This is through our uh proactive identification of student needs, unified supports for interventions, as well as our uh positive uh providing uh pro- uh professional uh growth with training opportunities. And with that, I honored to pass it over to Dawn. >> Thank you very much, Kelly. Well, I'd like to share out with you a little bit more of some exciting things happening in preschool. It's all about partnerships, isn't it? Um not only are we teaching our students, but we need to partner with our families. And sometimes we're not, you know, children aren't born with an owner's manual, and that's very difficult for parents. And so, we've worked really hard in preschool to offer something called our preschool parent series. In fact, if you're not watching basketball tomorrow night, I would like to invite each and every one of you a personal invitation, because tomorrow night is our preschool pave the path for our kindergarteners to help that developmental milestone for our families at Community Education from 5:30 till 7:00 p.m., and we can share with you all about what it you can do as a parent to help prepare your child for kindergarten.
>> Yeah. Yeah. I think that the way that I hope to continue to use AI um you know this is like I'm still in the piloting phase in my own thinking is like what Anita is doing where it's giving students support through the writing process for example when they can't come to see me. So, one of the ways that I have talked about AI in the English department is an equity uh solution because some kids go home and they work and some kids are babysitting and some kids are playing sports and then some kids have a professor for a parent and so that if I can use the right tools and show them how to use them, then that just lessens the burden on them trying to squeeze into their schedule between driving hours and all the things to get face to face time with me.
It's mowing, fertilizing, and irrigation. So, there aren't many companies that do all three and don't want that. And the reason that you're you're paying for >> irrigate any of our other fields. >> Uh I I'm just telling you about the high school. So, I only know that one right now. So, so we're not considering the football field part of the high school. >> No, we're not. I'm I'm just talking about because you're not paying snows for that. >> But it is part of the high school is the point I'm making. >> Uh it is and it isn't. That's a city field and that's where unfortunately we get that delineation a lot of times of who's responsible for it. So that property right when you cross that is not our ours >> schools. Um yes, our kids play there all day long. We I'm not arguing that part.
There's lots of little hidden secrets, and we'll share with you all of that if you join us tomorrow evening. And not only that, parents that are coming to this will actually have um our Dignity Health partner there, and they're going to be able to do some dental screenings, because having that dental care and that health is really important to lay that foundation for children. And so, that's why we work in partnership. We've also worked in partnership this year with Ascend in the Parent University to offer things like Love and Logic um for our families training in order to know how to handle things um as far as behaviors with kiddos. And we've also um had a program in January called Raise a Reader. So, there's a lots of amazing things that we've been doing all year to help provide support to our families. Something else in preschool that we're proud of is, after all, it's Pave the Path.
So, I don't want to replace myself, but I also want them to have equitable access to helpful guidance. >> Yep. >> I don't know if that totally answered your question. >> No, it's good. >> And I think one of the rules of edtech um is looking at how can we enhance the the the at the end of the day, how can we enhance the learning process? And the SAMR model, S AMR, it's substitution, augmentation, modification, and redefinition. And they sort of go up, right? So, we're trying to be at modification and redefinition when we you in include edtech in a lesson plan. Uh, and I think about what Sarah Collins, who's a middle school social studies teacher, did um she created a gem. Uh, gem is like a little bot within Gemini. She created a gem um that will act as uh a choose your own adventure in the life of a trader in Africa.
Um >> or and that's why your high school fields, your field hockey, your tracking soccer fields look, I'll say, so much better, right? Because they're getting irrigated, they're getting fertilized, and they're getting cut very frequently in season to certain specified heights. Um I don't have to tell you about field hockey heights, right? Um member web where they want that how they want it low for the same for baseball, you know. >> Yeah. Uh it's not that low in baseball in soccer as low as field field hockey is always >> but that's just >> but that's why it's the high school not just the back fields but around >> start screen. Are you still able to hear us? >> I can hear you. >> Okay. Can you see us? >> Um the only person I really can't see is Andy. I can see Andy's computer >> there.
In fact, this morning, just like Julie started off at a, um, preschool classroom, I was over, um, at Courts Hill as we had, um, actually Campo Verde High School, our Toy Box students, um, paved the path over to Courts Hill in order to see what it's like in a kindergarten classroom. I'm hoping right now, as I'm up here, 12 News is spotlighting that on one of the commercials, or stay tuned for that sometime this week. Something else I would like to share with you is about the gross motor. Um, we're really proud that we've added gross motor carts, um, to, um, 12 of our campuses this year in order to create those outdoor spaces for students to truly engage in learning. Um, we want to have this area because it meets the AZDHS guidelines and regulations, and the materials, um, the carts are full of materials that really gear towards those three to five-year-olds.
So you act as a merchant um and then you start and it prompts back to you. So you say like like I type in hello and it spits back and this can all be read aloud to me too by the computer um the generation of the text. Greetings traveler. I am a guide and game designer and I'm here to help you step back in time to explore the vast and wealthy trade networks um of ancient Africa. And it will give you the vocabulary. uh you can then choose the level you want to be read at. So based on your reading level, you're an expert reader, you can get um the the expert piece and then which part of the trade route that you wanted to go through. Um and then it guides you through this whole process. Now, she built this using the curriculum that she already had um her her knowledge of Gemini um and uh the the um what she wanted the end result to be, which was the students to be able to give feedback on what the experience was like as a trader in Africa.
It was just that the uh screen turned off here, but everything is back on our end now. >> So, the high school, just to wrap that up, is not just the high school field, but it's all around the perimeter of the high school as well, too. Literally, the sidewalk towards building, you'll see the grass is green and fertilized and cut pretty well there as well. So I predicting the conversation with Cityside is we don't have enough people to do all the other schools besides just what they do which is a quick somebody who they come quick through. So but the other schools don't need somebody who would do irrigation and the fancy stuff. They just need somebody to come in who does bushes and um the gardening piece, which you know, I'm worried about four corners. We all had gardens in the back and they're all overgrown.
It's amazing how much that, um, students, when you have those, um, crossing that midline, that really helps to develop the brain. Those are important things to be able to develop that whole child. Something else that we're proud of is we started with some outdoor classrooms, um, over at Mesquite Elementary, and then also at Superstition Springs. And so, there is a click to see a little bit more about how, um, that's looking for our students. It's exciting because students have the ability to really work with oral language development in a different setting, and really bring in some different gross motor activities. Things with jump roping, um, things with having comet balls, things that really work in lots of different areas of the body because that's important for children in order to, um, um, meet those developmental milestones. And as we shared, we use Learning Without Tears, things that when you're having the right Play-Doh and the right materials, um, it's important for to develop that brain, but to develop things like muscle memory in the hand, so a child picks up that pencil or crayon correctly, rather than holding with a fist, they're holding with that tri-point grip.
Um her kids did this in class. >> That's really cool. >> In sixth grade. >> Yeah. >> It's the Oregon Trail over >> It's Oregon Trail, right? And it's funny that you say it's absolutely true because when I emailed her, I said, "It's unbelievable. Can I put this in our newsletter?" Um, and she said um something to the effect of like it's it's like going to the elementary school computer lab and not getting dysentery. >> Um, which was I mean it's it's such a good it's such a cool little tool that she built and you can do it for anything. >> How are you guys facilitating crosspollination of stuff like that? Like I would imagine just like the students are at different levels of the spectrum, your teachers are at different levels of the spectrum and I mean something like that is such an incredible way to meet students where they are and engage them and like how is that information getting spread throughout the building throughout the the organization?
>> Um and you're looking at a principal who dug into her checkbook who got that fixed, $3,000. >> Okay. Because I couldn't stand the way our school looked. >> And then PTO that stepped up. So, I would like to see because I don't I'm just predicting the city's gonna say we don't have enough people to do all our schools. If we could look into and I know this is a cost, but I'm I'm sorry. The way a building looks is the first impression on everybody. Um to maybe it's a different because irrigation I get that that maybe you need a expensive because they're the only ones who do irrigation but another provider who can do the other stuff even if it's and I don't know if the tech school goes out and does that kind of job or not. Um, I know that the grounds of the tech school are beautiful.
Some other things that we're excited with partnerships is with the Quality First expansion. We've partnered with Quality First and First Things First um a few years ago. Um it happens to be part of that initiative um through the state um with the initial target of sites with multiple Building Blocks programs. Currently, three of our five Toy Box programs have come on board um with Campo Verde um high school leading the way with a five-star rating. We're looking to add Building Block um standalone sites um with our K Prep programming this coming year and bringing along our Advantage Preschool programs um over at Ashland Ranch, Boulder Creek, Islands, and Greenfield Elementary for this coming year, in addition to Canyon Rim, Highland Park, Neely Traditional, Quartz Hill, and Vista Lakes with our K Prep programming. Um we just received um three new Quality First scholarships to our four families um at Superstition Springs Elementary.
>> Uh depending on who you ask I I have either a widely read or widely deleted email that comes out once a week. Thank you. >> Can I follow up on that too? Is there is there any PD days next year to get those teachers that aren't really on board yet like into this to make sure that we can move along teachers? >> Yeah. >> Advancement. >> Yeah. >> I think I mean because that's what everybody is saying about AI, right? Like the the content, the technology is is there the the limit to adoption is the human and the change management, right? >> And obviously, you know, doing it intentionally and thoughtfully, but what a cool way to, >> you know, leverage it in different ways. >> Yeah. meeting with staff, um going to department meetings myself or faculty meetings, um meeting with staff individually, the newsletter once a week.
Um, the kids do the trees they do, but a lot of the tech kids have started new businesses and that's, you know, I can get cards. Um, they're looking for business. There's a lot of landscaping businesses in this town. >> So, I think what we need to do is talk to the city to see if we are still not allowed to do our own selection. And if we are then we've got flexibility. >> Oh, Member Webb, your hand is up. Feel free to just jump in. Member Web, don't >> I did member Goodwin was talking so I just wanted to like acknowledge. Um, is it crucial that we have that field irrigated and fertilized or is just that just an added thing we have done? >> Um, it really comes down to what do you want it to look like? If you want it to look not irrigated, >> look my football field, >> then we could we could get it that in in that poor condition.
So, that's where we feel this is really important having this partnership with First Things First and Quality First because although DES may provide um funding support for our lowest income of families, getting these scholarships helps provide that support for the next set of families that may need that help because unlike many other states, we're one of the few states um across the country that does not provide um tuition um funding for early childhood. On this next slide slide, um preschool as I shared is not mandatory in the state of Arizona. We're one of three states in the US that does not fully fund preschool. Our tuition-based preschool programs do not have boundaries, and we have many students who attend our schools on what we call open enrollment. Um through providing quality preschool pro- programs and options, we're working hard to capture families as they enter into kindergarten.
Um there there's lots of ways that we're building relationships with staff and trying to get some of these AI tools out and then having staff come to me like Sarah did um last week and say, I want to show you this really cool thing that I did in my class, which was amazing. >> Yeah, that's great. >> If you think back to the theme of this year around, you know, sharing knowledge and the candle idea, it's it's really an opportunity. I know our departments uh have been working together just to carve out time to share ideas and you know the full day of professional development it's not enough but it's great um you know after Thanksgiving so that that work will continue. >> So uh question comment so we're purchasing laptops for all and coming nth graders can can you speak to how the new a policy will affect the new computers and help limit uh misuse?
>> I think based on what I know about that area because I lived on Silver Street, that's all swamp land and if you don't do the irrigation and the fertilizer, I think it would return to um because it's got, as somebody who walks the track, it's got a nice little moat which sometimes floods. You know, some pumps are in every house on Silver Street. So, I'm just saying I don't I think it's probably necessary to keep those fields. >> Yeah, it's your it's your call, right? You got a new high school that's what 12 years old. You probably have one of the best playing facilities out those fields out there in terms of grass. Mhm. >> I would say a our athletics program is one of our jewels that we must celebrate and b from a safety point of view. If kids are playing contact sports there, then I want the ground in impeccable condition because I don't want them to get concussions.
This data here shows the number of families with children in our preschool programs who have not chosen to go elsewhere but to remain in GPS. Um notice how um the target has increased every year. I should say um the families that are staying in Gilbert has increased every year and our goal this year is to have a retention rate of 90% of the families choosing to be here. If we get them to love preschool, we get them for life. They will graduate from Gilbert Public Schools and perhaps they're going to stay here and raise a family in Gilbert Public Schools. As you can share, we're here tonight um my entire preschool leadership team because we're proud of the um work that we're doing. Um we're proud of the preschool options we have for our families and the intentionality of our teachers that are putting their heart and soul into what they do each and every day to lay that strong foundation for our students.
So our our these guidelines will help uh our students stay within the guard rails of AI use when they go off to use their own personal device at home. All bets are off on what websites they go to, right? Um so they could be using chat GBT. They could be inputting personal identifiable information and not really realizing it. Um, at at the very least with the programs that we have like linewise and classwise, uh, when they're on those devices that we own and doing their their work on those devices, they're limited to the tools that we share with them. >> Um, and th those guardrails are important. >> Yeah. Because they they do. But yeah, so some some of these different like Gemini, we prefer one be in there. >> Yep. And then uh this is just in my field the AI models have an unacceptable uh incorrect answering a lot of issues in medicine.