Home of the Gators
Wednesday, May 12, is National School Nurses Day, and our nurse, Ana Speedone, has been amazing this year. She has led Gant through this pandemic, focusing on safety for all. She has trained other nurses across the district, has presented at staff meetings, and has been on call even during off-hours. A huge shout out to Ana from the entire Gant community!
The DEI Committee's newsletter features this month's diverse celebrations, DEI committee events, and books that honor diversity and individuality. The next DEI virtual meet up will be coming up on the week of the 22nd.
We have started up Friday spirit wear days. Please see the attachment with the schedule. Both in person and online students should be participating in this fun Friday day! This Friday will be sports day.
Help us create a rock garden in the planter in front of the office. There is a basket out front of the office with a rock kit for each student. Once your student has painted their rock please place it in the planter in front of the office.
We have gathered a few resources here to share with children and teachers about addressing these kinds of situations to our youth.
- LBUSD: We stand with Asian Americans Statement
- YouTube Music Teacher Miss Katie Addresses Anti-Asian Sentiments and sings about standing up for what is right.(for kids): https://youtu.be/ybr0ljIWxS
RESOURCES FOR EDUCATORS
- Stop AAPI Hate Youth Report
- Addressing Anti-Asian Racism and Discrimination: Resources for Educators (Los Angeles County Office of Education)
- Asian American Racial Justice Toolkit (Brown University)
- “After Atlanta: Teaching About Asian American Identity and History” Liz Kleinrock (Learning for Justice - Formerly Teaching Tolerance)
- Immigrant History Initiative – Lesson Plans such as "Anti-Asian Racism & COVID 19"
- #WeAreNotAVirus: History of Asian America - YouTube playlist
RESOURCES FOR FAMILIES & CAREGIVERS
- Talking to Children after Racial Incidents (Penn Graduate School of Education)
- Supporting Kids Of Color In the Wake Of Racialized Violence (EmbraceRace)
- Talking Race with Young Children (NPR)
- Learning Race At Home: Why Colorblindness Just Isn't Enough (Psychology Today)
- Why All Parents Should Talk With Their Kids About Social Identity (NPR)
- Asian Mental Health Collective
- Asian Pacific Counseling and Treatment Centers
Hello! My name is Terri Mace, and this is my 16th year teaching at Minnie Gant. I came to Gant from Tincher where I taught for 10 years. My specialty is teaching individuals with special needs and abilities. I have taught students from pre-K all the way through fifth grade. I love my job! It is such a pleasure to watch my students achieve their goals. It takes teamwork with our class. I'm lucky here at Gant, I have great support staff! We are always a team working for the betterment of our students.
I grew up here in Long Beach. I attended Prisk, Keller and Patrick Henry elementary schools. I went to middle school at Marshall and graduated from Millikan in 1987. I was lucky to become a college aide in November 1987. I worked in kindergarten and second grades at Newcomb K-8. In addition, I was the assistant track coach there for three years. In the summer of 1992, I was assigned to a special needs classroom and fell in love teaching this unique population. I like to say I entered the Long Beach Unified family at age five and just never left!
I live with my daughter and three very spoiled dogs. I'm lucky to have my dad living just around the corner so we still can have family dinner and discuss our day. I enjoy gardening, swimming, and decorating. My daughter is graduating from Millikan this year and I'm such a proud Mom! She has been accepted into CSULB and will be studying Kinesiology. I plan to spy on her from my classroom.
Currently, I'm reading A Promised Land by former president Barack Obama and The Dancing Girls by M.M. Chouinard. I love suspense/mystery and true biographies. When I was in elementary school, my favorite authors were Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume. I recently went back and read some of my favorite books by both and laughed just as hard now as I did then.
I want to thank you for reading my story! Stop by and say "HI" to myself and my kiddos in B-31! GO GANT GATORS!!!!
The LBUSD Office of Child Development Centers is now enrolling for our full-day and part-day state subsidized preschool program, our full-day, fee-based preschool program and our school-age care programs. Please visit our web site here for specific details regarding locations and contact information. For enrollment assistance, call 562-429-8636.
It's a hard time to be a kid right now. It's a hard time to be a parent and guardian right now. Minnie Gant students and families deserve all the support we can give them. Here are some resources we hope can help.
Gant Staff and Resources
This pandemic has brought unprecedented change and uncertainty into all of our lives. If you are in a difficult position, we encourage you to PLEASE ask for help! You can reach out to our counselor, Laurie Wheels (lwheels@lbschools.net), or our principal Cassie Fanton (cfanton@lbschools.net) with any needs you may have. Your privacy is paramount and any discussions will be completely confidential.
LBUSD Family Resource Centers
LBUSD Family Resource Centers are available to support students' and families in so many ways – from student mental/behavioral/emotional health to parent workshops to food/clothing resources, referrals, health care, and more. Please reach out!
Website – https://linktr.ee/LBUSDFRC
Instagram – @lbusdfrc
LBUSD Special Education Community Advisory Committee
The LBUSD Special Education CAC is open to everyone who wants to help students with exceptional needs obtain an appropriate, high-quality education, including parents, teachers, persons with disabilities, service providers and other concerned community members. A calendar of meetings and topics, including distance learning and sibling support, can be found here.
California State PTA Resources
Click the Peachjar icon above for current after-school and community flyers of interest to Gant families:
- Minnie Gant School Spanish - May and June
- Los Altos YMCA: Summer Camps
- Code Ninjas Summer Camps
- Learning Lab Summer Enrichment Program
- BOSS Summer Academic Enrichment Camp
- The Coder School Coding Classes for Kids
- School News Roll Call - April 2021
- Free COVID Vaccines
- Health Screen Habits for Students
- Golden State Stimulus
- Emergency Rental Assistance Program
Shop at Amazon Smile
Download the BoxTops app; scan receipts when you buy BoxTops products.
Bullying defined:
"A person is bullied when he or she is exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more other persons, and he or she has difficulty defending themselves."
(D. Olweus)
Click to Report a Bully
Please share any photos you have of students in school activities with our PTA Historian to be used for promoting school activities. Any student in a photo must have turned in a permission slip.
View school events in your Google calendar by subscribing to the Minnie Gant Elementary calendar.
The SchoolMessenger app delivers communications from the school district and Gant all in one place.
Chromebook and Hotspot Tech Support
562-315-8083
