Avalon Eagles Newsletter
April 2021
Dare to S.O.A.R.
Students first, maintaining an
Optimistic environment, ensuring a focus on
Achievement, and building strong
Relationships with you and your children!
Avalon Eagles' 3 Be's
Be SAFE
Be RESPECTFUL
Be RESPONSIBLE
Vision, Mission & Core Values
Vision - Every student will exit each grade level prepared for the next academic level.
Mission - Avalon students will become confident learners who are responsible citizens equipped to contribute to the community.
NEW Avalon Parent & Family Resource Site contains:
SPRING BREAK IS APRIL 2 - 11
Congratulations to our CCS Parent Panorama Survey raffle winners!
Our five winners are families from:
Kindergarten, Mrs. Sheehan-Lobert
1st grade, Ms. Blosco
1st grade, Ms. Butterworth
2nd grade, Digital Academy
3rd grade, Digital Academy
Each family received a $20 gift card to Steak-n-Shake. We appreciate ALL of our families who completed the 66 question survey that gave vital information to Columbus City Schools to better meet the needs of students and families going forward!
WE SHARE BECAUSE WE CARE
37% Chronically Absent
12% Nearly Chronic
16% Trending Chronic
This means we have a chronic attendance problem with over 60% of our students.
We need parents and families to help us address this very important issue.
Our goal is to have students attend school daily online or in-person unless they are sick.
ATTENDANCE
Please make sure your students is:
- Coming to school on-time during their cohort's 'brick' days (school starts at 9:00 am, drop-off begins at 8:30 am)
- Logging on for morning meeting and/or specials on Wednesdays
- Completing assignments on asynchronous 'click' days
When a student is absent:
- Avalon parents need to e-mail a note to Ms. Mackey at attendance.avalon@columbus.k12.oh.us with a copy to Mrs. Moorman amoorman@columbus.k12.oh.us on the day of the absence - preferably in the morning
- Notes from parents may be received up to nine times
- After nine e-mails/notes from a parent to say that their student is going to be absent, a doctor's note will be required
- In the case of a family emergency, an e-mail from a parent needs to be sent directly to the Principal, Mrs. Taylor
Feel free to refer to the CCS Blended Learning School Calendar here should you need clarification as to which days your student is in the school building for in-person learning. You should know which cohort your student is in by looking in the Infinite Campus Parent Portal.
Parents, please make sure you are taking attendance for your child on asynchronous 'click' days. This is VERY important. You can do this by accessing the Infinite Campus Parent Portal.
Eagle Zoom Room
Calling ALL Spanish speaking families. We want to hear from you!
Please come to this month's Eagle Zoom Room to introduce yourselves and get to know other families at Avalon. We would love to get to know YOU! There will be staff to provide translation so bring your questions and concerns! Stay for the whole hour or just pop in for a few minutes.
April 21, 2021 from 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Join Zoom Meeting
https://ccsoh-us.zoom.us/j/81627643098
Meeting ID: 816 2764 3098
P.B.I.S. NEWS
The P.B.I.S. Parent and Family Handbooks is now available! Click here to take a look!
emotional, and behavioral competence of all students during this time of hybrid learning with supports and opportunities within:
Tier I - Caught Being Good*, Classroom Rewards, PBIS Booster Sessions
Tier II - Social Emotional Learning Group, Reading Intervention, English Language Learners
Tier III - Special Education, Intervention Assistance Team (IAT) Meetings, one-on-one meetings with students or parents of students that need individualized support
* Caught Being Good is happening inside the classroom for both cohorts A and B! What this means is that right now, teachers are selecting/nominating an A/B winner from their class each week, and those students get to hear their names on the announcements (and get a prize/certificate) as well.
SPECIALS SPOTLIGHT
Library
This month in the Library we are celebrating Women’s History Month by reading picture books about women!
For the month of April we will learn a little bit about Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr with many more special picture books. Until then, be safe, and keep reading! Don’t forget, the libraries are open for browsing, and there is in-person, after-school homework help available at the Karl Rd. Branch (they are open behind all the construction)!
KINDERGARTEN
FIRST & SECOND GRADES
First and Second Grades got to know Georgia Gilmore, in Pies from Nowhere: How Georgia Gilmore Sustained The Montgomery Bus Boycott. Gilmore, a remarkable woman from Montgomery, Alabama turned her love of cooking into grass-roots activism. Martin Luther King Jr. used to have secret meetings about the bus boycott in her home! Georgia also teaches us all an important lesson; everyone has a role to play. Learning how everyday people are involved in history can help students see that it doesn’t only take great leaders, it takes a nation of millions to move us onward toward equality.
THIRD GRADE
Third Grade learned about poet Gwendolyn Brooks in the excellent new picture book Exquisite: The Poetry and Life of Gwendolyn Brooks by Suzanne Slade. This is a beautifully illustrated book. Gwendolyn Brooks won the Pulitzer Prize in 1950 for her poetry about the ordinary people in her neighborhood, and in doing so she became the first African American woman to win the prize. We’ll also learn about another compelling figure from our history, teen freedom fighter Claudette Colvin!
STAFF SPOTLIGHT
Jacqueline Galbreath
Ms. Galbreath has brought Columbus City Schools newest K-2nd grade gifted reading program to Avalon. She serves Avalon as our K-2 Gifted Intervention Specialist. She also serves students at Devonshire, Forest Park, Parkmoor, and Northtowne elementary schools. Ms. Galbreath has worked for Columbus City schools for 28 years! She spent the last 24 years serving the gifted and talented students in Columbus City Schools. She loves to challenge kids to think deeply and to love researching. She can’t wait to build Avalon’s Gifted and Talented program! She grew up in the Columbus community and lives in New Albany. Ms. Galbreath lives with her daughter and two small dogs, Coco and Christy. She enjoys biking, hiking, and spending time outside. She spends most of her time surrounded by horses.
STUDENT SPOTLIGHT
First graders, Honor and Elissa are great researchers. After studying the desert habitat and animals, they each wrote an original story. Their main characters were the animals they researched. They added all kinds of facts they learned while researching. Below is the first page from each of their stories.
SPECIAL EDUCATION SPOTLIGHT
Mrs. Mellott and Mrs. Mollica are so excited to be back in the building and working with their Special Education students in person. They have been zooming with students since last March reading books, working on sight words, letters, numbers, writing sentences and completing math exercises.
Mrs. Mellott is at Avalon on Monday/Tuesday working with our Cohort A students. She is helping students with their reading, writing and math IEP goals and objectives in our Special Education classroom.
Mrs. Mollica is at Avalon on Thursday/Friday working with our Cohort B students. She is helping students with their reading, writing, and math IEP goals and objectives in our Special Education classroom.
Mrs. Mollica and Mrs. Mellott have office hours available for parents and students on Wednesdays each week from 9:00 am - 10:00 am to answer any questions or concerns.
Amanda Mellott
Mrs. Mellott is the High Incidence Intervention Specialist at Avalon Elementary School. This is her 12th year with Columbus City Schools and her fourth year at Avalon. Before coming to Avalon she worked at Cranbrook ES, Valleyview ES, Clinton ES, Winterset ES, and Colerain ES. Mrs. Mellott is from Columbus and a Columbus City School graduate! After high school she attended THE Ohio State University for her bachelor's degree and University of Dayton for her masters. She lives with her husband, two children, dog, and cat. Mrs. Mellott enjoys traveling and being active outdoors with her kids. In the winter she likes to snowboard, and in the summer she enjoys the pool.
Anita Mollica
Mrs. Mollica has been teaching in the Columbus City School District for the past 25 years. She has taught Special Education for 19 years. Mrs. Mollica has been married to her husband, Anthony for 30 years. She has a daughter, Carli who is a nurse in Nashville, Tennessee and twin boys Chris and Nick who are in college at Ohio State University. She also has a new puppy named Maya. Her students have met Maya online during virtual learning. Mrs. Mollica loves to travel. She loves anywhere warm and sunny. In her free time, Mrs. Mollica likes to run, read, walk her puppy and play golf.
Deborah Howard
Special Education Tutor
Mrs. Howard is the Part-Time Intervention Tutor at Avalon. In addition to Avalon, she shares her days with Northtowne and Parkmoor Elementary Schools working in the classroom or in pull-out groups for reading, writing, and math intervention. She was assigned to Avalon last February shortly before the school closures and is happy to be back this year working with great teachers, staff, and kids!
Mrs. Howard attended Columbus City Schools through grade school until her family moved to Westerville where she finished high school at Westerville North. She then went on to college at The Ohio State University where she ended up joining a traveling folk dance company while pursuing a degree in Elementary Education. She then completed her degree at Ohio Dominican University. While substitute teaching in Columbus and working at The Huntington Learning Center, her heart grew for the kids who struggled with a learning disability, so she went on to get a license in Special Education.
Her husband also teaches in Columbus City Schools, as a high school business education teacher. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with family, getting out in nature, road trips, cheering on our Cleveland sports teams, and the Ohio State Buckeyes!
THE RIGHT STUFF - AUTHENTIC ENGAGEMENT IS ROCKET SCIENCE
We know that children succeed when families, schools, and communities work together… so here’s a great analogy to think about when it comes to authentic family engagement in our schools. Helping our kids succeed is like working at NASAs mission control. Just like a space launch needs astronauts, scientists, and mathematicians to work together, we need schools, families, and communities work together to help student learning take off. Everybody has a part to play if we want to have a successful launch. The most successful launches for our students come when we coordinate and communicate well. That means listening to each other, trusting each other, and learning from each other. And when there are issues and things don’t go as planned, we prioritize working together to get it right.
- CCS Dept. of Family Engagement
DISTRICT RESOURCES
Do you have a preschooler?
Click here for an Early Childhood Education enrollment packet.
Click here for an overview of Columbus City School's Early Childhood Education Program.
Early Childhood Education (ECE)
Central Enrollment Center
430 Cleveland Avenue
Columbus 43215
(614) 365-5822
Special Needs Preschool
(Phone) 614-365-5204/5205
(Fax) 614-365-8745
CCS Summer Experience
To register your student for the 2021 Summer Experience, log onto the CCS Parent Portal, click the “More” tab, and then click “Summer School” under Quick Links.
- In-person (not virtual)
- Four days per week, Monday - Thursday
- Students will go outside for recess
- Lunch will be offered
- K-8 has regional bus transportation
- No bus transportation available for pre-k students
- Summer School will be FREE
- No Latchkey will be available during the summer.
Registration is now OPEN!
Language Assistance Center
Spanish: call 614-365-5118
Somali: call 614-365-8972
Nepali: call 614-365-3105
French: call 614-365-5327
Arabic: call 614-365-6920
or ESL Dept. at
phone: 614-365-8802
fax: 614-365-8786
COMMUNITY RESOURCES
SPOTLIGHT: TAKE A TRIP WITH PIVOT, GET $25
- CCS Dept. of Family Engagement
Columbus Parks & Rec Summer Camps
- Weekly camps start June 7
- Run 10 weeks of camps
- Most camps run between Monday - Friday 8 am - 5 pm
- All different kinds of camps are offered like Community Center based camps at each Recreation Center, Specialty Sports Camps that helps kids develop skills in Cheerleading, Dance, Track, Hockey, etc., Arts Camps like Ceramics, Drama, etc., and Outdoor Recreation where kids can go creeking, canoeing, fishing
YMCA of Central Ohio
Summer at the Y offered for 10 weeks June 7 - August 13, 7:00 am - 6:00 pm
- Accept publicly funded childcare
- Closest branch to Avalon is Northland YMCA, 1640 Sandalwood Pl., Columbus, OH 43229
- 1:10 ratio of adult to camper
Parents Who Parent Separately classes
Six week, 12-hour class designed for parents who are in a co-parenting role due to divorce, dissolution or legal separation. If your child is having difficulty adjusting to spending time in two homes, or if you are concerned that your child is “caught in the middle” of the parents’ challenges, this class will help.
Topics include: maintaining boundaries and rules in your home, listening to your child, communicating with the other parent about the children, and how to make decisions that are best for the children.
Dates: April 5, 12, 19, 26 and May 3, 10 (Mondays).
Starting April 5 from 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm via Zoom.
Cost is $80.
Register here to get Zoom link.
Mothers Matter classes
16-hour course designed for mothers dedicated to strengthening and honoring the special role they play in the lives of their children. Learn the art of communicating in new ways that will help you better connect with your children and lead to a productive and positive relationship.
Topics include: the Art of Listening, Positive Communication, R.E.S.P.E.C.T.ful Discipline, Co-‘Pair’enting, Decision Making and Stress Management.
Dates: April 7 - May 26 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm (April 7, 14, 21, 28 and May 5, 12, 19, 26) via Zoom.
Wednesday’s 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Classes are FREE.
Register here to get the Zoom link.
FAMILY FUN AND LEARNING
Avalon Elementary
Office hours are 9:00 am - 2:30 pm for walk-ins.
All early dismissals should occur before 3:00 pm.
Office reopens after dismissal from 3:45 pm - 4:45 pm.
Phones are answered 8:30 am - 3:00 pm and 3:45 pm - 4:45 pm.
*Phones not answered at dismissal as all resources are used to execute a safe dismissal. Therefore, we appreciate parents calling within the designated hours.
We respectfully require parents make all dismissal changes with the teacher by written note or e-mail. We do not accept dismissal changes over the phone as safety is our #1 concern and unplanned changes to dismissal are too challenging to manage.
Due to the pandemic, visitors are not allowed to enter the building except to conduct business in the vestibule at the office transaction window.
Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.
Email: amoorman@columbus.k12.oh.us
Website: https://www.ccsoh.us/AvalonES
Location: 5220 Avalon Avenue, Columbus, Ohio, 43229
Phone: 614-365-5361
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/134270649947642/?ref=bookmarks