From the Head of School
Thus far, January has been full of activity and events. This past week we had the Martin Luther King holiday, a Pet Day organized by our Student Council, the first in a series of unit presentations, and not to mention the inauguration of our new President and Vice President of the United States. More unit presentations are planned in the week ahead and you will be able to watch these through a link in next week’s COMPASS. We also began working on our Middle School musical that is part of our electives program. This year we are doing ‘The Lion King’ and are planning to give a video, or hopefully live performance, towards the end of the school year. More details on this will surely follow in the weeks ahead.
Our next GPS all-school virtual assembly is scheduled for next Friday at 8:30 on Google Meet with the code ‘Assembly’. We will be giving out Learner Profile awards for Balanced, which has been our focused theme for the month of January.
GPS Memory Book for 2020-21 – Cover Competition
This year we will not be producing the traditional yearbook. Instead we will be commemorating this unusual school year with a memory book, which we will produce as a collaborative effort. Each student will be asked to collaborate (some with parental help) with photos, poems, artwork or written statements/reflections. More details on what, when and where will be sent out in the weeks ahead.
To start with we are looking for a cover design. Themes for design could be anything related to the COVID pandemic, distance learning, safer at home, social distancing and masks, etc.. Students are asked to create their own original artwork to be used as the cover of the publication. I suggest using 8.5 X 11 paper size, however, a larger size will work as we will be working from a jpeg.
Students of any grade level can submit their designs as a jpeg attachment to gmitas@gpsschool.org by February 28th.
GPS Cares
Thinking about connecting GPS to the community, and showcasing our caring community, we are adding a new feature on the Compass called GPS Cares. The goal is to share how our students, staff and families contribute to truly making our community, and our world, a better place. We will feature stories in the weekly newsletter in February but hope to continue once a month. Here are the types of stories we are looking for:
What can you do to make the world a better place?
Create a free neighborhood library
Write positive chalkboard messages on your sidewalk
Put up a sign with an inspiring message on your window
Send needed items to a shelter
Put out snacks for delivery people
Write letters to those in need or to thank front line workers
Donate toys or clothing
Send cards or letters to family that you cannot be with
Bake cookies for a neighbor
We are looking for stories from anyone in our community that shows us taking action, big or small. A photo and a brief description can be emailed to gmitas@gpsschool.org.
Art Corner
Artwork by: Jill D., Brandon F., Aidan S.P.
4th grade did an inquiry into the struggle to share finite resources with other people and living things. We used the trees and other natural resources around us to create a work of art inspired by artist, naturalist, and conservationist Andy Goldsworthy.
Staff Spotlight
Meet Ms. Claudia
This week we would like to showcase our newest member of the Preschool faculty, Claudia Mejia-Fuentes. Claudia joined us right after the winter break when we split the Yellow Room into two groups and added on the Blue Room. She is no stranger to the GPS campus, having worked in the FPPS preschool from 2015 to 2017. Claudia is also closely connected to the school through her sister-in-law, Jennifer Ramirez, who is one of our preschool teachers.
Claudia is very qualified to work with our youngest students. She has a BA in Psychology from CSUN and has previously used her knowledge of developmental and behavioral psychology in working with children at the YMCA and with Behavior Frontiers. She is also a mother and has twin girls who are just over a year old. We are very fortunate to have Claudia on the GPS team.
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