GCIS Weekly News 10/14/2016
Weekly Celebrations, Successes, and Up Coming Events!
We're not here to be average; We're here to be AWESOME!
GCIS AWESOME STUDENTS OF THE WEEK!
GCIS Office News
Fall Has Arrived!
- Please make sure your child is showing up dressed for the weather each day! Fall has arrived, and winter will be here before we know it! Below I have included what we would like to see students sent with prepared for the weather each school day moving forward. If you have an additional questions please don't hesitate calling the office. (515)738-5721. If students are not properly dressed they will be asked to stay inside for recess and spend time reading. Students health and well being play into our success as students! Thanks so much for your efforts!
- Temps ranging from 50 degrees and above: Short sleeves are acceptable
- Temps ranging from 45-50 degrees: Long sleeves, light jacket, hats encouraged
- Temps 45 degrees and below: Warm winter gear (hats, gloves, winter jacket, and snow pants and boots)
*If for any reason you need any of the above mentioned items, please don't hesitate to let us know how we might help. We have various resources that we can access to ensure all students have what they need for the coming winter months.
Principal Shoutout!
Once we arrived at our safe locations we talked about what these safe locations are used for and why we have them. We talked about all the different reasons we might have to evacuate. Great discussions with students and staff allowed us to talk about safety and ensure students feel comfortable with what to do in case of an emergency.
I was very impressed with how the students took the drill seriously. At Greene County Intermediate safety is a big priority. I believe this is an area that we can always practice and discuss throughout the year, and continually improve on in all areas of our day. Hopefully you were ale to have conversations with your child about safety. If there is ever a concern or a safety issue that you desire to bring to my attention please don't hesitate to email me or call the office. I desire to hear from you as we improve. I desire a school where all students and staff cannot feel safe and their needs are met. Thanks for all you do!
Lockdown Drill
We will be running a Lockdown drill in the future before winter break. During this drill students will practice with teachers, turning off the lights, finding a safe spot in the room that is out of sight, and quiet, level 0 voices. Homeroom teachers have prepared students for this during community time. We have also partnered with our local police officers about a month ago where they came and to our school and we held an assembly to refresh both staff and students on what to do in an event there is a threat inside the building. Please call the office if you have any additional questions or concerns.
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/
Add it to the Calendar!
GCIS Fundraiser Kick Off: October 18th
No School: October 19th, 20th, 21st
- Staff Professional Development Conference in DSM
Fall Fest 10/28
- RAINDATE: 10/31
November 8th & 10th Conferences
- 4:00-7:00 pm
Fall Fest at Spring Lake
All parents are welcome to join us for that day. Please contact the office or your homeroom teacher if you plan on attending. We are hoping to have 2-3 parents from each grade level join us!
Vocal Trash!
Please mark your calendars for Thursday December 8th. VOCAL TRASH will be holding a concert (Location TBA) during the afternoon for GCIS students and staff with a theme of bullying, and also hold a special evening show for Greene County families on going green and our environment. Please help us spread the news about this great event! Kids of all ages will get in FREE to the evening show, and adults will have a small fee! This group has toured all over the world! It's going to be electric!
Click HERE for more info about this group and their messages for students and the public! YOU DON'T WANT TO MISS THIS OPPORTUNITY!
Students riding on a different bus...
First Offense: Recess
Second Offense: 1/2 day of ISS
Third Offense: Full Day of ISS
If this behavior continues a meeting will be had with parent, child, and homeroom teacher. Students will still receive a formal write up from the bus per bus policy. All inquires with formal bus write ups are directed to Mr. Wayne Hougham.
Feature Friday Speaker
Blow is a picture of our first speaker of the year: Mr. Lansman. Students learn about the feature speaker and the topic they will be speaking on and sign up to attend. Mr. Lansman spoke about what it means to be a student athlete and also brought some student athletes with him! They were able to share amazing insight into what it looks like on the field/court, what it means in public, and at school! We had 107 students attend this great talk! Ask them what they learned! Thanks again Mr. Lansman and student athletes for all you do! We appreciate you!
4th Grade Happenings!
Math: We have been very busy measuring! Students used yardsticks to measure objects in inches, feet and yards (pictured below). We also introduced converting inches to feet and feet to yards.
Social Studies/Reading: We are continuing to work on our mystery unit. Last week we introduced the elements of plot and discussed the vocabulary used to describe those elements (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution). Next week we are looking forward to starting a mini-unit on the election!
Science: In Science we are finishing up our light phenomenon research projects. Students took their research and developed paragraphs with the information they found. They practiced their presentation skills by reading to themselves, reading to the wall, and reading to a partner and will be presenting to their peers later this week! We also did light experiment stations this week too!
5th Grade Happenings!
Math: We are working on place value system. Also the powers of ten.
Lit./Social Studies: In reading, we just finished up our unit on Figurative Language, and are starting our next unit on comparing and contrasting two or more characters, settings, or events in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text. In writing, students are working hard on their personal narrative piece. In social studies, we have been learning how to read and create different types of graphs.
Science: We read a National Geographic for Kids story on bees and their role in our environment. We have been learning the difference between vertebrate and invertebrate animals. Note taking has been a new challenge, but we are improving.
BE SURE TO BE SIGNING AND SENDING BACK VISION FORMS FOR OUR FREE EYE EXAM ON WED., OCT. 26TH. All 5th graders with a signed form get to experience Dr. Stalder and his team of professionals here at school.
Remember: No school next Wed.-Fri. Due to teacher inservice. Enjoy your break and come back ready to learn!!!!
6th Grade Happenings!
In science, students are researching natural hazards that can be caused by the movement of plates. Students will discover what causes earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions. They will also look at data from past events to help them predict where future hazards may occur.
In math, students are continuing to work on adding and subtracting fractions. Some are beginning to multiply and divide fractions.
In reading, students are continuing to learn about the Constitution. We have been reading lots of information about the Constitution and then writing about it. We have also been learning new vocabulary words that relate to the Constitution.
PE
Music Mania
REMINDER for 6th Grade Music:
Forms and money for the Iowa Wild Hockey game needs to be returned to Mrs. Roberts by this coming Wednesday, October 19th. Students are working on our song “God Bless America” and it is going well!
Art News
All art classes are finishing up their Character Counts posters that we have been working on. We will hang them in the hallways this week. Students did an awesome job! When they were done with their poster, we watched an anti-bullying video done by a student.
T.A.G
6th grade TAG is still planning their dream vacation, 5th grade is making their dream house and 4th grade finished up their Omni-cube unit. I will be attending the Iowa TAG conference Monday and Tuesday next week and I plan on coming back with a bunch of new activities and ideas!
Special Education News
4th grade is working on starting with an idea and writing a topic sentence. Then developing a paragraph. They are editing their own work. All are excited to use the chromebooks and Read Write for Google. In math, they are understanding the inch, foot and yard. They are finding objects that are about that size (estimating) and then measuring the exact length.
5th grade is working on comparing and contrasting character, setting and plot. In math, they are working on understanding place value and the relationship of each.
6th grade is continuing working on skills in reading and in math adding and subtracting fractions.
Counseling News
What is Bullying?
The definition below is used for bullying prevention and intervention programming in schools. This definition guides efforts to educate all constituents with common language around bullying.
Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time.
In order to be considered bullying, the behavior must be aggressive and include:
• An Imbalance of Power: Kids who bully use their power—such as physical strength, access to embarrassing information, or popularity—to control or harm others. Power imbalances can change over time and in different situations, even if they involve the same people.
• Repetition: Bullying behaviors happen more than once or have the potential to happen more than once.
Bullying includes actions such as making threats, spreading rumors, attacking someone physically or verbally, and excluding someone from a group on purpose. - 2014 US Department of Education office of Safe Schools
In his writings, Dr. Dan Olweus, creator of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program, is very clear that bullying is peer abuse that should not be tolerated.
For more information on how you can prevent bullying, please visit the following helpful websites:
The Iowa Dept of Education: https://www.educateiowa.gov/pk-12/learner-supports/anti-bullyinganti-harassment, http://www.stompoutbullying.org/, https://www.stopbullying.gov/, and Teaching Tolerance: www.tolerance.org/
Nurse News!
It’s time for flu vaccines. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends everyone over the age of 6 months gets a flu vaccine every year. Getting the flu vaccine is the best way to reduce the chances of getting influenza. Influenza is a serious disease that can lead to hospitalization and even death. The more people that are vaccinated against the flu the less flu is transmitted from one person to another. This helps protect those that are more vulnerable to the flu, such as young babies, the elderly, and those with chronic health conditions. Flu vaccines are available at Greene County Public Health, at your doctor’s office, and at pharmacies.