Our GCS Vision: Giving all students the opportunity to learn, dance, and succeed. The Gabriella Herald Los Angeles, California – Edition No. 02242020 Principal’s Message Dr. Baldenegro Dear GCS Families, I am thrilled to be back at GCS as your interim Principal! The GCS community is one that I hold very dear to my heart, and I am excited to be able to see our students, families, and staff more often while Ms. Ventura is on leave and until we find our next school leader. I want to thank Ms. Ventura once again for all of her wonderful work as our Principal these past three years – she certainly deserves three big claps of praise! Our Spring season promises lots of learning and activity as we move toward our school goals, which include: • Academic Excellence: growing students’ proficiency in literacy, math, and science through reasoning and strong communication skills • Critical and Creative Core Instruction: ensuring students thrive in a rich, balanced education that includes dance, art, music, and technology instruction • Character Counts: creating a positive, inclusive school culture that promotes socio-emotional growth in a structured environment • Family Engagement: providing frequent, meaningful opportunities for families to engage in their children’s learning While our faculty and staff are working hard with your children to achieve our goals, we need your help in the following areas: Ø Attendance – students need to be at school on time, every day in order to get the most out of their schooling. It has been a tough winter for illness, and children should stay home if they have a fever – but please monitor your child’s attendance closely to ensure they are not absent or tardy too frequently, missing valuable learning time. Ø Parent Conferences – 98% of parents attended our Trimester 1 conferences – and we can do better than that! Our goal is that 100% of our parents attend our Trimester 2 conferences March 19 th and 20 th . Ø Parent Engagement – your children love seeing you on campus – and we appreciate your support! Please make sure to attend our upcoming parent meetings, as well as help the School and your children by volunteering (especially during our busy morning valet). I am proud to be a part of the GCS community, and look forward to working with you all this Spring to achieve our School goals. Onward and upward, Dr. Baldenegro
Transcript
Our GCS Vision: Giving all students the opportunity to learn, dance, and succeed.
The Gabriella Herald Los Angeles, California – Edition No. 02242020
Principal’sMessage
Dr. Baldenegro Dear GCS Families, I am thrilled to be back at GCS as your interim Principal! The GCS community is one that I hold very dear to my heart, and I am excited to be able to see our students, families, and staff more often while Ms. Ventura is on leave and until we find our next school leader. I want to thank Ms. Ventura once again for all of her wonderful work as our Principal these past three years – she certainly deserves three big claps of praise! Our Spring season promises lots of learning and activity as we move toward our school goals, which include:
• Academic Excellence: growing students’ proficiency in literacy, math, and science through reasoning and strong communication skills
• Critical and Creative Core Instruction: ensuring students thrive in a rich, balanced education that includes dance, art, music, and technology instruction
• Character Counts: creating a positive, inclusive school culture that promotes socio-emotional growth in a structured environment
• Family Engagement: providing frequent, meaningful opportunities for families to engage in their children’s learning
While our faculty and staff are working hard with your children to achieve our goals, we need your help in the following areas:
Ø Attendance – students need to be at school on time, every day in order to get the most out of their schooling. It has been a tough winter for illness, and children should stay home if they have a fever – but please monitor your child’s attendance closely to ensure they are not absent or tardy too frequently, missing valuable learning time.
Ø Parent Conferences – 98% of parents attended our Trimester 1 conferences – and we can do better than that! Our goal is that 100% of our parents attend our Trimester 2 conferences March 19th and 20th.
Ø Parent Engagement – your children love seeing you on campus – and we appreciate your support! Please make sure to attend our upcoming parent meetings, as well as help the School and your children by volunteering (especially during our busy morning valet).
I am proud to be a part of the GCS community, and look forward to working with you all this Spring to achieve our School goals. Onward and upward, Dr. Baldenegro
Our GCS Vision: Giving all students the opportunity to learn, dance, and succeed.
Spring 2020 Standardized Testing
We are looking forward to this spring’s testing season, where our students will show us what they have learned throughout the school year! Please review the chart below to know when our
students will have their exams; next month, more grade-specific information will be shared.
We look forward to your support in ensuring that your child is on-time and present each and
every day to do their absolute best.
Additionally, if you are interested in learning more about these assessments, check out the following valuable resources:
• Question types for English language arts and mathematics can be found at www.caaspp.org/practice-and-training/index.html
• To learn more about test results and find more practice questions (including the science test), please visit http://www.testscoreguide.org/ca
English Learner Updates: ELD and Reclassification
Are you the parent of an English learner who is wondering when or how your child will stop
being an English learner? Are you confused about why your child is called an English learner? If so, please read the following information regarding the classification and instruction of English learners. Students are classified as English learners (or ELs) if their Home Language Survey and an initial assessment of English proficiency show that they need support in mastering written and spoken academic English. The Home Language Survey is a survey that is completed by families when their children enter a public school for the first time. At GCS, ELs receive extra support during the school day to master academic English. This instruction is called English language development (ELD). Reclassification is the process by which ELs are identified as having gained sufficient mastery of academic English in order to succeed without extra language support. To reclassify, students must meet certain criteria which include report card grades and scores on a yearly state-wide test of ELs (ELPAC). When students reclassify, they usually do not receive additional English language development instruction. For an illustrated summary of this information, please see the attached flyer which summarizes ELD instruction and reclassification criteria at GCS.
SAVE THE DATE: Parent Workshop for ALL Parents: Learning Styles Thursday, March 19th at 11:00am Logan Auditorium March 19th is a minimum day with student dismissal at 12:30pm. The ELAC committee hopes you can join us for this workshop before picking up your students. Parents will learn all about 7 different ways children may learn best
Grades Exam Testing Window TK-8 English Learners
ELPAC (English Learner Proficiency Assessment for California)
February 3 – April 2
3rd through 8th Grades
Smarter Balanced Summative Assessment (English language arts and mathematics)
April 20 – May 15
5th & 8th
Grades
California Science Test (CAST)
March 30 – April 2
5th & 7th
Grades
California Physical Fitness Exam
February – May
Our GCS Vision: Giving all students the opportunity to learn, dance, and succeed.
and how to refine study habits for increased learning!
Dance News Thank you to all families who participated in the Cookies for Costume Contributions drive. After the weeklong drive, we have raised $1,770 for costumes for the End of the Year performance! That is 22% of our goal. We still have some room to grow and are continuing to accept donations. Also, please see below for ticket eligibility criteria for the end-of-the-year recital. You can always check in in the main office to see how many hours you have completed already.
Engagement Hours
by Friday, April 24th
Tickets
0-19 hours Eligible to purchase 1 ticket
20-39 hours Eligible to purchase 2
tickets
40 or more hours
Eligible to purchase 2 tickets + opportunity to be
entered into the lottery for a 3rd ticket
20 families with the top number of
engagement hours
Eligible to purchase 3 tickets + opportunity to be
entered into the lottery for a 4th ticket; premiere seating
for all
Ms. Piazza’s Reading Corner Happy March, GCS families! This is the time of year when things should be moving smoothly. In school, your child, their teachers, and their classmates are in a groove, with strong routines in place. Your child knows their schedule, what they’re learning and why, and has a lot to look forward to! This is a wonderful time to strengthen your child’s reading life at home so that you can carry the momentum into summer, which is the most important time for kids to read as much as they can!
Below are three tips that can help you to help your child strengthen their at-home reading life and make reading a special part of their day. Reading Spaces One strong way to build your child’s reading life is to have a special place for them to read. That doesn’t mean you have to rearrange your home or buy anything new – it could be as simple as finding the same part of your home for them to read each day, like their bed, the couch, or even on the stairs! Having a special place to read can add a little magic to what can seem like a commonplace event. Reading Routines Setting up a special place for your child to read is a strong start. From there, building out a consistent routine can also be helpful, including…
- Have your child read in the same part of your afterschool routine each day. For example, have your child read once they get a snack and before they play.
- You could also have your student practice during-reading activities, like looking new words up a phone, illustrating, jotting down ideas on Post-it notes, or journaling about what they are reading. Keeping it simple is ok!
- When your child is done reading, have them talk to you. You can ask them about what they read, what connections they made, or anything that they are thinking might happen next in their book.
Reading Adventures One more way to build your child’s reading life is to plan special activities around reading. That could be a regular trip to the library or heading to the bookstore once in a while. Remember, Los Angeles libraries have plenty of amazing activities to offer, both after school and over the weekend. For more information about city library events, visit https://www.lapl.org/events. For more information about county library events, visit https://lacountylibrary.org/family-friendly-events/. If you would like any support in thinking about reading spaces, reading routines, or reading adventures, please reach out to me through the Main Office or via email at [email protected].
Our GCS Vision: Giving all students the opportunity to learn, dance, and succeed.
CharacterCorner:
Andrea Madriz, 4th Grade Ms. Brou and Mr. P
Question: What do the GCS core values mean to you? Answer: To show everyone that you can take ownership, show that you can be kind, try your best, to be open to change, do new things. I can show all of those things. Question: What is an example of something you’ve done related to school to demonstrate one or more of our core values? Answer: I showed integrity when Ms. Brou wasn’t here. I was helping the substitute, helping others in class, and making my own decisions about how to be helpful. Question: What is an example of something you’ve done outside of school to demonstrate one or more of our core values? Answer: I show compassion because I am kind to my family members and when my aunt needs me to pick up my cousin, I do that because I am helpful. Question: Why do you think you were chosen as a student who represents the GCS core values? Answer: I show all of the core values and I do it almost every day. I never stop showing them. Question: Any final thoughts you want to share with GCS about the importance of demonstrating our core values?
Answer: It’s important because all of the values can show how you are a good person and it shows the younger kids that if you do a good job you can get rewards, Kickboard points, and show little kids how it’s good to have all the core values.
I am excited to share results from our mid-year math assessments! At GCS, all students use i-Ready, an online math program. i-Ready has two components: Diagnostics and Instruction. Diagnostics are given three times a year (August, February, and May), and are adaptive tests that provide data for i-Ready instruction. Students participate in the Instruction portion of i-Ready on a weekly basis, where Diagnostic results guide students through a personalized learning plan. Our students just finished the February test, and we are excited to share some highlights with you. In elementary, we have already doubled the number of students performing on grade level and 36 students have already met their annual growth goals. In middle school, there are 10% more students performing on grade level and 29 students have already met their annual growth goals. We are proud of our students’ learning so far – and need your help to ensure students continue making math gains. Please consider doing the following to ensure students are doing their best!
• Speak with your child about how using i-Ready will help them prepare for class work.
Our GCS Vision: Giving all students the opportunity to learn, dance, and succeed.
• Encourage your child to take each lesson and quiz question seriously – and celebrate your child’s progress!
• Contact your child’s teacher about having your child practice with i-Ready at home.
If you would like more information about i-Ready, please feel free to reach out to your child’s teacher, or email me at [email protected].
