Hello Gillispie Families, I hope this email finds you well. Our Early Childhood and Elementary drive-throughs were a festive, celebratory way to start the summer. The virtual hugs and high fives were felt by greeters and visitors alike. The enthusiastic waves from students, honks, and fabulous posters hanging from cars made us laugh. Thank you for helping us bring closure to a remarkable year! If these opportunities did not work for your families, please call the School...
Good Evening Gillispie Families, As the year comes to a close, we are looking forward to seeing you at our end-of-year farewells on Tuesday, June 9 for early childhood families and Thursday, June 11 for elementary families. These events are for adults and students to drive up to campus to return school property to Gillispie, receive personal items that were left on campus, receive a yearbook (one per family), and to wave goodbye to teachers and staff...
Dear Parents, Our hearts are heavy with the historic and ongoing injustices and tragedies of racial disparities that have been highlighted over the last several days. As educators, we are compelled to provide you with resources as you lead your young children through the complex issue of race. Gillispie’s Mission Statement includes the language, “We value a nurturing environment that fosters kindness, respect, and individual commitment to the larger world,” and our Philosophy Statement includes, “We focus on...
Good Evening Gillispie Families, My notes are brief because I am including the link from yesterday evening’s webinar during which Mr. Bauer, Mr. Bluestein, Dr. Smith, and I discussed plans for the re-opening of school on September 1. Our guiding principle is to have Gillispie students and employees return to campus for face-to-face learning as safely as possible. As we think through scenarios and put protocols in place, we need to honor a learning environment in keeping...
Happy Memorial Day Weekend, Dr. Adria O’Donnell spoke on Wednesday evening and did a wonderful job of explaining ways we can maintain positive relationships with our children and partners, as well as emphasizing the importance of being good to ourselves. Analogies such as the “boomerang,” “blender,” and “hot plate” were helpful. At yesterday’s parent follow-up webinar, her “lint roller” reference resonated with many of us. Sometimes, we look for evidence that reinforces our negative feelings and let...
Good Evening Brave Ones! How are you doing? I appreciate the many roles you are playing right now. Some of you are balancing work and home responsibilities as well as caring not only for your own children but often for your parents. Each of us is also dealing with our own feelings of isolation and lack of control because of future uncertainty. Though I may not truly understand all of your circumstances, I empathize with and applaud...
Hello Everyone! I hope this letter finds you well. Though it appears that we will not be coming back to campus for the remainder of the year, we continue to plan for the future. In considering the start of school next year, the Administration is looking at hybrid teaching scenarios on and off-campus as needed, the use of school facilities and classroom layouts, and safety and cleaning protocols and procedures that will allow each child to learn...
Hello Families, I hope you are well! A few reminders as we end our week. First, there are no classes or Monday Morning Greeting video slated for April 27 because of teacher/parent conferences taking place. Second, if you were unable to join us live, below are the links to the recorded webinars from this week: Early Childhood Kindergarten through Grade 3 Grades 4 through 6 As we discussed in the webinars, we are working to provide opportunities for you to connect...
Good Evening! I hope this update finds you well. I’m sharing with you a few resource reminders, an invitation, and a letter from our beloved Nurse Greene. For advice and support with technical issues that arise while using Google Meet, Google Classroom, and Storypark, please see this document, which is posted in the MyBackPack Resource section and on the COVID-19 page of the Gillispie website. Please note that students will not have classes on April 27, which was originally...
Happy Friday, Families! It was a busy week in classrooms as students dug into their studies and adjusted to the new schedules. I “visited” classrooms and saw Mr. Bluestein stretching with the first graders and Ms. Stagg as they transitioned from one subject to the next, and witnessed Mr. Edwards using pipe cleaners and a super-saturated borax and water solution with liquid watercolors to create geodes. In Prekindergarten workshops, Mrs. Knight gave a lesson on cubism in...
