Eagle Edition
October 21, 2021
Glennwood Elementary ~ Where Learning Takes Flight
Holly Brookins, PhD, Principal ~ Jill Tolsma, Instructional Coach Karen Hearn, School Manager
Email: hbrookins@csdecatur.net
Website: https://www.csdecatur.net/glennwood
Location: 440 East Ponce de Leon Avenue, Decatur, GA, USA
Phone: 404.370.4435
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gleagles/?modal=admin_todo_tour
Calendar of Events
Friday, October 22
Virtual Community Circle Ms. Turnipseed's Class Hosting
Socktober Kick-Off
October 22-29
Socktober Campaign
Wild! Sock Day (Oct. 29)
Saturday, October 23
PTA Chili Cook-Off - 12:00-2:00 pm
Monday, November 1
Teacher Work Day (No School)
Fall Book Fair with Little Shop of Stories
Save the date!
November 1-30
Native American Heritage Month
Nov. 2-9
Where Learning Takes Flight
October Design Principle: The Having of Wonderful Ideas
"Words are but the signs of ideas."
~Samuel Johnson
Surveillance Testing Update
Socktober is back again this year (after a 2-year hiatus)!!! The event will be the week of October 25th-29th. This year, the charity will be benefiting Hunger Has No Religion, which serves the unsheltered population of the Atlanta Metro area by providing hygiene essentials and clothing. As years before, students will bring in clean, unused pairs of socks (men's, women's, & children's; unopened packages are fine) and full-sized toiletries for distribution. Toiletries can include soap, shampoo/conditioner, hand sanitizer, baby wipes, q-tips, etc. To sweeten the deal, the top class will receive a dance party and top grade level will receive extra recess. The event will be officially announced to students by Sockules & The Sock Warriors at Community Circle on October 22nd via video. Email Mr. Blase, our School Counselor, at jblase@csdecatur.net if you have any questions.
Who: ALL Glennwood students and families (Kindergarten through 2nd grade)
What: Socktober! To benefit those in our community in need with unused men’s, women’s, and children’s socks and full-sized toiletries.
When: All next week, Monday, October 25th through Friday, October 29th
How It Works: Send in unused socks and toiletries with your students beginning on Monday, October 25th. There will be a collection basket in each classroom. Each morning, teachers and students will total the number of socks in the baskets. The last day to bring in socks and toiletries is Friday, October 29th. The top class will receive a dance party from none other Sockules and his Sock-Warriors! The top grade will receive extra recess! On Friday, October 29th to celebrate the final day to bring in socks and toiletries, the whole school will have a Wild! Sock Day in honor of our collective efforts.
Note: Full packages of socks are acceptable! 😊
Questions: Reach out to Mr. Blase, our school counselor, at jblase@csdecatur.net
Amy Sanders Memorial Garden - Dedication on October 19, 2021
Accessing CSD LaunchPad at Home
Accessing CSD LaunchPad at Home Instructions
Troubleshooting Steps for Mobile Devices
For using CSD LaunchPad on mobile devices such as an iPad, you will need to help your child log into their Google student account following the instructions above. Additionally, when clicking through LaunchPad to apps, some should work fine on any device. Those that do require a separate login which the ClassLink extension normally automatically fills in (such as the Capstone Library, PebbleGo, or Galileo) will prompt the student for a password if the device they are on does not support extensions (such as an iPad) or are not signed into Chrome (or a personal Chromebook) with their CSD account and have syncing turned on.Glennwood PTA First Annual Stew and Chili Cook-Off at Glennwood Elementary This Weekend!
Please walk or bike to the school! The parking lot at the school will be closed for the event. Your ticket will be your vote! After you've tried all the chili, you will place your ticket in the bucket of the table that had your favorite recipe.
Avoid the line and pre-purchase tickets here: https://glennwoodpta.org/. Tickets are $10.
Live music from the Quaranteens (a couple band members are Glennwood grads!) from 12-1 pm, and Polly Holliday from 1-2pm!
A ticket is NOT required to attend! If you want to try everyone's recipes, the ticket will get you a sample of all the options. Otherwise, you are welcome to show up, hear some good music, let your kids play with their friends, or make new friends of your own!
For volunteer opportunities, please visit: https://glennwoodpta.org/signup/?sheet_id=11
All proceeds go to Glennwood's PTA. Masks will be required when not eating and social distancing measures should be followed. Financial assistance is available - please reach out to Dr. Brookins for more information.
Thank you, PTA Supporters, for the Outdoor Tent!
The Glennwood PTA extends our gratitude to donors past and present. Thanks to donations and fundraising events, we were able to purchase and install a commercial-grade 20x20 tent in the back of the school this week. The tent will offer additional options for outdoor lunch, outdoor classes, and so much more! We hope it is one additional tool in the mitigation steps our school is taking to prevent Covid transmission.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Committee Updates
The DEI will meet the 2nd Monday of the month, 8pm, via zoom:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/96934475378?pwd=TElsMW5jT1p0WExvZXVnVENFTUhlUT09
Meeting ID: 969 3447 5378
Passcode: 815625
This year, the DEI committee would like to celebrate the similarities and differences of our Glennwood families. If your family has a special celebration or cultural event you would like to share with our greater community, or if you would like to help plan an event for one of the recognized month celebrations (for example- Asian American Heritage month), please reach out to Amanda Gillespie at GillespieAI@gmail.com.
Join the DEI book club! Have a book your family loves that centers a BIPOC or gender-diverse character? Let us know! We'd love to share it with the school community, or even feature your family reading the book in a video in an upcoming newsletter!
Glennwood Staff Snack Cart/Table
This year, to show our appreciation for our amazing staff, Glennwood PTA will be rolling out a regular staff snack cart/table. We are asking each grade level to "stock the cart" for a given month; each grade will be asked to do so twice this year. We kindly ask that each family participate in one of the two opportunities for your grade level (the intention is that a family only need to participate once).
For November, we're asking kindergarten families to host a "Gratitude Table" for our staff. If you're a K family, please visit the Sign Up Genius here to sign up to bring in something for our staff. Due to COVID protocols, all items must be individually wrapped and store-bought (not homemade). Please drop off your items with Ms. Hearn at the front office November 15-17th anytime during school hours and the PTA will assemble the snack table for our staff to enjoy on November 18. If you have any questions, please reach out to Staff Appreciation Co-Chairs: Haley Stevens (haleycstevens@gmail.com) or Cristina Stevenson (cristina.stevenson@gmail.com). Thank you!
School Nutrition Department
National School Lunch Week was just last week, and we wanted to give a BIG thank you to all our students for eating with us! At the K-5 level, we had a ton of students draw beautiful coloring sheets and return them to our cafeteria spaces. We also passed out stickers, bookmarks, and temporary tattoos. The majority of our staff (and many of our students!) dressed up in animal print on Friday 10/15 to celebrate the end of an awesome week of lunches. We enjoyed delicious and nutritious meals at no cost and celebrated school lunch with an awesome attitude!
Teaching and Learning Department
The Teaching and Learning Department of the City Schools of Decatur is providing families a description of the implementation of the new comprehensive literacy curriculum: American Reading Company (ARC) for Grades K-5, as a result of family requests.
American Reading Company (ARC) Guide for CSD Grades K-5 Families
News from the Decatur Education Foundation
Thank you, Madison Ave Derby – and everyone who came out to watch the Soap Box Derby last Saturday. This incredible event raised a whopping $35K that will all go to support student behavioral health at the Decatur Student Center. We are so thrilled to live in a community that puts on such fun events that benefit #ourkids. Thank you!
Homework Help: We are continuing our Virtual Pals tutoring program in which we pair a 2nd-8th grade student with an upper high school student or adult volunteer to help with homework, time management, and motivation. If you would like to sign your student up for the program, you can go here: https://forms.gle/nLrKbwkXyvYjEAJB8
Could you be a mentor? We’re also seeking women and men volunteers to serve as mentors for our AIM Scholars mentoring program (third-grade students) and our REACH mentoring program (8th-grade students). For just a small amount of time each month, you can have a meaningful impact in the life of a student. For more information, please visit www.decatureducationfoundation.org/mentoring
Pop-Up Takeout for DEF! Our friends from NaanStop and Greg Kodesh Realty are partnering with DEF for a dine-out/take-out on Thursday, October 21st, for which they'll be donating 20% of sales to DEF! They offer family meals including 2 entrees, fresh-baked naan, handmade samosas, basmati rice and chutneys (feeds 4). Just place your order before 5 pm Wednesday, October 20th and your order will be available for pick up between 5 – 5:45 pm on Thursday, October 21st - Link to menu: https://bit.ly/NSorderDecatur - Pickup at Avery/Bucher in Winnona Park neighborhood - masks/distancing required. It’s first-come, first-served, so get your orders in before they sell out!
A Season of Giving/Christmas Decatur
A Season of Giving is beginning preparations for our 27th year of service to the City of Decatur community. At this time, we will continue to manage the program online, using the same process that we utilized last year. We will not be collecting physical gifts but instead will be providing gift cards to the families requesting assistance.
If your family would like to request assistance with holiday gifts for children who live with you, through 8th grade, you must complete this Survey Monkey application by November 21st. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ASeasonOfGiving2021
If you have trouble with the form, questions, or concerns, please email us at aseasonofgiving@decaturga.com or call our voicemail (404-378-8068) and leave a message.
For those families who do not need assistance, we need your help! Please donate at https://legacydecatur.org/. Select ‘A Season of Giving / Christmas Decatur’ in the donation form.