Grapevine Middle School AVID

At the end of October, we hosted our first-ever booth at the annual GMS Fall Festival, and it was SO fun! Several student volunteers helped run a temporary tattoo station and welcomed families all night. Watching them lead, connect, and spread joy made the day unforgettable. Thank you to everyone who stopped by, and a huge shoutout to .stuco.tx for putting on such an amazing event for our community!

Hi GMS AVID family - we’ve missed you! Life got BUSY (‘tis the season 😉), but we’ve been hard at work behind the scenes. Here’s an October/November recap of some of the incredible things our students have engaged in over the past two months - more posts and details to come!
Some highlights:
- Hosted our first parent workshop over the AVID Tutorial Process
- Kicked off tutorials during class
- Took our 8th graders to visit Collegiate Academy
- Hosted a booth at GMS’ annual Fall Festival
- Built community through team builders
- Learned more through the AVID curriculum - from careers to the transition to high school to the critical reading process!
- And so much more - stay tuned for all the updates!

Our students have also started diving into the AVID Tutorial Process - a powerful way to bring questions from other classes and solve them in supportive, structured groups. Last week, we hosted new peer tutor training led by Brandi Carey, our district AVID Director, equipping new tutors to lead their groups with confidence and care. Thank you, Mrs. Carey - we loved learning from you!

On September 12th, we celebrated AVID Impact Day - a day dedicated to honoring educators who are closing the opportunity gap and spotlighting the students who thrive with AVID strategies. This year’s AVID Day was all about storytelling, so we asked a few of our Ponies to share their . We are beyond grateful and proud to offer AVID at GMS, and we LOVE hearing how it has positively impacted our students and their families!

We’ve also spent the past month building class community with ice breakers, team builders, games, and challenges! Coach Turner’s 7th graders worked together in small groups to complete puzzles with an added twist - several pieces were switched between groups, challenging them to collaborate and communicate even more.

Focused note-taking = game changer! Students learned the 5 Phases of Focused Note-Taking and put those skills into action in some creative ways. Our 6th graders took detailed notes and designed one-pagers to synthesize their learning, while Ms. McG’s 8th graders practiced the FNT process by following along with a video over how to create a paper flower and attempting to make their own using only their notes.

Hi GMS AVID family! We’ve been a little M.I.A. since the start of the school year, but we’re back with a September photo dump to catch you up! Over the next few posts, you’ll see how our students have been diving deep into the foundations of AVID - from mastering organization and goal setting to sharpening their note-taking skills. Stay tuned as we share the awesome ways our Ponies are learning and growing! 📸

Welcome to the 2025-2026 school year, Pony families! We are so excited to share all things GMS AVID on our social media accounts. Check back for more updates throughout the year!