Hembree Highlights
April 16, 2021
Note from Mrs. Smith
Happy Friday. I sit down each Friday and reflect on the week. I reflected this week over the transition from Spring Break to virtual to face to face. I think about how strange it is that this week doesn't feel that abnormal. It shows you how resilient our kids are. It shows us that we are incredibly flexible. It shows us just how strong we are. In thinking about strength, I know that building strong muscles means tearing down what you have to build more. Becoming stronger is not always an easy process, but another important part of that process is rest and recovery. I hope that Spring Break was a good time for rest and recovery for you and your family. I also hope that you can use the weekend for that as well.
I wanted to share about a really exciting business called Bird Watching Academy. This is a company that was started by two of our very own students, Darcey and Ollie Amon. With help from their parents, the website launched with great success. Check out the website here: www.birdwatchingacademy.com We are so fortunate that the Amon Family is donating a bird watching kit for every student at Hembree Springs. We will work to share how the kits work with the support of our teachers, and then your child will come home with a very cool outdoor activity that is fun and full of learning.
Also, I want to encourage you to check out Hembree Springs PTA Silent Auction coming up. We are not able to do Hembree Runs Wild or the Raffle due to our current times, but the Silent Auction will be another way to get nice baskets for you and/or the family all while supporting our wonderful PTA. Please scroll to the bottom for more information on this wonderful event.
Please be sure to check the parent information sessions that we have in April. Also be aware that Georgia Milestones testing is around the corner for grades 3-5. We want to be here to answer any and all questions you have.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Stay Strong! Stay Positive! Stay Well!
Sincerely,
AJ Smith
Principal
Hembree Springs ES
470-254-2905 - office
678-525-7704 - cell
Thank you Mr. McKeavin!
Pre-K would like to thank Lauren & Madison's dad, Michael McKeavin! Today he visited our classrooms to share his skills and love of gardening. Our new raised beds are located just outside the pre-K classroom windows - you can admire his beautiful work as you drive through the carpool loop. One classroom planted vegetables - tomato, cucumber, and pepper plants, as well as carrot seeds. The other classroom planted flowers - marigolds, petunias, daisies, and salvia. In addition to giving his time, he donated the plants and all materials for the raised beds. Our students loved spending time with him and are very excited to watch their plants grow! Mr. McKeavin's company is Georgia Victory Gardens, and you can find him on Facebook. He specializes in building above ground planters.
From the STEM Lab
The STEM Lab is in need of paper towel rolls or other cardboard tubes. We DO NOT need toilet paper rolls. Thank you in advance for recycling with us!
-Mrs. Wagner
Mark Your Calendar!
4/22: Parent workshop, 5:30 p.m. Avoiding Summer Slide & Preparing for Transition
4/23: Live information session and Q & A with our Kindergarten teachers for rising Kindergarten students, 8:00 a.m. on Teams.
4/29: PTA Spring General Meeting, 7:00 p.m.
Parent Workshop - April 22nd at 5:30 p.m.
Summer Slide Workshop
April 22, 2021 5:30 TEAMS
Avoiding Summer Slide and Preparing for Transition
Parents, Families and Students join us as Dr. McAtee leads a workshop on strategies to avoid summer academic slide. Ms. Reynolds will lead a breakout session answering questions and offering advice to help your student prepare for transition into a new grade level for next year. This is all because of your feedback from PTA and Title 1. We hope that you gain a great deal of knowledge from this session.
Microsoft Teams meeting
Join on your computer or mobile app
Click here to join the meeting
Or call in (audio only)
+1 470-705-1712,,371135118# United States, Atlanta
Phone Conference ID: 371 135 118#
Parents of Rising Kindergarteners—
Please be sure to visit the Hembree Springs website for virtual presentations that contain valuable information for your rising Kindergartener. You’ll find some general information along with two other presentations about how to help make the transition to Kindergarten a smooth one for your child. If you have friends or neighbors who are planning to send their child to Hembree Springs for Kindergarten, feel free to pass this information along to them. Contact Lisa Dossey for registration information at dosseyl@fultonschools.org, or Carrie McAtee, Curriculum Support Teacher, for any other information about Kindergarten at mcatee@fultonschools.org. Also, mark your calendar to join us on Teams at 8:00 a.m. on April 23rd for a live information session and Q & A with our Kindergarten teachers. This will be recorded and posted on our website if you are unable to attend.
For Spanish Speaking Parents:
Padres
Estamos tratando de trabajar para satisfacer sus necesidades. Si tiene alguna pregunta sobre cualquiera de los temas enumerados a continuación, comuníquese con Ana María Jiménez al Jimenez@fultonschools.org o al 470-254-9462.
Gracias
AJ Smith
From Our PTA
Your Voice Matters!
A HUGE thank you to everyone as we navigate this crazy, incredibly challenging year together. I know that I have benefitted so much from the loving support and fellowship of our Hembree community. I hope you have as well.
If you remember, we surveyed families at the beginning of the year as part of National PTA’s School of Excellence program. Our results demonstrated there was room for growth within the areas of “Supporting Student Success” and “Speaking Up for Every Child”. Based on your feedback about what we could do better, we developed two new Hembree initiatives. Thank you for using your voice to make Hembree even stronger!
The first initiative is our Ask PTA! sessions. We offered these monthly - on the topics you shared were most important to you - including student transitions, parent-teacher conferences, and curriculum and academic standards. If you were unable to attend these sessions and still have questions on these topics, please know that we have recorded them and placed them on our website. Additionally, if you have follow-up questions please don’t hesitate to ask.
We also made a tremendous effort to amplify our advocacy initiatives. PTA cannot do it without each of you – so we worked hard to inform and encourage you to advocate for the children at our school, as well. Hopefully you had time to read our new monthly advocacy newsletter – and found it full of information and resources to help you advocate for your student. Additionally, we created our Facebook group to share additional resources and information with one another. Our PTA Board attended legislative conferences, school board meetings and more – and brought our findings back to you. This year, our Hembree Springs Community came together and raised our voice louder than ever!
As part of the School of Excellence program, we are required to survey our parents again. We will need to show growth and score improvement in order to be considered for this special designation. With this designation comes greater opportunity for grants and other programs to benefit all students at Hembree Springs. We hope that you all, our families, will have seen growth. It was most certainly our goal.
Please take a few minutes to complete the School of Excellence Survey.
Also, there are several open-ended questions at the end of the survey. We will use your answers to these questions in order to inform our work for the upcoming year. We’d love your input and suggestions.
Thanks again,
Lucy Gilbert
¡Tu voz importa!
Un ENORME agradecimiento a todos mientras navegamos juntos este año sin precedentes e increíblemente desafiante. Sé que me he beneficiado mucho del apoyo incondicional y el compañerismo de nuestra comunidad de Hembree. Espero que usted también lo haya hecho.
Si recuerda, encuestamos a las familias a principios de año como parte del programa Escuela de Excelencia de la PTA Nacional. Nuestros resultados demostraron que todavía hay espacio para crecer en las áreas de "Apoyar el éxito de los estudiantes" y "Hablar por todos los niños". Basándonos en sus comentarios sobre lo que podríamos hacer mejor, desarrollamos dos nuevas iniciativas en Hembree. ¡Gracias por usar su voz para hacer que Hembree sea aún más fuerte!
La primera iniciativa es nuestras sesiones de ¡Pregunte a la PTA! Los ofrecimos mensualmente, sobre los temas que ustedes compartieron y que eran los más importantes para usted, incluyendo las transiciones de los estudiantes, las conferencias de padres y maestros y los estándares académicos y curriculares. Si no pudo asistir a estas sesiones y aún tiene preguntas sobre estos temas, las hemos grabado y colocado en nuestro sitio web. Además, si tiene más preguntas, no dude en hacerlas.
También hicimos un tremendo esfuerzo para ampliar nuestras iniciativas de apoyo. La PTA no puede hacerlo sin cada uno de ustedes, así que trabajamos arduamente para informarles y alentarlos a que también aboguen por los niños de nuestra escuela. Espero que haya tenido tiempo para leer nuestro nuevo boletín mensual de apoyo y lo haya encontrado lleno de información y recursos para ayudarlo a apoyar a su estudiante. Además, creamos nuestro grupo de Facebook para compartir entre nosotros recursos e información adicionales. Nuestra Junta de la PTA también asistió a conferencias legislativas, reuniones de la junta escolar y más, y les trajo nuestros hallazgos. ¡Este año, nuestra comunidad de Hembree Springs se unió y levantó nuestra voz más fuerte que nunca!
Como parte del programa Escuela de Excelencia, debemos volver a encuestar a nuestros padres. Tendremos que mostrar un crecimiento y una mejora en la puntuación para ser considerados para esta designación especial. Con esta designación viene una mayor oportunidad de becas y otros programas para beneficiar a todos los estudiantes de Hembree Springs. Esperamos que todos ustedes y nuestras familias, hayan experimentado un crecimiento. Sin duda era nuestro objetivo.
Además, hay varias preguntas abiertas al final de la encuesta. Usaremos sus respuestas a estas preguntas para informar nuestro trabajo para el próximo año. Nos encantaría recibir sus comentarios y sugerencias.
Gracias de nuevo,
Lucy Gilbert
Silent Auction
Spring fundraising is underway at Hembree Springs Elementary! Our goal is to raise $2,500 and we need YOUR help! We are having our first ever silent auction! We are seeking donations to include in the auction for this event!
Themed gift baskets
Toys/Games
Crafts
Spa
Kitchen
Gift certificates / gift cards
Cabin or Vacation Rentals
Event tickets (box seats, sports, music, etc)
New Electronics
Anything you can think of!
You may know a friend or a company who can donate something. We are open to most anything. If you have any questions about a possible donation, please contact us at president@hembreesprings.org.
Mark your calendar for upcoming events:
April 22nd @ 5:30 pm - Ask PTA! & Title 1
April 29th @ 7:00 pm - PTA Spring General Meeting
Summer Slide and Student Transitions Workshop
April 22nd @ 5:30 p.m.
This month’s Ask PTA! is teaming up with our Title 1 program on April 22nd, and will feature Dr. McAtee, our curriculum support teacher, and Ms. Reynolds, our school counselor.
Our focuses this month are:
What are the best ways to help prepare my child for their transition into the next school year, whether it is the next grade or middle school?
How can I avoid the “summer slide”?
What resources are available to me to keep my student on track for future success (middle, high, post-secondary, careers)?
When: Thursday, April 22nd @ 5:30 p.m.
Where: Microsoft Teams online
Join on your computer or mobile app
Click here to join the meeting
Or call in (audio only)
+1 470-705-1712,,371135118# United States, Atlanta
Phone Conference ID: 371 135 118#
Questions with respect to our Title 1 programs and summer slide? Email mcatee@fultonschools.org.
Also, don’t forget to email any questions you have for “Ask PTA!” We’ll seek out answers and find specific experts that can help with your questions. Email president@hembreespringspta.org
Hembree Springs Elementary School
Email: hembreesprings@fultonschools.org
Website: https://www.fultonschools.org/hembreespringses
Location: 815 Hembree Road, Roswell, GA, USA
Phone: 470-254-2902
Facebook: facebook.com/hembreesprings
Twitter: @HembreeSprings