Gardner Elementary School

Congratulations to Jane O’Guin whose submitted artwork for the Daughter’s of the American Revolution art contest has won a National award! Her Stamp Art has been on a very long journey making its way all the way to Washington DC! Her submitted artwork won first place in the Whiteside Station Chapter of the D.A.R. Then it won first place at the Illinois State Organization D.A.R. It then moved on to the North Central Division where it won first place, finally landing at the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution as a First place winner in the Junior American Citizen Stamp Art contest for 4th grade! Wow! What an amazing acheivement. We are so proud of you Jane!

The staff at Gardner Elementary are excited to announce the winner of the Jenny Eckenfels Sunshine Award. Congratulations to PRESTON SMITH! Jenny was a Special Ed teacher at Gardner, who passed away last February. This award was created to honor and remember her. She was a ray of light with a heart of gold who was passionate about her students and work. She made everyone she met a better person and made Gardner a better place. She is greatly missed. This is the 2nd year for the award, which is for 5th grade students at Gardner. Students who are nominated for this award demonstrate the passion to help others, bring out the best in everyone, and share a smile that shines like a ray of light, all of the traits that were modeled every day by Mrs. Eckenfels. Congratulations to all of our nominees! Kelsey Schmitz, Ryan Hoffmann, Elayna Ewen, Kate Scalise, Lindsay gum, and Thomas North, Preston Smith, Harper Cadduck-Hipp and Madeleine Hill. A BIG Thank you to Jenny’s husband, Jeremy, children, Aubrey and Brayden, and to her family for attending today.

Congratulations to the following students for winning an Above and Beyond award for the month of April. The trait of the month was Empathy, “the ability to understand and share the feelings of another person”. Remy Booher, Oliver Keller, Louis Klohr, Mia Kistner, Charlotte Rodenberg, Willow Murphy, Truely Stacey, Lily Buettner, Molly Eggemeyer, Brynn Glaenzer, Alaina McNalley, Josie Stumpf, Brianna Kriete, Dallon Espenschied, Aliceandra Hollenkamp, and Patience Nelson. Not picture, Olivia Dill.

Congratulations to our two Friday High Five winners! Thank you Evan and Logan for your amazing attitudes and for the kindness you show to others!

Congratulations to the following students for winning an Above and Beyond award for the month of March. The trait of the month was Optimism, “the belief that good things will happen”. Elle Bower, Allison Lewis, Sydney Patton, Lorelei Wittenauer, Madeline Hill, Eleanor Snover, Lillian McCalister, Kelsey Utz, Amelia O’Daniell, Rosalie Jones, McKenna Menke, Avery Fitzgerald, Wes Jarden, Jacob Mudd, Kyson Kersting and Cannon Dunaway.

Congratulations to our Friday High Five Winners. Ainsley, Carli, Allison, Brady and Cassen. We appreciate your kindness, responsibility, fairness and consideration!

Congratulations to our Friday High Five winners! Thank you for being responsible, creative, kind and caring. Allison, Ainsley,. Laney, Elijah, Mikayla and Cassen!

Congratulations to the following students for winning an Above and Beyond award for the month of February. The trait of the month was Courage, “the ability to do something that frightens you”. Aubrey DeLucia, Evelyn Vaughn, Kelsey Crook, Sophia Wilson, Micah Whitaker, Elena Toman, Addisyn Mercer, Evelyn Keeling, Londyn Belt, Kate Scalise, Tessa Deffenbaugh, Jocelynn Plunkett, Addie Pietlukiewicz, Lindsay Gum, Anna Brooks, Lola Vincent, and Jase Erlinger.

Congratulations to our Gardner students who participated in the district wide Science Fair over the weekend. Tripp Gardner - Best of 4th grade! Ryan Hoffmann - Best of 5th grade! Logan Johnson - Best of Gardner!! Great job to all!

Congratulations to our Friday High Five Winners! Thank you to Hannah, McKenna, Abby, Watson, Allison, Jase, Carter and Jake, for being helpful, inquisitive, polite, hardworking, and thoughtful! These are all qualities that their teachers wrote about them! We love having you at Gardner!

Read Across America week is next week!

Congratulations to our Team Member of the Month, our Speech Pathologist, Rebecca Phegley! She has gone more than above and beyond ! She is constantly reaching out to discuss how we can improve things for students.. She anticipates next steps and works beyond what is required. Thank you for being such a fabulous team member!

Reminder that it's not too late to order a yearbook. Yearbook sales are online only and the last day to order is March 1st. To order, visit, https://inter-state.com/order. The order code is 82325E. Students will receive their yearbooks in May.

It's High Five Friday!! a BIG High Five goes out to Kelsey, Colton and Easton. Thank you for your sportsmanship, positive attitude and optimism! We love our super Gardner students!

Tomorrow, Friday, February 16th is a half day of school for our 4th and 5th grade students. Town students will be dismissed at 11:10. Bus students will be dismissed around 11:25. Our EC and PreK students do not have school tomorrow. There is no school on Monday, February 19th for all of our students. Enjoy the extended weekend!

Congratulations to all of our 5th grade students who participated in the Spelling Bee this morning. Henry Jones, Josie Goldschmidt, Greyson Kruse, Ben Tran, Emily Crimm, Caden Marquardt, Henry Eggemeyer, Evynn Miller, Miles Liefer, Micah Whitaker, Elle Bower, Easton Long, Leighton Feltmeyer, Kathryn Scalice, Claire Wiemerslage, Eli Cozean, Fiona Grogan, Tanner Range, Chloe Hudson-Crowe, James O'Guinn, Tessa Deffenbaugh, Thomas North, Brynn Glaenzer, Colton Glessner, Tessa Kolweier Logan Johnson and Colton Sellers. The top 5 winners were, 5thTessa Kolweier, 4th Tanner Range, 3rd Elle Bower, 2nd Colton Sellers and the first place winner, Henry Eggemeyer! Everyone did a FANTASTIC job!

Next week is Kindness Week!

Congratulations to our Friday High Five winners! Thank you to Ella and Landon for being generous and thoughtful! We appreciate your kindness!

Congratulations to the following students for winning an Above and Beyond award for the month of January. The trait of the month was Integrity, “Being honest, having moral principles, doing what is right even when no one is looking”. Leighton Feltmeyer, Hudson Propst, Zaden Wild, Logan Johnson, Payton Cordia, Hudson Keim, Lincoln Reams, Daniel Hill, Josalynn Demetrulias, Madison Venable, Tripp Gardner, Evan Rist, Jaxson Jenkins, Keith Brown, Chloe Matzenbacher, and Aubree Bartnick. Not pictured, Silvy Gallagher.

It's High Five Friday! Congratulations to Eli, Alayna, Ryan and Zeke! We appreciate your honesty, kindness, empathy, and your ability to be a good sport! Thank you for being a Gardner Student!