Learn what it feels like to run a school! Spend time with Ms. Fleming and experience a day in her shoes. You may help out in some classrooms, attend meetings, assist with duties, make announcements, participate in decision-making. The date will be scheduled between you, Ms. Fleming, and your homeroom teacher to take place during the first semester of the 2023/24 school year. ONE ENTRY PER STUDENT.

Learn what it feels like to run EC! Spend time with Dr. Smith and experience a day in her shoes. You may assist in EC classrooms by reading books, doing art projects, helping with PE, supervising lunch, and other tasks as required. You may attend meetings with Dr. Smith and make some recommendations about your observations. If you are interested in young children, this is a wonderful opportunity! This will be scheduled with you, Dr. Smith, and your homeroom teacher and will take place during the first semester of the 2023/24 school year. ONE ENTRY PER STUDENT.

Is PE your favorite thing? Do you want to improve your leadership skills? Then join Coach Whelan and be Coach for the Day! You will work with Coach Whelan to create a lesson plan for the day and will lead exercises, coach/referee as required, help younger students build their skills, etc. Go team! This will be scheduled with you, Coach Whelan, and your homeroom teacher and will take place during the second semester of the 2022/23 school year. ONE ENTRY PER STUDENT.

Are books your favorite thing ever? Is spending the day cozied up in a library your idea of bliss? Then join Mrs. Long as Librarian for the Day, and learn all of the "behind-the-scenes" work it takes to create and run a wonderful library! Perhaps you will get to select a book to read to our youngest students; maybe you will have a special organizing project; you may even be able to order a book or two for Mrs. Long! What a treat. This will be scheduled with you, Mrs. Long, and your homeroom teacher and will take place during the second half of the 2022/23 school year. ONE ENTRY PER STUDENT.

Title: Growing Together

Artists: The Spruce Class, 2023
Media: Acrylic and Gouache on Wood
The Journey: The Spruce friends have enjoyed learning about many various ways to express their creativity this year. One of our art explorations was about printing. We used this as an inspiration, along with the children's budding curiosity and joy in learning about nature. The Spruce children, teachers (and even some members of our Gillispie admin!) used a brayer to layer on a rich acrylic background to be the "underbrush" for our bed of leaves. Then the friends took turns painting gouache on fresh lemon geranium leaves for a full sensory experience. As the leaves were printed onto our art piece, the colors layered and danced and came together to invite you to connect to your own memories of serene moments in nature.

Title: Golden Hour - Evoking the aesthetic of a Southern California sunset, the Juniper Art Project will leave you feeling like it is "golden hour" all day long! Inspired by the color and mood of the 70's, this is our way of celebrating Gillispie's 70th anniversary. In many ways, this piece represents time - its unfolding; giving space for things to bloom or take root; past, present, and future. Nature doesn't hurry, yet everything is accomplished. Much like flowers, the process behind this project, and how children grow and learn. We included the California State Flower, the poppy, in its pod form, waiting to bloom; palm fronds and dried delphinium, which represent different stages and phases. The children experimented turning beets, yellow onions, turmeric, spinach, black beans, and other produce into natural food dyes before hand-painting and sewing florals on the muslin cloth. The sorbet colors on canvas create a beautiful background, as La Jolla does for Gillispie.

Title: Children's Wondering Eyes

Photo Collage on wooden panel with glossy resin finishing

20 by 24 inches

This is an aesthetic, multi-medium art piece. The children used an iPod to excavate for intentional and meaningful things from their everyday school world that were then incorporated into this amazing piece of art. The result reveals the richly layered personal stories of our children.

Imagine a year without having to navigate the Girard Avenue Shuffle! A dedicated parking spot will be yours, and will make drop-off and pick-up a breeze and will save you hours of circling the block as you try to get a great seat to a school event or to volunteer on the campus. Return to the halls of Gillispie next August with the knowledge that you will always have a dedicated place to park for the entire 2023/24 school year! Imagine pulling into drop-off, pick-up, school programs, and parent-teacher conferences without a care in the world!