Congratulations to GSES STEM Teacher Mrs. Kasey Sheridan. She was selected as the JCSS District nominee for the prestigious Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. The award is the highest honor in the nation for teachers, and winners receive a $10,000 award and a paid trip to Washington D.C. Good Luck to Mrs. Sheridan as she advances in the competition!

This Friday, December 1st is National Special Education Day. We have an AMAZING team at GSES who supports our students and staff in so many ways. Join us in celebrating this wonderful team on Friday!

November 17th was Substitute Teacher Appreciation Day. We are thankful for the the dedicated team of substitute teachers who keep the wheels turning and the gears running smoothly when our staff have other commitments. Thanks for being our extra hands and extra hearts! We appreciate you!

Mrs. Salom cares deeply about the students she serves and embraces each one of them and their different backgrounds. She also engages families in our community by planning events for parents and students, such as our EL Thanksgiving event.

Brian is always kind and genuine to everyone! He takes the time to talk to others and ask them how they're doing. He builds positive relationships and helps build a team feel within his classroom.

Book Blast Raises Over $60,000

THANK YOU to all who supported our Book Blast fundraiser! Our school collected over $60,000 in donations….ALL FOR BOOKS!

Congratulations to 4th grader Colton who was the grand prize iPad winner! We were also excited to recognize Treasure Chest winners Ethan, Landon, Colt, and Hensleigh. If your child did not receive his/her prizes, they will be delivered when our books arrive before Winter Break. Thanks to everyone in our GSES community for helping spread the word and helping make our GSES Book Blast a great success!

Seeing Stars

Last week, we were excited to have the Star Lab mobile inflatable planetarium at GSES, thanks to a loan from the Northeast Georgia RESA Georgia Youth Science Technology Center. All classes in 2nd and 4th grades, who have recently completed astronomy units in science, were able to visit, as well as Mrs. Clark and Hendley's classes and the GSES Science Olympiad Team, who are training for one of their competition events "Starry, Starry Night." Classes were able to explore how Earth looks from space, why we experience night and day, and what causes the phases of the moon. The interactive planetarium also made it possible for students to practice finding constellations, asterisms, and notable stars in our night sky. 

The Great Turkey Race

Mrs. Clark and Mrs. Petersen's class kicked off Thanksgiving break with a turkey balloon race! They used various materials including balloons, feathers, straws, string, googly eyes, etc. to build a turkey. They worked together as a class to make two turkeys, then attached the turkeys to a string using a straw. When the air was released from the turkeys, they moved down the string, racing to the finish line. Students learned about different variables that could affect how far and how fast the turkeys could travel on the string. They also learned the valuable lesson that being a scientist often requires trying something several times before getting the results you want to achieve!

American Indian Explorations

3rd graders have been learning about the different American Indian regions across the United States. They rotated classes last week to explore a different tribal region in each classroom. Students created a craft or participated in STEM challenge that helped them understand the culture of each region and how each region's access to unique resources influenced their lifestyles. Students built totem poles like the northwestern tribes; construed portable teepees like the Plains tribes used as they followed buffalo herds; painted pottery in the style of the southwestern tribes; made beaded Indian corn, which was a staple crop for southeastern tribes; wove baskets like the northeastern tribes; and did a science experiment to learn why blubber was such an important resource for the Arctic tribes. It was a fun day of exploration!

2nd Grade Parade

You may have watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on television on Thanksgiving Day, but did you know that we enjoyed our own LIVE version of it at GSES last Friday?! 2nd grade classes enjoyed planning a GSES version of the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. They read the nonfiction picture book Balloons Over Broadway, which shared the story of puppeteer Tony Sarg who created the first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. They then researched to learn more about the featured floats in this year’s parade—how they are built, how long it takes to build each float, and how unbelievably large they actually are! Students then put their creativity to the test to create their own balloon characters for our school parade. They were very resourceful and paid careful attention to detail to bring their balloon characters to life! The 2nd Grade puppeteers paraded through the halls of GSES to show off their amazing creations. It was a wonderful day to celebrate creativity and honor the inspiration of Mr. Sarg! (Visit our Facebook page to see more photos.)

Colonial Living

Pre-K and Kindergarten students have been learning about colonial life, as well as the history of the first Thanksgiving. Mrs. Lyle's Pre-K Pals learned how to make their own butter and enjoyed sampling their creation. Mr. Stone's kindergarten class also learned how to do colonial chores--like stacking firewood, sweeping their yard, and also making their own butter. They enjoyed trying it, along with lots of other tastes of Thanksgiving, at their class reenactment of the first Thanksgiving meal.

Hooverville Homes

5th grade classes enjoyed a special social studies simulation on Friday. After learning about the aftermath of World War I and the Roaring 20s, they learned about the Stock Market Crash and how it affected everyday Americans. Students learned about how after losing jobs and money, some citizens found themselves homeless and had to get resourceful to support their families. After researching "Hoovervilles," students were challenged to make their own shanty homes, using limited resources and limited space. They had to calcu;ate their home's height and area, based on the number of family members. Students quickly realized that six square feet of living space is not very big! This experience helped them understand the results of the Stock Market Crash and the importance of saving and financial planning. Students are excited to explore what happens next as they continue to follow a timeline of American history in social studies.

Growing in Ag

Mrs. Thomas's Ag students have been hard at work cleaning our gardens and learning about plant and algae life cycles. Check out these highlights of the recent learning experiences our students have enjoyed in our Agriculture specials class:

* Second grade students in Mrs. Cha's and Mrs. Laird's classes have been learning all about the traits of living things, how living things are made into products, and how to make good observations.

* Our morning gardening crew from Mrs. Hunt's fifth grade class have been cleaning our gardens and improving the outdoor library space!

* Mrs. Chandler's kindergarten class learned all about the potato life cycle and even planted their very own potatoes.

* Our fifth grade students are learning all about how algae can be farmed and used for food, fuels, and even toothpaste in our Algae Academy.  Mrs. Kelly's class practiced using tools such as secchi sticks and pipettes to collect data.

Hands-on Science

4th graders have enjoyed several visitors in recent weeks who have led hands-on science explorations.

Mr. Will Dodd from the Northeast Georgia Youth Science Technology Center at Northeast Georgia RESA led an in-house exploration of sound experiments to help lay the groundwork for 4th grade's upcoming Light and Sound unit. Students loved Mr. Dodd's engaging and interesting investigations!

4th grade also enjoys monthly 4-H meetings, led by Mr. Jonathan Page from Jackson County 4-H. At this month's meeting, Mr. Page helped students learn to build their own catapults and use them to collect data as part of their Force and Motion unit of study. There was lots of thinking and lots of fun involved in this fun exploration!

We appreciate community volunteers like Mr. Dodd and Mr. Page who help our students grow and learn in fun ways!