Inclement Weather - Make up Days

Walker County Schools Inclement Weather Makeup Schedule For Students

All schools in the Walker County System have built in additional daily instructional time well above the minimum required by the State Department of Education for students.  Based on the additional time built into the schedules, no makeup days would be required for students at this time.  However, out of an abundance of concern for students preparing for the state exams in the spring, the Walker County School System announces the following changes to the calendar for students.

February 21     Presidents Day Holiday is now a student makeup day.

March 11     Current in-service day is now a student makeup day.

Spring Break will not be utilized for student or staff makeup days.

Hoops for Heart!

February 14-17, 2011

An informational flyer went home today with all students. Coach Neal is leading our school's participation in Hoops for Heart and/or Jump Rope for Heart. Here's the scoop for third graders...

During our lives different diseases of the heart have increased. Many private clubs, civic organizations, and social groups have stressed the need for every person to become more physically fit. Again this year, the American Heart Association is sponsoring "Hoops for Heart" which is a basketball skills activity. The students at Gilbert Elementary School will be participating in the program in P.E. classes during the week of February 14-17. We are asking each person to collect donations for this worthy cause - "To Help Cure Heart Disease". Our school goal is to collect $1,000.

Go visit parents, grandparents, family and friends, and ask them to support you with a contribution. DO NOT COLLECT DOOR-TO-DOOR. Ask your sponsors to make their checks payable to: AMERICAN HEART ASSOC. We will be collecting donations starting today and ending on Friday, February 25th. Please bring your donations to school in an envelope marked with "American Heart Association", student's name, teacher's name, and give them to Coach Neal

Wear RED to P.E. during the week of February 14-17!

Fossils at Gilbert?

Could it be? Have fossils been discovered at Gilbert? As much as I wish it were true, we didn't discover fossils as much as we created fossils.

Over the last week, we've learned lots of interesting facts about fossils. For instance, did you know most fossils are discovered in sedimentary rocks? Animals of long ago died. Their bodies decayed and were covered with dirt, bits of rock, or other sediment. As time passed, layers piled on top of layers, creating pressure and hardening into sedimentary rock. Thus, preserving the animals skeleton or bones. This type is called true form fossils. Of course we also found out that bones are not the only kind of fossil records to be found. The other types of fossils include mold, cast, imprint, and trace fossils. Feel free to ask any member of our class, we are eager to share our discoveries and research.

We decided to "dig a little deeper" into imprint fossils on Tuesday. Imprint fossils are formed from an organism moving in some way, leaving behind a trace or track. These tracks are preserved when the clay/silt dries slowly and is covered by other sediment. Plants can also leave imprint fossils when they are covered by sediment. The leaf tissue degrades, leaving an imprint of where the leaf once was. To create our own imprints, we used Crayola modeling clay and seashells collected from my trip to the beach during fall break. Here's a little peek...

Fossil Games & Websites

Skeleton Jigsaws

You put together the skeleton to various animals.
This site also has great interactive movies to teach you more about fossils.

 

Fossil Hunt

This one is from National Geographic!

Memory Matching Game

Academic Pep Rally

Congratulations to Our Star 

and Honor Roll Students!

Star Honor Roll

Chyanne Avans

Alexis Keown

Kai Lucas

Anna Valle

Victoria Walker

Honor Roll

William Anger

Alexia Arvizu

Isaiah Harris

Spencer Milbourn

Camden Neal

Trystan Smith

Emmeleigh Unruh

Samuel Weed

Amya Williams

Perfect Attendance

Jason Edwards

Lonnie Gilreath

Alexis Keown

Camden Neal

Trystan Smith

Achieved AR Goals

Alexia Arvizu

Alexis Keown

Kai Lucas

Spencer Milbourn

Camden Neal

Trystan Smith

Emmeleigh Unruh

Victoria Walker

Reading Congratulations!

Congratulations to our latest point club earners!

25 Points

William Anger

Dilyan Glenn

Zach Sims

Anna Valle

Amya Williams

 

75 Points

Levi Pettigrew

Amya, Dilyan, Levi, Zach

William & Anna

2011-2012 Calendar

The Walker County Board of Education has approved our academic calendar for the 2011-12 school year. Students will again have a 169-day school year which will begin on September 1 and end June 1. To view and/or download a copy of the calendar, click here.

As of Tuesday, we have missed eight school days due to snow and ice. We are currently still within the amount of instructional minutes required by the state. Thus at this time, students will not have to make up those days. Spring is still almost two months away and only time will tell if we have more winter weather.

Back to School!

Shake off all that snow!

It's back to school we go!

Walker County students will return to

school on Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Thursday & Friday

Walker County Schools will remain closed Thursday (Jan. 13)

and Friday (Jan. 14) due to the winter weather!

Monday, January 17 - MLK Holiday

School should resume on Tuesday, January 18, 2011.

Stay safe and warm!

Snow Day Wednesday!

Hey Friends!

Walker County Schools will be closed on Wednesday, 

January 12th due to inclement weather.

Stay safe and warm!

I miss you guys!

Snow Day!

 

Walker County Schools on Monday, January 10 and 

Tuesday, January 11 due to impending inclement weather. 

Be careful!

Stay warm!

Have fun!

New Technology

Gilbert Elementary has always been a school know for its use of technology in the classroom. This year, Mr. Hayes and Mr. Harris continue that tradition. The school purchased several new iPads. Students have been using them for research in both the media center and the library. Mr. Lemons chose apps (applications) that would allow students to practice basic skills and supplement our classroom instruction.

I was pleasantly surprised on Monday morning when Mr. Lemons stopped by my classroom with three iPads! He explained that we were beginning to "roll" them out to the classroom so that students would have more access to them and teachers could utilize them as well. I was so excited!

Yesterday, we used the iPads in the classroom for the first time! We practiced our addition facts with an app called Pop Math. It was a blast! Check out our photos!

Welcome Back to School!

I'd like to welcome everyone back to the 2nd semester of school and the beginning of a new year! I've missed seeing your smiling faces! I have so many questions for all of you:

• Didn't you love the White Christmas?
• Did you make a snowman?
• Did you have a snowball fight?
• Did you receive the presents you had wished for?
• What about your time with family? Did you have fun and enjoy your time together?

Hopefully, we will have a little time to talk, write, and share our Christmas break stories. But with the New Year comes a look ahead to all we still have to accomplish! It's back to work for us! CRUNCH TIME!

What's happening this week?

Since it's a short week (only three days), you will not have assigned spelling words or homework!

In Math, we will continue our work on multiplication facts and begin working on division.

This week, you will be publishing your nonfiction writing into a book! You're going to become a PUBLISHED AUTHOR! More information will be sent home tomorrow about this important project! Parents, you must sign the form for your child to receive a book of his/her very own. The first copy is free of charge ~ all we need is your signature. You will also have the opportunity to purchase additional copies of your child's work for grandparents, aunts, uncles, or other family members. I will need the signed form and envelop back by Friday at the latest.

I will finish assessing our reading growth with the administration of the DRA-2 this week. As soon as this last assessment is complete, I will be scheduling mid-year conferences. STAR Testing was completed before we left. I was very pleased with the growth I'm seeing in our reading through the Accelerated Reading Program. I'm sure your child shared that he or she received new "dots" on their folders. The translation would be that his or her reading performance has improved thus your child is ready to move on to more challenging material.

Mr. Lemons, our technology guru and math lab teacher, dropped off a very special delivery! I can't wait to share these new items with you. You're going to love them!

See you bright and early in the morning!

Until next time,

Mrs. R. :)

Happy New Year!

 

Wishing you the best for the new year!

We will open the book. It's pages are blank. 

We are going to put words on them ourselves. 

The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day.

~Edith Lovejoy Pierce

Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, 

and let each new year find you a better man.  

~Benjamin Franklin

 Cheers to a New Year and another chance for us to get it right. 

~Oprah Winfrey