Weekly Update: March 1, 2019
Weekly Update: Friday, March 1
Happy Friday! Happy March! We almost had a full week of school! So close! This past week the Board of Education amended the 2018-19 calendar. The plan moving forward at this time is that students will attend school on April 1, 2019 and will dismiss at 12:30 pm. Staff will participate in a scheduled PD day in the afternoon in order to prepare for the upcoming new State Assessment, ISASP. This training is imperative as the testing will begin the following week. This has been an unusual winter and I appreciate everyone's patience and flexibility as we navigate the weather to ensure that student and staff needs are being met. At this time, our last day of school for students remains June 6, 2019. Graduation date will remain the same, May 26 2019.
No School Monday, March 4 for Staff Professional Development
STEAM Early Childhood Event: Sunday March 3
Join us for our annual early childhood event with a STEAM theme (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math)
WHEN: Sunday, March 3 between 3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
WHERE: Grinnell High School
WHO IS THIS EVENT FOR: Anyone in our community that has children birth - five!
Need to knows:
This event will kick off the preschool registration for the 2019-2020 school year. Preschools in attendance will be;
*Grinnell Newburg Preschool at Fairview *UCC Preschool
*Grinnell Daycare and Preschool *Grinnell College Preschool
*MICA Head Start
Kindergarten registration for the 2019-2020 school year will also be held at this event. Registering students need to have birth certificate and immunization records. If you are unable to attend this event, you can register between March 4-8 from 7:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m at the High School counseling office with Elizabeth Plagge. Please note, there is no guaranteed placement at this time. Kindergarten classes will be placed based on class size and number of students.
We're excited to share that we were able to recognize 18 students for completing the 100 Acts of Kindness! This challenge was tied with the 10 Days of Kindness that concluded at the beginning of February. This group alone accounted for 1,800 acts of kindness!
GMS students had a chance to take part in a book club reading the All Iowa Reads selections Amina's Voice and The Land of Permanent Goodbyes thanks to a partnership between GMS library and Drake library. Copies of the books were given to students by the Friends of Drake library, and students were able to keep the books. The students met to discuss the books over their lunch blocks this week.
GMS students participated in Math Counts on February 27, 2019: Great Job!
The GMS MATHCOUNTS team had a great day at the Central IA Chapter Competition held at DMACC - Ankeny on February 27. The GMS MATHCOUNTS contingent consisted of 4 members of the GMS Team, 6 additional individual competitors, and 2 alternates. All ten of the official competitors finished in the top half of the 352 students coming from schools of all sizes across central Iowa. Tristan Willenbring finished in the top 10% with a 32nd place finish. The other individual mathletes were 8th graders Peter Simpson (42nd), Kiran Jones (56th), Timo Mobley-Benoist (69th), Kalli Hart (88th), Sam Ulrickson (92nd), Ezra Praitis Hill (130th), seventh graders Jeffrey Sieck (81st) and Della Pease (alternate), and 6th graders Luke Ohlsen (119th), Harrison Laug (164th), and Beaux Blanchard (alternate). The official GMS team (Willenbring, Jones, Mobely-Benoist, Ulrickson) placed 11th out of 36 teams.
GHS Play is Next Weekend:
Come out to see “Rosencrantz and Guilderstern are Des”! Showtimes are Friday and Saturday March 8 and 9 at 7:30pm in the GHS auditorium.
GHS Tigers:
Congratulations to our girls Basketball team for making it to the State Competition. It has been an amazing season and as I have said many times, these girls are very impressive on and off the court. We are very proud of all of you!
LMC TEAM:
I want to thank the GNEA for coming together this week to discuss topics related to the overall operations of the district and assistance to problem solve weather related days and make up time. I appreciate our open conversations and dialogue. I am grateful for our working relationship! Thanks you! This winter has been a challenge.
Davis Team Presentation:
Thank you to the Davis Team for your informational presentation to the Board of Education as you develop strategies through the MTSS process to meet the needs of our students at Davis. Brandon Sharp, Tony Stenburg, Kelsie Walters and Brian Conway shared the incredible work of the entire Davis Staff.
Upcoming Events:
Saturday, March 2
8:00 SEIBA Jazz Band @ West High School
Sunday, March 3
3:00 STEAM Early Childhood Event @ GHS
Tuesday, March 5
6:00 ADHOC Facilities Committee Meeting
7:00 ICDA South Central Middle School Choir 7/8 @ Newton HS