Griffins Connect
March 28th #BuildingABetterGriffin #WholeChild
2020-2021 PTA Reflections Winners
Karthik Arumugam
“Everyone Matters” - Literature (Elementary School); State Award of Merit & District Award of Excellence
Prathiksha Raguram
Literature (Middle School); District Award of Merit
Charlotte Metcalf
“Perspective” - Music Composition (Middle School); State Award of Excellence & District Award of Excellence
Sashwath Sivaraman
“Evolve” - Photography (Middle School); State Recognition & District Award of Excellence
Sashwath Sivaraman
“HeART of Love” - Visual Arts (Middle School); State Recognition & District Award of Excellence
What's Ahead...
This Week...
- April 1st: Quarter 3 Report Cards
- April 1st: Last day to submit nomination for A.R.M.E.S.
Looking Ahead...
- April 5th-April 9th: Spring Break
- April 30th: Last Day to Purchase Elementary Yearbook
International Travel & COVID
As spring break draws nearer, you may have questions about foreign travel and COVID.
GCS will follow CDC guidance. All international travelers, regardless of vaccination status, should get tested 3–5 days after travel and stay home and self-quarantine for 7 days after travel, even if their test is negative. Travelers who don’t get tested should stay home and self-quarantine for 10 days after travel.
If a student from our school or district travels internationally by air while this requirement is in effect, please let me know.
#WholeChild Moment: Blooming Writers in Kindergarten
Since January, Kim Marchbanks, Literacy Specialist, has been working together with our 5k assistants, Emilie Sheppard and Tracy Cheatham to help K5 students write stories. Their writing has progressed so much over the last few months. They have gone from mostly copying simple can/have/are sentences about arctic animals to writing about holidays, a how-to sequential story, science observations, an opinion story and completing a research report about community helpers.
Along the way, they have improved their handwriting skills, spelling skills, and reading skills as their creations have become more and more complex. Most K5 students can now write their own sentences and stories using the word wall, topic word charts, and tapping out the letters they hear in words they write. Most K5ers can now explain the purpose of an introduction and a conclusion. Teaching K5 is a lesson in patience, humility, and sheer joy. We are learning as much from them, as they are from us! Check out some of their amazing work.
#SterlingSchoolWeGotThis #BuildingABetterGriffin
Sterling School K4-2nd Grade Virtual Career Day (More Still Needed)
We are looking for individuals who are willing to make a 5-8 minute video about your career. Videos should include: Age-appropriate, interesting, fun facts about your career and any tools or visuals to help us understand your career
Send your videos or questions to: Chameka Duncan (ckduncan@greenville.k12.sc.us)
Need Ideas? Feel free to answer these questions in your videos:
- What kind of education/training/certification does your job require?
- Do you work with other people or by yourself?
- Do you have to travel for your job?
- Do you work indoors or outdoors?
- Why did you choose this job?
- How many years have you had this job?
- Describe your typical day.
- What is the most satisfying or exciting thing about your job?
- What are some things that you don’t like about your job?
- What is your schedule/hours like?
Elementary Yearbook
Don't forget to order your child an Elementary Sterling Yearbook (K4-5) before it is too late! Yearbooks are on sale now for only $25. Please use the following link to order one today!!
http://jostensyearbooks.com/?REF=A01118759
Last day to purchase elementary yearbook is April 30th.
CTC Student Newspaper: Latest Edition
Extra, Extra, Read All About It! The latest edition of the CTC Student Newspaper, our school's student newspaper, is out! (CLICK HERE!)
A student newspaper teaches and reinforces a lot of skills that will benefit students today and tomorrow. Students who participate in a student newspaper learn a lot of workplace skills such as management, meeting deadlines, and communicating with others. School newspapers also enforce a need for teamwork.
Safety First, Efficiency Second
- NO TEXTING while moving in the carline. Hands-Free only.
- Students are to Unload and Load all along the covered walkway. NOT in the visitor parking area or left lane. (Remember, our students have to walk to class, walk to lunch, walk to recess..... and they are capable of walking a few yards to get into the school.)
- Students should exit and enter cars from the passenger side right of the vehicle.
- The tardy bell rings and the instructional day begins at 7:45am.
2021 A.R.M.E.S. Nomination Information
It is once again almost time to begin nominating rising 3rd - 8th graders for the GCS ARMES (Art Reaching Middle and Elementary Students) program. These students are identified as Artistic Gifted and Talented and served through an after school program at the Fine Arts Center.
- WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT AREAS? Strings, Art, Dance, Creative Writing and Drama. Students may be nominated and audition for as many areas as they have interest but once accepted into the program, can only participate in one area per year. A separate nomination form for each discipline is required.
- WHO IS ELIGIBLE? Rising 3rd – 8th graders for the 2021 - 2022 school year.
- HOW DOES THE PROCESS WORK? Anyone can nominate a student, including teachers, parents, other adults, or self. Go to http://www.armesprogram.com and click on the link, “ARMES NOMINATION” and complete the online nomination.
Nominations will be open from February 1, 2021 through April 1, 2021. Information will be shared with your related arts teachers, guidance departments and through district social media.
ICYMI: In Case You Missed It
Congrats to Sierra!
Congratulations to 8th grader, Sierra Kremenliev, who was recently selected to participate in the “Rising Stars Piccolo Spoleto 2021” performance! She was chosen for her beautiful cello submission. We are so proud of her! #BuildingABetterGriffin #WholeChild
In its 13th year, Rising Stars Piccolo Spoleto provides artistically talented youth of the US Southeast (SC NC, FA, TN, AL, MS, and FL) with a high profile performance venue that recognizes their exceptional artistic talent.
The programs are presented during the 2021 Spoleto USA/Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina, being held from May 28th through June 13th.
Spring is Here! #WholeChild Moment
At Sterling, inquiry-based learning is a frequently utilized strategy to inspire student learning and engagement. For 21 days, first graders in Miss Lunsford’s class have tracked the growth and development of chick embryos in the incubator. The class even saw egg movement and heard peeping before hatch day. This week, students got to watch them hatch! (Check out the video to hear the students' response! ) Sixteen chicks will be guests in the classroom as students provide for their needs and name them. Students have enjoyed reading to their new feathery friends. Going forward, students will use observation and writing skills to regularly document and measure the chicks’ growth in their science journals! #WholeChild
Making Your Own Minicomics with Sarah Murdaugh
In this one-day workshop at Greenville Center for Creative Arts, CTC graduate, Sarah Murdaugh will instruct students in creating an eight-page mini-comic that can be photocopied and shared or traded with others. The workshop will cover designing a character, telling a three-act story, and using comic conventions such as thumb-nailing, text bubbles, and lettering. Students will also learn inking techniques in order to ink their final comic before making copies to distribute however they would like. Supplies will be provided. The workshop will be held Saturday, April 24th from 10am to 2pm for students ages 10 to 18. For registration and other course listings, see the Greenville Center for Creative Arts’ class page here: https://www.artcentergreenville.org/fullclasslisting/
Sterling School
Email: jpatterson@greenville.k12.sc.us
Website: www.greenville.k12.sc.us/sterling
Location: Sterling School, John McCarroll Way, Greenville, SC, United States
Phone: 864-355-4480
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theSterlingSchool
Twitter: @SterlingSchool