Happy New Year to all GPS students and families. I hope that you had a restful and healthy time over the break. The New Year has certainly started with a number of challenges that have been carried over from 2020. Our learner profile for the month of January is to be ‘balanced’.
In our classes this month we will be integrating the importance of balance in all that we do, intellectually, physically and emotionally. Most importantly, we will be stressing the importance of our GPS community and the support that it gives us to learn and grow despite the challenges that exist, as we work to find the right balance between our need to learn and our need to be safe.
As we all know, the situation in LA County with COVID infections and the consequent impact hospitals and medical resources has gotten critical over the last weeks. The LA County Department of Public Health has recommended that all schools move any K-12 in-person instruction to on-line for the rest of the month of January. For GPS, this only involves our K/1 class, and in the interest of the greater community we will do our part and follow the DPH guidance. Here is a link to a recent article in the LA Times.
Re-Enrollment 2021-22
This month we will be starting our re-enrollment process. For students in JK-8, GPS uses a continuous enrollment contract and as such families do not have to complete new forms and documents every year. Parents that wish to terminate their children’s enrollment at GPS for the following year are given an opt-out period up to February 15th to send in a written communication. Financial aid applications for 2021-22 are available now through FAST. The deadline for submission for returning families is January 25th.
Preschool students are enrolled using an annual contract. We will be sending out new contracts for the 2021-22 school year at the end of January. At our recent school board meeting we approved tuition rates for the next school year. Our intention is to make GPS affordable to the greatest number of families possible, while at the same time providing an educational program that is truly world-class. We will be sending out an email next week with all the dates, numbers and details.
Student Council News
Art Corner
Second and Third Grade are learning about rocks in their unit Rounding Rocks. We drew and painted geodes in analogous colors for Art.
Fourth and Fifth grade is learning about conflict and resources. We studied "The Great Wave" by Hokusai. We observed the conflict in person vs. nature and the fishermen fishing for resources in the ocean. We drew our own version of "The Great Wave" with Mt. Fuji in the background.
Celebrating GPS
In Spanish class, PYP students learned about the tradition of Three Kings day that is celebrated on January 6th throughout Latin America. This Catholic holiday celebrates the three wise men who delivered gifts to baby Jesus. A Rosca de Reyes, or sweet bread, is adorned with fruit to symbolize jewels and gifts that were presented by the Magi. Hidden inside the bread are plastic figurines. If you find a figurine inside your slice, the tradition is that you have to make tamales for everyone on February 2, Candelaria Day.
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