Parent and Family Engagement

November 2022

Orrs Elementary

November is Parent Engagement Month

Why parent engagement is important!

Researchers have found that student success in the classroom is most heavily influenced by a parents’ ability to:

  1. Encourage learning and education
  2. Set high – but not unrealistic – educational standards and goals
  3. Become involved in school and community activities

Researchers have also found that students who do benefit from strong parental involvement have:

  • Higher overall achievement, regardless of socioeconomic, ethnic or racial background.
  • A higher completion level on homework.
  • A higher level of self-esteem in all aspects of life.
  • Better social behavior and lower probability that they will get into trouble outside of school.
  • Greater comfort navigating different cultural environments between home and school.
  • Less likelihood of being placed in special education courses.
  • Less probability of dropping out of high school.


We encourage you to get involved at Orrs Elementary and to take advantage of resources available to you as a parent of a student in a Title I school. Each month, you will receive a newsletter with helpful information to help you to help your child become more academically successful! Together as partners in your child's education, we can do great things!

How Can I Schedule a Parent-Teacher Conference at Orrs Elementary?

You can send a message on dojo or email your child's teacher asking them to set up a conference day and time. Teacher emails are first name.last name @gscs.org. You can also call Orrs at 770-229-3743 and have the teacher return your call to set up an appointment. These will be made during the month of November.

Getting Ready for Parent-Teacher Conferences

The goal of the parent-teacher conferences is to help form a partnership between school and home to promote academic success for all students!

Getting Ready for the Conference

  • Review work samples, report cards, progress reports or other items sent home by the teacher
  • Review school policies and the handbook
  • Talk with your child about why you are having the conference and what you hope to learn at the conference. Get your child's input as to strengths, weaknesses, and areas of concern.
  • Determine a list of questions to ask your child's teacher:
Questions to ask your child's teacher: (These questions are general and should work at all grade level.)
  • What are my child's academic strengths and weaknesses?
  • Do you have any concerns about my child's progress so far this year?
  • Is my child performing at grade level? If not, in what subjects does my child need extra help?
  • What measures are in place to help my child research mastery on grade-level standards?
  • What can I do at home to make sure my child reaches mastery on grade-level or course-level standards?
  • What is my child's Lexile Level? Why is this important?
  • How can I support literacy at home?
  • If my child reachers grade-level expectations quickly, what is being done to extend and accelerate learning for my child?
  • What are the top five skills my child needs to be successful this year? How can I help make sure that my child has these skills?
  • What questions should I ask my child about school and learning each day?
  • How will you communicate with me? How would you like me to communicate with you?
  • What can I do at home to support you in the classroom?
  • How is my child adjusting socially and emotionally this year?
At the conference:
  • Listen to the teacher's comments
  • Ask questions about your child's progress
  • Look for positive points that you can build on to help your child succeed
  • Get your perspective as a parent
  • Get clarification on anything you don't understand
  • Ask teacher to help you develop specific goals and actions for your child if needed
After the conference:
  • Talk with your child about what you and the teacher discussed
  • Talk about any plans or goals for improvement you might have
  • Talk to your child about building on strengths and improving weaknesses
  • Keep in touch with the teacher on a regular basis to find out about progress your child is making

Family Engagement Month 2022 Nutrition Activities:

Fueling Georgia’s Future Activity Book with

families. https://snp.gadoe.org/SCE/Documents/FBL/FuelingGeorgiasFutureActivityBook.pdf

PUNNY food themed speech bubbles during Family Engagement Month events as photo

props. https://snp.gadoe.org/SCE/Pages/Engagement-Resources.aspx

• Play Fueling Georgia’s Future Bingo and select winners at schools.

https://snp.gadoe.org/SCE/Documents/FBL/FGFBingoCardFBL2.pdf

• Use Taste and Talk prompts to encourage conversation about food and

fun. https://snp.gadoe.org/SCE/Pages/Engagement-Resources.aspx

• Check out a Harvest with Holly and Toon in Tuesday

videos. https://snp.gadoe.org/SCE/Pages/ToonEpisodes.aspx

https://snp.gadoe.org/SCE/Pages/Harvest-with-Holly-Episodes.aspx

• Try this school meal Student Chef 2022 winning recipe at home.

https://snp.gadoe.org/SCE/Documents/F2S/HOTMRecipes/SouthernSweetnSourChickenwPeaches.pdf



Here is a video created for you by our faculty staff and student to show our appreciation for you. Thank you for all you do.

Georgia Standards of Excellence

The Georgia Standards of Excellence (GSE) provide a consistent framework to prepare students for success in college and/or the 21st century workplace. For more information go to https://www.georgiastandards.org/Georgia-Standards


  • How are Georgia Standards of Excellence used in educating my child(ren)?
The Georgia Standards of Excellence are an expected achievement level indicator at each grade level or in each subject by which progress and mastery of academic concepts are measured. Each standard notes the expected grade or course level tasks that students should be able to demonstrate to show mastery. Standards in grades K-5 build on previous grades and also indicate new concepts introduced at each grade level. For students in grade 3-5 the End-of-Grade Milestones are used to measure progress towards mastery on grade level standards. Middle school standards outline mastery in subject areas and mastery is measured on the End-of-Grade Milestones.For high students, standards are specific to the course content and are measured using the End-of-Course Milestones.

In Case You Missed It!

Annual Meeting was held on August 30, 2022. You can find the slide show on the Orrs School Website. We discussed things such as: What is Title I?, What are the benefits fo Title I?, School-Parent Compacts, Resources available to promote academic success, Parents Right to Know, Georgia Standards of Excellence, GSCS Instructional Frameworks, Assessments to monitor academic progress, School Improvement Plan, Use of Parent Engagement funds, and opportunities for family Engagement


Literacy Night was held on September 27 at 4:30. You can find the slide show on the Orrs School Website. We discuss how to improve lexile levels, MAP Fluency, Reading Improvement, and provided literacy games and activities to support literacy at home. Click this link to see a video of pictures from Literacy Night.


Did your family make it into any pictures from Literacy Night. Here is another video created from the games and rooms during Literacy Night.


Math Night was held on October 20, 2022. You can find math activities on the Orrs School Website. We had math games and activities to play. We answered questions parents had about math and provided ways to help with math at home.

Ways Parents Can Become More Engaged at orrs Elementary

  1. Connect with us on Classdojo (your child's teacher has this information), twitter, facebook
  2. Come to events hosted by the school
  3. Provide input to help with your child's academic success
  4. Partner with your child's teacher to help reinforce skills at home
  5. Schedule a Parent-Teacher conference

Tips for parents shared by the School Nurses Association

Parent Tips School is a child’s work. When they miss too many days of school, they fall behind and struggle to keep up with their classmates. Both excused and unexcused absences will affect their educational growth and progress. We want to work with you to help minimize the number of days your student misses school. Here are some helpful ideas:

  • Maintain a regular schedule for your child. Children do best when they have a routine.

  • Encourage your child to exercise and/or play outside daily.

  • Provide balanced nutritious meals and snacks for your child. Limit sugars, soft drinks, and offer fruits, vegetables and water instead.

  • Avoid letting your child stay home when it is not necessary. Consult with your school’s health aide or School Nurse if you aren’t sure.

  • Communicate with school staff and teachers. The more the school knows about your child’s health, the better prepared everyone will be to work together for your child.

  • Make appointments in the late afternoon so your child misses as little school as possible.

  • If your child is absent, be sure you get his/her homework assignments and follow up to see if the work is completed and turned in.
Principal- Michael Mathis

Principal- Michael Mathis

Principal- Michael Mathis

Greetings, Orrs Parents, Students, Community Partners and Friends:


Welcome to the 2022-23 school year of excellence at Orrs Elementary School. It is an honor and a pleasure to serve your students this year. I have served students as a high school and elementary teacher, instructional coach, curriculum coordinator, school improvement specialist, assistant principal and now as the proud principal of Orrs. This service is founded on a strong commitment of ensuring success for all students and this can only be accomplished when all of us work together. With that in mind, we must work daily to help our students exceed their goals.


To accomplish this, students should:

- attend school daily, on time, ready to learn and share with others.

- share daily learning experiences with parents and set new goals together.


Additionally, parents are asked to:

- communicate regularly with your child’s teacher to support the learning process.

- celebrate your child’s success as he/she masters skills and concepts.


Our investment in this work will help Orrs students exceed their goals.


Thank you for sharing in the cooperative work of “Engineering Excellence” for every student at Orrs.



Michael Mathis

Principal

Orrs Elementary School

“Where Excellence is Deliberate!"

michael.mathis@gscs.org 770-229-3743
Assistant Principal- Quanedra Jackson

Assistant Principal- Quanedra Jackson

Assistant Principal- Quanedra Jackson

Greetings, Orrs Parents, Students, Community Partners and Friends:


I am Quanedra Jackson and I am the proud Assistant Principal of Orrs Elementary School. During my time at Orrs, I have served as a teacher, instructional coach, and now I am thankful to serve our Orrs family as the Assistant Principal. I am a native of Griffin, Ga and was educated through the Griffin Spalding County School System. I believe that every child should have the opportunity to receive a quality education - no matter what! We ask that you partner with us to help all of our scholars reach their full potential.


At Orrs, we are committed to providing a safe, encouraging, and rigorous learning environment conducive to meeting the social, emotional, and learning needs of your child.We must all work together as a team to ensure that our scholars are exceeding their goals. Together we can ensure that our scholars are prepared and equipped with the skills they need to thrive as contributing members of society.

quanedra.jackson@gscs.org 770-229-3743
Counselor- Kimberly Mitchell

Counselor- Kimberly Mitchell

Counselor- Kimberly Mitchell

Greetings Orrs Family!


I am so excited and thankful to serve as Orrs Elementary School Counselor! I cannot wait to help our precious students reach their potential. I am here to serve you and your students, so please let me know if there is anything I can do to help your child(ren) socially, emotionally, or academically.


Looking forward to getting to know you better!

kimberly.mitchell@gscs.org 770-229-3743
Parent Liaison- Paige Samples

Parent Liaison- Paige Samples

Parent Liaison- Paige Samples
Hello, my name is Paige Samples. I am the Parent Liaison for Orrs Elementary. I am also the Math Lab teacher. I have been in education for 19 years. While at Orrs, I have taught all grades from Kindergarten through 4th grade. I absolutely love math and am so excited to have the opportunity to help students find success in math through the math lab. I am looking forward to this year at Orrs and working with you and your children to have a successful year.
paige.samples@gscs.org 770-229-3743