Oakhurst Elementary
February 4, 2021
From the Principal
As an African American woman, the month of February has always been an important time to pay tribute and celebrate various aspects of African American culture such as music, accomplishments, struggle, contributions, and much more. As principal of our school it is important to me for our students and staff to acquire knowledge about Black history that is often not included in the history books. In the future, we hope to intentionally embed and celebrate aspects of, not only Black history, but other histories and culture throughout the year. For now, we will celebrate throughout the month of February.
Finally, I'd like to highlight some other ways in which we are celebrating Black History month in our classrooms. Ms. Thorie's kindergarten students and families will be researching and creating a family project about an African American who has made a positive impact on our world. In music, Ms. Vokes will expose students to jazz and blues artists such as Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, and Huddie Ledbetter. Our media center crew created a choice board for teachers to use throughout the month with read alouds. In Destiny, you can find the "Black Excellence" collection they created to highlight various books students can check out.
I am so proud of the work we are doing at Oakhurst to support CSD's mission of Advancing Racial Equity by celebrating African American culture.
Principal Sanders
Carpool Lane Reminder
Nurse Notes
I am incredibly proud of our Okahurst owls and how well they have adapted to in-person school. Students arrive prepared, masked and eager to start their day. Thank you, parents, for your efforts in getting them acclimated to this new school environment. Thank you, as well, for keeping us informed of any symptoms, illnesses, exposures and infections among family members or students. We are all in this together and keeping communication lines open supports the health and safety of all of us. Ms. Walker and I have completed the Johns Hopkins Contact Training course. Please feel free to reach out with any questions you have or any support you may need, whether your student remains virtual or has returned to the building.
With much gratitude-
Nurse Durham
Important Information About the Oakhurst Gifted Program
Each year the gifted review team looks at existing student data to discuss students’ needs and determine if further evaluation for gifted identification is needed. If you are interested in having your child reviewed and possibly evaluated for gifted services eligibility, you may complete a Recommendation for Review Form found at the City Schools of Decatur Gifted and Talented Services page at https://www.csdecatur.net/Page/581 and send it to alockwood@csdecatur.net before March 8th. No additional information is needed. The Gifted & Talented Specialists for Oakhurst are Courtney Hartnett and Amanda Lockwood.
Want to know more?
Amanda Lockwood and Courtney Hartnett will host a virtual information session on Friday, February 12th from 2:00-3:00pm. We will cover general information about what gifted services encompass and how students are identified as eligible for gifted services. We will also cover important information specific to this spring's recommendation and identification process. If you are interested in learning more about the CSD gifted program and/or are considering recommending your child for gifted services, please complete this Google Form to express your interest. The meeting will be recorded for those who are unable to attend live. Detailed information about CSD's gifted identification process and program can be found here, on the district website.
After reviewing the CSD webpage, if you have any additional questions please add them to the Google form, even if you are unable to attend. We will do our best to ensure that all general questions are answered in the allotted time.
Library Book Check Out for F2F Students
Students may reserve books (place holds) on two books using the hold feature on the Destiny Discover website. Holds can be placed at school or home. Books will be delivered to the classroom according to the schedule below.
If you would like to check out books but you don’t know what to check out, tell us about the kinds of books you like and we’ll curate a custom book bundle just for you! First time book bundle users, please use this Custom Book Bundle form. Return book bundle users, please use Book Bundle Repeat Patrol form.
Students’ books will be delivered in a plastic bag. Please return the books in the same plastic bag.
Show Your Love Spirit Week
Hello, Everyone! The Student Support Committee announces "Show Your Love" Spirit week, February 8th thru 12th!
Monday: Show Your Love For Your Favorite Color (dress in favorite color)
Tuesday: Show Your Love For Your School or Home (Family) Crew (draw or bring pictures of your home or school crew)
Wednesday: Show Your Love For Reading (drop everything and read your favorite book or have a class read-aloud, could also include book character dress up)
Thursday: Show Your Love For You (by wearing something that represents you, drawing or writing about something special about you)
Friday: Show Your Love For Oakhurst (wear green, yellow or something with owls on it)
Thanks, everyone and we hope this makes for a fun and love-filled week!
From the Oakhurst Equity Team
Check out This link from Common Sense. It has great Black history & culture activities for families, and they're K-2 specific!
As previously mentioned, weekly we will provide a preview of crew content for the upcoming week. Each week you will see the learning target and the anchor text.
CSD News
The Georgia Department of Education is requesting that parents who have a student with an IEP complete the Special Education Parent Satisfaction Survey. If you have more than one student who has an IEP, please fill out a separate survey for each student. This survey helps to guide our district and state toward a more meaningful collaboration, which helps to bring about good outcomes for our students' education. For questions concerning the survey please email Cheryl Grant cgrant@csdecatur.net. Thank you in advance for taking the time to complete this survey.
From our Nutrition Department:
If your child is eating with us and requires vegetarian meals OR has a special dietary need, please fill out this google form: https://forms.gle/eyo5veaaAN8iBczp6
Vegetarian students are required to fill out this online form, and no further action is necessary. For our in-person students: we will have your child's meals labeled with their name at the front office/desk of their school. For our virtual students: we are prepared with the required amount of vegetarian meals at our TakeOutSpot at Decatur High School. Please pick-up meals on MWF between 10:30 AM - 12:30 PM.
Students with special dietary needs are required to return the completed form "Medical Statement for Accommodating Disabilities" to our Food and Nutrition Supervisor at sblack@csdecatur.net. Please note that a healthcare provider must fill out & sign the form. We must receive this completed paperwork before we can begin to make menu accommodations. Only filling out our google form or emailing our department is not sufficient documentation. In the past food allergies have been handled more so by individual schools and nurses, however, we are moving towards having all food allergy documentation come through the School Nutrition Department. If you have a student who is only requesting lactose-free milk, note that the paperwork "CSD Milk Substitution Form" can be filled out by a parent/guardian OR a healthcare provider. Please see our Special Diets webpage for more details: https://www.csdecatur.net/Page/1403
Students with special dietary needs who are learning in-person: we will have your child's meals labeled with their name at the front office/desk of their school. Students with special dietary needs who are learning virtually: we will have your child's meals labeled with their name at our TakeOutSpot at Decatur High School.
Our menus for the remainder of the 2020-2021 school year will be pork-free. Thank you for your patience as we work through new processes this school year.
DEF News
DEF is hosting a Covid-safe book sale at Legacy Park’s Cochran Building (the gym) just in time for Winter Break. There’s a large selection of gently used children’s books from toddler to high school at bargain prices! You can sign up for 20-minute shopping slots here.
The Tour Must Go On!
Due to Covid-19, DEF can’t host its annual Tour deCatur 5K and Fun Run in its usual in-person form. This year, we are offering a “Run Where You Are” 5K and Fun Run on the weekend of March 27th. 5K participants can register at www.tourdecatur.com where you can also order an event shirt. We hope this event will encourage the community to go outside to celebrate our health and the onset of spring. For some participants, this year’s Tour could be a goal to achieve or a fun family activity, and for others, it might just be exciting to have something to put on the calendar! 5K participants can submit a photo of their tracked time, and race results will be posted on the race website and on the DEF Facebook page in the week following the race.
The Joe’s Fund Challenge
Decatur Education Foundation and Decatur City Church are excited to announce they have joined forces to launch the Joe’s Fund Challenge! Decatur City Church’s Be Rich Campaign recently donated $25,000 to DEF’s Joe’s Fund which supports our kids’ behavioral health. Joe’s Fund, initiated by the family of Joe Bodine after his death in 2016, has been instrumental in the creation of the Decatur Student Center at Decatur High, as well as the recent expansion of services to Renfroe Middle School.
Together, DEF and Decatur City Church is challenging our community to help us raise an additional $25,000 to double the impact we can make collectively. Your contribution to Joe’s Fund today will help expand the behavioral health programming at the high school and middle school and will allow us to offer behavioral health grants to every K-5 school. Early intervention can help arm our students with the coping skills they need to face future challenges. Help us help our kids. Gifts to Joe’s Fund will ensure that we can continue to react to address the wide and varied needs of all of our kids. To take part in the challenge, please visit www.decatureducationfoundation.org/joesfund. Together, we make a difference!
About us
Email: suhawkins@csdecatur.net
Website: https://www.oakhurst.csdecatur.net
Location: 175 Mead Road, Decatur, GA, USA
Phone: 404 -370-4470
Twitter: @OakhurstOwls