Good Evening Panther Families, We hope everyone enjoyed their time with family & friends this week during Thanksgiving. We are excited to be back at school with our Panthers tomorrow!
Upcoming events:
Tomorrow, Monday 11/27 is B day for exploratory and MTSS classes.
Save the Date: Math Family Game Night PreK-12 is Wednesday, Nov 29th from 6:00-7:30 for our students & families! The flier has an RSVP for families.
District Calendar: The school district calendar for the 23-24 school year is linked here:
Upcoming Winter Sports Games: Our wrestling schedule is linked here: Tuesday 11/28 @ George Read & Thursday 11/30 home vs. Conrad
New Updates:
Scholastic Book Fair: Family Connections Meeting: Our Family Connections group will meet Tuesday evening to finalize details for our Scholastic Book Fair. We will meet on zoom from 5:00-6:00 pm. The meeting’s zoom link can be found HERE. All parents are welcome!
Scholastic Book Fair: Gunning Bedford will host a Scholastic Book Fair the week of December 4. We need parent volunteers to help make this event a success. Please use the link found HERE to sign up for a time to volunteer. All volunteers must have an accepted volunteer application through the Colonial School District website. Visit our official book fair site HERE. Parents can check out what books will be available in addition to directions for setting up an e-wallet for their student.
Social Studies State Test: The social studies state assessment is now split into three separate shorter testing windows; one in the fall, one in the winter and a final session taking place in the spring. Students in the 6th and 8th grades will take the assessment in their regularly scheduled social studies classes. Our 7th grade students do not take the social studies state assessment this session. The state test will not impact student report card grades but does provide information on student proficiency in the content area. It is important that students are well rested and arrive at school on time on testing days.
Schedule for SS Testing Fall Window:
6th Grade: December 4 8th Grade: November 29 and 30th.
Honor Roll Assemblies: We are excited to bring parents back to our honor roll celebrations! The first marking period honor roll celebration will take place on December 1. Parents who have students who made honor roll for the first marking period may report to the auditorium entrance at the times listed below. Not sure if your student made the honor roll? Check their first marking period report card.
6th Grade: 10:45am 7th Grade: 9:45am 8th Grade: 8:35am
Basketball Tryout Information: For students that signed up for basketball tryouts and handed in their DIAA physical, tryouts are the following dates: Girls are November 29, December 1st and 6th: Boys are December 8th, 12th and 13th. For questions about sports, please contact our athletic director, Mr. Brelick via email, here:
Student Council Updates: . We collected over 450 canned items for the Food Bank of Delaware. We also collect 225 pounds of candy to be donated to the Troops overseas that are deployed. Lastly, thank you to everyone who attended the first Applebee’s Fundraising night, the funds raised will help support our end of year events. Thank you to our students, families, & staff for the support!
November Colonial Clippings from the district:
Back to Basics Tutoring: Please see flier here: 23-24 SY Back to Basics Learning Dynamics Colonial Revise Flyer.png
Updates from Grade Level: Please see updates from our grade level administrators and staff here:
6th Grade: 7th Grade: 8th Grade:
Community Events:
Girls Tech Together: Girls Tech Together (GTT). GTT is an international 501(c)(3) non-profit organization aimed at introducing girls to fundamental concepts in the Computer Science field through introductory activities, coding lessons, and interaction with professionals in the CS area. We are currently partnered with and sponsored by the Bank of America, TD Bank, the DE Foundation for Science and Math Education, and more. For more info, see link here:
Verizon Innovative Learning STEM Achievers program. Join a full-day workshop for an introduction into the immersive program. Students will learn about design thinking, 3D printing, augmented reality and social entrepreneurship. The program takes place over a full-day science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) workshop on December 2, 2023 from 10 am to 2 pm. See link with flier for more information and to sign up. OpenHouseFlyerFall23.pdf
YLI Leadership Recruitment Flyer (12).pdf Youth Leadership Institute, a program for middle school students in New Castle County, Delaware. Please see attached flier and application link. Registration link is here:
Rolling Updates
Morning Car Rider drop-off & Afternoon pick-up: Parents dropping off students in the morning need to create a single line on the right side of the cones. Students should exit their cars to the sidewalk. Cars are not to travel on the left side of the cones. Student safety is our top priority. As a reminder, please review the images linked before on where drop-off and pick-up is located. am and pm. AM is in the front of the building, PM is on the side of the building. Staff will be present to support in building the routine with students and families. Please be patient with students, staff and our fellow families as we learn together. Our doors open at 7:55AM each day. Please be mindful of dropping off students before then as staff are not outside. In the afternoon, car rider dismissal begins at 2:37PM on the side of the building. Families will pull into the parking lot on the side of the building and form a line that goes up and around the lot. Please follow the directions of staff supporting the dismissal to ensure a safe dismissal for all.
Library Information from Ms. Hewes: Please visit HERE to get more details.
Student Lockers, Coats, Cellphones, & Expectations for Dress: All students have access to a locker. Students are to use their lockers to store their coats and bags each day. Students have access to their lockers multiple times during the school day to pick-up/dropoff items. Students are to not wear backpacks or coats during the school day. Link for Code of Conduct & Colonial Expectations for Dress: Please see link for a reminder for our district expectations for dress and this year’s code of conduct. Students are to not wear hats, hoods, or sunglasses inside the building. Please remind students about our cellphone expectations of devices being away while at school. Students are able to use YONDR pouches and/or have phones remain in their bags. A brief presentation about our cellphone expectations is linked here: Also, student horseplay is not appropriate at school. Students are to keep hands/feet to themselves.
GB Gear: Please see link here to order GB clothing & apparel. I purchased 2 sweatshirts this week and they are great quality!
Emergency cards: Emergency Card 2023-2024.pdf If you have not submitted an Emergency Card, please do so ASAP. If you need one, it is linked above. Any new information from medical, to emergency contacts, to new phone numbers can all be updated on the emergency card.
2023-2024 Yearbook Order Form: Linked here if interested in pre-ordering.2024 Yearbook QR Code Order Link.pdf
Health Office Information: Our school nurse is Ms. Taylor & her email is: olivia.taylor@colonial.k12.de.us Please view the Welcome Letter from Nurse Taylor here with important health office information.
Breakfast & Lunch for students: All students at Gunning Bedford get free breakfast & lunch each day. Students can pack their breakfast or lunch as well. Students are not able to have any outside delivery food for lunch time; For example no Door-Dash or UberEats delivery. The lunch times for students is:
| 11:05-11:35 | 8 lunch |
| 11:47-12:17 | 6 lunch |
| 12:27-12:57 | 7 lunch |
Support Links for Families: –Please use this link for more information & FAQ about Home Access Center –To update the contact information you have on file please fill out the form linked here:
Grade level Administrators & Counselors: The names and contact emails for our grade level assistant principals, student advisor and school counselors are listed below. They are your go-to contacts for supporting your student.
Administration School Counselors
| 6th Grade AP: Dr. Thomas-Brown | 6th Grade: Ms. Sheppard |
| 7th Grade Interim: Ms. Robinson | 7th Grade: Mr. Arent |
| 8th Grade AP: Mrs. Nowell | 8th Grade: Ms. Pine |
| ILC Administrator: Mrs. Eger | |
| Principal: Mr. Johnston |
Have a great rest of the day and remember, you can’t hide that Panther Pride!