The big news that everyone is excited about is the start of in-person classes for Grades 2-5 starting this Monday, March 1, and for Grades 6-8 on March 8. After a almost one year of distance learning, students and their teachers are eager to see each other in person on a day-to-day basis. Naturally we have had to impose many procedures to ensure for the safety of our community. Please read carefully all of the communications that we have sent out over the past few weeks and refer to the documents that we have posted on our website. Although there will be tremendous excitement on Monday morning when we arrive at school, I ask all of you to make sure that we are wearing masks and exercising the correct social distancing. We will be spending much effort to get our students to follow the best COVID practices and we ask that you support and model this at home and in the school parking lot. Another item of good news is that teacher vaccinations are moving forward at a good rate. LA County has declared March 7 as teacher vaccination day at all of their clinics. Many of our staff and teachers have already been active in finding vaccination opportunities and already over 50% have either received their first shot or have an appointment within the next few days.
Celebrate Black History
Today we celebrated Black History Month with a mega on-line assembly with every student involved. This was a fantastic assembly celebrating an important part of our community and all of our students went above and beyond in their enthusiasm and presentations. All the GPS teachers came up with unique and creative ways to showcase and honor the accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history. A big thank you to Gioconda Mitas who spent countless hours putting together the video presentations and jumping through all the problem-solving hurdles that came up. Learner Profile Awards for February The learner profile is made up of ten attributes, or characteristics, that all IB schools promote on a daily basis. In all of our classes this month we have been focusing on the attribute of being ’open minded’. It is our goal to guide students to understand and appreciate their own cultures and personal histories, and be open to the perspectives, values and traditions of other individuals and communities. Our program and activities are designed to help students be accustomed to seeking and evaluating a range of points of view, and are willing to grow from the experience. At today’s assembly we recognized some students who in the past month have exemplified the characteristic of being open minded. The following video is a great summary of the IB trait of being open-minded:
Also, here is a delightful song about keeping an open mind:
Parent Teacher Conferences Our Spring Conferences are scheduled for March 11 & 12. Look for an email early next week with sign up instructions. There will be no classes in the afternoon on March 11, and on March 12 there are no classes scheduled for the entire day.
8th Grade Community Project
Information for one of the 8th Grade Community Projects can be found below. From Kayden M. and Isabella D.
