10/5/18
GREAT NECK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
EVENTS & ACTIVITIES Oct. 8 Oct. 9 Oct. 10 Oct. 11 Oct. 12
C ol u m bu s Da y Obs e rv ed — No S ch o ol Creative Writing w/ Mrs. McGuire—Grs. 4 & 5 Yoga Play w/ Mrs. Wheeler—Kindergarten October PTA Meeting STEM Program w/ Mrs. Rei—Grades 3—5 Yoga Play w/ Mrs. Wheeler—Grade 2 Yoga Play w/ Mrs. Wheeler—Grade 1 (last) Great Shots Basketball—Grades 2 & 3 Great Shots Basketball—Grades 4 & 5 Grade 1 Field Trip to Denison Nature Center Nature Play w/ Mrs. Wheeler—Grs. 3, 4 & 5 (last)
3:10 3:10 5:30 3:10 3:10 3:10 6:30 7:30 9:00 3:10
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4:15 4:00
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4:15 4:00 4:00 7:30 8:30 12:15 4:00
Running Together w/ Mrs. Guetti—Grades 3—5 Book Fair Family Night Yoga Play w/ Mrs. Wheeler—Kindergarten (last) STEM Program w/ Mrs. Rei—Grades 3—5 Yoga Play w/ Mrs. Wheeler—Grade 2 (last) Book Fair Family Night Pre-K Field Trip to Scotts’ Yankee Farmer Great Shots Basketball—Grades 2 & 3 Great Shots Basketball—Grades 4 & 5 GN PTA Tru n k - or - Tre at
3:10 6:00 3:10 3:10 3:10 6:00 9:30 6:30 7:30 2:00
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4:15 7:30 4:00 4:15 4:00 7:30 11:30 7:30 8:30 4:00
Running Together w/ Mrs. Guetti—Grades 3—5 Creative Writing w/ Mrs. McGuire—Grs. 4 & 5 Great Shots Basketball—Grades 2 & 3 (last) Great Shots Basketball—Grades 4 & 5 (last) STEM Program w/ Mrs. Rei—Grades 3—5 Running Together w/ Mrs. Guetti—Grades 3—5 STEM Program w/ Mrs. Rei—Grades 3—5
3:10 3:10 6:30 7:30 3:10 3:10 3:10
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4:15 4:15 7:30 8:30 4:15 4:15 4:15
Oct. 15 — 18 Oct. 15 Oct. 16 Oct. 17 Oct. 18 Oct. 20 Oct. 22 Oct. 23 Oct. 24 Oct. 29 Oct. 30
GN PTA Fall Book Fair
Students must be pre-registered for after-school activities unless otherwise specified.
GN PTA Fall Book Fair is coming!
October 15—18! See Page 5 for more info & Page 6 to volunteer!
Congratulations to the following
students who received a Pride Star for earning 3 Pride Cards: Angela-Lee Hawthorne & Violet Melton!
MESSAGE FROM THE PRINCIPAL OCTOBER 5, 2018
Dear GN Families, In 2007, Stanford University psychology professor Carol Dweck popularized the Growth Mindset philosophy. Dweck describes a student’s mindset as “the way they perceive their abilities.” She promotes a Growth Mindset, which is a student’s belief that they can develop their skills through effort and perseverance, as well as being receptive to lessons and feedback. Students that embrace a growth mindset believe that they can improve their skills through hard work and trying new learning methods. As you know at Great Neck we are focused on providing structured social emotional learning to our students. We promote the development of a growth mindset and encourage you to praise the effort and hard work your child puts into any project and/or activity. This is a shift from saying “you are so smart” to saying something like, “I am so proud of all of the hard work and effort you put in”. According to Dweck, encouraging effort increases a student’s willingness to try new things. We hope you join us in our promotion of a growth mindset in children and encourage them to keep trying; sending the message that being great at something requires lots of time, practice and perseverance. If your child states that they simply can’t do something … change the script for them and say to them … you can’t do that YET. Keep trying. Don’t be afraid to let your child make mistakes and then provide them an opportunity to learn from those mistakes. Build independence and turn their failures into an opportunity to learn and start again. Be mindful of always praising effort and hard work. Please note that in order to support our Social Emotional Curriculum, we are adopting the Second Step Program across all elementary schools. Please ask your child about their classroom lessons in Second Step. All classroom teachers began on Monday, October 1, 2018. Key messages being communicated to students throughout the month of October will include: We have rules that help us remember to use safe, respectful and responsible words and actions. The Second Step program teaches us to use safe, respectful and responsible words and actions. When we all act in these ways, it helps our school be a welcoming place where everyone belongs and can learn. Any support you can provide by having conversations with your children on welcoming behaviors and safety, respect and responsibility will be most appreciated. Best wishes for a relaxing Columbus Day weekend! Enjoy!
-Billie
Thank you to our families who have been making the morning drop-off transition easier by allowing our staff and peer mentors to escort their child to the classroom each day. In particular, I wanted to say thank you to the parents of our preschoolers. We understand how difficult it can be to drop off at the door ‌ but everyone has been doing an amazing job. As a result, we are able to get our school day started right away and maximize instructional time for our students. Thank you to all for your support! - Billie