February is a super busy month for us.  We are kicking off our WWLD (What Would Lincoln Do?)...Read! Read-A-Thon and are having additional fundraisers to support it.  We are raising money for books and chromebooks for our 21st Century Learners.  Students and staff will read 30 minutes a day for 10 days for a total of 300 minutes.  Our goal is to have each student and staff member obtain a minimum of 5 sponsors for $10 each.  You can go to  www.read-a-thon.com and sponsor a reader electronically or donate directly to the school.  One fundraiser is a Sock Hop for 7-8 grade Friday 2/8 at the GPE Gym from 4pm-6pm and a 9-12 grade Valentine Dance also Friday 2/8 at the GPW Cafeteria from 7pm-10pm.  Admission to each dance is $5.  Please also visit Chick-Fil-A at 3970 S Carrier Pkwy on Monday, February 25, and tell them you are there for the AA Read-A-Thon!  We will receive 20% of profits towards our WWLD...Read! Read-A-Thon if you mention our name that day.  Again, these funds will help purchase books and chromebooks for our students.

We will be NAEP testing 8th graders Thursday, 2/7 as well as having our Juniors and Seniors take the ASVAB test on the same day, working on CCMR (College, Career, Military Readiness).  Additionally, we will be taking benchmarks this month on Tuesday, February 19, Thursday, February 21, and Monday - Wednesday, February 25-27.  On these days we ask students bring lunch with them or purchase from the cafeteria.  We do not allow lunch deliveries on these days due to testing interruptions.  Please make sure your student gets plenty of rest the night before and eats a healthy breakfast the day of testing, and ideally every day.  These tests are very important for us to gauge student progress and target instruction based on student needs.

Speaking of lunch deliveries, you may bring food from home or a restaurant for your own child only, but not for other students to be consumed in the cafeteria, including pizza, burgers, ice cream, candy, etc.  

Also, please note attendance is not only important, it is a state mandated law that students attend school.  If your student is more than 10 minutes tardy, they are considered absent for that class period.  Ultimately, we need students receiving instruction and engaging in the entire class for each class to ensure their success and to earn credits.  Please make sure you are encouraging your student to wash their hands thoroughly with soap and water to prevent any illnesses to help keep them healthy and maintain their attendance.

We will have our Carter Blood Drive on Valentine's Day.  February 28 is our CTE Showcase at 6pm in the GPE Gym, where students can show off their CTE projects for friends and family.  We will also have a big 8th Grade Awareness Night where we invite 8th Grade families to see the expectations and offers from AAGPE for 9-12 grade, such as Dual Credit, Practicum, Clubs, Sports, Leader in Me, and other Organizations!  Finally, the Power of Why "Selfless" will go out the week of February 11 and is due Thursday, February 14.  The importance of this assignment is to help educators and families partner together to spend quality time with students and encourage collaboration for student success.