Central Learning Community News
The Heart of Fulton County Schools
January 2014
Elementary Schools
Lake Forest
Lake Forest ES is making great strides integrating technology to drive instruction in all content areas. The 5th grade students participated in the school wide Social Studies Fair in preparation for the FCS Fair. In addition to asking students to increase the use of technology, teachers are engaged in professional development on technology integration of Ebooks to increase rigor and achievement through digital resources, creating QR codes, and using Tellagami to engage students at higher levels.
Oak Knoll
Holiday Hoops at Oak Knoll Elementary School
Students had an opportunity to celebrate their achievement on Common Assessments by participating in a Holiday Hoops Basketball Event. All kindergarten through fifth grade students who passed 80% of their Common Assessments were able participate and earn prizes for their academic achievement and the number of shots that they made. This event is just one component of our Turn Up Through C.C.H.S. Initiative (Common Assessments, CRCT, Homework and STAR Reading & Math) that encourages students to do well academically throughout the school year.
Parklane
Parklane has an Extended Day Program where 60 students in grades 3, 4, and 5 remain after school Monday through Thursday, from 2:45 p.m. to 4:45 p.m., to receive additional support in reading and mathematics. As you can see, our teachers strive to provide as much individual and small group support as possible to significantly increase student confidence and achievement. This support is apart of the school's FY2014 school improvement plan to increase student performance in these key academic areas. The Extended Day Program will run from January 2014 until the close of March 2014.
Ison Springs
Ms. Leticia Mathis, 5th grade teacher at Ison Springs Elementary, is shown here with 40 students and additional staff as they prepare to attend the 2014 King Holiday Observance January 13 at the King Center in Atlanta. Ms. Mathis completed an application for Ison to attend earlier this school year. The theme this year is, "Choose Nonviolence: Now! No other Way!" The King children facilitated a discussion that will teach the students how to navigate their lives using non-violence.
Dunwoody Springs ES
Dunwoody Springs ES received a $1000 grant from ExxonMobile to support science enrichment. The school will purchase materials and supplies for science experiments. They are appreciative of the support from local community partners as they strive for continuous improvement.
Hapeville
Hapeville Elementary School Student Council members, working with their sponsors, Mr. John Stockdale and Ms. Erica Bearden, are set to begin a paper recycling program in their school. Student Council members wrote and presented their proposal, to Ms. Couch, their school principal.
Student Council Secretary Jaquelin Telesforo, , and member, Han Nguyen, display photos of the main recycling bins that will be placed in each hallway. Over 700 Hapeville Elementary students will begin recycling paper in their classrooms.
Mount Olive
On Monday, January 13, 2014, members of Mount Olive Elementary's Junior Beta Club and Student Council were afforded a once in a lifetime opportunity to participate in a youth initiative at the King Center entitlted, Choose Nonviolence: NOW! No Other Way! Students learned first-hand from the King/Farris family about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s life and legacy. They were also given an opportunity to openly dialogue with the family members. Our students did a superb job of confidently communicating their questions. At the close of the visit they received a personal copy of a children's book entitled, My Daddy, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Conley Hills
On December 19, 2013 Conley Hills held a workshop entitled Parents Reclaiming Educational Success for Students. Parents were introduced to academic websites that can be used at home to reinforce skills taught at school. Parents were also provided their Home Access logins and walked through the process of logging in to monitor their child’s academic progress. This workshop was presented by Selina Smith (Parent Liaison) and Kali Preston (STS).
High Point
High Point is in its first year of the PBIS discipline system. As part of this, they kicked off second semester with a pep rally to remind students of the school rules. The pep rally was full of skits, a power point presentation and even a song sung by the entire teaching staff.
High Point students can earn “PAWS-UP” tickets for good behavior. Every week those tickets are put into a drawing for a small prize and there is one winner per grade level. There are also other rewards such as Student of the Week Certificates, PAWS Up Forms, School-Wide Celebrations and PAWS Stickers.
The students have really grasped the new behavior concept and teachers have seen a great improvement from previous years!
Heards Ferry
The students at Heards Ferry Elementary School work in vertical teams to earn tickets for good behavior. HFE’s BEST tickets are earned for Having a good attitude, being Friends with everyone, Exhibiting leadership skills, Being prepared, being an Excellent problem solver, being a Star student, and being a Team player. One copy of the ticket goes home to parents and the other is collected at school. At the end of the 9 weeks, the team with the most points has the cafeteria decorated in their team’s color for the day. This 9 weeks, the green team won. The green team was surprised to walk into a cafeteria decorated with green balloons and tablecloths!
Hamilton Holmes
At Hamilton Holmes’ recent Literacy Night, teachers dressed up and acted out their favorite books in the Reading Café. This was one of the activities planned to show parents how they can promote literacy at home and make it fun for everyone involved.
Spalding Drive
On Wednesday, December 18, Spalding Drive Charter Elementary hosted a “Morgan Stanley Gift Giving” event in the school’s media center. Employees of Morgan Stanley embraced the holiday spirit of giving by raising money to buy gifts for some of our SDC students. It was wonderful to see the smiling faces of the students as well as adults who participated. I think the adults had almost as much fun as the kids. We would like to thank the employees at Morgan Stanley for supporting the families in our community and helping during such a hectic time of year.
Woodland
The students in Mrs. Tracey Harlan’s second grade class at Woodland Elementary completed a STEM project in which they had to design and construct a floating garden to protect against a flood. The students worked on their own to design their gardens, discussed possibilities at home with their families, used recycled materials to construct and experiment with their gardens.
Middle Schools
Woodland
The Robotics Club participated in our first ever competition in the FIRST Lego League in December. The students built a robot using the NXT Lego base and their own design to complete the required tasks. The robot completed many of the tasks in the Robot Game using this design. The team won the award for Strategy and Innovation in the Robot Design category. In addition, the team performed very well in the Innovative Solution Project and Core Values portions of the competition.
Paul D. West
6th graders at Paul D. West dominated the 2013 Spelling Bee. The top three places are pictured above.
2013 Paul D. West Middle School Spelling Bee winners: Jada Cason (3rd Place), Elizabeth Alberto (1st Place), Oceana Franklin (2nd Place)
Ridgeview
Ridgeview Panthers are setting their own learning compasses in their new COMPASS class to promote literacy and numeracy across the curriculum. Every nine weeks all Panthers are reevaluated in order to be placed in the best literacy class to meet their needs. Through Compass classes, students are engaged in interactive computer based programs as well as text annotation and summarizing strategies! Kudos to Ridgeview Panthers and their teachers!
Sandy Springs
1. The SSCMS students participated in the Hour of Code event. Sandy Springs Charter Middle School students were exposed to basic level coding and programming. Over 10 million students across the country participated in the event. Per the survey data, we found many students who were proficient in coding and requested further development. Kudos to our Governance Board for spearheading this event. ( Mr. Edwin Salako, Parent/GB coordinator of Hour of Code event)
2.Congratulations to the SSCMS Academic Bowl team for their amazing showing and making it to the regional competition. This is a first and we are so proud of our team. A special thank you goes out to Mrs. Courtade for leading the team.
3.The Leadership Sandy Springs Class (LSS)of 2014 visited SSCMS and gave the school rave reviews for their instructional practices and school climate. Many participants had not been in a school for over 20 years and commented they wished they could go back to experience stations, technology and the different teaching practices that they witnessed. Teachers did a superb job with building the SSCMS brand.
High Schools
TriCities High
Tri-Cities High School participated again this year with one of our Partners in Education to help make a holiday celebration a great success for a large group of local elementary students. Our drum line exploded on the screen to the excitement of 600 screaming first graders along with our jubilant cheerleaders. Additionally, thirty-five TCHS student volunteers served as Santa’s helpers (with gift patrol, lunch duty, pictures with Santa, etc.) The students love the experience as much as the first graders and are looking forward to participating again next year. Just one more example of Tri-Cities Bulldogs giving back to the community.
McClarin
During the week of December 9th thru December 18th McClarin students and staff paid $1.00 to wear jeans and hats. The contribution totaled $200.00. The monetary donations, in addition to toy donations were donated to Joshua's Closet, a local community organization that supports Teen Parents.
Riverwood
Riverwood High Senior Daizha Tate-Edge was named by the Neighbor Newspapers as the Female Athlete of the Week right before the break. Daizha is the sole senior starter on a young girls varsity basketball team that is learning the game. Despite their youth, the team won two straight before the break.
North Springs
"Pictured above are" 2014 STAR Student Jake Busby and STAR Teacher Jan Arnette with head counselor Dr. Johnson, Dr. Ruiz and Marcy Louza, Jake's mother. Jake surprised Ms. Arnette, his AP Statistics teacher and math department chair at a holiday luncheon before winter break. A day earlier, Dr. Ruiz surprised Jake with his honor. Congratulations Spartans!
The Central Learning Community
Email: griffind1@fultonschools.org
Website: www.fultonschools.org
Location: 786 Cleveland Ave. SW Atlanta, GA
Phone: 404-763-6804