GCIS Weekly News 11/13/2015
Weekly Celebrations, Successes, and Up Coming Events!
GCIS Office News
With the temperatures changing, please remind your students to dress appropriately for the weather.
Students are outside everyday unless it is raining or temperatures are below zero.
Please contact the office by 8:20 AM if your child will be out for the day for them to be marked excused.
If you have changes in your information such as address, phone number or emergency contact, please call and notify the office.
Lost & Found
Our lost & found table is growing rapidly! Please remind your students to check the table and bring their items home!
Fundraising Update
Please have your student bring their packets and any money to school on Monday November 16th.
Remember you also have the option to Enter Your Order Card Online and get a FREE GIFT! Just go to www.thechipshoppe.com and click on the ORANGE ENTER YOUR ORDER CARD ONLINE BOX. It's easy to do!
Funds raised are going to PBIS incentive Celebrations, Grade level field trips, and supplies for Project Based Learning & Genius Hour Projects!
Good Luck and Happy Last Few Days of Selling!
Mrs. Van Cleave
Principal Shoutout!
Email: vancleavem@greenecountycsd.net
Website: www.edline.net/pages/GCIS
Location: 405 12th Street South, Grand Junction, IA, United States
Phone: 515-738-5721
Facebook: facebook.com/pages/Greene-County-Intermediate/
Twitter: @marandavc
Parent Advisory!
Monday November 16th 7pm
Homestead Coffee
Meeting will be located in the back room!
Excited to meet with you to share a few things related to our year and get feedback! Looking forward to our time together. Any and all parents are welcome.
GCIS Key Players of the Week!
GCIS Fundraiser
Fundraising Packets Due Back to School:
- November 16th
Product Pick Up:
- December 10th 3:00-6:00pm GCIS Lunchroom
www.theChipShoppe.com
Winter Music Concert December 7th, 2015
6th grade General Music
7pm
No School
- Wednesday November 18th
- November 25th-27th Thanksgiving Break
4th Grade Happenings!
A big thank you to all who came out to conferences. It is so nice to sit down and talk with our parents about the great things our 4th graders are doing in class.
Lit/SS- We are still working on inferencing and figurative language. We are digging into good fit books to remain voracious readers.
In Science we are wrapping up our skimmer projects. The students are putting their final touches on and will be presenting their skimmers and data next week.
In math our fourth graders finished up Unit 1. Next we get to start working on our multiplication facts!
5th Grade Happenings!
Lit/SS-We are continuing our studies with the Native Americans. The kids are learning new and interesting information about the Southwest Natives’ culture, and are excited to learn even more! We are practicing identifying the main ideas and supporting details through a variety of passages about each of our Native American tribes.
Continue to pick great books to read 20 minutes a night for your home reading time!
Science: We have finished studying birds and mammals. Our test over vertebrates will be Tuesday, Nov., 17th.
Please study your notes and quizzes.
Math: We are still working on multiplication and starting to dabble in division strategies. We still continue to work on facts.
Native American Expert
More Artifacts
6th Grade Happenings!
Wow, sixth graders were really moved by our Veterans Day program. Thank you to everyone who made the program possible, especially our veterans!
In science, students have started researching aliens and space exploration. They are making claims and finding evidence to back up their claims.
In math, students are continuing to multiply and divide decimals. We are also working on real-life problems that include decimals.
In reading, students are continuing to find the central idea and write summaries. We have been writing poetry slams to describe ourselves and our culture.
Music Mania
4th General Music
This week the students began a unit with recorders. They played the note A and the note B. Trying to keep the ‘squeaks’ to a minimum, the students did a wonderful job! As some of them practice at home, encourage a gentle breath and complete covering of the finger holes. We will begin our first song next week towards earning a white belt in the Recorder Karate program.
5th General Music
Students discussed and experienced syncopation this week. Through dance and percussion instruments, students demonstrated syncopated rhythms. They sang Funga Alafia, Mango Walk, I Got Rhythm and began The Rhythm of Life.
6th General Music
This was productive week! 2 of the classes have been successful in playing complete holiday pieces. Chords were lined up well in most measures. It is exciting to see the students realize they are capable of working together to make a beautiful musical piece.
One group will be putting together a dance remix and one class is working on a catchy Holiday song.
Winter Concert Program Notes:
Monday, December 7, 2015
Greene County Middle School Gym
7:00 p.m.
5th/6th Grade Bands and
- 6th General Music
Band Info
http://www.pbs.org/parents/education/music-arts/the-benefits-of-music-education/
Action in PE!
Working on our throwing and catching skills
Art @ GCIS
4th and 5th grades are working on the Firefighter’s Association’s Fire safety poster contest. It must say “Hear the beep where you sleep” on the poster. The prizes are $25 for 3rd place, $50 for 2nd place and $100 for 1st place in each grade! The winning posters will be displayed at the Iowa State Fair and the winning student’s local fire department will also receive $50 towards fire safety.
5th and 6th graders have started on a Notan design. Notan is the term used by the Japanese to express the principle of “dark-light” as an element of design. This concept illustrates the interaction of positive and negative space, emphasizing that one can not exist without the other.
Veteran's Day Assembly
Veteran's Day Highlights
T.A.G.
5th and 6th grade TAG students completed the Thinking Cap Quiz Bowl this week. The tests are self-scoring, computer contests of 100 multiple-choice questions. Areas covered include math, geography, government, sports, spelling, science, literature, English, history, general information and just plain fun trivia. It is meant to be a team activity with all takers around one computer. Two chances to answer correctly are given. Points are awarded based on how fast they answer as well as on accuracy. Therefore, teams who do well usually are teams who can come up with a consensus answer quickly. An adult is needed to monitor but no adult help can be given. We will find out how they stacked up against other Iowa students next week!
What is that?
FCS
5th graders started a unit on safety and sanitation, they need to understand how to be safe in the kitchen. We will do a quick recipe practicing skills.
6th graders are being tested over what they remember from last year. We will be covering nutrition and myplate.
Tech Lit & Media
During our Tech Lit time this week the students are working very diligently to get the lessons in Everfi completed. The 4th graders were learning more about how banks work and how saving money is extremely important. The 6th graders were working through activities that had to do with The Viral World. The 5th graders started working through the reading pre-assessment on Moby Max. This assessment will help in placing the students in their current reading levels.
Mrs. Fester and Mrs. Fisher want to send out a HUGE thank you to everyone that visited our monster-themed Scholastic Book Fair this past week. It was a big success and we were able to get a lot of new titles added to our collection. Our library would not be as great as it is without the support of the community!
Counselor's Corner
Word of the Month: RESPECT
As we continue to help kids learn respectful behaviors in school, it is good to remember how respect looks at home.
Home is the place where you first learn about respect.
You learn about using good manners, like saying 'please' and 'thank you'.
You learn to share things like toys, games and food with other people in your family.
You learn to look after your own things and take care of other things in the house (eg. not jumping on furniture, and wiping your feet etc, so that the house is a good place for everyone to be).
You learn to wait your turn in talking.
You learn to listen.
You learn to understand that you will not always get what you want.
You learn to respect others by helping with chores and not letting the family down.
You learn to respect others in the community where you live.
You learn how to talk to different adults in a way they expect to be spoken to: grandma and her friends may not like to be called by their first name.
Nurse News
Most people agree knowing your family health history is important. Do you know yours? The surgeon general declares every Thanksgiving to be National Family History Day. Talk to your family this Thanksgiving and learn more about your family’s health history. A web based tool is available and can be used on most computers. It is called My Family Health Portrait and can be accessed at https://familyhistory.hhs.gov/.
Information from HHS.gov.