Happy March Superstars!
Black History Month (BHM) 2023 was AMAZING! Thank you to all of our staff members and students for helping me celebrate Black History Month. It was full of instructional learning opportunities mixed with excitement and fun! To recap, we had weekly morning announcements of historical African Americans who made contributions to society, Second graders participated in an interactive research projects, African American Cultural Art Lessons during connections, bulletin board presentations throughout the school, virtual Historical Black Colleges & Universities (HBCU) field trips and BHM Spirit Dress-Up Week. Thank you all for making this year's BHM a memorable and joyous occasion for all to enjoy! Just as a gentle reminder, Early Release Conferences will be held on Wednesday and Thursday, March 1st & 2nd . In addition, student dismissal will take place at 12:50 PM. As always, please do not hesitate to contact the main office if you have any questions.
Proud to be your principal,
Dr. Taffeta Connery
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Calendar Dates
February 28th-March 3rd-Dr. Seuss Days
March 1st-2nd- Early Release-12:50 pm/Parent-Teacher Conferences
March 6th-10th-Exceptional Children's Week
March 17th Digital Learning Day #4
March 29th-30th: Spring Picture Days
March 30th-Picnic in the Park at the Town Center
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Read Across America/Dr. Seuss Day
Parent Input for Class Placement 2023-24
It is that time of year again to ask parents for their input in the class placement selection process for the 2023-24 school year. Starting March 1st- 8th you will have an opportunity to share your desires for your student's class placement. This year, the form includes opportunities for you to choose personality traits of your child's teacher next year, friendships building requests and a small section for you to add follow up comments. Please understand that we will do our best to honor your input during the class selection process, however we cannot guarantee every request will be honored. Our goal is to provide the most positive school year experience for all students for the 2023-2024 school year. Thank you for completing the Parent Input Form by March 8, 2023.
Ready By 5 Early Learning Program
Hello Simpson Parents,
Gwinnett County is pleased to announce a new Early Learning Program called “Ready By 5”!
Ready By 5 (RB5) is a FREE nine-week program for families and children birth to age 5. Parents and children learn together in a fun and engaging way that will build parents’ abilities to support their child on their educational journey! Older siblings are also welcome to attend.
Classes will be held at Beaver Ridge Elementary School located at 1978 Beaver Ruin Road, Norcross, GA. 30071.
Ready By 5 classes will meet on Saturday mornings for a 2-hour block of time from 03/04/2023-05/06/2023. There will not be class on Saturday, April 8, 2023.
Attached please find flyers (both an English and Spanish version) for Ready By 5 with phone numbers to call if interested in registering for this exciting new program.
Take Me Out to the Ball Game...
You are invited to cheer on the Atlanta Braves as they take on the Houston Astros on Sunday, April 23rd at 1:30pm, with our own Simpson 5th Grade Singers performing the National Anthem before the game!
Tickets are now on sale for $12 each in My Payments Plus under Events and Activities. We have a limited number of reserved tickets, so place your order as soon as possible to secure your seats!
All additional funds received from the sale of tickets will go towards the Simpson Elementary School Care Team as well as future Simpson musical events.
You are invited to Youth Night at Norcross High School Baseball on March 24th. See flyer for all the details!
Georgia Milestones (EOG) Assessment
Greeting Parents,
We will be having our Georgia Milestones (End-of-Grade) Assessment Window from April 24th - May 12th and we look forward to our 3rd-5th grade students demonstrating all they have learned throughout the year. Our teachers have created many learning opportunities to help students succeed and we are confident that they will do well. Therefore, we will be hosting a GMAS Parent Night on April 13th, 2023 at 6:00 PM. If interested in attending, please log on to our school website under the "assessment tab" to register.
Greetings Superstar Parents,
We are so excited to welcome you back to school to join your child during lunch hours. I wanted to share some ice cream updates with you in the new year. Therefore, if you desire to purchase ice cream for your child, you are welcome to do so at any time.
However, we are currently experiencing children upset upon leaving the cafeteria during lunch because some parents purchased ice cream for their child and decided to purchase additional ice cream for select group of children in the same class. Therefore, you are welcome to purchase ice cream for your child, but please do not purchase additional ice cream for just a few children, unless it is for the entire class or for a class birthday. I thank you in advance for your support and please do not hesitate to contact the me if you have any questions.
Thank you kindly,
Dr. Connery, Principal
Lunch Reminders...
Meal prices for elementary students below:
Student breakfast -$1.50
Student lunch -$2.25
Adult Breakfast -$2.50
Adult Lunch -$3.75
*The adult bar is available to both adult guests and staff throughout the school year.
A gentle reminder that outside vendor food (per district policy) is not allowed for students. Please reinforce providing lunch from home or utilizing the school meal plan.
Car Rider Reminders
Simpson PBIS
Greetings Parents,
Beginning this school year in 2022, we will engage in Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS) at Simpson Elementary to have a positive behavioral expectation schoolwide. PBIS is an approach schools use to promote school safety and good behavior. With PBIS, schools teach kids about behavior expectations, strategies, and with a primary focus on having a positive prevention, not consequences.
What is PBIS at our school?
A unified set of school wide expectations for behavior in our school. We are Simpson Superstars, so to ensure that students can easily comprehend our expectations, we have established a 5-star approach for appropriate behaviors posted throughout the school. Your child has been learning these expectations since the first few days of school.
What are the 5-Star Expectations at Simpson Elementary?
- Be Respectful
- Be Responsible
- Be Ready to Learn
- Be Safe
- Be Kind
As part of our PBIS process, teachers and other staff members use evidence-based practices to increase student learning and decrease classroom disruptions. To keep students on the rules in a positive manner, we do the following when teaching academics and behavior:
- Constantly teach and refer to our school-wide expectations.
- Provide students with more praise than correction.
- Talk to students with respect using positive voice tone.
- Actively engage everyone in the class during instruction.
- Use pre-correcting, prompting, and redirecting as we teach.
- Look for the positive first and provide positive, immediate, frequent, and explicit feedback.
The PBIS School store buying days are here! Please see below for grade level buying days which will occur during morning arrival: 8:20-8:55 AM.
PBIS Grade Level Incentive Days:
Monday - 4th Grade PBIS Incentive Day
Tuesday - 3rd & 5th Grade PBIS Incentive Day
Wednesday - 2nd Grade PBIS Incentive Day
Thursday - 1st Grade PBIS Incentive Day
Friday- PreK & Kindergarten PBIS Incentive Day
Notes from Nurse Norris
Our clinic is in need of pants and shorts! If you have any gently used clothes, please consider donating them to the clinic.
Thank you so much for all your support!
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A Special Thanks to All Who Helped with and Donated to the Teacher Grant Initiative!
Thank you to all who donated to the Teacher Grant initiative! We raised enough funds to be able to supply each grade level with $1,000 to purchase items for their classrooms to enhance our Simpson Superstar’s educations. Your generosity is much appreciated and is directly benefiting our teachers, our students, and our school.
Each grade level decided to spend their funds as follows:
Pre-K – Improvements to gross motor/sensory space
Kindergarten – Raz-Kids online reading subscription
1st Grade – Book sets and phonics readers
2nd Grade – Hand2Mind versatiles and books
3rd Grade – Books, social/emotional learning activities, and math flashcards
4th Grade - Math manipulatives, reading comprehension bingo, and science and social studies curriculum and videos
5th Grade and Special Education – We are still working to finalize the 5th Grade and Special education initiatives. Stay tuned.
A special thank you to Tori Hammett for helping to purchase and deliver items and Dr. Connery for approving and coordinating!
THANK YOU!
The Starry, Starry Night Committee, Jen Weber, Ashley Getz and Lindsay Schmoyer, for putting together a wonderful evening for the winners of the reflections awards and their parents. And THANK YOU to our gold business partner, Nancy Minor Team, for providing the large, delicious cakes for the students to enjoy after the ceremony!
Caroline Dotts for organizing and executing the annual Star Wars Fundraiser! The school raised over $1,200.00 for our Simpson CARE Team families! And CONGRATS to the 3rd Grade for winning the competition! Proud to be part of a school that continues to support our families.
The Father/Daughter Dance Committee and volunteers, especially Jessica Campbell and Jessica McConnell, for their months of planning to make it a perfect night for Simpson Fathers and their Daughters! And a special THANK YOU to Paul Duke Stem High School, Katie Amerson and her student volunteers for all their help in making it a HUGE success in a new location.
Staff Appreciation Committee, Michelle Reuter and Samantha Morgan, for delivering "sweet" treats to all of our Simpson staff on Valentine's Day!
All Pro Dads Committee, Chad Saleeby, for providing delicious donuts to the staff on Valentine's Day!.
