CGS Weekly Message
9/11/23-9/15/23
Good afternoon,
Happy Sunday!
Shout out to our AMAZING Students and Teachers who did a great job last school year on our end-of-year assessments! Preliminary data has been released from NCDPI and you may have seen it on the news but CGS scored a letter "B" on our NC State Report Card for the 22-23 school year!! We are very proud of this accomplishment!!
We will share the official report card once it's released.
Thank you to all of our parents for your continued commitment, engagement and your partnership in your student's education.
#Academics #Honor #Community #CLOVERGARDENSCHOOL
Save the Dates:
- All American Spirit Week hosted by Student Council
- Fall Book Fair (K-8 Campus) September 18th- September 22nd.
- 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.
- October Academic Break- SCHOOL CLOSED- October 2nd- October 6th.
- Next Virtual PTT Meeting: October 12th @ 6:00 P.M.
All American Week- Spirit Week hosted by Student Council
Please see the flyer below for this year's All American Week sponsored by our CGS Student Council. Students are welcome and encouraged to participate. There will be poem contests and activities provided by teachers in and around the classroom.
If you have any questions, please contact our Student Council Advisor, Mrs. Wilson at lisawilson@cgsnc.org.
Upcoming Volunteering Opportunities
Fall Scholastic Book Fair
- The Book fair will be coming soon! Save the dates: September 18th through September 22nd in the library. If you would like to volunteer to help, please contact Mrs. Redd at roseredd@cgsnc.org. Thank you for your support.
- More information in regards to ordering will be coming soon!
Lunch Servers
- Thank you to those of you that have helped us in our cafeteria with serving lunch! We greatly appreciate this help! Please reach out to Ms. Robyn if you are able to help us! Any and all days are appreciated. robyncox@cgsnc.org.
K-5 Lunch Duty Relief
- Our K-5 teachers accompany their students to lunch daily. If you'd like to volunteer to help cover a shift for our teachers in the cafeteria, it would be greatly appreciated! Our teachers work very hard each and every day and would love an opportunity for a lunch break! Lunches for K-8 run from approximately 10:15 A.M. until 1:15 P.M. If you can cover an elementary classroom, please reach out to Mrs. Whitfield at michellewhitfield@cgsnc.org.
We will be sharing a document soon that will have additional volunteering opportunities listed within it and ways to log your hours. Thank you for your patience and for your willingness to jump in and help where needed!
#COMMUNITY
Reminders for K-8 Campus
Parents,
Please continue to be mindful of the following:
- All students should be dropped off and picked up utilizing one of our car rider lines. No students should be dropped off in the front parking lot unless cleared by administration.
- For all lines, morning and afternoon: All cars should pull down to the farthest/last cone…there should be no gaps in lines. This allows us to be efficient & timely as the instructional day begins at 7:45am.
- Students should get out of and in cars sidewalk-side of the car for safety purposes and parents should remain in the car.
- Upon arrival at the cone, student(s) should be ready and prepared to get out of the car with all of their belongings for the day. *Once you hit the gravel of the driveway, students should start preparing, packing and gathering belongings so they can hop out at the cone.
- Please remember to pull up as close as possible in the afternoons to the car in front of you and remember to make two lines. This will help keep traffic off of the main roads. Two lines is also necessary in the mornings for our K-2 line only.
Thank you for the help,
Mrs. Spencer
K-8 Principal
Weekly Shout Outs and Grizzly GOOD News!
Seniors- Coffee Shop Volunteers
Shout out to some of our CGS Seniors who have begun volunteer work in Integrity Church's Coffee Shop located within the walls of our Satellite High School Campus location. Brock and Griffin have been helping to take out trash, prepare orders, serve customers, and help keep the shop tidy and in smooth operation together with the coffee shop's manager. We are very proud of these two students and for their commitment to serve in our community.
Our High School students and staff greatly appreciate the coffee shop and the products it provides daily! All proceeds go to benefit mission trips that the church participates in. Parents, feel free to stop by the coffee shop anytime during the school day to grab yourself a sweet snack or refreshing beverage!
#COMMUNITY
Classroom Engagement
Shout out to Mrs. Spencer and Mrs. Whitfield who began their classroom meetings for students in Grades K-8 last week. Mrs. Spencer and Mrs. Whitfield went over guidelines for success for students at CGS. They reviewed some very important information found in our student handbook. Many of our students raised their hands and said that they hadn't "seen or read" our handbook. Parents, please take a moment to review this year's handbook with your student. Especially, if you are new to CGS. Our rules and expectations are slightly different from the traditional public schools. Please help us enforce our expectations and help your student be successful this school year.
Here is a link to where you can find the handbook: http://cgsnc.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Student-Handbook-FINAL-2023-2024.pdf
Shout out to Mrs. Nall, one of our High School Science teachers. Mrs. Nall is constantly engaging her students in instruction. She has done a phenomenal job this year using the space she has at the satellite campus to make science fun! She took her AP Students outside last week for a lab activity. See a summary of what the students were participating in below:
The Theory of Island Biogeography, which states that the island's land size and degree of isolation impact the biodiversity and number of species inhabiting an island. Historically, seeds and organisms can arrive by the “3 W’s”: Wind, Waves, and Wings. MacArthur and Wilson developed the theory of island biogeography by counting species on different-sized mangrove islands on the Florida Coast. We attempted to recreate their data on species colonization by creating islands and colonizing them with bird seed.
Shout out to Mrs. Ballard. Mrs. Ballard's dance room is always engaging, fun, and active!! Students are constantly following her instructions and guidance and working hard at improving their skills and choreography. Check out a photo below as her HS Dance Class worked hard on a routine. Great work ladies and great leadership Mrs. Ballard! Keep up the great work!
Presentation for 8th Graders (Mrs. Spencer/Mrs. Whitfield)
APES LAB: Island Biogeography (Mrs. Nall's class)
High School Dance (Mrs. Ballard's Class)
Feedback Form FAQ Document for CGS Families 2023-2024
FAQ Feedback Form Submissions for 9-10-23
How do we find the Athletics and Band Program options for ordering shirts?
- Here is the link for ordering through athletics: https://sideline.bsnsports.com/schools/north_carolina/burlington/clover-garden-school
- Here is the link for ordering through Band: https://fancloth.shop/HRWMR
I want to give a HUGE shout out to the dance teacher, Mrs. Ballard. My student is in one of her classes. Mrs Ballard has went above and beyond to come into school early to help her retake tests, and provide her with any extra additional accommodations she needs in the classroom. She has read over her educational plan with a fine tooth comb and contacted me several times to suggest different techniques that could help her in the classroom without singling her out. You're awesome Mrs Ballard. Keep up the amazing work with these children! If they do not learn the way we are teaching then we must teach them in a way they can learn!
- Thank you for sharing!!
Is there a Chess Club this year for K-8?
- I will have to check into this!
Is there a Facebook page or anything for parents to connect with other parents? Like for things like carpooling or events?
- We encourage our families to reach out to the homeroom classroom parent in Grades K-5 and to our PTT for community support! PTT can be reached at cgsptt@cgsnc.org.
Do the high school students need to complete volunteer hours to graduate?
- Volunteer hours are not a requirement for graduation, however, many of our students are in clubs that do require volunteer hours to maintain membership in the club. We always encourage volunteer work for our high school students as it will be advantageous when they are applying to college or to the career setting.
I am hearing complaints everyday of how hot the bus is and my kids are begging to be car riders solely due to temperature while on bus. It's very hot currently and this trend could continue for some time. This makes for very uncomfortable afternoon bus rides. With school starting in July it would be very beneficial for all buses to have AC. Is this a possibility or goal for clover garden in the near future?
- I think this is a great goal! We will put this maintenance request on our radar to see what we can do for the future. We've had some record breaking hot temperatures lately and know this makes for a warmer ride than normal. Thank you for the feedback.
We sent in the required $5 for a school planner for our middle school student over a month ago and he still does not have a planner. Are they ever going to be getting the ones we paid for?
- I will need to touch base with our middle school leadership rep. and PTT to touch base on where we are on the status of this supply request.
How and or where should high schools expect to find their lunch order? The first day it was delivered to their class. Friday the lunches were delivered to a common area and the students were supposed to go to that area and retrieve them.
- Thank you for your patience as last week was our very first week using MyHotLunchbox deliveries. The delivery logistics were a little more involved than anticipated so it took a little bit of time to get items together, sort them all out and get them distributed to all of our students. Our admin team and staff worked hard to get this done quickly, accurately, and efficiently but had to make some adjustments through the week to make it work. Moving forward, students will now report to the Worship Center at lunch time to pick up their lunch.
With the addition of many new students, is there more of a chance that CGS will participate in NC School Lunch Program? The price lunch for the high schoolers is a little steep especially for the amount of food they're getting. Is there not another route that is more reasonable? Lunch is $3.10 & breakfast is $2 in public schools.
- We will definitely keep this option in mind as we move forward. Thank you for the feedback!
Also, my son heard that there may be a card trading club in the works…is this true?
- We haven't had any card trading club proposals. We will gather a list of clubs available for our students and send out information for those that are interested.
Thank you to all the teachers that come in everyday and make our students confident and successful! Thank you to the support staff behind the scenes! Thank you to the leadership groups!
- Thank you for sharing!!
**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! : )
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/.
Mr. JC Harper- Band Director
Please help us welcome Mr. Harper, our new Band Director at CGS. Mr. Harper is a native from Archdale, North Carolina where he has a passion for music as well as teaching and encouraging others. Mr. Harper has been teaching and training musicians of all skill levels for over ten years. Mr. Harper graduated from Greensboro College in 2012 with a degree in Music Performance and completed his teaching licensure in education. Mr. Harper has served as the Director of Bands at Jordan-Matthews High School and during his career there he rebuilt and established the band program receiving Superior and Excellent ratings and many awards for Marching and Concert Band. In 2019-2020, Mr. Harper was named Teacher of The Year. When Mr. Harper is not teaching, he loves serving as a youth, young adults, and music ministry at Thrive Church, performing music, and weight lifting. He lives in Burlington with his beautiful wife, Elizabeth Harper and precious black lab, Maddie Love Harper. Mr. Harper begins at CGS tomorrow, 9/11. Please help us welcome him to our band program and to our school! Welcome Mr. Harper!
Mrs. Christine Alvarado
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
Parents,
Please click on this link to access Athletics' Newsletter!
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.
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).
Cafeteria News
K-8 Campus:
September's Lunch Menu
https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/review?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:b47c44d9-6174-3a8e-8561-66996d2bf2d2
High School Campus ONLY:
Myhotlunchbox delivery will continue this week! REMINDER- MySchoolAccount is only for K-8 Campus. Our High School will be using MyHot Lunchbox.
See important information below to register your student's account. You have until NOON the day before expected delivery to place your student's lunch order! We are excited to see CiCi's Pizza, La Fiesta, and Chic-Fil-A as options so far this school year! The menu also has a lot of options to order from compared to years in the past on our current K-8 Campus. We hope our students will like this option. We are starting with just 3 days a week for food delivery to see how well our school community utilizes the option. The other two days, your student will be responsible for bringing their lunch. If the 3 days are a hit and successful, we will look to add additional days later in the school year. We must meet a minimum of orders placed daily in order for the delivery to continue for that particular restaurant.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1b2qG5u8LMgfGWeECzHkG7XHoZ63c8Flk?usp=sharing
PTT News
Thank you all for an amazing first PTT meeting for the 2023-2024 school year. We are so excited to partner together for the CGS community! For anyone who was not able to attend the 1st meeting please see the notes here. Also, we'd love to have YOU involved with the PTT whether that's through giving your time, laying some mulch or donating items needed throughout the year. There's a way to get involved! Here's a survey to express your interest in working with us this year. Lastly, don't forget to like and follow us on Facebook at Clover Garden School PTT.
Expansion Updates
We are anticipating an updated schedule this week and hoping a substantial completion of Late October 2023. See updates this past week:
- Continue sanding sheetrock on stairwells. This includes taping and mudding joints.
- Continue installing ceiling grids and tiles with sprinkler heads
- Continue painting throughout the building
- Continue framing stadium seating common area
- Installed and turned on light poles around the building
- Continue electrical items – wiring up lights for second floor, fire alarm panels, electrical boxes, ceiling lights, light fixtures in soffits, testing the lights
- Continue pouring concrete for sidewalk at front of building
- Installed storm drain with small yard inlets near the rear courtyard
- Installed water fountains for 1st floor
- Installed water heaters for 1st floor
- Installed toilets for 1st floor
- Installed thermostats and air duct diffusers for entire building
Front Sidewalk Status
Front Entry
Rearview of Building and Courtyard Light Poles
Common Area view- 2nd Floor
Common Area View- 1st Floor
Toilets
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