Happy third week of school! It was lovely seeing so many of you at Back to School Night where the energy was terrific. Clearly, we enjoy being together! As you heard our Board Chair, Jonathan Lischke, share in his remarks, we are launching our ONEGillispie Annual Giving campaign. Over the next several days you will receive a letter and a pledge form from Erin and Mitch Otolski, Parent Chairs of this effort, enabling you to make...
The Grade 3 Blood Drive yesterday was a huge success! Overall, we collected 39 units of blood for the San Diego Blood Bank on behalf of Gillispie School, and 25 people donated for the very first time at our drive! Participants were members from the Gillispie community and our local neighborhood. According to the blood bank, the amount collected is way above average for a mobile drive! Moreover, this collection will save the lives of 117 people in just one day. We are...
This purposeful space is being built and organized to allow our Kindergarteners to create, collaborate, and experiment with various materials. Kindergarteners can take items apart, put things together, and dream up imaginative creations. Teachers have labeled shelving spots assigned to each student so they can safely store and then revisit their designs over time. The goal is to support curiosity, innovation, free-thinking, and creativity in our future scientists, teachers, engineers, architects, surgeons, artists, and inventors! We would like to...
Gillispie's annual Grade 3 Blood Drive is back Tuesday, February 8, 2022, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The event this year will be held in a mobile blood bank stationed in the Sandbox parking lot. Did you know that blood supplies at San Diego County’s busiest trauma centers are more critically low than they have been in over 30 years? Here is a recent article in the San Diego Union Tribune with more information on the current blood supply crisis. Now...
Robin Preiss Glasser Presenting at the LJ Riford Library Dec. 4 in Partnership with Warwick's Books Robin Preiss Glasser of Fancy Nancy fame with be speaking on her latest book, Grand Jete and Me, a collaboration with New York City Ballet prima ballerina Allegra Kent. Robin will be live, zooming from her east coast studio onto the screen in the Library's community room for an in-person audience, who will also enjoy a video of Allegra Kent reading the...
[caption id="attachment_9873" align="aligncenter" width="918"] [/caption] Please take advantage of the many resources available for parents through WeCare, a consortium of which Gillispie is a member. The next opportunity is a spectacular virtual parent event with Rosalind Wiseman Monday, October 25 at 6:00 p.m. As a member school, all Gillispie parents, faculty, and staff can attend for free! ...
Several students have asked me about free dress and spirit dress days--I suppose they’re longing for the freedom of summer! We are giving you a sneak peek for the first several months! The first non-uniform day is scheduled for September 24, and students may arrive in free dress or in Padres apparel/colors. Sixth graders will decide for November 19, whether it’s a free dress or themed-dress day, and their selection will be posted in the Sun and through Room...
Dear Gillispie Families, I am providing an update after the Center for Disease Control’s February 25 report to the American public on the coronavirus (COVID-19). Though the number of cases in the United States remains low and the virus is not as severe as first expected, CDC officials noted that it is likely that COVID-19 will spread across United States communities. Thus, it is important that we thoughtfully consider ways at school and home to keep ourselves...
What is the best way to organize our classroom library? How might we reduce food waste at our school? How can we combat pollution on the La Jolla coastline? In what ways could we address the homelessness issue in San Diego? Questions like these, whether small or big, drive the work of students in classrooms that take a project-based approach to learning. They also look a lot like the types of questions adult professionals face daily...
It has been over a decade since Gillispie first rolled up its sleeves and hosted the first blood drive, and the tradition continues with our annual Grade 3 Blood Drive and Bake Sale February 11, 2020. 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 depends on. Over the past ten years, our Gillispie blood donors have saved...