Thanks to the generosity of our amazing families, the Gillispie Toy Drive was a tremendous success! We filled 11 large boxes and two large bags with the donations you so lovingly brought in, and the handmade cards and gift tags were so meaningful. All of these items are being transported to an orphanage in Tijuana which serves infants, children, and teens up to age 18. Your giving spirit is changing lives! Thank you to the Community Relations...
Dear Parents, Although this year has presented us with many challenges, I think we can all agree that we are very blessed to have this community. In the past, Gillispie has delivered donations to an orphanage in Tijuana that serves children from infancy through 18 years. With Valentine’s Day around the corner, now is the perfect time to restart this tradition of giving to those in need while also involving our kids in the most important value of giving...
In the upper elementary, we have been tying in many art projects with grade-level social studies. In Grade 3, students created mini-murals and ceramic dwellings for their Kumeyaay dioramas. The Grade 4 class has been studying California history, so its art focus has been on creating scenes of California's central valley, mountain, coastal, and desert landscapes. In Grade 5, students drew North American explorer galleons. Sixth graders created ceramic vessels and temple pop-ups while studying the ancient Greek civilization and are currently working on Egyptian...
Recently, students in Sequoia explored coding using fun, programmable robots called BeeBots. The students delighted in giving the Beebots instructions (code) to get from one end of the mat to the other. They began their coding exploration with simple instructions on how to use the buttons on the backs of their Beebots to code their robots. Then, they explored challenges and tried out different ways to program the bot to reach its destination. Some students even...
We have been very lucky to have had such great weather on the field for P.E.! Elementary students have been doing regular workouts, playing various tag games, and just finished up the very popular hockey unit. Grades K-2 played noodle hockey (which is simpler and safer than traditional field hockey) while Grades 3-6 students played a version of 4-on-4 street hockey on the grass. Fun was had by all! We are now transitioning into our modified volleyball unit for the...
With families making potential plans for travel over the Presidents’ Day extended weekend, we are reviewing our guidance because it's considered a high-risk activity by the State and County. If your family is traveling greater than 120 miles from home, the student needs to quarantine upon return to their place of residence in San Diego for 10 days before returning to Gillispie. If they get tested on Day 7 of that quarantine and the PCR test result...
We are always in awe of the way our students shine inside AND outside of school. Just this week, we saw Emma in Grade 4 highlighted in the San Diego Union-Tribune as the winner of Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Steve Breen's caption contest. Over the past two years, we have had other budding creative writers published. Emma was a K-12 Winner with her witty caption, "So who wants to top off this meeting?" for Breen's illustration of congregating condiments (see above). We also...
By now you should have all received an invitation to Gillispie’s upcoming {virtual} FUNdraising Fiesta, to be held on March 6th. So many of you have already responded by underwriting, purchasing dinners, and indicating your attendance. We are excited! This is Gillispie’s largest fundraising event of the year, and there are many ways you can help: 1. Attend! We would love to have you at our party, and there is no cost to participate! 2. Want to up the “festive...
During the winter break, our amazing teachers in Cypress Room did some classroom rearranging! The children were surprised to see the "new classroom" and played as if it was their first day of school. "I've never played here before!" one student said. They have been enjoying counting with red pegs, looking for golden coins at the sensory station, hopping with frogs at the large wooden table, and making colorful designs using marbles on a Chinese checkerboard....
To borrow from and add to the inertia of their classroom study of ancient Egypt, Grade 6 students took a break from their genetics studies in Science to focus on mummification. Using apples from the garden, students carved and weighed miniature heads and packed them in salt. Over several cycles of weighing and repacking (and even using a food desiccator), we saw the original mass of the heads decrease substantially as water was lost, mirroring the mummification process. The final...