Gullett Gazette - January 9, 2023

Charting Our Course in the 2022-2023 school year!

Principal's Post

Dear Caregivers,

Happy New Year! I absolutely CANNOT believe we are starting 2023! I hope that all of you enjoyed the last two weeks with family and friends. I soaked up all the extra minutes that my teenagers would allow me to have.

We ended the fall semester with a bang by announcing our Teacher of the Year, Ms. April Inocente and our Teacher of Promise, Ms. Anne Clark. We have so many amazing teachers here at Gullett and we are proud to have these two wonderful educators represent us at the district level. We completed our mid year assessments as well as taught the Human Sexuality and Responsibility curriculum to over 90% of our students. And of course, who doesn’t love a winter party! We welcomed 248 visitors to help us celebrate the last day. I hope all of our Geckos have special memories from that day with their classmates.

While it is a new year, we still have the same procedures. Don’t forget that school starts at 7:40 and we hit the ground running with announcements right away! You can drop off your child in the cafeteria as early as 7:15. Our car line runs pretty quickly and is also open starting at 7:15. I know it can be challenging after not having that morning rush to get back into the swing of things, but we appreciate your cooperation so we can all have a smooth start to the day. As always, thank you for bringing your identification and checking in at the office when coming to campus during the school day.

Please also be mindful of our drop off and pick up procedures. We need your help in continuing to make sure that during drop off and pick up no one is parking along Treadwell in the morning or afternoon. If you are picking up your student midday and temporarily parking on Treadwell that is fine. Also, I have noticed more and more families walking through the car line because they are parking on Hunt. This is problematic because it is unsafe and slows down the line. Please find an alternate route or even better, join the car line! One parent told me “it is life changing!” If you do want to park, please use an available spot at the far end of the actual parking lot or park along Great Northern.

Our teachers had one last professional development day together for this school year. We spent the day learning from each other and several of our teacher leaders. We focused on best practices in core instruction for reading, math, and science as well as strategies to increase engagement and support students with Zones of Regulation. We were also fortunate to do some community building as a faculty thanks to a field trip to Top Golf provided by our PTA. It was a great surprise to the staff!

This spring we still have plenty of fun and excitement along with our continued focus on growing our students. Science Fair, Lunar New Year, Black History Month, Valentine’s Day, Field Day, the Talent Show, and Art Show are just a few things we have to look forward to. Of course, none of that would be possible without the incredible work from our teachers and our fabulous caregiver community coming together to ensure that our Geckos finish off the 22-23 school year academically strong with memories to last a lifetime!

Happy New Year Everyone!

Sincerely,

Ms. Thompson

Proud Principal, Thomas A. Gullett Elementary

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Counselor Chronicle

Our January counseling lesson will focus on goal setting. Students will learn how to set specific long- and short-term goals, identify how they will know when each goal is reached, identify steps needed for each of their selected goals, and identify what outside support is needed. They will also plan positive self-talk phrases that they can turn to and strategies to help them realign their goals when they falter or stumble.

We encourage families to ask their students about the goals they selected, inquire about how they can offer support and encouragement, and share their own goals for the new year.

A new rotation of counselor lunch groups will begin in January. If you are interested, please see this link to learn more and to sign your student up.

~Ms. Garland and Ms. Mahan

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Library Letter

Check out the Library Newsletter for information on classes, birthday books, online library catalog, lost library books, and Mackin Via!

~ Mr. Temple

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Music Monthly

Happy 2023, musicians!

In December we spent time studying the Nutcracker Ballet and had the year's first Share Day in each class. We had over 200 students get up and perform in front of their peers using a guitar, ukulele, piano, drum, slide whistle, violin, and of course their voices! If your student(s) performed, you should have gotten an email from me linking to a picture folder (unless they are on the no-media list), so if you didn't and you want your child's picture, let me know. We also had 8 students from 3rd-5th grade participate in the Austin All-City Choir on 12/17. They joined 100+ students from 22 elementary schools all over AISD in giving a fabulous performance.

Looking forward to January, we have our first grade Informance on 1/24 (look for a post on Konstella if you have a first grader), and the first ever We Love Austin Music Week 1/23-1/27. We will spend the week learning about some of the biggest names to grace ACL's stage such as The Raconteurs, John Legend, Billie Eilish, Brandi Carlile, and of course Mr. Willie Nelson.

That's all for now. Please email me if you have questions!

~Mr. Jurgens

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The "Art"icle

Please help me in welcoming UT student teacher Ms. Azar to campus, she will be with us until spring break!

We have a date set for the Art Show! Mark your calendar for April 28th. Keep an eye out for a volunteer sign up, but if you know you want to help, please reach out to Donna Pfeiffer and Amanda Hays so we know to keep you in the loop.

Everyone will be making artist inspired self-portraits this spring to get ready for the art show!

Artsonia: Connect a parent account to your student by clicking on this link.

Don't forget to check out the Contest Folder for Art Contests!

~Ms. Leatherwood

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P.E. Press

In PE, we will be wrapping up our Jump Rope and Rhythms unit and will dive into Gymnastics and Volleyball next! On Wellness days, students will begin to learn about the muscular system.

~Coach Rose and Ms. Garcia