Happy Eclipse Day, GIS!

I hope everyone has enjoyed some sunshine this weekend- it's so lovely to see some blue skies finally!

This week, we have a unique opportunity for the 3rd-6th graders coming to GIS! Carrie Cruz is an educator and storyteller passionate about the night sky. On Friday, she's spending the day with GIS and is bringing a giant planetarium dome! Students will have an immersive experience learning about the constellations and planets and learn about the science and stories behind what we see in the night sky. Thank you to Ms. Kendre for arranging this and the GIS PTA for funding it!

Our younger grades also had a special treat this past week! Ms. Morgan's science and math students designed presentations on the eclipse and presented them to classrooms. They talked about the eclipse, told jokes, and did a mini art project with each class. It takes a lot of courage to present in front of a class, and these kiddos did terrific!

Please see other important updates below!

As always, my door and inbox are always open,

Mrs. H

Weeks of March 25 - April 12- Vermont State Testing for grades 3-6

April 8- No School- Solar Eclipse Day

April 12- Planetarium Lady comes to GIS!

April 15- Kindergarten Dabble Day for incoming K students

April 18- AM - School-wide bowling trip at SpareTime

April 18- 1/2 Early Release @ 11:30 for teacher PD

April 22-26- School Vacation

May 6- May 24- iReady testing window

May 10- GISU rowing regatta to be held at the Alburgh Community Education Center

May 22- Art and Music Night

We need your help figuring out logistics. Please fill out the quick survey below!

* From the CSWD website

Chittenden Solid Waste District (CSWD) is proud to announce its collaboration with Astronomers Without Borders (AWB) to prevent solar eclipse glasses from being thrown away and instead give them a chance to be reused.

As excitement builds for this rare celestial event, many folks across the state and country have acquired solar eclipse glasses to safely view this once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon. However, once the eclipse is over, these glasses often end up discarded, contributing to unnecessary waste. In keeping with its mission to help our community reduce, reuse and divert as much waste as possible from the landfill, CSWD is excited to join forces with Astronomers Without Borders.

Through this partnership, CSWD will establish collection points at many events throughout the county, including all six of the CSWD Drop-Off Centers, where community members and visitors can drop off their used solar eclipse glasses. These glasses will then be collected by AWB for reuse at future eclipse events all over the world. In the past, AWB has sent solar glasses to folks in Africa, Asia, North and South America who may not otherwise have a safe way to view annular and total solar eclipses safely.

You can bring your glasses into the main office, or give them to students to give to their teachers. We will ensure they get to CSWD.

Student council, with you help, raised $513.88!!

To culminate the roundup, one of our parents, came to talk to the 6th graders about the importance of The Big Change Roundup and her work as a parent advocate! Thanks, Ashley M. for spending some time with out 6th grade!

Getting quality mental health care is challenging. When you add the potential cost to families in co-pays and travel, there can be significant barriers to getting kids what they need.

About six weeks ago, I began searching for a mental health provider who could come into Grand Isle School and provide services to students. My search led me to Dr. Shelley Jackson! Dr. Shelley is a licensed clinician in VT, TX, and CT. She specializes in dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT), play therapy, expressive arts therapies, supervision, psychodrama, and the delivery of evidenced practices with diverse children and families, curriculum development, and program evaluation.

Dr. Shelley will be starting at Grand Isle School this week and will have space to work with approximately 15 students. There will be some spots for parent referrals and some spots for school referrals. Regardless of whether a referral comes from a family or school, parent/guardian consent is required.

If you are interested in putting in a parent request or would like more information, please email me.

This week the VTCAP experienced some technical difficulties which resulted in testing being temporarily paused. Third and fourth grade will resume testing, please check with your child's teacher to find out the day and time.

Grades 5 and 6 start testing this week. Please reach out to Ms. Allen and Ms. Morgan for questions about testing days.

Please come inside and look through our lost and found. We have dozens of jackets, sweatshirts, shoes, water bottles, hats, mittens, and other miscellaneous items. I will try to post pictures this week.

Email: ahanlon@gisu.org
Website: https://www.grandisleschool.org/
Location: 224 U.S. Rte 2, Grand Isle, VT, USA
Phone: 802-372-6913
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/grandisleschool.org

Attendance Form: https://forms.gle/ABSvVURCxvqbMfXw7