Graham Primary School
140 E. 16th Ave.
Columbus, OH 43201
(614) 253-4001
Important Dates
Oct. 20
Picture Day
Oct. 21
9-9:30am
Math with
Munchies
Oct. 25
2:453:15pm
Community
Meeting
Oct. 26-28 No school - EL
National Conference
Oct. 31
Harvest Fest
Nov. 8
2:453:15pm
Community
Meeting
Nov. 8
6-7:30pm
GEMS/GPS
FTO Meeting
Nov. 11
No school - PD
Day
Nov. 16
6:00pm
Enrollment Information Session
Nov. 18
9-9:30am
Breakfast with
Books
Nov. 22
2:453:15pm
Community
Meeting
Nov. 23-25 No school Thanksgiving
break
Nov. 28
First day of term
Galaxy Gazette
October, 2016
GPS and GEMS Celebrated National School Lunch Week
To recognize the National School Lunch
Program and the 30 million children it serves
every day, GPS and GEMS celebrated National
School Lunch Week, October 10-14, 2016. The
theme, “Show Your Spirit” was all about getting
parents, students and school officials to show
their spirit for school lunch.
healthy meals to students during the school
week. The program, which has been serving the
nation's children for over 60 years, requires
school meals to meet federal nutrition standards
which includes offering fruits and vegetables
every day, serving whole-grain rich foods, and
limiting fat, calories, and sodium.
National School Lunch Week emphasizes the
healthy foods that are offered daily at GPS and
GEMS. School lunches are healthier than ever,
with more fruits and vegetables, whole grains,
and less fat and sodium. National School Lunch
Week helps us educate parents and students
about all the benefits of our lunch program, and
the appealing choices we offer.
Parents can review the lunch week menu with
their child. This will start a dialogue between
students and parents about the different food
groups and healthy eating.
The federally-funded National School Lunch
Program (NSLP) provides nutritionally balanced,
The “Show Your Spirit” campaign is made
possible by the nonprofit School Nutrition
Association.
For more information about National School
Lunch Week, https://schoolnutrition.org/nslw/.
Did you know Graham Primary School (GPS) and Graham Expeditionary Middle School
(GEMS) collect Box Tops for Education? Last year GEMS/GPS received over $540 for Box
Tops submitted by our families! Please send them to school with your student and/or drop them off in
the office. Thank you for your support!
www.GrahamPrimary.org
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Music
- GPS musicians have continued to work on foundational music skills that we will build upon the rest of the year. Kindergarten have been working on identifying the different ways of using their voices with a focus on using our singing voice. 1st grade have
been learning about tempo and how to keep a beat at various tempos. 2nd grade have been working on solfege singing and using it as a
tool to improve pitch when singing. 4th grade have been working on differentiating beat and rhythm and singing rounds. All classes
this month have had a theme of folklore. Kinder has learned the song 'Abiyoyo', 1st grade has learned 'Joseph had a little Overcoat',
2nd grade has learned 'Darling, Clementine', and 4th grade has learned the Native American round 'Neesa'.
Physical Education - Grades 3 and 4 have been learning a few playground games, including Four Square, Kickball, and
Wiffleball. Before the weather turns too cold, perhaps you can play as a family at home or with friends at the park. Fifth grade has
been learning to play the popular Fall sport of Flag Football. Now is a great opportunity to spend time together as family playing catch.
Learning Lab - 60% of our English language is based on Greek and Latin Root words. Over 100,000 words can be built with
the knowledge of just 14 roots (Marcia Henry). Our GPS third and fourth graders are studying Greek and Latin root words during our
morning skills block. Our learning target is, "I can figure out the meanings of words by examining the roots, prefixes and suffixes." This
week we learned the root word, "port" which means "to carry" as in airport, import, export, report and portable. Ask your third or
fourth grader about the other words we have learned and built during this study! - Dr. D.
Miss Collins' kiddos are working hard on phonics and addition this month! Look out for descriptive writing about pumpkins as we
celebrate Fall.
Counselor's Corner - Our focus in guidance is anti-bully awareness month. This is where GPS students are learning about
how to be an UPstander and to report anything that seems like bullying. Students learn the definition of bullying and what that looks
and sounds like.
The school counseling program has also began lunch bunch! This is teacher-based feedback to help students with extra social/
emotional support. This is a time where students get to have lunch with Ms. Rizek and some of their peers and we learning new
things! This month we are learning how to calm down when we get angry and how to put that into practice! We are also learning how
to make and keep friends.
Art- Students in Art class (from K to 3) have been working hard to prepare for “Art Night!”
We’ve already seen a lot of growth and
are looking forward to upcoming projects in the second trimester."
Shop and Help GPS Raise Money
When you shop at Kroger, Giant Eagle, and/or Amazon you can help GPS raise money!
Kroger
Go to: www.krogercommunityrewards.com or call 1-800-837-4483 to enroll in the program. Add GPS to your card. You can
search for GPS by name or use our school code: 39249. Shop! Every time you shop and use your Kroger Rewards Card GPS
gets rebates. Kroger totals those rebates and sends GPS a check.
Giant Eagle
Go to: www.gianteagle.com/about/apples-for-students to sign up online or by calling
1-800-474-4777. Add GPS to your card. Our school ID number is 5897. Shop! Every time you use your Giant Eagle Advantage
Card GPS earns educational rewards.
You shop. Amazon gives to GPS!
When you make a purchase on Amazon Smile, all merchandize is the same they will now donate 0.5% of your total purchase to
GPS. Go to http://smile.amazon.com/ch/45-2960253 to start shopping!
www.GrahamPrimary.org
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Kindergarteners -
As scholar we are learning how we are a vital part of our community and how our rules and routines help
us as a class and as a school. As mathematicians we are learning about numbers and how we can use strategies, such as ten frames and
learning about different 2D shapes, to find how many. As writers we are learning our lower case letters and their sounds
b,f,t,d,n,m,s,g,j,l,r,y,z and a,i,o,u. A readers we are learning about how authors writing meaning into stories and we as detectives can
find and explain those meanings.
First Graders - Have been gathering evidence in Expedition to answer our essential questions: Why do animals look the way they do? and How does an animal's characteristics help them survive in their environment? Field
work to the Zoo and using books, videos, and articles have helped us gather more information. In Math we are
working on adding and subtracting numbers to 10. In ELA we are beginning to learn about
story elements. Students learned how to name and describe a character from a story. In writing, we are focusing on leaving spaces between our words in a sentence.
Second Graders - Are finishing up a unit all about math word problems. They will
soon move on to unit 2 in math and learn about 2-and 3-dimensional shapes. Second graders are growing as readers during Skills Block by working independently and in small groups
on their phonics skills. We have launched our fall expedition- Ideas Take Flight! Students are learning about
The Wright Brothers and other inventors by reading biographies. We are building lots of background
knowledge about how inventors get their ideas and persevere!
Third Graders - Chamaeleon and Aquarius are busy at work this month. We
have been working on addition of three and four-digit numbers in math. We will be doing some data collection
and graph making also, which is always an exciting topic. Mr. Kaveti and Mrs. Hatch found some fun materials
for our Reading time in the mornings, so we will be delving into some quality literature before our Specials of
P.E. and Art.
In other news, we started our Fall Expedition! This Expedition focuses on Garbology, the study of trash in our
world. First we went on a community walk to pick up trash around our school and OSU campus. We certainly
hit the trash “jackpot” on that walk! On October 4th, we took a field trip to the SWACO Landfill to learn more
about how we manage our refuse. Third grade is awesome!
Fourth Graders - Over the last couple of week we have been working on the writing
process in our classrooms. We start with brainstorming ideas around a topic and everything
we know about it. Then, we move to adding details and explanations and creating an opening
and closing sentence to our paragraph. We then create a first draft of our paragraph. The
next stop is editing and revising; we have been working hard on making sure our sentences
make sense, our capitalization and punctuation is correct, and that we have been spelling
words correctly. We have not only been editing our own work but we have been working on
providing quality feedback to our peers to help them make their writing the best it can be. So
far we have have been working on taking our time through the process to make sure we are
producing quality work! You can see some of our quality work hanging in the halls of school.
Fifth Graders - Have completed their Transatlantic Slave Trade Maps and have begun to dig into colonization before looking
at the goods and services associated with the trade. Here are the long term targets we will be going after this month.

I can use close reading strategies to describe environmental, social, and economic conditions that drove sugar production and
slavery.

I can analyze the consequences of colonization.
The goal is to provide students with an opportunity to examine the human costs of consumer behaviors through the historical example
of sugar production in the Western Hemisphere. Such knowledge may help students as they make economic decisions of their own.
In science, 5th graders are continuing their exploration of Pluto's planethood. We have learned about the characteristics of planets and
talked to a Pluto expert about why astronomers do not consider Pluto to be a planet.
www.GrahamPrimary.org
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Attention Parents
Students in grades K-2nd will not be let off of the bus without a
parent being present at the time of drop off. This is a state law. If
your family has an older sibling who could walk your K-2nd grader home or if you would like to give permission to the driver to
release your student without a parent, you must complete a
release form. Release forms are available in the GPS front office.
Attention 5th Grade Parents
Please sign up for Remind on the app, text message or email to
receive nightly updates on student homework.
5th Grade Math: text @5mathgems to 81010
5th Grade Social Studies: text @mro5th to 81010
5th Grade Science: text @missesci5 to 81010
5th Grade English: text @7379h to 81010
Transportation Bulletin
Columbus City schools transportation has a bus bulletin that we
recommend all of our families sign up for. Signing up for the bus
bulletins will alert you if and when your child’s bus is running late
coming home from school and arriving late in the morning to
their stop. Please go to: https://busbulletin.com/app/login.php?
s=success&m=lo
When visiting the website, please be sure to have your student’s
AM and PM route numbers. Please contact the Columbus City
Schools Transportation office at 614-365-5074 with any questions.
REMINDER: Over the Counter Medication is kept in the office.
Prescription medication is kept in the office with proper paperwork. No medication is to be carried by a student, or kept in a
classroom. Please see the Front Office if you have any questions.
Enrollment Information Sessions!
Please be sure to spread the word to friends and neighbors about our upcoming enrollment sessions. If you know of any students who
might be interested in attending The Graham School, The Charles School at Ohio Dominican University, Graham Expeditionary
Middle School (GEMS) or Graham Primary School (GPS), please let them know about our upcoming enrollment information
sessions.
Wednesdays at 6:00pm
November 16
December 14
AT
The Graham School
The Charles School at Ohio Dominican University
GEMS
Graham Primary School
For more information please visit the school’s websites
www.thegrahamschool.org www.thecharlesschool.org www.gemsschool.org www.grahamprimary.org
The U.S Department of Agriculture prohibits discrimination against its customers, employees, and applicants for employment on the
bases of race, color, national origin, age, disability, sex, gender identity, religion, reprisal, and where applicable, political beliefs, marital
status, familial or parental status, sexual orientation, or all or part of an individual’s income is derived from any public assistance program, or protected genetic information in employment or in any program or activity conducted or funded by the Department. (Not all
prohibited bases will apply to all programs and/or employment activities.)
If you wish to file a Civil Rights program complaint of discrimination, complete the USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form,
found online at http://www.ascr.usda.gov/complaint_filing_cust.html, or at any USDA office, or call (866) 632-9992 to request the
form. You may also write a letter containing all of the information requested in the form. Send your completed complaint form or letter to us by mail at U.S. Department of Agriculture, Director, Office of Adjudication, 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20250-9410, by fax (202) 690-7442 or email at [email protected].
Individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing or have speech disabilities may contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800)
877-8339; or (800) 845-6136 (Spanish). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.
www.GrahamPrimary.org
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