Blue and Gold Brigade Marching Band Goes to Florida

Marching band members are ready to have some fun in the sun this month.  Band members are going to Disney World!  They leave the day after Christmas. The students will perform at Magic Kingdom and participate in a workshop with a Disney music staff composer/arranger.  They will also be touring the Kennedy Space Center.  Sixty-nine students are going on this trip and will arrive back to GHS on January 2 2015.

 

Belvidere Elementary is an Official Charter of the National Elementary Honor Society

Belvidere Elementary School inducted 33 students for its new National Elementary Honor Society. School administrators are thrilled to become an official charter of the organization.  Fourth and fifth grade students who earned A’s and B’s or at least an 85% average for the entire semester, and had no more than one discipline referral, were recognized at the school’s first induction ceremony.  Conn-West Elementary School is the first Grandview C-4 elementary school to receive its charter from the National Elementary Honor Society on July 21, 2014. It will induct its first members in January 2015.

Click here to view photos from the event.

 

Martin City K-8 Students Spread Holiday Cheer

Students at Martin City K-8 used their voices to spread cheer to residents at Corner Brook Care Center and Timberlake Care Center.  The students spent some time holiday caroling for residents at the facility.  It’s an annual tradition for the school.  Students from all grade levels participated in the event.
Click here to view photos from the event.

CAIR Students Produced Spoken Word Poetry for the Youth Civic Film Project

CAIR High School and Middle School students in Mr. Jeffers’ class collaborated to engage this Youth Civic Film Project sponsored by American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). Engagement in this exciting project,” If I Had a Trillion Dollars” (IHTD) gave our students an opportunity to voice their concerns about U.S. federal spending and budget priorities and how they impact ALL of us.

If I Had a Trillion Dollars - A Rap by Jordan and Isaiah
http://youtu.be/WZn718pI57s

If I Had a Trillion Dollars - Spoken Word by Reva and Isaiah
http://youtu.be/nsU1cAv6RwA

Belvidere Caring Communities Time of Service & Giving

The Belvidere Caring Communities participated in a Time of Service and a Time of Giving last week.  On Dec. 9th, Belvidere Elementary parents, children, LINC staff members, and Pastor Hicks from Belvidere Heights Baptist Church met to decorate cookies and make decorations and ornaments to give to the staff and residents at the Life Care Center of Grandview.  On Friday, Dec. 12th, Belvidere boarded a bus and went to the Life Care Center to deliver all the decorations and cookies.  During their visit, they sang Christmas songs, caroling up and down the hallways and in their dining rooms.  It was a joy to serve and give to the Grandview residents and staff members at the Life Care Center of Grandview. 

Click here for photos from the event.

Grandview Ignite at Martin City Gets Students Motivated about Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Careers

Honeywell Engineers worked with GC-4 middle school students by taking proactive steps to get them interested Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) careers with Grandview IGNITE. Middle School eighth graders were broken down by two groups, boys and girls.  They worked alongside about twenty Honeywell engineers.  Students got some hands on experience in their small groups rotating table to table. They participated in demonstrations in a wide range of engineering pathways, from civil and mechanical engineering, even computer science.

“STEM is not a boy's game or a girl's game. It's everyone's game. It's about all persons helping us get to where we are going," said Martin City K-8 Principal Johnny Dodge.

The event brought out NBC 41 and Fox 4 news that featured the event during afternoon newscast. The KC Star also featured the story.  Thanks to Honeywell and Prep-KC who sponsored the event.

GC-4 Elementary Choirs Perform at Mayor’s Tree Lighting Ceremony

Belvidere, Conn-West and Butcher-Greene students spread some holiday cheer at this year’s annual tree lighting ceremony hosted by the City of Grandview and Mayor Leonard Jones.  The Butcher-Greene choir and Conn-West/Belvidere combined choir performed three songs each.  They were joined by other schools choirs around the area.  Their Christmas carols were followed by story time with Mayor Jones, who read Twas the Night before Christmas.  The highlight was the lighting of the bright Christmas tree that will shine over the View through the holiday season.

American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) Makes Food Donation to Martin City

Every year, during the holiday season the AAFP employees strive to make a difference within their community.  This year employees chose the GC-4 school district as their place to make that difference.  Employees collected enough food to put together 80 snack bags to be given to students, who may need it, during the holiday break. The employees dropped off the bags to the Martin City K-8 counseling office.  GC-4 would like to thank AAFP for their generosity this holiday season!

GC-4 Joined Schools across the Nation in Hour of Code Event

Belvidere Elementary School students will join kids worldwide to participate in the Hour of Code. It’s a two-hour event to get kids involved in computer science and teach them how video games work.  Its objective is to get kids excited about Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) careers.

In one week last year, 15 million students tried computer science! Computer science was on homepages of Google, MSN, Yahoo! and Disney. President Obama, Shakira and Ashton Kutcher all kicked off the Hour of Code with videos.

Over 100 partners came together to support this movement. Computers are everywhere, but fewer schools teach computer science than 10 years ago. Girls and minorities are severely underrepresented. Good news is, we’re on our way to change this. Now the Hour of Code movement is aiming to reach 100 million students.

Meadowmere 3rd Grade Music Performance - 12.10.14

Belvidere Student Council Canned Food Drive for GAP is a Success

On December 9, 2014, Belvidere's Student Council collected 1,107 items for the families of Grandview and delivered them to the Grandview Assistance Program (GAP). They had an original goal of 600 items. The students had a challenge amongst the grade levels and the 3rd grade won bringing the most food items.  The Student Council sponsors are Coach John DeWitt and Mrs. Pat Ernst.

Pancakes with Santa at Belvidere Elementary

This was the first time Belvidere had Pancakes with Santa. The purpose of this event was to raise money to help with their Giving Tree. Belvidere adopt families from the community and provides gifts for family members for the holiday season. They served around 210 people and raised over $700.00. It was a HUGE Success.

The children got to sit on Santa's lap and take their picture by a photographer (Jessica Dittemore with "Jessica Dittemore with Photos and Designs").

Belvidere had help from volunteers that included Belvidere Staff, Grandview A+ students and a Boy Scout Troop.

Thanks to all the following sponsors who donated to help the event: Grandview McDonalds, Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, True Value, Sonic, Hy-Vee and Belvidere Heights Baptist Church.

Click here to view photos.

Conn-West Gets Deemed a National Honor Society Charter

Conn-West Elementary School, the first Grandview C-4 elementary school to recieve its charter from the National Elementary Honor Society on July 21, 2014, will induct it's first members in January 2015. We are very proud of this accomplishment and excited to have Grandview Middle School Honor Society members serving as mentors for our inductees and partcipants in our induction ceremony.

The Mystery Projects of FOCUS Students

College Signing Ceremony Held for GHS Track Athlete

Faculty, staff, family, friends and teammates celebrate GHS Senior Ashanti Hutton's signing day to run track at Northern Illinois.  A ceremony was held in the foyer of Grandview High School.  Ashanti was joined by her father David Hutton, her mother, Patricia and brother Dante, along with a host of close family and friends.  The GHS senior is expected to graduate this winter and make her Bulldog to Huskies transition next semester.

Belvidere Elementary is an Official Charter of the National Elementary Honor Society

Belvidere Elementary School is now looking to select students for its new National Elementary Honor Society. School administrators are thrilled to become an official charter of the organization. A student selection criterion has already been put in place and invitations will be sent out to those that meet the criteria on Monday, December 8th.  Once students are selected the school will have its own Induction Ceremony on December 17th at 3:00p in the gym.

Grandview IGNITE at Martin City Next Week

Grandview Ignite is an event created to inspire and ignite excitement about the various pathways of engineering.  Martin City middle school students will be experimenting with circuit building, constructing towers of toilet paper rolls, mining for chocolate chips, robotics and more.  They will be getting hands on instructions from Honeywell engineers.  The event will take place at Martin City December 11th from 8:30a-11:30a.

GC-4 Elementary Choirs to Perform at Mayor’s Christmas Tree Lighting

Tis the Season! Come out and support the Butcher Greene Elementary School choir and Conn-West/Belvidere combined choir! Students will be performing at the Mayor’s Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony at The View this week.  The students will perform three songs each at the event. The ceremony starts at 6pm on Thursday December 4th.  The tree lights up at about 7pm!