Dear A.E. Wright GATE Parents,
We hope you are doing well and making the most of this unprecedented time in our lives. For those of you new to the GATE program this year, welcome! For returning GATE families, thank you for your continued support. You will receive this newsletter several times throughout the year, and we hope to bring you classroom updates from our GATE teachers as well as some fun social and enrichment opportunities for both parents and kids.
Our Fall AGP Parents Meeting / Parent Ed Night is coming up at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, October 28 (via Zoom), so please mark your calendars! In addition to providing updates on our fall calendar of events, we are pleased to present a parent education opportunity, "From Chaos to Calm: Parenting in a Pandemic" led by Darlyn Childress, former AEW GATE parent and current parent educator. We have also scheduled social events for our students in November and December, so please read all below and mark your calendars!
As always, if you have GATE-specific questions, please don't hesitate to reach out.
Stay well,
Erin Mayer
AGP Chair
|
|
6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Wednesday, October 28 via Zoom [link to come]. The meeting is one of only two GATE parent meetings this school year. In addition to covering some GATE business, we are thrilled to have Darlyn Childress joining us for a Parent Education session.
|
|
From Chaos to Calm: Parenting in a Pandemic |
Learn strategies for staying calm, managing stress and creating a peaceful home.
Darlynn Childress is a former middle and high school teacher and the mother of two sons. A trained parent educator and life coach, she is also a gifted storyteller who gives presentations & parenting workshops throughout Southern California and offers private coaching nationwide. You can learn more about her at darlynnchildress.com or join her facebook group, Becoming Calm Mamas, for great tips and strategies.
|
|
DO YOU KNOW ANY 5TH GRADE STUDENTS INTERESTED IN GATE?
PLEASE SHARE THE FOLLOWING WITH THEM:
Please join us for our GATE Information Night! 6 P.M. TO 7 P.M. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21
You’ll have an opportunity to: Learn about the unique features of the middle school GATE program, meet some of the instructors, and learn about next steps for applying for acceptance into the program.
|
|
Some of Mrs. Rinaldi's students sharing cool rocks during science class. |
|
Mrs. Rinaldi —
6th Grade English Language Arts, Social Studies and Science: I have really enjoyed getting to know the students, and it's nice to have three periods together! We are all getting the hang of online school. The students have been fabulous participating and making the best out of online classes. I am really proud of them all! In ELA, we are finishing up our novel Counting by 7s, learning about plot elements and writing narratives. In SS, we are learning about early humans. In science, we are learning about processes that change earth. Some of these processes are erosion, plate tectonics, the rock cycle, and the water cycle. I hope we continue to have a great year however it may look!
|
|
Mrs. Tepper and Mrs. Paik —
7th/8th Grade Social Studies: We have been very busy in the months of September and October. In addition to a virtual visit to Medieval Europe on the Imagination & Empathy train, 7th & 8th grade students have been designing their own manors, researching serf life, and negotiating feudal contracts. We gave ourselves medieval names and occupations and are doing our best to avoid “Black Death Cards,” which cost our manor groups much desired feudal farthings! Next up: Knighthood, where we shall practice the fine art of chivalry (parents should look forward to this).
On Monday, October 19, we will welcome guest speakers from Chivalry Today who will speak to our students about knights, armor, chivalry, and other aspects of medieval life. Since we can't go to the experts this year, the experts are coming to us! These guest speaker opportunities give our students a wonderful opportunity to interact with various experts in their fields who are willing to join our Zoom classes. Thank you for your generous support!
7th/8th Grade English Language Arts: Both grades just finished reading our core novel, The Outsiders, and while the 7th graders created scripts for scenes that didn’t actually occur based on their knowledge of each character, the 8th graders engaged in the fine art of debate discussing a controversial issue touched upon in the novel that awakened our ethics and morality. We have enjoyed incorporating music into our curriculum by writing personal narratives about life events and the songs that represent them. Additionally, 8th graders wrote beautiful poems filled with imagery and memories based on our identities and, “Where I’m From.” Both grades have been writing, reading, and responding to literature continuously. Our speaking and listening skills have been growing in small group discussions about The Outsiders. We will continue to develop these skills through book talks for our independent reading novels this month. We look forward to reading and analyzing some spooky stories as we get closer to Halloween — the perfect genre for teaching foreshadowing, irony, & suspense!
|
|
Mrs. Paik and Mrs. Servin-West —
7th and 8th Grade Science: In Life Science, we began the year with a deep dive into the qualities of scientific thinking and the importance of using observation skills to collect evidence. Students then looked for patterns in the natural world to generate a working definition for what life is, isn't, and what may lie in between!
Recently, we have been studying physical and behavioral traits for survival. As students studied different organisms, we also looked carefully at how scientists make observations and analyze evidence. Students also learned about the importance of corroboration in scientific research. We were also able to welcome guest speakers from America's Teaching Zoo! Speakers showed us many different organisms and identified the unique traits each had to survive in its natural environment. Students wanted to see more and more organisms! Thank you again for your ongoing support; inviting those guest speakers would not have been possible without your fundraising efforts.
|
|
A discussion group in Mrs. Paik's class talks about The Outsiders. |
|
Mrs. Tepper's 7th graders dressed up as The Outsiders and performed skits in class! |
|
GATE Social - Sherlock Holmes Murder Mystery Event - over Zoom
- 8th graders - 6 p.m. Wednesday, November 4
- 7th graders - 6 p.m. Thursday, November 5
- 6th graders - 6 p.m. Friday, November 6
|
|
|
|
Join us for a professionally facilitated 90-minute Zoom adventure through Victorian England! Cost is $31.50 per person payable through our Cheddar Up link below. Please sign up by Friday, October 30.
Take murder mystery to the next level! A game master will draw participants into the immersive world of 19th century Victorian England where the famous Sherlock Holmes has outsourced one of his cases to your team of amateur sleuths. Interview suspects, take notes and share your theories, as you decide what to do, where to go, and prepare your case for Sherlock! This event will keep you on the edge of your seat as you work to solve the case.
Note: limit 40 participants per mystery. If we have more than 40 students sign up for a specific session, we'll add on additional dates.
|
|
GATE holiday get together and gift exchange - via Zoom
3-4 p.m. Sunday, December 13
We'll give you the opportunity to randomly select someone in your grade to deliver an inexpensive but thoughtful gift to (optional — $15 max) in advance. At the Zoom event, we'll play games and have some fun together. We'll also provide a list of volunteer opportunities for your family to do together at the holidays in lieu of our annual community service project. Stay tuned for more details!
|
|
Many of you signed up when we sent this information in the summer. But, if you have not received an email from your grade-level parent representative with your child's GATE roster and would like to be included, please sign up below. AE Wright does not produce a school directory, so we've created our own grade-level contact lists for us and our kids to connect. Please note that by submitting your information you are agreeing to the following:
- You opt-in to this shared database of contact information for you and your student.
- You will not share the link to this database or the information contained in the database with anyone.
- You will not use information contained in this database for anything other than arranging non-school-sponsored social plans.
- You will be considerate of others’ feelings when planning such events.
Please click the buttons below to complete the form by grade level:
|
|
Parent Resources: on the Association of GATE Parents website is a page devoted to parent resources. Here, you will find a host of suggested resources for parents suggested by our amazing teachers. You'll also be able to look at previous parent education talks we've hosted and check out some local and national community resources for gifted learners. The AGP updates this section throughout the year. Please feel free to send us additional resources you have found beneficial, so we can share those as well.
|
|
Follow GATE on Twitter @GATEatAEW
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
