Courtesy EGSD
Great Happenings at East Grand School District the week of Jan. 17.
• The second and third graders in the new Reading Eagles book club at the Fraser Valley Elementary School had lunch and discussed the book “Mac. B, Kid Spy: Undercover.” They had interesting insights to share about Mac and his mission to recover the queen of England’s beloved coronation spoon.
• The new MPHS robotics teams competed in their first competition ever this weekend at Coal Ridge High School in New Castle. Team Terramech placed fourth in the qualifying match for the First Tech Robotics competition. They were eventually beat out by another alliance team after a rematch, which pushed them out of a slot for state. The coaches are so proud of them for reaching this milestone as a first year team starting from scratch. Give a big congrats to Brayden Webb and Paddy Aither.
Team High Ground also did extremely well for their first time. Give them a big high five: Steffi O’Flaherty, Blake Allen, and Luke Vecciarelli.
We compete again Jan. 25 in Denver for another chance to qualify for state. Thanks to JVA Engineering and Hernando’s Pizza for sponsoring our teams this year.
• Fifth graders at FVE performed their original poems for family, friends, and community members at the sixth annual poetry slam on Monday. We want to send out a huge thank you to Rocky Mountain Roastery for hosting us.
• Fifth grade students from Miss Bankert’s class at GES recently finished and presented on their PBL activity about stress and anxiety in the classroom (and life). Spurred by a student’s suggestion to have fidgets for stress, the class spent time researching stress and anxiety, interviewing a counselor on symptoms and coping strategies, and working through empathy exercises to better understand their peers’ experiences with stress and anxiety. Based on their findings, the class then worked in committees to design a space in the classroom for students to use when experiencing stress or anxiety. Students now use the space to self-regulate and get back to learning efficiently and effectively.
• At Fraser Valley Elementary, third, fourth, and fifth graders are beginning their instrument unit in music class. Third grade will be learning the recorder, fourth grade will focus on the piano, and fifth grade will be able to choose between soprano and baritone ukulele. If you play or teach lessons on any of these instruments, we would love to get your information so we can add your name and information to any private lesson list that we have, or we would love to have you in for a show and tell. Please contact the school.
• Jaydon Guzman from Middle Park High School signed up and joined the Air National Guard with the 140th Wing at Buckley Air Force Base last weekend. Upon graduation, Jaydon plans to be an Armament Specialist for the F-16 and pursue his aviation career. We salute you, Jaydon, and thank you as well.
• Many students at GES had the opportunity to go skiing with NSCD. Thank you to the NSCD and Snow Mountain for the opportunity.
• FVE hosted their annual School Spelling Bee on Thursday. The top spellers for each grade level that participated this year are as follows: Third grade — Gunnar Gould, Briz Cantu Palacios, Zoe Sullivan, Kieran Guzier, Wyatt Feeley, Zadok Dahl; Fourth grade — Lulu Turk, Harper Bishop Lexie Torres, Dakota Gironda, Eli Redding, Ella Hawkins; Fifth grade — Keviah Carlson, Lily Tindle, Eli Chua, Bri Vail, Zanna Berman, Siena Marshal.