Weekly News - May 7

From the Head of School

This week, our 8th graders presented their MYP community service projects. These projects involved our students in a wide range of activities to extend their knowledge and understanding and to develop their skills and attitudes.

In these student-planned learning activities, 8th graders worked in teams and over the past few months:

• decided what they want to learn about, identified what they already know, and discovered what they would need to know to complete the project

• created proposals or criteria for their project, planned their time and materials, and recorded developments of the project

• made decisions, developed understandings and solved problems, communicated with their supervisor and others, and created a product or developed an outcome evaluating the product/outcome and reflected on their project and their learning.

The projects that our students choose were

1. Cleaning up the Los Angeles River

2. Protecting the native ecosystem, which included planting trees

3. Helping with the socialization of children impacted by the COVID imposed school closures and stay at home orders.

The presentations were judged by a panel of faculty and administrators and were a pleasure to watch. I was truly impressed not only with the skills and confidence of our soon-to-be graduates, but also their passion for issues that were important to them. A big thank you to Mrs. Shibel, who was the advisor for the Community Project program and to Mr. Mendoza and Mr. Serrano who were faculty mentors. COVID-19 Vaccination Clinic This week we also had our one-day vaccination clinic. Getting our community vaccinated is very important to the health and safety of our students and we thank Capital Drugs for supporting us all at GPS.

Teacher Appreciation Week GPS faculty and staff felt the love this week. Thank you to our wonderful parent and student community who provided treats and reminders that we are appreciated. We thoroughly enjoyed the bagels, donuts, coffee, Portos danishes, empanadas and lunches, among other fun surprises. We have the best community around and we couldn't be more grateful.

Weekly News - April 30

From the Head of School

April has been a very exciting month, which we ended this morning with our monthly assembly. As we do at the end of every month, we recognize the importance of the IB Learner Profile. The Learner Profile is made up of ten attributes, or characteristics, that all IB schools promote on a daily basis. For the past month we have focused on the attribute of being a ‘Risk Taker’. As a Risk Taker, it is our goal to guide students to approach uncertainty with forethought and determination; we work independently and cooperatively to explore new ideas and innovative strategies. Risk Takers are resourceful and resilient in the face of challenges and change. This morning we recognized those students who exemplified this Learner Profile attribute.

Space has been a big topic in the news over the past month with much excitement over the latest exploration of the planet Mars and the Space X rockets sending astronauts up to the International Space Station. Our Preschoolers have also gotten the space bug with their latest unit on planets, rockets and the solar system. This morning the Yellow and Blue rooms got together in the garden for a countdown of our own rocket propulsion experiment. Congratulations to our teachers for a successful lift-off.

5th Grade Exhibition Presentation Today we had an important IB event that marks the end of the Primary Years Program for our 5th Graders. The PYP exhibition represents a significant event in the life of a PYP school and student, synthesizing the elements of the PYP and sharing them with the learning community. The exhibition, which took place this morning outdoors under the tent, was a powerful demonstration of student agency, as our 5th graders exercised voice, choice, and ownership by inquiring into local or global issues that are significant to them. This culminating experience was an opportunity for our students to exhibit the attributes of the IB learner profile that they have been developing throughout their engagement with the PYP. The class, which divided itself into six groups, conducted research and presented their findings to an audience of parents, teachers and fellow students. Needless to say, the quality of the presentations was outstanding.

With the month of April behind us, we now look forward to May and there are a number of events that will make this last full month school exciting. Our student council has declared that during the last week of May there will be a series of Student Council Fun Days. This coming Wednesday, the Grade 8 students will present their community projects at 1:30 under the tent. On Thursday, May 27th our Middle School will present the ‘Lion King Jr.’. This is open to the entire GPS community and will take place under the tent starting at 5:00 pm. Look for a special email announcement in the coming week.

COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic Capital drugs free COVID-19 vaccination clinic is scheduled for Tuesday, May 4th 10 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. open to anyone 18 or older. Please look for an email from the school with a consent form and details.

Warm Weather Reminders As the weather has now moved from Spring to Summer, please remember to put sun screen on your children in the morning, make sure they have a full water bottle each day and consider sending them to school with a hat.

Weekly News - April 23

From the Head of School

This has been a very productive week with much activity happening in all the classes. Our second and third graders ended their unit titled, “A Systematic Society” with presentations of their individual projects. To address the central theme of the unit that, “societies have many systems in place to help people live and work together” each student made a scale model of the community they lived in. As part of the presentation, they outlined the various connections that they identified in their community that showed how it was a system that supported the people living there. Our fourth and fifth graders have been reading the book “Bud not Buddy”, a Newbery Award winner by Christopher Paul Curtis. This book, which looks at the social upheavals of the Great Depression through the eyes of a child, is well connected to the 5th Grade Exhibition unit. The presentation for this unit will take place next Friday with students presenting their personal projects related to a global problem or issue that they have researched. One of the activities connected to the book involved making a suitcase of items to take with you on a trip. When I came upon Brandon and Dexter busily working on this activity, they were very excited to share with me the contents of their suitcase and how much they enjoyed reading this book.

Our student council continues to be very active in promoting school-wide projects. This week they concluded their collection of food items to be donated to MEND, which stands for Meet Each Need with Dignity. Many thanks to all of the parents that donated items for this project and to all of the student council reps for their desire to help underprivileged families. The donations, taken in today by Ms. Green, totaled almost 400 lbs.