The Greater Dayton School

🏆⚽ What a Championship-Worthy Day at GDS! 🏈🏀

Last Friday, we celebrated an incredible year of growth, achievement, and student success at our Sports-Themed Spring Awards Ceremony!

From recognizing our scholars' hard work and perseverance to enjoying performances from our ASL Club, African Drumming Exploration, and Main Character Ballet Club, the afternoon was packed with talent and celebration.

Families also explored our student Art Exhibit and Exploration displays, showcasing the creativity, learning, and experiences that made this school year so special.

A huge thank you to our students, staff, and families for making this event one to remember. The trophies may have been handed out, but the real win is seeing our students grow, lead, and shine.

🏆 Champions in the classroom.
🎨 Champions in creativity.
💙 Champions at GDS.

🌟 It's Almost Time for Spring Shadow Day & Awards Ceremony! 🌟

GDS Families, get ready for one of our favorite events of the year!

Join us on Friday, June 5 for Spring Shadow Day and our Spring Awards Ceremony!

Spring Shadow Day is your opportunity to step into your child's world, experience learning alongside them, and see firsthand the growth they've made throughout the school year. From classroom activities to student leadership opportunities, you'll get a front-row seat to the amazing things happening at GDS every day.

And that's not all...

🏆 Immediately following Shadow Day, we'll gather for our Spring Awards Ceremony to celebrate the hard work, perseverance, growth, leadership, and achievements of our incredible students. This is their moment to shine, and we can't wait to recognize all they have accomplished this year!

🏈⚾🏀 Don't forget to wear your favorite sports team gear! Whether you're repping a professional team, a college team, or your child's weekend league, we want to see your team spirit on display!

💙 Come celebrate.
🎉 Come cheer.
🌟 Come witness the growth, determination, and accomplishments of our amazing students.

We can't wait to welcome our families into the building and celebrate another incredible year together!

📚🍎 Book Bites at GDS! 🍽️✨

Who knew reading could taste so good?

Our Book Bites Program brings stories to life in the most delicious way possible! Our Media Specialist, Laura, will read engaging books with students while our amazing kitchen team curates special “book bites” inspired by each story for students to sample and enjoy.

This hands-on experience encourages students to think outside the box, explore new foods, make connections between literature and real life, and maybe even discover a new favorite snack along the way. 👀📖

At GDS, we believe learning should be interactive, creative, and memorable and this program is serving all three. Literally. 🍓🧀🥨

🍎✨ Teacher Appreciation Week at GDS ✨🍎

We’re halfway through Teacher Appreciation Week, and we’re celebrating all week long the incredible work our teachers do each day.

Today we’re turning the spotlight on the heart of our school, our AMAZING teachers!! The energy, the patience, the dedication, the way they show up for our students every single day… unmatched ✨

From building strong relationships with students to creating meaningful learning experiences, our teachers show up with care, consistency, and dedication every single day and it does not go unnoticed.

If you haven’t already, today is the perfect day to show some love! Take time today to share a kind word or note of appreciation with a teacher. It truly makes a difference.

GDS teachers, we appreciate you today and always! 🍎

What an incredible Saturday at our 3rd Annual GDS Family Field Day! ☀️🎉

We were so excited to welcome over 300 students, families, and community members for a day filled with fun, laughter, and memories! From bounce houses and games to face painting and family photos, it was amazing seeing our GDS community come together outside of the classroom 💙

We even got to watch Principal A.J. get dunked once or twice in the dunk tank… okay, maybe more than once 😂

A huge THANK YOU to our incredible partners who helped make the day so special:

🎈 for bringing the fun with the bounce houses
🎨 for the amazing face painting creations
📸 for capturing beautiful family photos our families will treasure for years to come

Events like this remind us how special the GDS community truly is. Thank you to everyone who came out, volunteered, supported, and celebrated with us!

Check us out! 📸

🌟 Our Core Values in Action

What makes GDS special? It’s not just the awesome lunches or the curriculum, it’s the set of values we live by every single day!

At GDS, we are guided by our four CORE values from our staff and students to our community:

🔹 Student-First & Student-Centered: Every decision we make starts with one question: "Is this what’s best for our students?" They are the reason we are here! 🍎

🔹 Dream Big; Work Hard: We encourage our students to reach for the stars, but we also give them the tools and the grit to get there. There is no limit to what we can achieve with a little effort. 🚀💪

🔹 Ownership by Everyone: From the front office to the back row of the classroom, we take pride in our school. Whether it’s cleaning up your mess or helping a friend in need, we remind our students that we’re all in this together 🤝

🔹 Do the Right Thing: Integrity is our foundation, even when it’s not the easy choice. We choose kindness, honesty, and character, even when no one is watching. ❤️

We want to hear from you! Which of these values makes you most proud to be part of the GDS family? Let us know in the comments! 👇

We had an awesome time at our Student Account Opening Day! 🎉

A huge THANK YOU to for partnering with us to help our students take their first steps toward financial literacy and independence. 💰

Through this opportunity, our students were able to open their very own savings accounts, each one jumpstarted with a contribution to help them begin building strong financial habits early.

Experiences like this empower our students beyond the classroom and set them up for long-term success. We are so grateful for community partners like DayAir Credit Union who invest in our students’ futures!

📚🏆 Read Across America Championship Assembly Recap! 🏆📚

Last Friday, our students wrapped up Read Across America Month with an exciting Championship Chapter Assembly, featuring our very own March Madness–style Tournament of Books!

We were honored to welcome the City of Dayton's Mayor, Shenise Turner-Sloss, along with Beth and Doug Mann from For the Love of Children (FLOC), who joined our students for a special read-along. We also celebrated the winners of our Design a Bookmark competition and recognized the creativity of our scholars.

One of the biggest highlights was presenting with a $1,140 donation, raised through the incredible number of minutes our students spent reading throughout the month. 📖

A huge thank you to our teachers, staff, and The Connor Group’s Kids & Community partners for helping sponsor and support this amazing event. We’re so proud of our students for turning their love of reading into something that gives back to the community! 📚✨