GCIS Weekly News 2/3/17
Weekly Celebrations, Successes, and Up Coming Events!
We're not here to be average; We're here to be AWESOME!
Iowa Assessment Week!
Awesome Students of the Week!
GCIS Office News
Office Hours
7:30 am - 4:00 pm (M, T, TH, F)
7:30 am - 3:00 pm (W)
When our office is closed, our voicemail is turned on. Please feel free to leave a message and we will get back to you when business hours resume. Thanks!
Office Phone #: 515-738-5721
Please be sure to give our office a call if your student will be out for the day, picked up early, or any changes in their after school plans. Please be sure to call by 2:30 pm on a regular dismissal day to allow time to get the message to your student. (By 1:00 pm on Wednesdays).
Infinite Campus
Infinite Campus is a great tool to be able to check on your student’s school information! You can see if they have missing assignments, view their grades, attendance, lunch balance and much more! Interested? Sign up is easy! Give our office a call to request a form.
Recess
Please make sure that your students dress appropriately for outside play. As long as the temperatures are at zero or above, we go outside. Students need to be wearing a winter coat, hat, mittens, boots and snow pants. If you have any questions or concerns in regard to this, please don’t hesitate to give our office a call.
Lunch
You are welcome to come and eat lunch with your student any time! We ask that you come through the office and sign in first. Our lunch cost for an adult is $3.45. You may view our lunch and breakfast menu online. http://gccsd.nutrislice.com
Lunch Times (M, T, TH, F)
4th Grade - 12:15-12:40
5th Grade - 10:50-11:10
6th Grade - 11:40-12:05
Lunch Times (W)
4th Grade - 10:50-11:15
5th Grade - 11:15-11:40
6th Grade - 11:40-12:05
Iowa Assessment Healthy Snack Donations
Dear GCIS Parent:
We are still taking donations throughout the week next week. Greene County Schools will be doing the Iowa Assessments the week of February 6-10, 2017.
As these tests are extremely important, we would like to offer nutritious snacks to
our students each morning before testing begins, and we are asking for donations
of snacks such as granola bars, whole grain fruit bars and other healthy snacks.
Thank you in advance for your donations!
Greene County Intermediate School Staff
Principal Shoutout!
I wanted to thank all the families that attended our first ever Family Movie Night! We had an amazing turnout and delicious snacks! This is a great example of putting empathy in action lead by our students. The 4th grade teachers, and many other staff have been encouraged by there compassion for a student in our school community.
Our 4th grade students are filled with compassion and empathy! The students brainstormed and presented to me how they wanted to take action and help a classmate in need. It was a powerful thing to see and reiterate to students that you don't have to be an adult or "old" (whatever that means) to put empathy in action.
As a result of their compassion and empathy, along with the compassion and empathy of so many families and community members we were able to raise close to $2000.00 for the family!!!! GOOSEBUMP MOMENT FOR SURE!
Email: vancleavem@greenecountycsd.net
Website: http://www.gccsd.k12.ia.us/gcis
Location: 405 12th Street South, Grand Junction, IA, United States
Phone: 515-738-5721
Facebook: facebook.com/pages/Greene-County-Intermediate/
Twitter: @marandavc
Add it to the Calendar!
~FEBRUARY~
Iowa Assessment Week: Feb 6th-10th
- Iowa Assessment Make Up Week 13th-17th
PBIS Winter Bash: Friday Feb 24th
Student Choices:
- 7 oaks Sledding (Ogden)
- Hidden Acres: Swimming & Open Gym (Dayton)
- Skateland (Jefferson)
~MARCH~
No School: 3/1
Session #4 Clubs: 3/8
No School Spring Break: 13th-17th
GCIS Conferences
- Tuesday March 21st 4:00-7:00 pm
- Thursday March 23rd 4:00-7:00 pm
Next Parent Advisory
6:30-7:30 pm
Greene County Administration Office
Topics:
- Performance Tasks & Project Based Learning
- AEA Rep: Julie Graber & Karen Sandberg Guests
- Data from Teachers, Staff, & Students for 5-8 building
- Parent Generated Topics
Iowa Assessments
- February 6th -10th
Make Up Testing:
- 13th - 17th
Please notify the office in advance if there will be any absences you know of during this time so we can plan accordingly with testing.
Please avoid scheduling appointments during the morning, the week of February 6th-10th.
4th Grade Happenings!
What a great week have had! We raised just about $2,000 for our friend! We had a great time sledding.
Reading- We have been as busy as beavers working on our figurative language skills this week!. We are wrapping up the book reviews. You will be seeing them in the libraries soon.
Math-We have started our fractions unit! We have started fractions by solving number stories involving equally shared quantities and showing different ways to solve each problem.
Science - The 4th graders are finishing up their Animal Adaptation Research Projects. We have started looking at topographical maps. We have noticed similarities and differences in the continents. We will start digging into the earth to see types of rock there are as well as what else might be in the rock.
Remember, next week we will doing Iowa Assessments. It is important that everyone gets enough sleep and eat breakfast. It is also important to be reading 20 minutes a night!!!
5th Grade Happenings!
Math: Fractions, Fractions, Fractions. Not much more to say about that.
Science: Animal Adaptations: Camouflage, Mimicry, behaviors, and a quiz this week. Snow days, late starts, crazy schedules!
Lit/SS- We are starting our new unit in reading on plot structure of fictional text. They will be analyzing how a series of chapters or scenes fits together to provide the overall structure of a story. In social studies, we will be choosing a native american group to do some deeper research on and then compose a formal research paper. Also, all 5th graders need to continue reading 20 minutes per night and filling out their weekly reading trackers. Thank You:)
6th Grade Happenings!
In science, students are using their knowledge about atoms to create models of molecules. They’re exploring different types of molecules and how they can change.
In reading, we are finishing up our personal narrative unit. Students are working on adding details and editing. Ask your child to share their narrative with you.
In math, students are starting to present their recipe projects. Some have even made their recipe at home and brought it in to share with their classmates.
Mr. Brown's Math Class
Special Education News
Please remind your students to eat well and get plenty of rest as we prepare for Iowa Assessments next week. Encourage your students to do their best! Looking forward to a great testing week.
Band News
It’s Alive! I’m back everybody. :) My brain surgery was successful, but I will still have to go through 7 weeks of radiation treatment for the remaining tumor that was calcified. They were able to remove 95% of the existing tumor, and it is not cancer. Then, the week before I returned I got a kidney stone, so I’m very weak right now. It’s good to be back and see all of the students again, and a big thank you to Brenda Roberts, Wes Anderson, and Chad Schmertmann for taking care of the students while I was gone.
We will be moving forward from here by looking at solo and ensemble literature, and getting ready for the Spring concert.
Music News!
4th General Music: We worked with auxiliary percussion instruments this week. We discussed steady beat and practiced keeping a steady beat in a variety of ways. (i.e. pat/clap, snap/clap, tapping feet, instruments…) We will work our way into discussing the difference between beat and rhythm.
5th General Music: We are looking at meter of 2 and 3. We sang through “Under the Sea” in a meter of 2. We slowed down the tempo in order to learn the words and get a clean articulated sound.
6th General Music: With a shortened week, we finish up the music of the 1960’s. There was discussion of producer Berry Gordy Jr. Beginning the Motown records, there were certain expectations required of the groups he signed. We had a mild debate about whether or not he was right in requiring respectable appearance, behavior and social lives. The students also learned a bit about Stevie Wonder. Next week we work into Disco
Art
The 4th grade art group is finishing up their woven heart baskets to use for Valentine’s Day! They are all decorated and ready to be hung on their desks! Even the teachers have one!
The 5th Grade students are finishing their Keith Haring stick figures. They are going up on the walls like Keith did with his graffiti art. It’s starting to look awesome in the 5th grade hallway!
The new 6th grade art students are drawing abstract close ups of an animal eye! They are able to choose which animal they would like and to choose which medium they would like to use to create it. (Medium - Material used for artistic expression)
T.A.G.
6th Grade TAG worked on their poster to display their marble run that they created. It is almost done! They have been working on this for a long time… and the next step will be to present it to their classrooms (and maybe the other grades!)
5th grade TAG students will meet Friday and are going to host their “Guess That Animal!” game show in their classrooms! I will get ahold of teachers and let them know when they will be coming in. We have rules written down, a game show host and even buzzers!
4th grade TAG students will be working on a new Tinker Crate puzzle. They are so much fun to figure out and the students LOVE presenting what they have learned to their classrooms!
The Importance of Keyboarding Skills
September 15, 2016
By: Tommy Doc
Technology is continuing and will continue to shape our daily and professional lives. Currently, voice and other input technologies are not prepared to meet today's demand, so the keyboard remains the primary source for inputting information into computers. Keyboarding skills are very important in that they can impact a person's ability to communicate with others in the future, both in social and professions.
Programs and Students: Keyboarding skills are most necessary for using word processing software, but are also required if using database software, email or instant message communication. From an academic standpoint, keyboarding skills are a must for students interested in higher levels of education in almost any field. Word processing software can be a substantial time-saver and tool for students at any level; those who are unable to use this tool will fall behind.
Job Placement: Many careers today require keyboarding and basic computer skills. By having adequate keyboarding skills, people can open up a much larger market for themselves when making a career choice. Some fields that would require intensive keyboarding skills would be legal, journalism, statistics, social sciences and language arts.
Social Functions: As younger generations have shown, children and young adults are communicating via text message and via the Internet at increasing rates. A person slow to adopt these forms of mobile and Internet communication may miss out on opportunities to make friends with others, a key component of social development for younger adults.
Instruction: According to the Saskatchewan Education Department, a minimum of 50 hours of instruction is needed for middle school-aged children to become proficient in keyboarding skills. Keyboarding skills should be taught by trained professionals who are familiar in the proper fundamentals and techniques of key stroking. Lastly, as with any new skill, it is important to practice keyboarding skills to develop and maintain them over time.
https://www.techwalla.com/articles/importance-keyboarding-skillsPhysical Education
Classes will be traveling to Spare Time Lanes in Jefferson Feb 6-14 for our bowling unit. Each student will have a chance to bowl two times.
This week in class we did some simulation bowling to prepare for our bowling unit.
Counseling News
Thank You for Helping GCIS Help Our Students!!
February 6-10 our GCIS students will be completing the reading, math and science portions of the Iowa Assessments. This very important test requires energy and focus, and we are planning to offer healthy snacks before testing each day. With over 275 kids, that’s a LOT of snacks!
I want to THANK ALL PARENTS & GUARDIANS for sending the snacks that have been donated so far. We still need more healthy, individually wrapped snacks such as whole-grain granola or protein bars, fruit bars or fruit snacks, apples, cheese & crackers, even fresh fruit like apples, oranges or bananas.
THANK YOU!
To our Greene County Community, HYVEE and FAREWAY for helping support GCIS
during Iowa Assessments again this year!
You are so AWESOME!!!
Nurse News!
According to the reports from the Iowa Department of Public Health cases of influenza are on the rise. Please remember to keep your child home if they have a fever or signs and symptoms of influenza. They include fever, chills, coughing, sore throat, muscle aches, headache, and fatigue. To prevent the spread a influenza remember to get your flu shot, proper hand washing, covering coughs and sneezes, plenty of rest, and good nutrition.