PE TEACHER FOR A DAY!

Each year at Celebrate Grace, parents are able to bid on various items and activities donated by teachers. This year, Jacob Hartley won the opportunity to be the PE Teacher of the Day!

Jacob was excited to get the day started! He got to set how many laps and exercises the students would complete, and he got to decide what activities the students would play. He even got his own whistle to keep! 

His first order of business was to remove a dodgeball that was stuck behind the HOME sign in the bleachers. After many attempts, including taping a hockey stick to a long plastic pole, he was successful! 

Jacob's first class was the TK class. He did a great job of guiding them through a couple of activities. We used the parachute and played a tag game. 

Next, Jacob had his own grade level. He decided that he wanted them to play Human Battleship! We set up tables to hide the "ships" from each team. 

He also had the classes play Team Dodgeball and Ultimate Dodgeball. All the grades had a great time! 

It was a BLAST having Jacob be the PE Coach of the Day. I think he has a future in the coaching business! His favorite part of the day was getting to lead his classmates in their dodgeball game. He definitely got his money's worth. He told me he was tired at the end of the day. I think he understands a little better what it's like to be a teacher!

B&N Book Fair is Coming 4/27-4/28

Carol Gehringer, Media Coordinator

Our annual Barnes & Noble Book Fair (near Cary Towne Center, 760 SE Maynard) will be held on THURSDAY, April 27th and FRIDAY, April 28th.

We will have storytimes and fine arts performances each day after school (a schedule will be announced later this month).

Books for required summer reading, as well as wishlist titles to donate to our grade level classrooms and our libraries, will be available for purchase.

Any purchase at the Barnes & Noble Book Fair will allow us to purchase needed resources for each library. The TK6 library will strengthen its collection of biographies and diverse books on different reading levels, as well as Guinness World Record books (which our students LOVE to check out!).


Cupcake orders are due by Friday, April 21st. Pick up your preordered cupcakes on either day!

Your support of the GRACE library is greatly appreciated! Online purchases and in-person purchase (Cary, NC location) are welcome. Just use our book fair number 12127932 when making your purchase.

THANK YOU for your support!!

Celebrating READ ACROSS AMERICA WEEK 2017

This year, GRACE Christian School observes READ ACROSS AMERICA WEEK from February 27-March 1, 2017.

We started off with a variety of activities in early February:

• In honor of Dr. Seuss, Mrs. Gehringer challenged the GRACE students to donate 500 books to the month-long book drive sponsored by WAKE UP AND READ. Our students collected over 700 books appropriate for readers from birth-12 years old. 

• Our 6th graders read a Dr. Seuss book to our Transitional Kindergarten (TK) and Kindergarten classes. This is a GRACE tradition we started a number of years ago. 

• The media center distributes Seuss prizes to all TK-6th grade students (erasers, bookmarks, stickers) in celebration of Dr. Seuss' birthday.

• Our 4th graders performed a Seuss readers' theater in their media class this week, while our 5th graders did a Seuss webquest. Other classrooms did various Seuss-related lessons as well.

• Our TK-6th grade students took Seuss selfies. Our younger students held funny props while we took their photo in front of a green screen. Our 5th & 6th graders wore Seuss costumes we borrowed from our theater dept. Our 6th grade Multimedia class will design the backgrounds and complete the project. We put our Seuss selfies in a slideshow to share in a few weeks.

• Anther tradition -- we post photos of our teachers and staff holding one of their favorite Seuss books, in addition to Seuss banners and posters in the hallway.

• Our Wednesday, we will have a flashlight read in the gym at the end of the day. We will assemble for carpool early, turn on our flashlights, turn off the lights, and read a book for 15 minutes. Our older students will sit with our younger students.

Looking forward to celebrating with you!

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!!

New Creations with LittleBits (Tech Club)

Our Tech Club (801 Campus) met on Wed. Feb. 22 and created simple machines using LittleBits. Each table was given a LittleBit kit and a book of ideas. One table made a bubble fan, while another made a mobile marker on wheels. LittleBits is part of our TK6 MakerCart, but this was the first time students used them.

The Raleigh Campus Tech Club meets each month to explore our technology resources for students, under the leadership of Mrs. Tomeka Hartsfield, our Technology Teacher, and Mrs. Carol Gehringer, our Media Coordinator. Last month we met with Mr. Edwards, teacher of the Strategy Games elective, and played with a computer game his students created.

Want to contribute materials to our MakerCarts and LegoCarts? Contact Mrs. Carol Gehringer (cgehringer@gracechristian.net ) or check the latest SignUp Genius to see what we're collecting now.

Bee Bot speaks Spanish!

Kindergarten classes use Bee Bot to find a colored shape in Spanish.  Students followed Spanish directions to locate a certain colored shape, for example, "Bee Bot quiere a comer un ovalo rojo" mmmm....  ¡Vale!

All Together Now...

by Merrily Boyd
K-6 Art Teacher

It's a beautiful thing when an art project comes together...especially when that means that ALL the students in a grade level come together to make ONE amazing work of art!

Students in each grade from K-6 have worked to make artwork that will be auctioned off in the spring at our "Celebrate GRACE" event.  Each student worked individually on a small piece that we then combined together into one larger work of art per grade level. 

Kindergarten each painted a fish on newsprint, resulting in a mixed-media school of fish called "We Love Our SCHOOL."  Inspired by the hearts of Jim Dine, first graders made "100 Hearts" by using oil pastels to color one heart with warm colors on a cool-colored background and another heart with cool colors on a warm background.  Third graders used fabric "puff paint" to paint a textured sunflower, which we combined to make a large "Sunflowers" collage inspired by the sunflower paintings of Vincent Van Gogh.  Sixth graders each sculpted and glazed a clay figure or animal that became part of our group Nativity set, which we displayed in the school's trophy case before Christmas.

Kindergarten: "We Love Our SCHOOL"

1st grade: "100 Hearts"

3rd grade: "Sunflowers"

6th grade elective: "Nativity"

Stay tuned for the rest of our group auction projects (currently still in progress)!

Kings of Israel

Image Credit: funhill-games.com

by Mark Edwards
6th grade Strategy Games 

Overwhelmed by hordes of invading nations – and a series of corrupt kings – the fate of Israel is balanced on a knife’s edge! The Northern Kingdom’s only hope is that a band of prophets can cleanse it of evil and idolatry before the wrath of God does so – permanently.

Kings of Israel is a cooperative game that places two to four players in the role of prophets struggling to save their nation from threats both internal and external. Do you have what it takes to overcome the forces of evil? Or will you let Israel succumb to its own destruction?

Image Credit: funhill-games.com

Preaching, Destroying Idols, Building Altars and Making Sacrifices

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All in a day's work for these prophets!