GREGORY DRIVE ELEMENTARY HELPS FAMILIES FOR THE HOLIDAYS – This Team Duval Shoutout celebrates the tenacity and generosity of the Gregory Drive Elementary School community, demonstrated in a recent canned food drive. Teacher Kenneth Ford says that students, staff, parents, and other community members recently collected over 3,000 canned goods to help feed families over the holiday season. The canned food drive was part of the school’s participation in an event put on by Ed White High School’s DECA program. Way to make a difference in the community!
GREGORY DRIVE ELEMENTARY TEACHER GETS CREATIVE WITH CLASSROOM CAFE – When it came time for Gregory Drive Elementary School teacher Nia Johnson to instruct students about figurative language, she got creative. The fourth grade teacher turned her classroom into a cafe, creating fun opportunities for students to use figurative language to describe food! From “Seafood and Similes” to “Menus and Metaphors,” students were learning through an enriching, hands-on activity they won’t forget. Way to go!
TEACHER CREATES PEACE GARDEN – A special shoutout goes out to Gregory Drive Elementary School teacher Shirley Thomas for using her ingenuity to create a peaceful space for students, teachers, and parents. The second grade teacher is credited with putting a team together to transform the school’s atrium into a Peace Garden. Students use the space to gain calm, teachers hold classes in the garden, and parents frequently come out to each lunch with their students. Great work!
Let’s get excited because the book fair is coming! The book fair will be here October 21st-25th. Please click the link below for more information. 
https://www.scholastic.com/bf/gregorydriveelemschool2

THIS THURSDAY!!! WEAR JAGUAR GEAR!
Join us next Thursday for SAC Meeting/Movie Night. We need a President, Vice President, and Secretary to serve our parents, students, teachers, and community partners.
Hello Gregory Drive families,
Your child has a right to be safe at school and learn in an environment free from sexual discrimination and harassment. These rights are rooted in Title IX, a federal civil rights law that makes sex-based discrimination and harassment illegal in schools.
To assist with equipping students with this information, we have created three age-appropriate videos for each grade-level that discuss Title IX and the resources that students have to report concerns.
Over the next few weeks, schools will be reaching out to families regarding when their video presentations are taking place. We wanted to ensure you had the opportunity to view these videos in advance. There are three videos, and each one is geared toward a specific grade band: elementary, middle, high. They can be found at www.duvalschools.org/titleix.
We encourage you to watch these videos with your children. If you would like your child to view the video in school, no further action is required. If you would like to opt your child out of watching the video in school, you can submit a Parent Opt-Out form. You will find this form in Focus under Forms. It is titled “Title IX Grade Level Video Viewing.”
Thank you as always for your support and partnership. If you have any questions related to Title IX, please email TitleIX@duvalschools.org.
WE ARE EXCITED ABOUT OPEN HOUSE TOMORROW! COME ENJOY AND SEE YOUR CHILD'S LEARNING ENVIRONMENT AND THE WORK THEY'VE DONE.
