Character Education

The character word for April is excellence. Excellence is the state or quality of excelling. It can also mean exhibiting diligence, perseverance, and striving for continuous improvement.

• A person pursuing excellence does his or her best at all times, being careful, prepared, and informed.
• A person pursuing excellence finishes what he or she starts and doesn't give up easily.
• A person pursuing excellence takes the responsibility of looking for ways to improve his or her work.
• A person pursuing excellence doesn't surrender to obstacles or excuses, instead overcoming them.

Book Suggestions for Personal Excellence (Doing My Best)

• Peppe the Lamplighter by Elisa Bartone
• Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney
• The Patchwork Quilt by Valerie Flourney
• Johnny Appleseed by Stephen Kellog
• Through Grandpa's Eyes by Patricia MacLachlan
• Knots on a Counting Rope by Bill Martin, Jr.
• The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

CHAMPS Graduation

Gilbert Elementary School hosted the CHAMPS Graduation on Friday, March 27. Congratulations to all our fifth graders who successfully completed the program. CHAMPS is a Georgia Sheriff's Association sponsored program for 5th grade students. The CHAMPS acronym stands for Choosing Healthy Activities and Methods Promoting Safety. Special guests included Walker County Clerk of Court, Carter Brown and Walker County Sheriff, Steve Wilson.

Photos by Jay Lemons

March Movie Matinee

Friday, March 27, 2009
3:00 - 5:00 p.m.
$5.00 per Student

Don't forget, this Friday is the March Movie Matinee. For $5 your child will be able to watch the movie and enjoy a snack and drink. Please be sure all money and forms are turned in by Thursday!

Coka-Cola Truck Load Sale

Together with the Coca-Cola Company, we are pleased to bring you Gilbert Elementary School's annual Coke and PowerAde sale! The Coca-Cola Company has always been a generous supporter of Walker County Schools! The truckload sale begins today and runs through March 31st.

Orders must be paid for in advance and turned in no later than March 31st.
Pick up will be April 14, 2009.

Coke Products = $20 per case (24 count - 20 ounce bottles)
Powerade Products = $24 per case (24 count - 20 ounce bottles)

Flavors Include:
Coca-Cola Classic
Coke ZERO
Cherry Coke
Cherry Coke ZERO
Diet Coke
Caffeine Free Diet Coke
Sprite
Sprite ZERO
Mello Yello
Vault
Vault ZERO
Vault Red Blitz
Dr. Pepper
Diet Dr. Pepper
Barq's Root Beer
Fanta Orange
Fanta Grape
Fanta Strawberry
Minute Maid Lemonade
Minute Maid Pink Lemonade
Dasani
Dasani Lemon
Dasani Strawberry
Dasani Grape
POWERade Lemon Lime
POWERade Orange
POWERade Fruit Punch
POWERade Mountain Blast
POWERade Grape
POWERade Strawberry-Lemonade

Ramblin' Gators T-shirts

Gilbert Ramblin' Gators shirts are on sale in the office!

The design is featured in the picture above. We have a limited number of shirts available. What a great way to show your school spirit! Stop by the office and check them out!

Sizes Youth Small to Adult X-Large
$10 each

Sizes 2XL & 3XL
$12 each

Way to go, Gilbert Gators!

In our recent Pennies for Patients fundraiser, Miss Marshall challenged our staff and students to raise $500 for this worthy cause. You exceeded her expectations! Our final school-wide total was $958.65! Congratulations to Miss Higdon's 1st grade class! They had the highest classroom total with $140.22. It was a pretty close race. Mrs. Strickland's 5th grade turned in $135.52 and Mrs. Brooks' kindergarten class turned in $107.00. Miss Higdon's class will receive a pizza party for being the class turning in the most donations.

A huge thank you to everyone who particpated!

Hooray for Dr. Seuss!

We had a great day today with our Dr. Seuss celebration. All week long we have been working on learning about Therodore Geisel in the media center. We discussed his many books from first to last, his pseudonyms, and what inspired him to become an author. There were skits in the morning on the news to encourage our children to dress as their favorite Dr. Seuss character. Then Friday finally came, and we had a Diffendoofer Celebration in honor of the great man himself. Everyone dressed up. We had several stations set up around the school. These included computer lab time, the great, gribbulous, grobbulous gak with a review of states of matter, Thing hair with persuasive writing, and silhouettes rendered from the Seuss favorite, The Shape of Me and Other Stuff. This annual event was wonderful thanks to all those who participate each year. We have Jay Lemons, Chris Sandow, Greg Neal, Jennifer Jackson, Kristi Caissie, Brock Bruce, Charity Burnette, Dawn Cagle, Lisa Allmon, Sharon Kipp, Doris Maples, Gloria Magnusson, Donna Morgan, Ava England, Kesha Swanson, Dori Bel, Michelle Blaylock, and me who plan, gather materials, set up and man stations, link the activities to curriculum and make sure the day goes off without a hitch. The administrative team, Brad Hayes, Matt Harris and Jana Marshall are always a constant support. Our amazing parents were ready and willing to spend the entire morning wherever we had a need. The ladies in the cafeteria prepared great sack lunches for the Seussy event and the custodial staff whipped out their super-dooper-flooper scooping machines and the school shone once everything was done. The teachers here at Gilbert are unbelievable as well. They constantly contribute materials, perform skits at a moments notice, and even make special trips to ensure that we have everything we need. For example, Miss Amanda Higdon took a little journey to a friend's house to pick up cans of colored hair spray late into the evening the night before just so we could be sure every child could have their favorite Thing hair creation.

Submitted by Kelly Massey

Principal for the Day

Our fifth grade students have been selling candy to raise money for Camp River Ridge. Mr. Hayes challenged them with the special treat of being principal for the day if they were the top sellers. Monday, March 2 several students served as principal, assistant principal, secretary, and receptionist.

Principal - Josh Neal
Assistant Principal - Cassie Cohen
Secretary/Receptionist - Shannon Crider
Secretary/ Receptionist - Dee Dee Daniels

Mr. Hayes and Mr. Harris met with all four students at the end of the day to discuss the pros and cons of being an elementary school administrator/secretary. Josh enjoyed learning the process for evaluating teachers (GTOI). Cassie assisted Mr. Harris with discipline referrals. Shannon and Josh helped Mr. Hayes change the school sign. Dee Dee was a BIG help to Mrs. Lisa with ice cream sundaes. Shannon and Dee Dee helped answer the phone, make copies and run errands. Josh shared his thoughts on our science curriculum with Mr. Hayes and Mrs. Caissie. Josh had some questions about Math-A-Thon. Mrs. Caissie was more than willing to answer all of Principal Neal's questions. Josh and Cassie helped monitor the halls throughout the day. Josh wasn't afraid to give Mr. Russell some things to do. The students really enjoyed the walkie talkies...probably a mistake on our part.

Town Hall Meeting

The public is invited to a Town Hall Meeting hosted by the Walker County Board of Education. The purpose of this meeting is to inform parents and the community of initiatives and plans related to current trends in Walker County education.

LaFayette High School

Thursday, March 5
6:00-7:30 p.m.

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

Theodor Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss to most of us, would be celebrating his 105th birthday today! Mrs. Massey has planned a Seuss celebration for us on Friday! We invite you to join in the fun by dressing as your favorite Seuss character. (Due to the activity Thing Hair, you may not want to decorate your hair. We'll be doing that one at school.)

Students will visit three stations to make or do an activity throughout the morning. We will create Thing Hair, visit Seuss.com, and make Gak! Everyone will watch Horton Hears a Who after lunch. Our day will end with an assembly in the gym. Mrs. Massey and her team of helpers will choose the best Seuss-dressed students for a dance-off contest!