The Panther Post

News & Updates from Gum Springs Elementary School

Week of January 23-27, 2023

News & Updates

Pre-K Registration for the 2023-24 school year will be open February 1-28. 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.)
WJMS PTO is sponsoring a Community Daddy-Daughter Valentine Dance at WJMS on February 11. You can reserve tickets HERE.

This Week's

After-School Clubs

Tuesday: Panther LEGO League

Thursday: Science Olympiad Team (pick-up at 4:00)

Drama Club Cast and Ensemble only--no Crew (pick-up at 4:30)

Upcoming Events

February 1: Pre-K Registration Window Opens

February 2: Bookin' It for Backer Blood Drive

February 4: Bookin' for Backer 5K Race

February 9: "Setting the Stage for STEM" Family STEM Night (Details coming soon!)

SCHOOL SPOTLIGHTS

STAR SPELLER

Congratulations to 4th grader Ava McDonald who finished 5th place in the JCSS District Spelling Bee on Friday. (It's a pretty big deal to be the 5th best speller among 8 schools of students, right?!) She was accompanied to the competition by GSES alternate Brady Lee, who was the best supporter. Ava has been preparing and studying for weeks, and we are so proud of her dedication and commitment. Thanks for making us Panther Proud!

tech panthers on top!

It was a great day for our Panthers as eleven GSES students represented the Jackson County School System at the Northeast Georgia Regional Student Technology Competition, and EVERYONE brought home a medal! These students previously competed at the school level, then were chosen as winners at the JCSS District Level, and after Saturday's competition, seven of them are also headed to the STATE level competition! During the competition, students shared their technology creations and were interviewed by a panel of judges at the event. They have been hard at work over the last several months learning new technology tools, showing off their creativity skills, writing speeches, and practicing presentations, and we were so proud to see their work recognized today. Congratulations to the following students:

* Jacob Mack, 1st Place in 3/4 Multimedia Applications, created a stop-motion video about an F1 racing event, compiled of over 300 images of scenes he set up and photographed (headed to STATE!).

* Violet Brooks and Ellie Rankin, 1st Place in 3/4 Internet Applications built their own instructional website about the water cycle, including an original stop-motion video (headed to STATE!).

* Daniel D'Arienzo, 1st Place in Productivity Design created a hyperlinked and interactive Christmas gift guide for young boys (headed to STATE!).

* Charleigh Kayumova, 1st Place in 3/4 Video Production, created a video about her soccer team's awesome season (headed to STATE!).

* Dylan Guierum, 1st Place in 5/6 Robotics, shared a robot he led his First LEGO League Team in designing to complete multiple missions. Dylan is headed to state for his work AND his LEGO Team advanced to the super-regional competition too!

* Silas Black, 1st Place in 5/6 Multimedia Applications, created a product called the Medi-Talker based on a novel his class read and used Canva to create a promotional campaign about his product (headed to STATE!).

* Liam Selby, 2nd Place in 5/6 Project Programming, designed the Class Bot, a robot that will scoop up and items left on a classroom floor at the end of the day. He demonstrated his extensive coding skills by videoing a working model in his classroom and doing a small-scale live demonstration for the judges.

* Jocelyn Vanchiasong, 2nd Place in Device Modification, turned a simple cleaning scrub brush into the Scrubby Buddy, a motorized brush that makes cleaning easier.

* Landon Rock, 2nd Place in 5/6 Digital Photo Production, created a living history image for a class Historical Perspectives Timeline project by modifying an image to insert himself into a historical scene and creating a historical fiction story to accompany his photography.

* Kathryn Lee, 3rd place in 3/4 Digital Photo Production, created and photographed an original animal, then used many textures and colors to create an original habitat scene background that camouflaged the animal.

It has been so much fun to see our students at all levels of this competition use technology to show what they are learning and explore their own passions. We are SO PROUD of all of our students!

Science in Action

Fourth grade students enjoyed a field trip to Elachee Nature Center this week. Students reviewed their knowledge of space with a fun game of Jeopardy, then they were excited to go into the Star Lab to learn about constellations and try to identify them. Then, rain or shine, they got to go on a nature walk, where the guides taught students how the moon and seasons can affect plants and animals. Thanks to our 4th grade teachers for organizing this fun learning experience.

100 Days smarter

The 100th Day of School was a great opportunity to celebrate how much our students have grown as learners this year. Students enjoyed many special 100-themed learning activities to help develop number sense and celebrate creativity. For example, students created images using 100 dots, built structures using 100 LEGOs or 100 cups, designed complex geometric shapes using 100 pattern blocks, created artwork featuring 1-0-0 in unique ways, enjoyed tackling the 100 licks Lollipop Challenge, practiced counting by 10s by playing 100-Hopscotch, went "Hunting for 100 Kisses" with a classroom candy scavenger hunt, made edible necklaces out of 100 pieces of cereal, practiced sequencing by building number lines to 100, and worked as a class to read 100 books in 1 day. Students loved showing off the shirts they made featuring the number 100 in creative ways or dressing up like the cutest 100-year-olds ever! We loved seeing the excitement as we celebrated a fun day of learning, and we are excited to continue celebrating 77 more great days of learning this school year too.

Page updated

Report abuse