Community Nest

"Relationships are the agents of change." Dr. Bruce Perry

January 17 - January 21, 2022

Our Gray Hawk Mission Statement

OUR GRAY HAWK FAMILY works together to help students feel safe, loved, and inspired so they can be empowered learners and engaged citizens.

GHES is in masks until January 28, 2022 as long as we remain below 4% positivity rate

COVID-19

We've received confirmation from Leavenworth County that KDHE is now advising the new CDC guidance for K-12 schools (January 6, 2022), which has reduced the recommended time for isolation and quarantine periods to five days for those testing positive for COVID-19.

With this in mind, we've created a new Exposure Guidelines one-sheet for you to reference in the event you or your student(s) are a close contact, symptomatic or test positive for COVID-19.

Please note that if you or your students have symptoms, regardless of vaccination status:
~Test immediately
~If using an at-home test and you receive a positive result, please contact Leavenworth County Health Department (913.250.2000) to report your result.
~Isolate while waiting your result, if applicable
~If positive, isolate for 5 days or until fever free for 24 hours whichever is longer
~Please communicate with your building secretary that your child is staying home with COVID and their planned return to school date.
~Students and staff will wear a mask for five additional days once returned to school*
*If an individual does not want to wear the mask for the additional five days, they may quarantine or isolate for 10 days at home instead.

Book Fair - January 24 - 28

The book fair is this week. OUR family shopping night is on Tuesday from 5:30 - 7:00. Please remember that you must wear a mask when entering the building this week for this event.

Students will be able to shop during the week as well. We hope to see you on Tuesday night.

Request for Cereal Boxes from Mrs. Ramsey for Valentine's Day boxes

Staff Luncheon on 2/16

Our Staff Appreciation Coordinator & volunteers have begun planning the Staff Lunch on 2/16 to include coffee & donuts for breakfast & a delicious Mexican lunch!
You can use the link below or send cash/check(made out to Gray Hawk PTO) into school. Please put on the envelope it is for PTO Lunch. Thank you for supporting Our Gray Hawk Elementary Staff!
https://square.link/u/HQcoFHSi

Any donation amount is appreciated & funds not used for lunch will go toward Staff Appreciation Week in May!

Mr. Powers Community Listening Tour 2022

Mr. Powers will be coming to Gray Hawk on a listening tour for our community on Tuesday, February 1 from 5:30 - 6:30. He will be here to share information about the new strategic plan for USD 458 and get feedback about things that are going well and things that may need to looked at in the future.

GRAY HAWK TALENT SHOW

Tuesday, January 25 - Sign Up to perform at GHES from 6 - 7:30 pm. (This is only a time to sign up). In order to sign up for an opportunity to perform, you must come on 1/25 and have the form below filled out. Please CAREFULLY READ THE FLIER BELOW IN ORDER TO BE PREPARED for sign ups.

GHES Talent Show

GHES TALENT SHOW Let's COLOR THE STAGE AT THE 2022 GHES RANBOW TALENT SHOW. INDIMIDUAL ACTS & GROUPS FROM GHES ARE ENCOURAGED TO DISPLAY THEIR TALENTS (SINGING, DANCING, INSTRUMENTS, POETRY, COMEDY, ETC.) FOR A FUN EVENNG OF ENTERTAINHENT. * SIGN-UP NIGHT 6-7:30 PM TUESDAY, JANUARY 25 e GRAYHAWK ELE

share.peachjar.com

Featured Literature

Yangsook Choi is a Korean born author, illustrator and artist. She began drawing pictures at the age of 4 and loved making up telling her Grandmother scary stories. She moved to New York as an adult to pursue her art career. Moving to America inspired her to write children’s books about being from a different culture and moving to a new country.

Through her life she has had jobs working at a Korean BBQ, being a flight attendant, and doing fingernail art.

When she is not working she spends time with children in her community and around the world. This inspires her for her stories and her art. She has spent time with homeless children in shelter, mountain children in the Himalayas, Bedouin children in the Arabian desert, orphans from flooded Cambodia, and North Korean defector children. She considers these children her best teachers about life.

Our featured story is The Name Jar : being the new kid in school is hard enough, but what happens when nobody can pronounce your name? Having just moved from Korea, Unhei is anxious about fitting in. So instead of introducing herself on the first day of school, she decides to choose an American name from a glass jar. But while Unhei thinks of being a Suzy, Laura, or Amanda, nothing feels right. With the help of a new friend, Unhei will learn that the best name is her own.

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The Sun Girl and the Moon Boy

"A long time ago in Korea, there was not enough light.It was before the sun and the moon had been created." So begins one of the most treasured folktales of Korea. Reminiscent of Little Red Riding Hood, this ancient tale reveals how a hungry tiger tries to trick a young boy and girl into thinking that he is their mother. But their sharp wits and a measure of good luck are enough to save the children and reunite them with their mother, high above in the sky. Together, they bring the first rays of sunlight and moonlight to the world below. Having heard this story told many times by her grandmother, Yangsook Choi now brings her own voice and breathtaking oil paintings to The Sun Girl and the Moon Boy. With them, she shares an important part of her childhood and the Korean tradition.

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Behind the Mask

Halloween is coming. “What are you going to be?” the children ask one another. Kimin says he will be his grandfather. “Going as an old man is not very scary,” they tease. What the children don’t know is that Kimin’s grandfather was a Korean mask dancer. And Kimin doesn’t know that the mask holds a secret for him.

With vibrant illustrations, Yangsook Choi joins Korean and American folk traditions in her story about a boy who finds a link to his grandfather, behind the mask.

Behind the Mask is a 2007 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

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New Cat

New Cat loves everything about living in Mr. Kim’s tofu factory, except for one thing: she has seen a mouse in the production room, where Mr. Kim doesn’t allow her to go. She knows that one of her jobs is to chase mice, but how can she do this if she can’t go where they are? In this charming picture book, Yangsook Choi tells the story of the night that New Cat follows her instincts rather than Mr. Kim’s wishes and gets more than she bargained for.

PROMOTING DIVERSITY

As a part of our commitment to ensuring that our students are exposed to the contributions of people of color and from different backgrounds, we kicked off this past week by giving daily clues to a famous person from history that has made our world a better place. This past week, the students heard the following clues:

I was born in February 1818 in Talbot County, Maryland. My mom was a slave which meant when I was born I was a slave too. Around my 12th birthday, my master’s wife began to teach me the alphabet. At this time it was actually against the law to teach a slave to read so my master made his wife stop teaching me immediately but that did not stop me! I wanted to learn to read and I actually taught myself by watching other white kids learn and never giving up.

When I was 20 I escaped slavery and ended up marrying my first wife Anna and settling down in Massachusetts. It was here that I became an abolitionist. Abolitionists were people who wanted to abolish - or end - slavery. In addition to speaking out against slavery, I also supported equal rights for women and believed women should have the right to vote which they could not do back then. I also fought for equal treatment for black soldiers during the Civil War.

I wrote a very popular book about my time as a slave called The Narrative of the Life of (my name). I was even once nominated to be the Vice President of the United States and I worked with President Lincoln to try to get equal rights for black people. I was very proud when President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863 which ended slavery for states that were under Union control during the Civil War. I died on February 20, 1895.

Celebrating Frederick Douglass

Neuro News

For the life of me, I cannot remember if I shared the neuroplasticity video with you all but even if I did, it is worth revisiting. During our January PD day OUR staff explored a Growth Mindset through a variety of articles and then they created posters of their new knowledge to share with the other staff members. One of the articles discussed neuroplasticity and asked how we can teach our students about neuroplasticity.

Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to change – to rewire, relearn and strengthen important connections. When we practice something we grow neural connections making things easier and easier for us to do. Check out this great article from Edutopia and rewatch the Backwards Bike for a real example.

Engaging Brains: How to Enhance Learning by Teaching Kids About Neuroplasticity

Explicitly teaching students about neuroplasticity can have a transformative impact in the classroom. A central facet of our work as teacher educators is teaching about how the brain changes during learning. Many teachers have told us that these findings have had a positive effect on their expectations for their students and on students' perceptions of their own abilities.

edutopia.org