GDW 1st Graders Present "Go Fish!"

Today, under the direction of Mr. Prosek,  GDW's first graders gave a spectacular performance of "Go Fish!", a musical which combined humor, great tunes, and awesome dance moves.  As the plot of "Go Fish!" unfolds, little Tiger Shark and his unique collection of friends discover how their differences make them each special.  It was a great show that received rave reviews from our audience.  

Coins For Cancer

GDW will be participating in the District 300 Relay For Life Event at Hampshire High School on Friday, April 8.  Team GDW will be walking to remember and support those who have been affected by cancer as well as raising finds to donate to Relay For Life and the American Cancer Society.  This past week, GDW students and staff participated in our annual Coins For Cancer drive, where we collected pennies on Monday, nickels on Tuesday, dimes on Wednesday, quarters on Thursday, and dollars on Friday.  Each day, we held a friendly competition to see which classroom raised the most funds.  Our daily classroom coin collecting champs were recognized during morning announcements and then awarded a banner to proudly display outside of their classroom for the day.  While our school-wide goal was to collect $2,000, we came out in true Wildcat fashion and crushed that goal by bringing in a grand total of $4,743.96 which will be donated in support of Relay For Life and the American Cancer Society.  To celebrate our accomplishment and kick off spring break, we will be having a beach-themed dance party.  Way to go, Wildcats!

GDW Staff Recognized By D300 Foundation For Educational Excellence

On behalf of the Gary D. Wright Elementary School learning community, I would like to congratulate Mrs. Heinisch and Mrs. Seiler on their recent recognition as nominees for the D300 Foundation For Educational Excellence Distinguished Educator and School Employee of the Year Awards.  Mrs. Heinisch and Mrs. Seiler will be honored at the upcoming Foundation Award Banquet.  During this reception, they will be recognizing them with a slide show/video we are in the process of creating. We invite you to join us in honoring Mrs. Heinisch and Mrs. Seiler by submitting a short statement of praise for them or even creating a photo message like the example pictured below.  Feel free to be creative and have fun!  All submissions should be emailed to melanie.gravel@d300.org by April 5, 2016.  Thank you for helping us celebrate and honor these two distinguished members of our learning community!

Happy St. Patrick's Day, GDW!

Today, Mrs. Smith and several of our PreK students celebrated St. Patrick's Day by making shamrock shakes!  What a delicious treat!

PBIS Popcorn

As part of Gary D. Wright Elementary School’s Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports system (PBIS), students have the opportunity to earn Pawsome cards.  Pawsome cards are earned when students demonstrate our school-wide expectations of being respectful, responsible, and ready.  Students may exchange the Pawsome cards they earn for classroom or school incentives.

Today, during student lunch hours, we held a school incentive for students that have earned Pawsome cards.  Students had the opportunity to redeem 10 Pawsome cards for a bag of popcorn.  

We would like to thank both the GDW PTO for their support in providing the popcorn for this celebration as well as our parent volunteers who spent time making this delicious treat for our students to enjoy!  

Encouraging Your Child's Creativity to Flourish

The arts have been shown to boost students' academic performance, perseverance, self-confidence, and more.   Each month, the National Association of Elementary School Principals publishes its Report to Parents.  This month's Report to Parents, "Encourage Your Child's Creativity to Flourish", offers families strategies to support their children's creativity.

GDW PreK Students Learn About Cars

This week, GDW PreK students have been learning all about cars.  As a home project, students and their families creates toilet paper tube vehicles, which the students raced at school.  This project enabled students to share their creations and work collaboratively to race their cars to the finish line. Today, they were able to enjoy the beautiful spring weather and extend their learning by taking a trip outside to check out their teachers' cars.  Students explored their teachers' cars and searched for letters, numbers, and symbols all around the vehicles. They were also able to apply content specific vocabulary to the vehicles, including locating doors, antennas, windshield wipers, and more.

Wee Deliver at GDW

This week, Wee Deliver student volunteers demonstrated tremendous leadership by wanting to spread the word about the program.  Dr. Unruh and I met with these students throughout the week to assist them in writing the following blog entry:

Have you ever walked the halls of Gary D. Wright Elementary School and noticed signs hanging from the ceiling?  These signs indicate locations in our school, such as Wright Way, Athlete Alley, Alphabet Avenue and Responsible Road.  Did you ever notice that there is a mailbox outside of each classroom with an address on it?  Have you ever wondered why these hallway street signs and mailboxes exist?  They are part of Wee Deliver. 

Wee Deliver is a program we offer at Gary D. Wright Elementary School where students can write letters to our students and staff.  The letters are delivered through an inter-school postal system, which is staffed by fourth and fifth grade student volunteers who work during their lunch recess time.  Volunteers fill many different roles that are all very important.  For example, a nixie clerk has the responsibility to look over all letters that are addressed to ensure the proper information is written in order for the letter to arrive at the receiver’s mailbox.  Sorters work to sort letters into different boxes based on the delivery location within our school.  For example, some letters are addressed to someone on Alphabet Avenue while others are intended for delivery on Responsible Road.  Carriers bring the mail to each of the mailboxes located throughout our school.  The Post Master and Assistant Post Master oversee all of the Wee Deliver operations and ensure the inter-school postal system is functioning smoothly.  They also fill-in for other positions if a volunteer is absent during their duty. 

Keep writing letters, GDW!

On behalf of Dr. Unruh and myself, we would like to recognize our Wee Deliver student volunteers for their leadership within our learning community.