GATOR GAZETTE
November 2019 * Volume 17 * Issue 2 * Hugh Gregg School
PTA President's Message
Our fall fundraiser is in full swing and we hope you like it. This is our biggest fundraiser event this school year and we hope each child sells at least 3 items. This will help the PTA support your Gregg Gator and the staff. Reminder if your Gregg Gator sells 7 items they will earn a free cookie dough and the deadline for the orders and money is October 30th. Any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.Coming up this Friday, October 25th is this years Monster Mash; we look forward to seeing all of you there for a fun filled night.All of the events coming up throughout the school year would not happen without the planning and dedication of our PTA volunteers. We’re always looking for new people with new and exciting ideas to get more involved with your children and the school; you may start by attending a PTA meeting. PTA meetings are open to all Gregg school parents and are held on the 1st Tuesday of each month in the Gregg School cafeteria at 6:00 pm. We hope to see you there our next two meetings will be November 5th and then December 3rd.
Joshua W White, President
Principal's Post
And just like that, we turn the calendar and it is November. We have wrapped up our second month of the school year and we have about 4 weeks remaining until the end of the first marking period (December 4). The fall has been busy and we are very focused at Gregg School on learning and all the excitement that comes with being a Gregg Gator!
As you know, we will be wrapping up our One School, One Book initiative (The World According to Humphrey) at the end of October. We have heard some great feedback about this choice and the program we use to encourage reading aloud and WITH your children as a family. Did your family enjoy reading together in this way? (I also heard that a few local hamsters have been adopted too!) Please share your feedback and keep reading from the Humphrey series. Scholastic carries many of the squeak-els. Stay tuned for our second OSOB this spring (another wonderful selection but not a Humphrey book).
I continue to be impressed by the involvement of parents at PTA events this year. Please join us at the monthly meetings. They begin at 6 pm and last about one hour.
We are always looking for ways to connect with our parents/families. Please reach out to me if you have interests in volunteering at Gregg. Mr. Pritchard in the library is looking for a volunteer if that is an interest of yours.
PTA attendance at meetings has decreased and I am hopeful that this will change now that we are into November. The PTA is a fun and committed group and would love to partner with you about all things Gregg School! Parent involvement has been an aspect of this school that has brought me great pride in the past! We appreciate your support through PTA memberships, as well.
Thanks for all that you do!
Wishing you the best,
Mrs. Ann Collins, Principal
Behind every young child who believes in himself is a parent who believed first.
Mind Full or Mindful by Mrs. Laurie Friends, School Social Worker
We are once again practicing mindfulness at Hugh Gregg. Currently we are doing Mindful Movement in Grades K and 1. Each week I am going into classes to offer 15 minute brain breaks. My hope is to teach students self-regulation strategies. Self-regulation is the ability to manage emotions and behavior in accordance with the demands of any given situation. It includes being able to resist highly emotional reactions to upsetting circumstances, to calm yourself when you get upset, to adjust to a change in expectations and to handle frustration without an outburst. It is a set of skills that enable children, as they mature, to direct their own behavior toward a goal, despite the unpredictability of the world and their feelings.
Mindful Movement teaches students to take a break, to turn their attention inward, to explore the messages their bodies are giving them and to use their breath to bring about a sense of calm and centeredness. Our guided meditation yesterday challenged students to feel their whole bodies glowing like a radiant star. Acknowledging that this is their personal brilliance, the love in their heart and the sum of their possibilities and that their possibilities are ENDLESS! It was so exciting to look around the room and see students truly following along in their imaginations, but most encouraging were the comments I received when asked how students felt following the exercise. Students answered: I feel calm, I feel peaceful, I feel ready to learn. I teach students that the breath is their anchor and by consciously manipulating the breath, they can create a sense of calm even when experiencing powerful and often uncomfortable emotions.
I look forward to continuing to build on our mindfulness practice with Kindergarten and 1st grade but to also revisit this practice with each of the other grades as well. I thank you for your patience as I was out on a medical leave last spring. Although I cannot offer full yoga practices, I will be infusing some yoga movement in our mindfulness classes. Feel free to ask your students what they are learning and how they can apply it to their lives both at school and at home.Positive Recognitions
Way to Go Gators!
Mrs. Smith's First Graders Are Awesome!
We Acknowledge Positive Gestures
Thanks for Making Gregg School Great!
We Hope Your Family Enjoyed OSOB!
Picture Retake Day is Wednesday, November 13.
NOTE: If you had pictures taken on 10/10 and you were not happy with them, please make sure to return the original pictures so you won’t be charged for the 2nd set. Thanks!
Hugh Gregg Elementary School
Email: acollins@cppmail.com
Website: https://www.corningareaschools.com/7/home
Location: 164 Flint Avenue, Corning, NY, USA
Phone: 6079621514
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HughGreggElementaryPTA/