The Panther Post
 The Panther Post
News & Updates from Gum Springs Elementary School
Week of February 6-10, 2023
News & Updates
We hope your family will POP IN to join us for Family STEM Night this week. Join us to enjoy fun movie-themed STEM challenges as a family. Drop in from 6:00 to 7:30 P.M. on Thursday, February 9th.
Congratulations to Runasimi (Red Tribe) who claimed the Tribe of the Month Award for January! Each winning tribe member got to choose a special prize this week as their reward. This is Runasimi's second win this year. Our new ticketing system has brought a DRASTIC improvement to the number of tribe points our students earned for following PAWS expectations. Our students earned over 2,500 points this month (and over 2,500 recognitions for making good choices)! We are proud to see our Panthers growing in self-responsibility!
Our students were so interested and did such an awesome job at the new Tech Competition this year that Mrs. Kofke and Mrs. Meier are starting a Technology Club! The club is open to interested students in 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grades and will meet until 4:00 on scheduled Mondays. To learn more or sign up interested students, click HERE. More information about specific meeting dates will be made available to families who sign up once we know how many students are interested. Sign-ups are open until February 15th.
Thank you for helping us show the LOVE in this year's Kids Heart Challenge. So far, we have 336 students registered and have already raised $12,619.67 in donations! The top-collecting class at each grade level will earn glow sticks, cotton candy, and a special prize for their teacher. As a reminder, students get their keychains as donations come in, but the larger prizes like T-shirts, playground balls, socks, poppers, and watch will be delivered to our school after the event closes. Thank you for helping us help others!
As you begin making Valentine's Day plans, please note that GSES will not be accepting deliveries of flowers, balloons, etc. for students. Thank you for understanding!
Pre-K Registration for the 2023-24 school year is open through February 28th. Students are selected for the limited spots in our Pre-K program through a lottery drawing that will be held on March 14. Specific information about our Pre-K program and the application and registration process can be found at https://www.jacksonschoolsga.org/prek. Applications may be picked up at GSES. If you know of a family in our school district with a rising Pre-K student, please help us spread the word by letting them know this important information. (Kindergarten registration will be in March, and information will shared later about that process.)
Good Luck to our Science Olympiad Team who has their first competition this Saturday! They will be competiting in the Jackson County School System Elementary District Competition.
February 6-10 is National School Counseling Week. GSES is lucky to have two of the most caring and supportive school counselors around! Thank you to Mrs. Sun and Ms. Hughes for all they do for our school community. We love and appreciate you!
This Week's
After-School Clubs
Monday: Science Olympiad Team Bonus Practice (pick-up at 4:00)
Thursday:Â Science Olympiad Team (pick-up at 4:00)
Drama Club Cast and Ensemble--no Crew (pick-up at 4:30)
Upcoming Events
February 9: POP IN for Family STEM Night (6:00-7:30 P.M.)
February 11: Science Olympiad Team District Competition
February 17-21: No School for Students
February 27-March 3: Read Across America WeekÂ
SCHOOL SPOTLIGHTS
We've had an amazing week across the Jackson County School System honoring Coach Backer with this week's Bookin' it for Backer events! Thank you to everyone for your donations, encouragement, and prayers. We were able to present Coach Backer with an estimated $18,000 (but the final grand total will likely be even bigger--we'll keep you posted!). How lucky are we to be part of a school family and community like this one who is so supportive and generous?! Be sure to check out our Facebook page for lots more photos!
Twenty-three life-saving pints of blood were collected in honor of Coach Backer at Thursday's American Red Cross Blood Drive.
We loved seeing support at the schools all across the JCSS District on Friday as we had a JCSS PINK-OUT in honor of Coach Backer.
A great time had by all as over 300 runners and lots of supporters braved the cold for Saturday's 5K! You can view results here:
Thank you to Warren's Breakfast and Grill who hosted a race after-party and also donated a percentage of sales to the campaign.
Mrs. Auten's 2nd grade class participated in World Read Aloud Day by attending a live read aloud session by author Mac Barnett and illustrator Jon Klassen of their retold story of The Three Billy Goats Gruff. Students loved meeting the authors and learning more about what inspired their ideas and how they brought them to life.
Mrs. Cash's kindergarten class has been hard at work practicing their informational writing skills. Good researchers make good writers, and these scientists recently enjoyed dissecting owl pellets to help gather research for their informational reports about owls. Take a look at some of the cool things they discovered. Great job, KinderCash Kids!
Students in Mrs. Rechin and Mrs. Kelley's kindergarten class recently enjoyed a snow-themed day where they engaged in many fun learning activities. They read "The Biggest Snowman" then worked in groups to build the biggest possible snowman. In phonics, they created words using only the letters in SNOWMAN. They did some data exploration in math to figure out how many different snowmen variations they could create by changing around the parts and accessories. In science, they learned about how snowflakes are formed and created their own snowflake models using marshmallows and toothpicks. And they wrapped up their day getting to play in fake snow. Kindergarten is SNOW MUCH FUN!
FIFTH GRADE CELL-ABRATIONS
To cell-abrate that learning is a PIZZA cake, Mrs. Hawk, Mrs. Bennett and Mrs. Lowe's 5th grade classes wrapped up their unit on fractions and cells by focusing on a pizza theme. Students practiced their reading skills by reading about the history of pizza. They also reviewed their fraction unit by ordering from local pizza restaurants using a family friendly budget, comparing and ordering fractions on a number line, playing a pizza fraction game, and completing multi-step word problems all focused on pizza. To top it all, students applied their learning of plant and animal cells by making an editable cell model in the form of a pizza and toppings.
Mrs. Diaz's 5th graders had a great time building edible candy cell model projects this week as well. Check out their fun (and yummy) learning!