You Can't Do that Amelia by Kimberly Klier. There are so many amazing books about Amelia Earhart but I love this one as a read aloud for kids. It really looks at her younger years and the grit and determination she showed.
Young Amelia dreams of building her own roller coaster, learning to fly her own airplane, and even exploring the skies as one of the world's first female pilots. But girls in the early twentieth century don't do such things. When Amelia tells her family and friends of her plans, they only shake their heads and say, "You can't do that, Amelia!" But Amelia is not easily discouraged and eventually earns a place in American history as one of the world's first female pilots and one of the century's most acclaimed adventurers.
The second story is Malala’s Magic Pencil by Malala Yousafzai. As a Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai has many amazing stories to tell. This picture book is a beautiful story about her hopes and dreams.
As a child in Pakistan, Malala made a wish for a magic pencil. She would use it to make everyone happy, to erase the smell of garbage from her city, to sleep an extra hour in the morning. But as she grew older, Malala saw that there were more important things to wish for. She saw a world that needed fixing. And even if she never found a magic pencil, Malala realized that she could still work hard every day to make her wishes come true.
I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark by Debbie Levy and Elizabeth Baddeley
This book about Ginsburg’s life is a longer read than some of the above but it focuses on many of the things that she disagreed with and worked to change during her life.
Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has spent a lifetime disagreeing: disagreeing with inequality, arguing against unfair treatment, and standing up for what’s right for people everywhere.
I Am Jane Goodall - Brad Meltzer
These “Ordinary People Change the World” biographies are a fabulous look at people who have made a difference.
After receiving a stuffed animal chimpanzee for her first birthday, Jane Goodall's love of animals only grew. She saw what humans and animals had in common, not what makes us different, and used that to advocate for animal rights everywhere, becoming famous for her work with chimpanzees.
Her Fearless Run: Kathrine Switzer’s Historic Boston Marathon
Here is another woman who changed the path for other women around the world. In this book the details of how she was treated while she ran the marathon are eye-opening about how women were treated.
Kathrine Switzer changed the world of running. This narrative biography follows Kathrine from running laps as a girl in her backyard to becoming the first woman to run the Boston Marathon with official race numbers in 1967. Her inspirational true story is for anyone willing to challenge the rules.
PROMOTING DIVERSITY
As a part of our commitment to ensuring that our students are exposed to the contributions of people of color and from different backgrounds, we kicked off this past week by giving daily clues to a famous person from history that has made our world a better place. This past week, the students heard the following clues:
- I was born in a two room house in Memphis Tennessee on March 25, 1942. I was third of four children. I sang in church and learned how to play the piano by ear at a very early age. I grew up around a lot of famous singers.
- I am one of the most honored musical artists by the Grammy Awards with 18 Grammy Awards and 2 honorary Grammys. I have 20 #1 hit singles on the Billboard R&B Singles Chart and two #1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Respect” and “I Knew You Were Waiting for Me”.
- Between 1967 and 1982 I had 10 #1 albums - more than any other female artist at that time. Rolling Stone magazine ranked me at the top of its list of “The Greatest Singers of All Time” and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush in 2005. I also performed at Super Bowl 40 singing the National Anthem.
- In 1987 I became the first female artist to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and in 2009 I was the only featured singer at the 2009 presidential inauguration of President Barack Obama.
- I accomplished so much in my lifetime. People called me the “Queen of Soul”. I even had the honor of having an Asteroid named after me in 2014. Sadly, I died on August 16, 2018 at the age of 76 from cancer.
Celebrating Aretha Franklin
Neuro News
Please click on the photo below to listen to an amazing podcast with Dr. Bruce Perry and Steve Graner about learning all about kids and how trauma impacts the brain. You. may even hear a familiar name mentioned towards the end of the podcast. ;)
Gray Hawk Elementary School
Email: dspringer@usd458.org
Website: http://ghes.usd458.org/
Location: 16000 Garden Parkway, Basehor, KS, USA
Phone: (913) 662-7170
Twitter: @drspringer12301