On Wednesday of this week East Grand canceled school mid-day. Considering we have not had a school cancellation in 16 years, we were able to efficiently get all of our children and staff home safely that day. Thanks to all of the parents, staff and community for helping make this happen.

At FVE Student Council members have been busy with projects and demonstrating leadership at their school. Students have split into three committees. One committee is “Playground Toys” they are in charge of the playground toys, carts, and equipment. They were able to purchase some new sleds and other fun winter toys, they are responsible for rolling in and out the carts for all students to use during recess, and to keep inventory of toys. The second committee is “Recycling” they are saving our planet, one marker at a time! Students are collecting all old unusable markers and recycling them with Crayola. The third committee has created a “Shout Out Board” which encourages students to acknowledge each other for positive behaviors. Students will fill out a “shout out slip” to say thank you or give a compliment to another student. The slips are then posted on the Shout Out boards in the main hallway. Students are encouraged to be “day makers … not day breakers”!

At FVE fourth and fifth graders have been involved in STEAM Dream, an after school club exploring what a makers space is all about. For the next three weeks we are exploring and making Rube Goldberg machines. Students are working with a partner; they are creating a complex machine or design to complete a very simple task, popping a balloon. The maker space has been filled with materials of all kinds for them to include in their designs. We are inviting parents and teachers to join us after school on Monday, March 18 4:15-4:30 p.m. to see all the Rube Goldberg inspired designs. Great job STEAM Dream students!

Colorado requires a semester of U.S. Government for all students who graduate from a high school in the state. This class provides lessons in civics, political participation, the Constitution, and important Supreme Court cases. Over the course of the first month, students in Mr. Wilson’s class have received the opportunity to present their civic skills to some special guests. In February, students reviewed four different cases that Judge Hoak and Judge Catanzarite ruled on over the past year. Students presented their verdicts to the judges, and then discussed any differences in opinion. This was a great way for students to learn how a judge makes tough decisions, and how the Rule of Law is applied.

In March, students will have a similar experience as they present research on the democratic nature of the Constitution. They will be presenting their opinions on this topic to local lawyer Brian Blumenfeld. Mr. Blumenfeld recently gave a speech on this very topic at last year’s Constitution week in Grand Lake, and he will provide insight into this topic for the students. With these authentic interactions, students are learning to become more informed citizens, and learn the importance of civic engagement.

On Thursday, March 7, GES held the 6th Annual Bingo For Books. 118 students and their families played Bingo for a chance to win books. There was a drawing for GES students to win a Kindle Fire. The winner of the K-2 Kindle Fire was kindergartener, Jace F. The winner of the 3-5 Kindle Fire was 5th grader, Jay D. Thank you to all who helped us get books into our students hands, especially, City Market, Kristen McQuan, and the GES Very Involved Parents Association, and the many staff members. Remember to keep reading!

Basketball…Yes the season is over, but we have several players selected to play in the Frontier League All-Star game this Friday. Games are at 6:00 and 7:30. Players selected are …Girls. Erica Weimer, Katie Trail, Ellie MacKendrick, and Haiden Baker…Boys. Jackson Wolle, Aironas Bilevicus

The GES student council will be sponsoring a food drive to benefit Mountain Family Center March 18 – March 21. If 200 items are collected a school wide crazy hair day will occur!

Crew is wrapping up a series of projects on the human brain. Students have created podcasts, videos, research papers, posters, newscasts, digital brains, and presentations to represent their learning. We’re enjoying hearing their casual use of terms like amygdala, cortisol, and hippocampus as they discuss how they’re feeling. Our math class is getting a good feel for deductibles, coinsurance, and premiums as we apply math standards to the world of insurance and finance. In our afternoon projects, we’re preparing for our Utah trip in canyon country by hiking and walking. We would like to thank the Grand Foundation, Sharon Farrell from Winter Park Wellness, and Mountain Parks Electric for their contributions to our outdoor endeavors that made sleeping bags, packs, and other essential equipment available for our students. Students are also working with volunteers at the Rocky Mountain Wooden Boat School. They are finishing the wood restoration inside the hull and learning to fillet and fiberglass areas that need reinforcement. Howard Neville is working with a group of our students teaching jewelry making and screen-printing. Thanks again to Howard and YMCA SMR for the great experiences we’ve been enjoying there. Crew is also plugging away at our “Sod, Dude?” project with the Grand County Historical Association. Shanna and the students have been budgeting for the project and contacting local news outlets to share the story of our collaboration and progress towards the goal of replacing the sod roof on the blacksmith’s shop at Pioneer Village.

Finally, Crew would like to invite you to follow our program on Instagram! Search for Grand_Crew_MPHS to catch the latest good news and exciting adventures!

Did you know MPHS has a statistics class? The class of all seniors is currently applying their new knowledge of the normal distribution to data sets; learning how to calculate probability for random variables, look up p-values, and assess for normality. We love working with real-life data, so if you’ve got numbers to crunch and you’d like to share your data, e-mail maggie.michalowski@egsd.org.

FVE Kindergarten update: Kindergarten celebrated 100 days of school on Wednesday, March 13. They prepared all week for the big day and have had lots of experiences counting by 1s and 10s to 100! Students brought in collections of 100 things and wrote clues for classmates to guess. We have had lots of different items such as: corn kernels, buttons, stickers, lollipops, snap beads and more and had lots of fun guessing!

Thank you to Headwaters Center for hosting our E.G.S.D. 5th grade AmeriTowne training and staff meetings. The 5th graders got together to prepare for our AmeriTowne field trip. We began with Superintendent Reeves as our keynote speaker; he talked about responsibility, economics, and leadership. The students did some mix-it-up games before they broke into their businesses to conduct their staff meetings. Thank you also to Denver Health and Carvers Bakery for providing snacks for the students. The event was a huge success.

In 8th grade social studies, students have finished a weeklong research project on a Native American tribe of their choice. They discovered the tribe’s original range, family structure, economy, the impact of white settlers, and the impact of the Dawes Act on their tribe. They then made a slide presentation using at least three different resources, and they will be presented in class this week.

Kudos to Mary Jane Thornton and the music department. The Celebration of Diversity Choir Concert last night was awesome; she and the students should be proud of their hard work. We can all take pride in the great things happening in the EGSD music department!

We are in week two of the Summit Olympics at MPHS. We are playing games every Thursday as a student body to compete for prizes.

Frank Reeves is the superintendent of East Grand School District.