Unconference is Teacher Led and Teacher Designed

Goochland unConference 2013

What day? Monday June 3, 2013 When? 9AM-noon. Where? Goochland High School!

This event is both teacher designed and teacher-led. The open-format of an unconference allows an experience that’s totally driven by the participants.

We hope you’ll join us. Remember: this is voluntary. But it’s also an opportunity to learn from your peers and celebrate what went well this year, before we go home for the summer. And—there’s an opportunity to win door prizes! 

Higher education training opportunities

New Opportunities for Professional Growth

On Monday, May 13, 2013, there will be a meeting for teachers interested in opportunities from James Madison University and the University of Virginia from 3:45-5:00 PM in the high school media center. Come learn about college courses and programs on administration and supervision, Children’s Engineering, education leadership, gifted education, mathematics endorsements, and more!

More details can be found on Dr. Geyer’s blog.

Arts Weekend at GHS

GHS Creativity on Display

Beauty and the Beast is the spring production of the Goochland Drama, with performances on May 3, 4 and 5th in the GHS Auditorium. On May 4th is the Arts Festival!

We hope to see you this weekend for the many opportunities to enjoy and celebrate the arts here in Goochland!

Goochland recognized in Region 1

Creating Excellence CTE Secondary Advisory Committee Award

The Goochland County Public Schools STEM Advisory Committee has been selected as the Region 1 winner of the 2013 Creating Excellence CTE Secondary Advisory Committee Award.  The creating excellence awards are presented annually by the Virginia Department of Education’s Office of Career and Technical Education Services to recognize exemplary programs and partnerships that promote excellence in career and technical education.

This committee is chaired by Mr. Adeeb Hamzey.

Goochland will be recognized with other winners from around the state on Thursday, June 13, 2013, at noon in Richmond. Goochland will be eligible to receive a statewide award at this event.

Newsletter Available

Spring Instructional Newsletter

Our instructional leadership team is proud to announce the Spring-Summer 2013 edition of Explorations in Learning, our newsletter for parents and the community-at-large. Inside, you’ll learn about our partnership with the Science Museum of Virginia, our resources for parents on Digital Citizenship, summer learning opportunities, and more. Also look for paper copies available at our schools and around the community. 

Reported by Dianna Gordon

Elementary Gardens Are Blooming

As springtime approaches, students in our three elementary schools will be actively engaged in spring planting. At Randolph Elementary, the plans for early spring include an extended herb garden, a dedicated strawberry garden, and four gardens of mixed vegetables such as lettuces, peppers, radishes, cabbages, and spinach. Container gardens will be planted with green peas, flowers, and leaf lettuces.

K-2 and 3-5 Garden Clubs have met twice a month during the winter to learn about the many facets of gardening. Both clubs have been busy during the winter months planting bulbs, feeding and turning the
compost barrel, planting seeds in the green house, and preparing the soils in 3 raised gardens for spring planting.

The greenhouses at the schools have numerous pots planted with flower and vegetable seeds. Rain barrels are full and in working condition. The students have been using the water from these barrels to hydrate the greenhouse plants and container gardens.

At Goochland Elementary, Kindergarten veggie-quariums will be planted with strawberry and lettuce plants. Blueberry bushes will be planted. In addition, a solar-powered bubbler will soon be installed in an aquaponic system this May.

At Byrd Elementary two courtyard bunnies are provid- ing composts for the planters in the spring. “Garden Fairies” show up on Fridays to work, weed, fill birdhouse feeders, and assist with watering the plants.

The courtyard flower gardens are slowly waking up. Students are excited to find out if the pond fish survived the cold winter months. The pansy gardens were recently given a trim, so new blooms are growing daily. Spring is in the air at our elementary gardens! Both students and teachers eagerly await outdoor sci- ence and math lessons, lunchtime, story time, journal writing experiences, and many other activities.
Elementary gardens are alive and growing, due to extensive efforts from our very own maintenance depart- ment, our active PTAs, community volunteers, and Jr. Master Gardeners from the 4-H Extension office, who have so graciously supported our garden efforts. Parents and citizens in our community are encouraged to visit our schools. Observe for yourselves our children as they teach and learn from one another, while creat- ing beautiful and edible gardens for all to enjoy.

It's that time of year--again!

2013 Bulldog 5K

Luck Stone, Park ‘n Go, ORC Grounds Management, ETKL World Class Cases, Virginia Artesian Water, Nadder Home Improvement, Chick-fil-A, and the Reid Family have come together to sponsor the 2013 Goochland Bulldog 5K which benefits all athletic programs at the High School and Middle School.

You can register through Patrick Gordon at the Middle School, or online.

This race welcomes runners, run/ walkers, walkers, and strollers. We will have a staggered start time, however. Runners will start at 9:00 am, run/walkers and people with dogs will start at 9:05 am, and walkers/people with strollers will start at 9:10. Join us on Saturday, April 27, 2013 at 9 AM, Rain or Shine! To be guaranteed a shirt, please register on or before Friday, April 12.

We would like your input!

Calendar Committee

It’s that time of year again! Visit Dr. Gretz’s blog for the opportunity to give us feedback on this year’s committee’s recommendation for the SY 2013-14 calendar.