Bookseller looking for your ‘Favorite Teacher’

Students in grades 6-12, do you have a favorite Gwinnett teacher? Each year, Barnes & Noble Booksellers (B&N) conducts the “My Favorite Teacher” contest. Middle and high school students can write a poem, essay, or thank you letter to their favorite teacher. (Teacher must currently be teaching.) March 1 is the deadline to submit an entry to a B&N store. Gwinnett has four locations (The Shoppes at Webb Gin, The Mall of Georgia, The Forum on Peachtree Parkway, and the Georgia Gwinnett College campus). A local winner is chosen from each store and honored in that store. Local entries are sent to the regional competition where the winner receives a $500 B&N gift card and moves on to the national competition. The national winner receives $5,000 and the school of the honored teacher receives $5,000. Questions? Contact Leslie Hale at crm2070@bn.com or call 770-209-4431.

Register for testing on Concussion Baseline Day

Hurry and register for the 3rd annual Concussion Baseline Day, set for Feb. 25, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at several high schools, with additional locations and times around the county. At the free event, participants will learn about concussions and baselines, complete the baseline testing, and finish with an informative Q&A session. Appointments for testing are still available. Learn more about the event, presented by GCPS and Gwinnett Medical Center's Concussion Institute.

Parent Mentors invite families to learn about behavioral strategies

Parents of GCPS students with disabilities are invited to attend the next Balanced Lunch Bunch session— "Behavior Strategies to help Parents"— which will be presented Tuesday, Feb. 21, 9:30-11 a.m., by Kris Keeney, behavioral specialist for Gwinnett County Public Schools (GCPS).

Balanced Lunch Bunch (BLB) is a monthly learning series for families of children with disabilities, presented by the Gwinnett County Parent Mentors in collaboration with GCPS' Special Education Department coordinators.

Typically, BLB sessions are held from 9:30 to 11 a.m. in Building 200 at the J. Alvin Wilbanks Instructional Support Center (ISC), located at 437 Old Peachtree Road, NW, in Suwanee. Parent Mentors are parents who work within GCPS' special education department, providing information and support to other families who have children served in special education. The mentors have first-hand knowledge of raising a child with special needs, as they each have a child who is served in GCPS.

RSVP for the BLB meeting by Feb. 20. Contact Parent Mentor Dawn Albanese by phone at (678) 301-7212 or by e-mail at dawn_albanese@gwinnett.k12.ga.us. For more information regarding the Georgia Parent Mentor Partnership, go to www.parentmentors.org. 

Presidents' Day is a student holiday

Feb. 20 is Presidents' Day. This is a student holiday, and a required teacher planning/staff development day.

Online Campus accepting students for 2017-18

Full-time students who will be in grades 4-12 next year can register for Gwinnett Online Campus (GOC) during the month of February on a first-come, first-served basis. An informational meeting is set for Feb. 28, 6:30–7:30 p.m.

The registration process is not complete until all required documents are presented to the school office. The school registrar is available Monday-Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

In videos, families can get an introduction to the school and learn more about the unique learning environment at GOC.  Request an information packet online.

Full STEAM ahead with hands-on learning at Minor ES

Minor ES families recently used their STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics) know-how to put pantry items to work in classroom “construction” projects.

At the school’s 2nd annual STEAM Night on Jan. 19, students and their parents constructed bridges with popsicle sticks, built structures using spaghetti and marshmallows, made paper cup parachutes, and crafted catapults from spoons. They competed to see who could create the longest paper chain from one piece of paper. And, in the computer lab, students practiced the basics of computer coding with online games.

More than 250 parents and guardians gathered with their students for the hands-on learning activities, displays of STEAM in action, a showcase of Science Fair projects, and an awards presentation for Science Fair winners.

Dr. Scott Frandsen, the school’s principal, notes that the event offered a “warm and friendly environment” with plenty of hands-on activities so that all parents, including those with limited English, felt comfortable as active participants in their child’s education.

Responses from both students and family members underscored that the learning event hit the mark. “Thanks for doing these workshops,” said one parent. “They really help to give us ideas.” “Excellent night! Very organized and fun!,” said another. And students enjoyed the evening as well, with one student especially keen on engineering feats accomplished with his family, “I think making a bridge with my parents made it more fun.”

Community partners and older students also supported the fun learning event. Popadoodle, a local “children’s imagination center,” provided several STEM and art stations, including visual and hands-on examples of the water cycle. Students from Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science, and Technology also provided math- and science-related activities for the younger students. One activity allowed the students to experiment with chromatography, a scientific  technique for studying and separating complex mixtures. Kimberlee Jones of the Von.Lea Creative Group made a donation of $500 to the art program at Minor. (In November, Ms. Jones served as the school’s Principal for a Day, an initiative of the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce and GCPS.)

“I love nights like these because they provide the opportunity for students, parents, and teachers to engage in learning together,” says Dr. Frandsen. “The support we have from local businesses was wonderful...we have a great community!”