Ropes

Tom Thornburgh and Greg Borja from NMPASI came by to demonstrate some team building activities with Mr. Aldrich's 4th graders. Here are some pictures.


Mr. Tom and Mr. Greg watch as students try to free themselves cooperatively from the ropes that bind them.






Mr. Greg integrates language arts and teamwork by having students choose compound words and find one another without the use of their eyesight.











The students listen attentively as Mr. Greg talks
about disabilities and how they can be overcome











Mr. Tom running frantically from students threatening to take his lunch money. Just kidding, it's another great team-building game! Thank you Mr. Tom and Mr. Greg for spending the morning at GES and helping us to learn the importance of
working together.

CNMI Wellness Workshop

Mrs. Mendoza, Mrs. Snodgrass and Ms. San Nicolas brainstorming the many ways that GES promotes healthy lifestyles.

















Mr. Johnson and Mrs. Gomez contemplate the BMI Chart and how to make the Tanita Scale available to parents, students and teachers.













Mrs. Camacho from GTC shares her school's action plan. GES will provide professional development for parents in order to finalize our wellness policy.

Congratulations!!!

Mrs. Carol S. Demapan, our newest Highly Qualified Teacher!!

Students of the Week for March 19-22

Mrs. Ngewakl's AM class - Jazz Matthew Parayaoan
Mrs. Ngewakl's PM class - Yvette Debengek
Ms. Masga's 1st grade class - Allexies Sevillo
Mrs. Mendoza's 3rd grade class - Sam Tapado
Mr. Pinkerton's 5th grade class - Denise Samson
Mr. Aldan's 6th grade class - Angelica Dacuma

Students of the Week for March 12-16, 2007

Ms. Palacios' 1st grade class - John Raymond Villamor
Mrs. Snodgrass 5th grade class - Krizandra Gozon

Mr. Johnson, Mrs. Mendoza, Mrs. Snodgrass, Ms. San Nicolas, Mrs. Gomez, Hope Gomez and Marjorie Cuerdo attended the Health/HIV Workshop on Friday and Saturday. They will be sharing the CNMI Wellness Policy and how our school has been implementing portions of it.

Easter Village at Paseo de Marianas

The 2nd grade team and some fellow teachers and students got together to decorate the GES Easter Village at the Paseo on Wednesday. Here are some pictures to see! They got there just before judging (oops) but still managed to put together a very cute and Easter-y display. Second grade works very well as a team, maybe that's why there are so many other staff willing to jump in and lend them a hand. Thank you: Mrs. Arriola, Mrs. Springer, Mrs. Pagapular, Ms. Terre, Mr. Buniag, Ms. Taylor, Mrs. Demapan, Mr. Larson, Mrs. Rumley, Mrs. Inaba, Carter, Lakshmi and all the kids who helped out. You put the Spring in our step!!!

Some pictures from the Girl Scout Activity

In celebration of Girl Scouting Week, the island-wide Girl Scouts, which include GES and Mt. Carmel girls will be having some "girl time" at the Mina'chom Atdao Pavilion on Sunday, March 11. The proclamation signing will take place on March 12, at 3:30 pm. Thank you to all the scout leaders, parents, Kim Printz and Cindy Tyce, GES and Mt. Carmel, and Senator Pete Reyes for the donation of tents.

Boys Basketball

3rd Place !!

Just as I was about to leave work at 3:30 pm on a Saturday afternoon, Mr. Buniag knocked on the office door. (Don't these guys know I'm off today? Go away, you can't make copies, we have to save on our power bill!) Of course I didn't say that. I smiled and walked to the door where Mr. Maderal was knocking too, and still wearing a huge smile from the Academic Bee. "Another trophy!" he said. Okay, this is turning out to be a great weekend for the Mighty Mallards.

I am sitting at my desk and it's 4:19 pm. Just in case I have to make a case for how much administrators work on their OFF time, I thought I'd write that down. I haven't printed the bulletin yet because the ink on the laserjet is out and Mr. Roberts is our functional authority on everything technological. (honestly, I'm just too lazy to look for a cartridge and read the directions). Actually, I feel more wonderful news coming, so I will wait until Sunday evening to finish our bulletin. Let's all cross our fingers for sunny weather for Flag Ceremony on Monday.

GOOD JOB MR. BUNIAG and MR. ITIBUS and THE BOYS BASKETBALL TEAM!!!

March Calendar of Events

March 10 - Academic Bee Challenge
March 11 - Girl Scouting Activity @ Mina'chom Atdao
March 12 - 16 - Girl Scouting Week
March 16 - StuCo St. Patrick's Day Social @3-5pm, 4th - 6th grade
March 17 - Math Counts @Multi-purpose Center
March 19 - 23 - Reading Celebration Week
March 23 - NO SCHOOL Covenant Day
March 26 - 3rd Quarter Report Card Conference Day
March 29 -30 - NO SCHOOL PSS Professional Development Days
March 29- PTA Mtg. and Book Swap in Cafeteria 6pm
March 31- Red Cross Walk-a-thon

Students of the Week
March 5-9, 2007

Mrs. Tullao's Kinder AM - Dante Balmores
Mrs. Tullao's Kinder PM - Mark Dizon
Mr. Buniag's 2nd grade - Rori Fiden
Mrs. Borja's 3rd grade - Angel Mar Pamintuan
Mr. Weimer's 4th grade - Jessica Bigueras
Ms. Tualatai's 5th grade - Shawn Igisomar
Mr. Budano's 6th grade - Vivien Viernes

A Flock of Mallards - A Team Effort

Audrey, Lakshmi and Jessie sitting directly in front of the judges so that they can flash their bright Mallard smiles. It never hurts to wink at judges too, you know. The NHS members from MHS and their advisor, Ms. Lyvon, did an outstanding job as always. The room was inviting and not at all intimidating. They had questions up on a screen for all to see and the scores were tallied by a computer. This year, they arranged the chairs so that everyone got a good view of the questions, but could not distract the contestants, that's important. I did lose my traditional seat on the ground, on the right side of the stage, but Mr. O said not to be superstitious, so I grudgingly obeyed and took my place on the left side - in a chair. There were many former Mallards there. What great role models they are! After the competition, all of them came by to give us congratulatory hugs and cheer on GES!





Mr. Ogumoro, Marjorie, Mr. Budano, Alexis' aunt, Audrey, Mr. Maderal, Ms. Camacho, Alexis, Jessie, Lakshmi, Charles and Alexis' mom and auntie came to cheer. Mr. Maderal was the loudest of us all! All the parents and coaches deserve a heartfelt congratulations for all the work they put into preparing the team. The kids got gift certificates to a T-Shirt shop "Boarderline" in Garapan. They also got medals and certificates. The coaches got hugs and high fives. The school gets to keep the trophy:)

Alexis studying (FEE-SHAL?)

Academic Bee Challenge Champions!!!

BEFORE: It was a great day that started with grins. We got nervous for a while, but when Lakshmi finally got there, we were ready to begin. We sat down and did some last minute trivia, including silly stuff like how many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie roll tootsiepop? We were in a good mood. Ms. Camacho and Mr. O reminded everyone of yesterday's mock session and what they had to remember going into the competition. Ms. Camacho was a very calm coach. There were 10 schools competing: Calvary Christian, GCA Rota and Saipan, Sinapalo Elem. Kagman, Dan Dan, Oleai, San Vicente, William S. Reyes, and GES. Last year, we came in 2nd. This year, we just wanted to have fun. Winning. Have fun winning:)





AFTER: Round 3, the difficult round was a nail biter! Out of six questions, no school got 2 (three domains of organisms and Lesotho), GES alone got 2 (sphygmomanometer and idiosyncrasy) and 1 school got Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (leader of Iran) right. We were thinking that we had it in "the bag", but Mr. O, being ever so cautious, wagged his finger and said, "not yet". Yes, let's not get too confident, I thought. Behind me, I could hear Lakshmi urging a win in a whisper loud enough to make me chuckle. "First place, first place, first place" she chanted. I don't remember how many schools got Lewis Carroll as the author of Alice in Wonderland right because I could only hear the sound of my heart pounding and Mr. Maderal, Mr. Budano, Lakshmi and Alexis screaming in celebration that WE WON, WE WON, WE WON! Later, Jessie said Lewis Carroll was a gimme guess, but went on to explain the process of elimination he used to arrive at the correct answer. It wasn't a gimme guess, it was weeks of studying and going in with a positive attitude that got them that trophy. Way to fly high kids!!

Big Surprise!

When we went back to the hotel to check out, they told us that L&T Corporation was picking up the tab for the hotel room! Thank you!!

Arlrose and the Bee

The Regional Bee was a great experience for Arlrose and her teacher, Mr. Jack Bermudes. We got to the Hilton at 8:30 in the morning, after having a very relaxing breakfast at King's. We weren't the only ones there, other kids and coaches were fueling up for the contest. At the Hilton, Mr. Bermudes carried his camcorder around recording the event so that his class could watch Arlrose in action. Below are pictures of CNMI public and private school contestants from Rota, Tinian and Saipan.

The Bee gets better every year, and so do the kids. It is really nice to see some kids going for the 2nd time, having had the experience the first time around and feeling more confident. The jokes from the announcer also get funnier each year too.

The CNMI had more than half of it's students (as I remember it) in the top ten. I wasn't exactly taking notes, but we did very well. Enjoy the pictures:)

The Scripps Howard Regional Spelling Bee