Sunday, August 28, 2016

Wildcat Summer Challenge

Throughout the summer, Gary D. Wright Elementary School students had the opportunity to participate in the Wildcat Summer Challenge.  Students were challenged to complete the following tasks each week: engage in 45 minutes of iReady Math lessons, 45 minutes of iReady Reading lessons, and pass at least one iReady Math and Reading lesson.  For each week students met this criteria, they earned a chance to win cool prizes including Chicago White Sox tickets, Culver’s custard, bowling at Brunswick Zone, and more!  Thank you to our PTO for providing the funds to create yard signs for the Wildcat Summer Challenge, and to all of our community sponsors who donated prizes in support of our students’ accomplishments throughout the summer!


Congratulations to GDW fourth grader, Ploylinn Xaypharath, for winning the Wildcat Summer Challenge grand prize – an iPad mini!  Additionally, congratulations to all of our Wildcat Summer Challenge participants!  We would also like to thank our Wildcat families for promoting the challenge with your children.  For those families who submitted their child's photo, thank you!  We have included them in this blog post!













Sunday, August 21, 2016

Welcome Back to School, Wildcats!

Welcome back to school, Wildcats!  We have spent the summer preparing for what is sure to be the best year ever and it was so exciting to kick things off this past week!

Our first day of school began with our first ever Boohoo Yahoo Breakfast sponsored by the PTO. Parents of incoming kindergarten students were able to meet in the cafeteria to enjoy breakfast, find out about the many ways to become involved in our learning community, and network with one another.

To commemorate the first day of school, we gathered around our school's flag pole to celebrate our annual balloon release.  We were honored to have Mr. Gary D. Wright himself in attendance.  Mr. Wright addressed the students, staff, and families.  He then spent the first day of school with Dr. Unruh and myself visiting classrooms, where we had the privilege of welcoming back our students and engaging in many creative getting to know you activities that our incredibly talented staff planned.

This week, students were able to have fun on our newly installed playground equipment, thanks to the support of our PTO and Wildcat learning community!  Additionally, Mr. Krivosik, our Band and Orchestra Teacher, held an assembly for our fifth grade students to preview instruments.

Our first week back to school was amazing and I look forward to what our future will hold throughout the 2016-2017 school year!