Students working in Occupational Therapy celebrated St. Patrick’s Day in a fun way! They worked on building fine motor skills using gold coins and a pot of gold. These tools can be used to target different skills in a variety of ways, such as: Hiding the gold coins around the room for a treasure hunt to work on visual scanning skills and identifying objects in a busy background. Placing the coins along an obstacle course to work on gross...
There was an amazing show of support for our 10th Annual Blood Drive and Bake Sale! The San Diego Blood Bank collected 45 donations, which will touch the lives of 135 people in just one day. This was our largest turnout since 2012, and our second largest drive ever! Additionally, 13 individuals donated for the very first time. According to the Blood Bank, 30% first-time donors is well above average for their drives. Bake Sale donations were also huge this...
"When faces called flowers float out of the ground - it’s Spring!" - E.E. Cummings Have you noticed the cheerful “faces” beginning to appear above the steps to our Gillispie Library? Each winter our green-thumbed art room volunteer, Claudia Metcalfe, plant tulip bulbs in pots. These bulbs bloom into a lovely array of color that beckons spring into the Art Room and Gillispie community. Within the Art Room, we observe the structure of this graceful plant. We carefully observe...
Recently, our head of school found a large note on her door that read: Dear Ms. Fleming, Can we wear Valentine's Day clothes or hearts, please? We want to look fancy and cool and festive. The party is special and we want the same colors as Valentine's Day so we match. Can we do this, please, on February 13 even though Valentine's Day is February 14? Room 18 The Kindergarten students had written and left the note with the simple ask...
Kindergarten through Grade 3 students were recently treated to a special assembly featuring author and veterinarian, Dr. Ruth MacPete! Dr. MacPete spoke to the students about her children's book, Lisette the Vet, and answered the many questions they had about what it is like to be a veterinarian. Her adorable adopted dog Oski also came on campus to assist her in a veterinary examination at the end of the presentation. The experience was so informative and fun, and many...
Students in Grade 2 have been learning to play the recorder! In early January, they received lesson books to begin the process of note reading. The children are enthusiastic about playing an instrument and using music stands and books. The recorder is a wonderful, age-appropriate instrument that helps students develop their musicality and sense of musicianship. Students also learn how to coordinate their fingers, their tongue, and their breath – all 3 things at once – in order to play...
Mr. Inigo's fifth grade recently hosted a guest speaker to learn more about homelessness, the topic of their year-long big project. Lindsey Fisher, Gillispie PTEP parent, spoke about her experience working with people struggling with homelessness and severe mental illness. She shared stories and information, and the students peppered her with questions. A few fifth-grade parents joined the audience, and one parent asked: "What's the best way to treat people you see on the street?" Ms. Fisher reported that...
It has been a decade since Gillispie first rolled up its sleeves and hosted the first blood drive. We had no idea back then that our little community service event would go on to collect 325 pints of blood and donate $16,257.81 to the San Diego Blood Bank. An event that was organized to support a former Gillispie family affected by childhood leukemia has now turned into our blood drive--a life-saving, annual event that our local community...
Fourth graders are in the middle of an investigation into electrical circuits. Each class time is spent with bulbs, batteries, wires, and switches as we work through such fundamental concepts as series/parallel, conductivity, resistance, voltage/wattage, and electrical schematic diagrams. This is an area of intense interest to nearly all the students, some of whom are pictured here sorting the Bungalow inventory of bulbs and batteries with the help of a voltmeter and a DC power source. By the...
The sixth-grade class recently hosted an expert speaker for a conversation about their Big Project on human rights. They spoke with Jaime Todd-Gher, a lawyer for Amnesty International USA, whose work focuses on human rights violations. The students read and discussed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which was adopted in the wake of the Holocaust. The students had recently visited the Museum of Tolerance in order to better understand the Holocaust and events around the Civil Rights...
