The Panther Post
Embedded Files
News & Updates from
Gum Springs Elementary
September 25-29, 2023
A Message from Administration
We are entering one of my favorite seasons of the year…FALL! I hope you are all enjoying the wonderful weather as the seasons begin to change.
As you probably know we are beginning our Game Changers Fun Run fundraiser. As of print-time on Sunday, you have donated almost $15,000 to the campaign. Thank you so much for your investment in GSES! We look forward to seeing you on Friday for the Fun Run at the middle school track.
Each month we have partnered with our community members to provide a snack cart for GSES staff. This past week 12 Stone Church provided a bountiful snack cart, and we were most grateful for the donation to allow us to serve our hard-working teachers, custodians, nutrition workers, and front office staff. We posted some pictures on our online platforms, so please check them out. We are so grateful for your support as work to make this a positive place for students and for staff.
Please register for the upcoming GSES All Pro Dads kick-off, taking place on October 5th. Please see the flier in this newsletter for more information. GSES is excited to be partnering with this organization to build relationships with our community, especially our young men. Please come out and spend some time with us and former NFL linebacker David Brandon.
One of this year’s school goals has been to offer more opportunities for student/parent/staff interactions in a safe and orderly manner. As many of you know, parking is always a challenge, and safety is our utmost priority. We have the Fun Run this Friday, and, of course, the All Pro Dads event in October. Something new we will be offering this year is the opportunity to have lunch with your students. There is a plan in place and we will roll out more details in next week’s Panther Post, so stay tuned! We know this is something our community has requested, so know that you are heard, and we look forward to sharing more with you in next week’s newsletter.
Lastly, I want to give a huge shout out, once again, to last year’s 3rd Grade teachers who were recognized by Superintendent Richard Woods on Monday at Maysville Elementary for being Literacy Leaders. Our current 4th grade students worked hard and achieved much growth on last year’s Milestones assessment. We will also recognize them this week on our GSES morning news show.
Great things are happening at GSES! Thank you so much for all that you do to make that a possibility.
Joshua Todd
Principal
News and Updates
We're excited to host one of our most exciting events of the year--our annual GSES Fun Run! The "Game Changers" Fun Run will be held on Friday, September 29th at the WJMS Football Field. Families are welcome to come cheer on your child and celebrate our success. We hope you'll mark your calendars to come celebrate with us! Grade level times are...
8:35-9:20 5th Grade
9:20-10:05 4th Grade + Hendley's Multi-Age Class
10:05-10:50 3rd Grade
11:00-11:45 Pre-K & Kindergarten
11:45-12:30 2nd Grade
12:30-1:15 Multi-Age Classes
1:15-2:00 1st Grade
Please plan to park in the GSES front or side parking lot or the WJMS parking lot. You also may park single-lane along the curb in the GSES front entrance loop as long as your car is moved by 1:15. No parking is allowed in the GSES back parking area (morning car rider entrance). Only golf carts may park single-lane along the curb of the access road between WJMS and GSES to allow for emergency vehicle entrance, if needed.
We want to continue to be able to include families as part of this celebration for years to come, so in the interest of the safety of our students, we ask that you please follow the direction of JCSO officers, GSES staff, and PTO volutnteers coordinating the event in regards to student safety.
If you plan to check your child out of school early after their grade level event, you will do so with their teacher at the WJMS field. I.D. checks will be required for student check-outs, so don't forget to bring your driver's license with you.
No pets are allowed at the event.
We are looking forward to a GREAT TIME and a fun celebration of our success!
We are excited our school has joined the "All Pro Dads" family, and we'll be kicking it off with an amazing event on Thursday, October 5th from 6:00 to 7:00 P.M. All Pro Dads is an event for dads or male mentors and their children to attend together. We are excited to have NFL linebacker David Brandon as this month's special guest. If you are planning to join us, please pre-register by 6:00 P.M. this Friday, September 29th by clicking HERE. If you'd like also like to have Chick-Fil-boxed ready for your family when you arrive, don't forget to pay at schoolpay.com after completing the registration form.
We have two great chances to support our middle school sports programs this week. Two WJMS teams have made it to their league championship finals and will be competing this week. WJMS Panthers Football will play on Thursday at 7:00 P.M., and WJMS Volleyball will play on Saturday. Both games will be played at JCHS. We are proud of our friends and alumni for their amazing seasons and look forward to celebrating with them this week! Join us in showing your support.
Yearbooks are on sale now. Click HERE to order. You will need to enter the following passcode for GSES: 101485563232668. Receive a 10% discount if you order by October 31st.
Thank you for your incredible support at last week's Book Fair! We had record sales and are excited to get lots of great new books in the hands of our students.
⬇️ Check out the info below to learn how you can support our Game Changers Fun Run campaign over the next two weeks!
This Week's
After-School Clubs
Tuesday: GS Gizmos (pick up at 4:30 P.M.)
Thursday: Science Olympiad Team (pick up at 4:00 P.M.)
Thursday: Stock Market Club (pick up at 4:00 P.M.)
Upcoming Events
September 25-29: Fun Run Spirit Week (See dress-up themes below.)
September 26: GSES Spirit Night at WNB Factory (5:00-7:00 P.M.)
September 29: GSES Fun Run (See schedule below)
September 29: Registration Deadline for All-Pro Dads event (form closes at 6:00 P.M.)
October 5: All Pro-Dads, 6:00 P.M. (Please pre-register)
October 6: Last Day for Fun Run Donations
October 12-16: Fall Break (No school for students or staff)
October 18: 50th Day of School Celebration
October 23-27: Red Ribbon Week (More info coming soon!)
October 23-November 3: Parent Conferences
October 27: Panther Playoffs (Students wear Claw Colors)
October 27: West-side Fall Festival at JCHS; 6:00 P.M.
This Week's Sprit Themes:
You should have received a flier this week about our Game Changers Fun Run, happening Friday, September 29th. (HERE's an electronic version if you need it as well.) We had an amazing and exciting Kick-Off Rally on Friday, thanks to Game Changers Fun Run Coach Landers, who got all of our teams FIRED UP! If you're willing to help our campaign, all you have to do is GET REGISTERED, customize your child's page, and share it with friends and family. It will only take about 15 minutes of your time, but it could have a HUGE IMPACT on our students and our school!
How You Can Help:
(1) Click HERE to set up your Fun Run Account or scan the QR code below. (Watch this 1-minute video if you need help.)
(2) Customize your child's fundraising page. (Watch this 4-minute video if you need help.)
(3) Share your child's page and the watch the donations start rolling in! It's really that easy! Your child earns rewards, his/her class earns rewards, and ultimately you've helped collectively raise lots of money for our school community! Thank you for being a GAME CHANGER for our school!
Scroll these slides from our Kick-Off Rally for more information about what the Fun Run is, our awesome prizes to reward school supporters, and specific ideas for reaching your donation goals.
SCHOOL SPOTLIGHTS
Congratulations to these amazing teachers and students from last year's 3rd grade!
3rd Grade Earns Prestigious Literacy Leaders Award
Georgia State Superintendent Richard Woods visited Maysville Elementary on Monday, September 18th to present Gum Springs Elementary and Maysville Elementary with a "Literacy Leaders" banner to honor each school's achievement in literacy. These two schools were part of the 155 out of Georgia's 1,852 public elementary schools who were recognized for their growth on the 3rd grade Georgia Reading Milestones Assessment taken last spring. GSES third graders showed 15.4% growth on the assessment last year. We'd also like to give a shout-out to our friends across the county at MES. They were the highest-growing 3rd grade team in the whole state last spring! September is Literacy Month in the State of Georgia, and we are proud to recognize our JCSS readers and reading teachers for this amazing accomplishment!
Staff Shout-Out
Tuesday, September 19th was National I.T. Professionals Day, a day to honor the technology experts who keep our systems running smoothly. We are SO THANKFUL for Mr. Connor Autry and Mr. Grey Akins (two of the very best!) who go out of their way to support our school, even in many ways that extend beyond their technology responsibilities. Thanks for all you do for our students and staff!
Kindergarten's Clay Army
One of the great new resources available to our K-2 teachers this year to expand our liteacy curriculum are Geodes readers. This collection of decodable readers helps beginning readers develop core literacy skills connected to their phonics lessons, while also exposing student to rich content that builds important background knowledge for successful reading. You may have seen some of these books coming home with your child recently.
One of the text collections for kindergarten helps students experience museums all around the word. Mrs. Miyake, Mrs. Kelly, and Mrs. Salom's kindergarten class has enjoyed reading "Clay Army." They learned that over 2,000 soldiers made of baked clay were found buried in China and are now on display in a museum. Students even showed what they learned through their book exploration this week by making their own class clay army. We love exploring history, even in kindergarten!
Exploring Senses
Mrs. Lyle's Pre-K Pals had a fun time learning about the five senses for their science lessons this week. They especially loved exploring TOUCH, as they got to practice drawing and writing in shaving cream!
Meet our Mascot!
There’s a fresh new face at GSES, and he was spreading smiles to lots of excited Panthers this week! Did your kids tell you that Monday was move-in day for our new mascot?! We’re having a “Name that Cub!” contest to pick out the perfect name too. Students entered name ideas in the contest this week at school. Our committee will choose one entry from each Claw Color, and students will get to vote on the winning name this week. Stay tuned!
Rechin's Readers Meet Famous Author
Ms. Rechin's 2nd graders enjoyed a virtual visit this week through our new Book Break program. Remember how much we enjoyed Dot Day last week? Mrs. Rechin's students had the opportunity to attend a live virtual meet-up with internationally-known author Peter Reynolds, author of The Dot, ish, Sky Color, and many other books. Students were inspired by Mr. Reynolds' amazing creativity and enjoyed following along as he led a directed drawing activity as well.
PANTHER SUPPORTERS
Thank you to 12Stone Church—Jackson County campus for spreading some September Sunshine and sponsoring a Surprise Staff Snack Cart this week. These little treats really do make a big difference to our team! We appreciate you!
Want to know more about how you can support our school? Click below for details.
Make donations during our "Game Changers" Fun Run campaign September 22-October 6, 2023.
Panther Pride
Panther Spirit was in the air at GSES on Friday! We loved showing off our red and black and western wear to get everyone fired up for the Jackson County High School Homecoming game, where the Panthers brought home a 35-17 victory over Apalachee High School. Thank you to our friends and alumni from JCHS who greeted students during arrival and to Jackson County High School Athletics for donating four free tickets to our spirit contest winners. Congratulations to last week's winners: Andrew, Drakelyn, Victoria, and Emily. The Athens Banner Herald even wrote an article this week about JCHS "Car Rider Experience," one of our favorite west-side traditions! Check it out HERE.
Spirit Winners: Emily
Victoria
Andrew
Drakelyn
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