Staff of the San Diego Union-Tribune present the students at the McGill School of Success with certificates for going through “Think like a Journalist” program in South Park on Tuesday, May 23. (Alejandro Tamayo/The San Diego Union-Tribune)
McGill Students learned so much from the Union Tribune! We encourage everyone to go and read the Union-Tribune's article on our collaboration. Here is the article written by our students:
A day at McGill School of Success
A day at McGill starts first thing in the morning.
Mr. Rios greets us at the gate with a cheerful “Good Morning” and sometimes has a sign that reads “Push here for SUPER POWERS.” We all get to walk around with each other during Walk and Talk or eat breakfast if you did not eat at home. Our breakfast is usually cereal, unless we have some other options like banana bread and milk or cheese sticks.
When we walk around at the playground, we first hang our backpacks, then walk and talk with our friends! When leaving to go to our classes, we line up in organized rows. After we do the Pledge of Allegiance, our teachers come to pick us up and we go to our classes in quiet lines.
When it’s cold in the mornings, we like to meditate and read in the auditorium.
Once we are in class, we warm up our minds for the day. Ms. Bundley (fifth-grade teacher) gives us a math worksheet. It is good practice for students to review or just overall good practice. Sometimes we do word problems with different operations and strategies. Also, during math time, we learn about multiplication, addition, subtraction and geometry.
Sometimes Ms. Manglicmot, our math coach, comes in and teaches us. Our class has a wonderful time during math — it’s not just fun, it’s putting new information in our minds. Our teachers make sure it’s understandable for us, but it’s not always easy. It’s honestly incredible how much we learn during mathematics.
When students have finished their math worksheets, we move on to our English Language Arts journals. Every day, we have creative writing topics for students to write about. This elevates student’s writing skills. Our journal entry today was: “What would happen if the world had no rules?”
After writing our journal entry topics, we get our computers. We have assignments on Google Classroom. There are three specific reading websites we go on everyday: Readworks, ReadingPlus and Flocabulary. There are multiple reading passages on different topics. After reading all the passages, there are questions you have to answer about the article. There is also a mini vocabulary activity to do.
While the students are on their computers, Ms. Bundley calls on students to come up for reading groups! Reading groups are groups where students get paired to read all together. We also sometimes do reading comprehension questions. After 10:10 a.m., we head out for recess!
Recess is the period of the school day to get our minds refreshed from all the awesome learning we get. Recess is a time to eat your snack and hang out with your friends. Everyone gets a perfect amount of recess time to relax and reset.
Lunch is a time to eat and recharge after your main classes. You can have a lunch from home, or you could get a school lunch provided in the cafeteria. During lunch time, we first wash our hands and then we go to the kitchen line and get our food. We have at least two options on the menu each day. And then we go to the salad bar, which has carrots, peaches, apples, oranges and salad. Then we go to our shaded lunch tables outside.
During music time, we practice songs that we will be doing in our upcoming show. We also learn how to play instruments like piano, violin and drums in music class. We have to practice a lot in music class because our music teacher, Mr. Sanchez, wants us to learn a lot of instruments in order to prepare for our Spring Extravaganza!
Mr. Rios is our physical education teacher, and he teaches us things about health and makes exercising fun! Physical Education is the time we exercise, do warm ups, sprint, jog, catching and throwing, dance routines, play four square, Frisbee and other physical activities!
We do our activities for 30 minutes. Lastly, we communicate with the fourth-graders every Friday, and we have lots of fun by playing kickball with the fourth-graders. We have a great time with training Mr. Rios and the rest of the fifth-graders by playing and bonding while doing lots of activities.
In our Sunrise to Sunset program, Mr. Daniel has us do our homework, read books or practice multiplication. This program includes classes like art, Chinese, literature, coding and dancing. Then we wash our hands for supper, and after eating, we play outside till dismissal starts. Students leave at 4:30 p.m. Then at 6 p.m. the school closes. Some special events we have at McGill are the attenDANCE for students with perfect attendance that month; Winter Song Festival and Spring Extravaganza shows; a yearly book fair; Spring and Summer camp; Earth Day Celebration; Leadership Awards assemblies; reading buddies; plays by each class; and Family Day.
A Day at McGill is like no other school. We have music and dance classes each day, and our focus as a school is performing arts.
We can count on having caring adults from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on our campus. Without a doubt, the opportunities that we have with music and dance helps us build confidence and enjoy our days at school much more.
Each semester, our parents get to come and see all the hard work we devote to our creative abilities. Lastly, our focus on character (respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, citizenship and trustworthiness) creates a healthy and safe environment at our school.
Comments