Medlock Bridge Mustang Message
We educate and inspire all students to be lifelong learners!
April 29, 2019
From the Principal's Desk
The Fulton County Strategic Plan 2022 district staff and family surveys are open! This brief 10-minute survey is critical in helping us understand how we are supporting our staff, families, and students across our district and schools. The surveys are available electronically through this link https://tinyurl.com/Fulton2022. I truly appreciate your participation in this brief survey! The survey closes on May 17th.
We are excited to see an element of our MBES Strategic Plan come to life on Tuesday, April 30th with our first annual Community Champions Day! We have nicknamed this day "E-Day" as our students will experience Enlightenment, Enrichment and Entrepreneurship. 4th and 5th grade students will participate. Many thanks to the community partners and volunteers who have prepared extensive educational experiences for our students on this day.
Congratulations to our 5th Grade students participating in the Legal Lives competition. Legal Lives is a 15 week instructional program led by volunteer prosecutors and culminating in a mock trial competition. During the competition, students perform as judges, lawyers, witnesses and law enforcement officers in the student adaptation of a real-life theft case. 14 Metro Atlanta Elementary Schools participated. MBES students performed well enough to earn 10 awards, including best overall. Congratulations to all involved! Thanks to Ms. Foster for bringing the program to our school. Pictures below.
Congratulations to our Girls On the Run team for competing in its first 5K over the weekend. This group focuses on physical fitness in addition to social awareness and emotional well-being. The group recently traveled to St. ives Memory Center to visit residents as part of their community outreach goal. We look forward to many more years of Girls on the Run at Medlock Bridge!
Have a great two weeks!
Matt Vance
Principal
Important Dates
Tuesday, April 30th
E-Day - Community Champions Day for 4th and 5th Grade - 8am-11am
2nd Grade Field Trip to Chattahoochee Nature Center
Wednesday, May 1st
Parent Coffee - Rising Kindergarten Parents - 10:00 am and 5:00 pm
Thursday, May 2nd
5th Grade Human Growth and Development - In-House Field Trip
Kindergarten Performance and Sponsor of the Year - 6:00 pm
Friday, May 3rd
Kids Hope Mentor and Family Breakfast - 7am in the Cafeteria
Georgia STEM DAY - Student STEM Competition
May 6th - 10th
4th Grade Georgia Milestone Testing - No lunch visitors this week.
Monday, May 6th
3rd Grade Field Trip to Elachee Nature Center
Friday, May 10th
Pre-K Mother's Day Tea - 1pm
Gearing Up for Kindergarten
Georgia Milestones
Georgia Milestones begins on Monday, May 6th for 4th graders! Please make sure your child gets plenty of rest the night before testing and eats a healthy breakfast the morning of testing. Breakfast is available in the cafeteria from 7:10-7:40 a.m.
In order to provide a secure testing environment, we are not able to accommodate visitors to the school on testing days. This includes visitors for lunch. Thank you for your understanding.
4th Grade Milestones: May 6-10
Georgia Department of Education provides Study Guides to help students prepare for Georgia Milestones. They are a resource for parents and students. They contain practice questions and learning activities for each content area. The standards identified in the Study/Resource Guides address a sampling of the state-mandated content standards. You can also visit their site to review the Assessment Guide for each test.
Some positive changes have been made to the Georgia Milestones Testing window. The schedule allows for a full week of instruction after students return from Spring Break and reduces daily testing time. The county is also required to use a new caching system this year, and the system's need for schools to limit device traffic necessitated these changes in schedule. The testing dates for each grade level are listed here:
7 Mindsets - Live to Give
"The Time is Now mindset teaches us the importance of harnessing the power of the moment and taking purposeful action. The simple fact is that all of our power to act and make an impact exists in this moment. We cannot change the past and the future hasn’t happened, so we must recognize that our only path to happiness, fulfillment and meaning is to take purposeful action in the present toward creating the lives of our dreams."
For more information on this mindset, please click here.
Medlock Bridge School Governance Council
Our next SGC Meeting is on May 14, 2019. Our meetings are open to the public. We welcome public comment at every meeting. You can also share your thoughts on our school virtually using our virtual comment box. Comments delivered to the virtual comment box are read out at the next SGC meeting.
For more information on elections and the Medlock Bridge School Governance Council, please visit our web page.
Curriculum Matters
Diagnostic Placement Testing:
A Vital Part of Fulton County's Continuous Achievement Policy
Some of your children may be coming home telling you that they have just been "tested" by Mrs. Neumeister. Let me explain ...
The tests are called Diagnostic Placement Assessments and are a way to determine proper placement in math and reading/language arts for students regularly throughout the school year. Fulton County calls this unique process "Continuous Achievement." Diagnostic Placement Assessments support our district's vision that each child be given the opportunity to learn to his or her full potential. These assessments are one criteria for schools to use as part of our district's continuous achievement framework for students to progress in language arts and mathematics at their instructional level.
The Diagnostic Placement Assessments are given to new Fulton County students and to students who meet the screening criteria at the 6-week (Kindergarten), 18-week, and 36-week time frames. For further information regarding the determination of a student's instructional placement level, please visit my website at: https://mbescurriculumsupport.weebly.com/continuous-achievement.html .
2019-2020 Class Placement Forms Now Available
Due to Patty Neumeister, CST, by Friday, May 3rd
Please use the link https://mbescurriculumsupport.weebly.com/forms.html from the MBES Curriculum Support website to access this form.
More information about what you see here? Please contact me!
Patty Neumeister, Curriculum Support Teacher
Email: neumeisterp@fultonschools.org
Website: http://mbescurriculumsupport.weebly.com
Follow Me on Twitter @mbescst
News From The Clinic
All medications, both over the counter & prescription, need to be picked up by an adult before the end of the school year. For safety reasons, we cannot give the medication to the student to take home on the bus. Any medication left after May 23, 2019 will be discarded.
Remember that new medication forms (SHS-1 & SHS-2) and / or Health Care Plans need to be completed by you and/or your health care provider every school year. You can download blank forms at: Student Health Services/Parent Resources https://www.fultonschools.org/Page/7525
Also, if your child has borrowed any clothes from the clinic, we would appreciate it if you would wash and return them before the end of the school year. Thank you!
Cafeteria News
Meal Charges
Students are no longer be able to charge meals. Students must have cash on hand or enough funds in their cafeteria accounts to pay for all meals. An alternate meal of a cheese sandwich and milk will be provided for lunch, and cheese toast and milk for breakfast will be served if your child’s account has a negative balance. You may go online at www.MealPayPlus.com to pay off the balance. Any remaining funds in your child’s account will carry over to next year, including current 5th graders going to middle school. We appreciate your cooperation in keeping our students’ meal time experience a pleasant one.
Lost and Found
Bus Dismissal Notice
In emergencies or for childcare reasons only, permission to ride another bus or change stops may be granted by the Principal and/or North Fulton Transportation only. Upon approval, a letter of permission will be given to the bus driver by the student. Permission to ride another bus can only be granted if there is space available on the receiving bus. At this time, the following buses do not have any additional space available to accommodate these requests:
Blue Whale
Green Frog
Black Panda
Orange Tiger
For transportation changes involving more than one day, please call Transportation at 470-254-2287 for approval.
Carpool
In order to clarify carpool procedures for the safety of all students, I am reprinting our procedure below. Thank you for your cooperation!
1. Carpool is open from 7:10am until 7:40am. Parents who arrive before 7:10am should keep children in their cars until the 7:10am bell. At 7:40am, carpool must close to allow staff to return to duties with children inside building. You will notice that the "horseshoe" closes and parents are able to drive through to the top parking lot.
2. When dropping off, please pull all the way through the "horseshoe." Doing so will allow more cars to pull into the "horseshoe," maximizing the space we have available to accept drop-offs and avoid dangerous traffic back-ups.
3. For the safety of all children involved, please only drop your child off once your car is on the "horseshoe." This prevents students from walking dangerously close to traffic. There should also be a staff member close by to assist your children as they exit your car.
4. When making a left turn into the school, please wait until there is space to pull your car all the way on to campus. Doing so allows Medlock Bridge neighborhood cars to drive through the carpool line when necessary.
5. School begins at 7:40am. If you arrive after the 7:40am bell, please walk your child in to the front office to sign in.
For attendance purposes, a student is counted tardy if they enter the building after the 7:40am bell. Students entering the building after the 7:40am bell will be issued a blue pass from the front office. Students riding the bus in the morning are never counted tardy, so if you are concerned about tardies please consider having your student ride the bus.
Thank you for your assistance! Other procedural reminders are posted in the Parent Handbook available on the Medlock Bridge website.
JCHS Theater Arts Camp
Calling all rising 4th - 9th grade students for May 29th - 30th. Daily workshops will be held in acting, musical theater and improvisation. Cost is $100.00 before May 10th . For more information go to www.jchstheatre.com
MBES Legal Lives Participants Bring Home 10 Awards!
Medlock Bridge Elementary School
Email: vancem@fultonschools.org
Website: http://school.fultonschools.org/es/medlockbridge/Pages/default.aspx
Location: 10215 Medlock Bridge Parkway, Johns Creek, GA, United States
Phone: 4702542980
Twitter: @MBESPrincipal