CGS Weekly Message
9/25/23 -9/29/23
Good afternoon,
Happy Sunday!
This is the last week until our October Academic Break! Students, please get in any missing work prior to the break. Grades are due shortly after we return so do not waste any time getting your work turned in!
Parents, Parent/Teacher conferences are beginning. Please make time to attend these parent/teacher conferences. Your support at home is VITAL to your student's success at school. Thank you for working together with us to ensure our students are successful.
- Make Up Picture day for K-8 Campus is on Tuesday, September 26th!
- Friday, September 29th is a half day with dismissal at 11:45 A.M. for the K-8 campus and 12:00 P.M. for the High School Campus.
- All School Picture Money and/or proofs are DUE back by Friday, September 29th!
- Red Cross Blood Drive hosted by our CGS Beta Club will be on Friday, September 29th from 12:00 P.M. until 6:00 P.M. in the board room at our K-8 Campus.
- October Academic Break- SCHOOL CLOSED- October 2nd- October 6th.
- Next Virtual PTT Meeting: October 12th @ 6:00 P.M.
- Parent/Teacher Conference Day: Monday, October 16th. School is CLOSED for students on this date.
- Fall Festival, hosted by our Science Department- Friday, 10/27 from 5 P.M. until 8 P.M.
Lost and Found- being donated on Friday, September 29th
All Lost and Found items from both campuses still left on campus will be collected and donated to Goodwill on Friday, September 29th. Please make sure that your students claim their items prior to us discarding the left over items.
Please contact Mrs. Lassiter for the K-8 Campus or Mr. Graham for the HS Campus if you have any questions!
All American Week - VOTING CONTEST
OK, Grizzly community, it is time to vote for your favorite All-American Week submissions! Our Grizzlies have created excellent visual art pieces, poetry, and videos. Now we need your help to decide our winners. All you have to do is like your favorite submissions in each category. You can like more than one piece...we know it is hard to decide. Feel free to invite your friends and family to share their votes. Please remember if you share the post, your likes will not count toward the voting total. Likes must be made on the original post at:
https://www.facebook.com/cgsgrizzlies/
While you are there, be sure to Like and Follow us for all the CGS News! Voting closes on Tuesday, September 26th so vote now. Please note that you may have to scroll down to posts published on September 21st to see all the categories. Thanks for supporting our students!
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--Thanks,
Mrs. Thompson
Save the Date: CGS Fall Festival- Friday, October 27th
Please see the flyer below for this year's 1st Fall Festival hosted by our CGS Science Department. We would love your help! We currently need volunteers to set up games or activities.
Thank you for your support!
Save the Date: College Night- Wednesday, October 11th
- Date: Wednesday, October 11th
- Time: 5:30 pm
- Location: Integrity Church - iKidz Bay
- Audience: 11th and 12th grade students and their parents/guardians
- Topics: Applying to college, financial aid, and scholarships
Reminders for K-8 Campus
Grizzly Parents,
This week on the K-8 Campus, students will participate in our lockdown drill. Please remind and help us reassure your student that is is planned practice and not a true incident. Please let them know we have drills to help keep everyone safe if an emergency were to arrive.
Thank you in advance for your assistance with this!
Thanks,
Mrs. Spencer
Reminders for High School Campus:
Parents,
Please remind your students that as the weather becomes cooler, please make sure they review the Dress Code. Leggings can be worn; however, a student's top must cover their front below the waist and the back below their rear end. The chest, stomach, and rear end must be covered. Students who continue to wear shorts throughout the cooler months must adhere to the mid-thigh length requirement. Students who are out of the Dress Code will be given consequences as outlined in the Student/Parent Handbook. The Dress Code is available on the Clover Garden School website. Click "Grizzly Den" then click "Parents."
Thanks,
Mr. Feldman
HS Principal
Mrs. Morris
HS Assistant Principal
Weekly Shout Outs and Grizzly GOOD News!
Student Shout Out- Mr. Lucas Roney
Clover Garden School Celebrates Students Awarded with Academic Honors from College Board National Recognition Programs
In August 2023, College Board awarded thousands of students from across the country with academic honors through their annual National Recognition Programs, available to students on BigFuture. The programs celebrate underrepresented students who excel academically on College Board assessments, including PSAT/NMSQT®, PSATTM 10, and AP® exams.
Students can include this academic honor on their college applications, and many colleges intentionally recruit awardees through College Board’s Student Search ServiceTM.
High-achieving students from all 50 states and U.S. territories were eligible to apply to four programs: National African American Recognition Program, National Hispanic Recognition Program, National Indigenous Recognition Program, and/or National Rural/Small Town Recognition Program.
Clover Garden School Celebrates Students Awarded with Academic Honors from College Board National Recognition Programs. Awards recognize high-performing students and help them stand out to colleges. Students at Clover Garden School earned academic honors from the College Board National Recognition Programs. These programs celebrate students' hard work in high school and showcase their strong academic performance. The academic honors for rural area, Black, Indigenous, and/or Latino students are an opportunity for students to share their strong academic achievements with colleges and scholarship programs that are seeking to recruit diverse talent.
At Clover Garden School, Lucas Roney received the academic honor.
“We’re thrilled to celebrate our students and recognize them for the great work they’ve been doing. We’re proud of their strong academic performance in the classroom and on College Board assessments like the PSAT/NMSQT®, PSATTM 10, and AP® exams,” said Mr. Feldman, Principal at Clover Garden School. “There’s so much that makes our students unique, and receiving this honor reinforces this as an asset for their future.”
The criteria for eligible students include:
● GPA of 3.5 or higher.
● PSAT/NMSQT or PSAT 10 assessment scores that are within the top 10% of assessment takers in each state for each award program or earned a score of 3 or higher on 2 or more AP Exams in 9th and 10th grade.
● Attend school in a rural area or small town.
Eligible students are invited to apply on BigFuture during their sophomore or junior year and are awarded at the start of the next school year in time to share their achievements in high school as they plan for the future.
At the same time, colleges and organizations using College Board’s Student Search ServiceTM can connect directly with awardees during the recruitment process.
“It’s becoming increasingly hard for students to be ‘seen’ during the college recruitment process. We’re exceptionally proud of the National Recognition Programs for celebrating students who are at times overlooked but have shown their outstanding academic abilities,” said Tarlin Ray, senior vice president of BigFuture® at College Board. “This is a benefit not only for students but also for colleges and universities committed to recruiting diverse and talented students.”
Congratulations Lucas!! We are very proud of you!! Keep up the great work!
Classroom Engagement
Shout out to Mrs. Yearsley who is doing Art on a Cart at our K-8 Campus! Our students are super excited to see Mrs. Yearsley and can't wait to participate in the activity she has planned for them. Last week, our 3rd grade students were making rocketships to send to outer space! Thank you for teaching science through art and making it fun! Keep up the great work!!
Book Fair B.E.S.T. Winners!
On Friday, Mrs. Vereyken recognized the following students for being their B.E.S.T. at Clover Garden School. All teachers were tasked with selecting two students from their homeroom that demonstrated their B.E.S.T. all of the time! See the chart below for what it means to be B.E.S.T. We are so proud of all of these students! All students seen in the picture received a $20.00 gift certificate to spend in the book fair! Great job Grizzlies!!
Book Fair- HUGE SUCCESS!!!
Thank you to Mrs. Redd and all of our Grizzly families for your help last week in our book fair! We made over $15,000.00 in sales!! This is wonderful! A percentage of the sales will go back to the school in supporting teachers/students in the classroom and restocking our classroom libraries. Thank you to all of you that supported our book fair by purchases, setting up/taking down the book fair, and helping us run it! We couldn't have done it without you!!
Thank you!
Feedback Form FAQ Document for CGS Families 2023-2024
FAQ Feedback Form Submissions for 9-24-23
The progress pictures at the new High School look great! Can we get an update on estimated completion date? I remember over the summer it sounded like early 2024 but then another message came out saying it could be this Fall. What's the latest?
- Great question!! We will get an updated completion date this Wednesday at our construction meeting. We will share more details very soon. Stay tuned!
My son has had a couple things come up missing and never put in the lost and found, along with him finding his locker open. Can we put locks on the lockers? I have even put his name on things.
- Yes, students are allowed to put locks on their lockers as long as the "lock" doesn't slow them down and make them late to class. : )
I saw in the weekly update that school picture money is due back next Friday, the 29th. My high school student has not received proofs yet.
- Thank you for this email! Can you please email Mrs. Ginter at
tonyaginter@cgsnc.org. She is the Administrative Assistant at the high school and can look into when/where/how those pictures were distributed.
Is it possible to give high school students priority in the drop off line? Or perhaps have a separate line? There have been several mornings that we have arrived in plenty of time for the shuttle, but end up rushing (and once, even missing the shuttle) because of long lines or because folks need to cut in line to prevent cars from being in the road. I know this is only temporary and there are a lot of moving parts, but I feel like there could be an improvement in this process to make sure high schoolers are getting to the shuttle on time. Thank you!
- This is a great suggestion/feedback! We will look into options this week and see if we can work something out that is more efficient.
Will classes be taking field trips this year?
- Yes!
Will any of the first grade classes do any field trips this year they didn’t get to do any last year?
- We have a new 1st grade team. Once they get acclimated together, they are more than welcome to take our students on field trips if they wish to!
How do we log our volunteer hours?(this may be a repeat question & I apologize if so)
- Great Question! We have a new volunteer coordinator in place- (thank you to an amazing parent volunteer) and she will be organizing and logging all parent hours and posting opportunities for volunteering this school year. Look for more volunteering information that will be posted in the Sunday message following the October academic break!
For the fall festival will there be an opportunity for businesses to sponsor a table like set up a game & give out candy? I’ve seen this at other schools before and thought it may be worth asking.
- Good idea! I'm going to refer you to our Fall Festival Coordinator, Mrs. Leach at tracileach@cgsnc.org for that question/suggestion! Please email her with this suggestion! Thank you!
**Parents, just a note- if you have a specific issue/complaint/concern with a member of our CGS staff, you will need to email me directly. I will not post concerns specific to an individual staff member in this forum.
Click on the link here to ask your question! Also, if you have any GOOD NEWS to share, please use this link as well! Sometimes your emails get lost and we appreciate any/all feedback! : )
Lunch updates- K-8 Campus
K-8 Cafeteria (myschoolaccount.com)
Don''t forget to order October lunches.Orders must be placed 7 days in advance. In order to have hot lunch when we return from break (October 9th) you need to place orders by midnight on October 1st.
Parents please be mindful of making sure that you are checking your lunch accounts and keeping them current. If a student's balance is over $50 then they will not be allowed to purchase any a'la carte items until the balance is made current.Thank you,
Robyn Cox
CGS Cafeteria Coordinator
CGS B & A Coordinator
Staffing Updates:
If you know of someone that would be a fantastic fit for our CGS family, please send them to our website to apply at http://cgsnc.org/home/careers/.
Mrs. Lewis- 1st Grade Teacher
Parents, please help me welcome Mrs. Lewis as our new 1st grade teacher. She is replacing Mrs. Bodley who resigned from CGS last week. Mrs. Lewis is returning to the classroom full time and we are excited to have her join us as Grizzly Staff! See more information about her below!
Hello, Clover Garden families! My name is Jennifer Lewis and I am the new 1st grade teacher. I am no stranger to the Clover Garden Community. Many of our students have become familiar with me as a substitute teacher. I look forward to continuing my teaching career full time! I have already started to get to know each and every one of them and I can already tell they are such a special group of children!
I have 6 years of teaching experience and I am a graduate of The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. I enjoy teaching early childhood aged children through hands-on learning experiences, sensory exploration with movement activities, observation based planning while incorporating state standards through a project based approach philosophy. My passion is focusing on the whole child approach and embedding social/emotional learning experiences all throughout our curriculum. Most importantly, I want each child to develop their own love of learning! We will definitely have a lot of fun this school year!
I would love to share a little bit about myself. I live in Elon on a farm with my husband, Jeff, and our 4 children. I am proud to say 3 of my children are already a part of the Grizzly Family and one day our 2 year old son will be joining the CGS pack too. I am so thankful to become a part of such a collaborative, supportive, and dedicated group of educators.
I look forward to teaching this fantastic group of 1st graders this year! Feel free to reach out with any thoughts and/or concerns! My email address is jenniferlewis@cgsnc.org
Mrs. Simpson- Finance Assistant
Ms. Rivers- MTSS Interventionist
Mrs. Alvarado- Mental Health Specialist
Christine is overjoyed to return to a community she loves to provide counseling services through Emery’s Counseling, PLLC. Her approach is client- and family-centered, focusing on evidence- based therapies, such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. She has therapeutic experience in the areas of grief, trauma, child and adolescent development, anxiety, and stress management. She recognizes how critical these school-aged years are to children’s development and also how difficult they can be. She strongly desires to be a listening ear and support for Clover Garden students.
Testing Calendar- September 2023
Students and Parents,
Testing is in full swing at CGS. Please see the snippet below of this month's and next's testing dates. We have some type of assessment every month for our students. All of our testing/assessing is to ensure our students have the best opportunity throughout the school year to prepare them to perform well on the end of course/end of grade mandatory state exams.
If you have any questions, please reach out to our Assistant Principal/Testing Coordinator, Mrs. Morris at karenmorris@cgsnc.org.
Athletic Department News
Basketball Intent Form- for ANY students grades 6-12 who are interested in trying out for basketball, please fill out this form.
CGS Athletics 1st Annual Golf Tournament:
Please email Coach Paschal if you're interested in volunteering!
1/2 Day Skills Camp:
CGS Athletics is hosting our first session of skill camps we have planned for 1/2 days throughout the school year for students in grades K-5. This session is geared up for softball, kids will be receiving instruction from our current softball coaches and players. If interested, parents can email for a paper registration at taylorpaschal@cgsnc.org, we will take registration and payment until Tuesday, September 26th. Camp participants will also be admitted free to our JV/Varsity Volleyball doubleheader starting at 5:00 on the 29th in the CGS Gym. (flyer attached)
Cookie Dough Pick up:
September 27th from 3:30-6:30 in the gym.
Grizzly Gear:
CGS Athletics has partnered with Accelerated Graphics for our spirit store that is now live! Visit www. acceleratedgfx.com/CGS
- Choose your favorite CGS Gear (there are multiple color options for each item)
- Check out online
- Pick up from the school
- First batch of orders need to be in by September 29th, and first pick up will be on October 13th.
Master Athletic Schedule:
For anyone looking to catch a CGS Game, here is the link to our master athletics schedule.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1cvflf6Ieprven0XAibTW3AcBzSJ2IswTtn6d4OaYIF0/view
Parents/Students- PLEASE READ:
While we encourage and LOVE student engagement and participation at our after school athletic events, students are NOT allowed to stay after school and "hang out" until the games begin. ALL STUDENTS must leave school at dismissal and return when the gate opens prior to the start of the game and enter through the back gym entrance. We do not have supervision for our students after school and want to ensure the safety of all of our students while they are on our campus.Taylor D. Paschal
Athletic Director
Psychology Teacher
Clover Garden School
2454 Altamahaw Union Ridge Rd, Burlington, NC 27217
(336) 586-9440 ext.214
Athletic Department- Skills Camp Opportunitites for 1/2 Days!
CGS Athletics is hosting their first session of skill camps we are planned for 1/2 days throughout the school year for students in grades K-5. This upcoming session is geared up for softball and kids will be receiving instruction from our current softball coaches and players.
If interested, parents can email for a paper registration at taylorpaschal@cgsnc.org, we will also take registration and payment until Tuesday, September 26th. Camp participants will also be admitted free to our Varsity Volleyball game at 6:00 on the 29th in the CGS Gym.
Taylor D. Paschal
Athletic Director
Psychology Teacher
Clover Garden School
2454 Altamahaw Union Ridge Rd, Burlington, NC 27217
(336) 586-9440 ext.214
Mental Health Survey 23-24
Reminder:
Please complete the mental health survey below if you are interested or are in need of mental health/counseling type services for your student(s).
Expansion Updates
During our next OAC (Owner/Architect/Contractor) meeting on 9/27/23, we anticipate an updated schedule and estimated substantial completion date. We appreciate your patience as we have experienced many unforeseen delays and challenges with this huge project!
See updates this past week:
- Started half of the 14 HVAC units. Will complete the rest on Monday (9/25/23)
- Filled the water tanks, started up the fire pump, tested fire line and water line with the fire marshal. Sprinkler riser will be tested next week.
- Performed a preliminary BDA (Bi-Directional Amplifier) testing throughout every room in the building. A BDA test is to ensure the first responders entering the building can communicate with one another during and emergency.
- Continue installing ceiling grids and tiles with sprinkler heads
- Continue painting throughout the building
- Continue building the steps for stadium seating common area and prepping for handrails
- Continue electrical items – receptacles, exit signs, fire alarms, wiring up lights for second floor, running fire alarm wire, fire alarm panels, electrical boxes, ceiling lights, light fixtures in soffits, testing the lights
- Continue pouring concrete for sidewalk
- Continue installing stalls/partitions for bathrooms for 1st floor
- Finishing up the riser room and fire pump equipment
- Continue installing raceways and running data cable throughout the hallways and rooms
- Continue decommissioning the temporary ponds, grading and seeding
- Installed gates for dumpster enclosure
- Continue cleaning (inside/outside), scraping the floors, and washing windows
- Continue with preliminary punchlist items (this is to minimize the final punchlist and correct items now instead of waiting at the end)
- Received nearly 2” of rain from Tropical Storm Ophelia all day Saturday (9/23/23). Appears to be no wind damage from the tropical storm.
Photo after Saturday's storm
Riser Room
Stadium Seating Common Area
Have a fantastic week!
As always, thanks for all that you do,
Mrs. Vereyken
Executive Director
Clover Garden School
*If you need this weekly newsletter translated into a different language, please let our Title 1 Coordinator, Mrs. Simmons know at brandisimmons@cgsnc.org.
*If you have any thoughts, feedback or suggestions for our Title 1 team on ways to improve our practices, please contact Mrs. Simmons at brandisimmons@cgsnc.org.
Clover Garden School
Email: info@cgsnc.org
Website: cgsnc.org
Location: 2454 Altamahaw Union Ridge Road, Burlington, NC, USA
Phone: 3365869440
Facebook: facebook.com/cgsgrizzlies