Gator Bites
CGE Weekly Newsletter 3/1/2021
Welcome
Welcome to our weekly Gator Bites newsletter! Every Friday evening our team at CGE will send out any important updates for the following week. Our goal is to be prepared, transparent and informative! We appreciate your time and urge you to read through carefully each week- especially during these unconventional virtual learning weeks.
Stay safe, stay informed and stay Gator Strong! 🐊
From the Principal's Desk
Dr. Larry Savage, CGE Principal
Updates
We Heard You!
From the Library
Online Book Fair: March 1st-14th
Please share book fair information with your friends and family! All proceeds from the book fair support our school library!
Links you’ll want to check out:
From the ESL Department
Testing Information
WIDA ACCESS testing for ESL students will begin February 22nd - March 23rd.
The testing is planned to go as follows:
February 22nd: A day grades 1-3 students
February 23rd: A day grades 4-5 students
February 25th: B day grades 1-3 students
February 26th: B day grades 4-5 students
March 3rd: Virtual Academy students grades 4-5
Some students will have different testing dates and those students and parents will be contacted by Mrs Guibert regarding their testing date.
It is important that ESL students come to school on their designated testing days, well rested and ready for testing. They will be taking 4 tests: listening, reading, speaking, and writing. Each test will last 30 minutes to 1 hour throughout the school day. Please encourage your children who are being tested to do their best. Thank you for your support in this very important ESL testing. If you have any questions about testing, please do not hesitate to contact Mrs Guibert at gguibert@chatham.k12.nc.us
Thank you,
Chatham Grove ESL Department
From the AIG Department
AIG and Talent Development zoom groups for all grades will be cancelled in March, beginning on March 1st, while Ms. Merilee and Ms. Wilkie complete required testing for students referred for AIG evaluation. We will miss meeting with your children and rest assured we will be working to finish this testing as quickly as possible so that we can begin meeting with your children again. The families of students participating in testing will be contacted via email to schedule remote testing sessions.
During this testing period, weekly asynchronous activities will be posted in google classroom or sent to students via their email accounts, to provide independent challenge and enrichment experiences for students.
School Updates
Progress Reports
This Friday, February 26th, Quarter 3 Progress Reports will go home. K-2 Progress Reports will be shared via email by classroom teachers. For students in grades 3-5, Progress Reports will be shared via email from Powerschool. Please reach out to your classroom teacher if you do not receive a progress report by Friday evening.
Third Grade Families
Read to Achieve Parent Session
Next Thursday, March 4th, we will hold a Parent Session on Read to Achieve via Zoom at 6:30pm. This will be hosted by our curriculum coach and the third grade team. At the session we will discuss the Reading Pathways for third grade students and answer any questions. The session Zoom link and contact information for our curriculum coach is included below:
Session Zoom Link:
https://chathamk12nc.zoom.us/j/94598620365?pwd=ZHB5YlpBd3ZBTjFlcHZzaGVTNlAxZz09
Meeting ID: 945 9862 0365
Passcode: 211261
Erin Boecke: eboecke@chatham.k12.nc.us
CogAT Testing
In-person 3rd graders will begin taking the CogAT Assessment next week. The CogAT is an assessment of reading, math and problem solving skills. Students in A Group will take the assessment on March 1st, 2nd and 8th. Students in B Group will take the assessment on 3rd, 4th and 11th. VA students will be contacted by CCS for the scheduling of remote testing sessions.
From the Guidance Counselor
Inventive Ways to Keep the Kids Entertained Inside!
Fun & creative ways to have fun with your kids inside on rainy or cold days!
Ideas include:
Painting / coloring on all those delivery boxes you have laying around! Do you have a cat? Turn those boxes into cat houses!
Having family craft times - you can build these around holidays like Valentine’s Day, or celebrate seasonal things like seeing the first dandelions pop up!
Create birthday & thank you cards in advance! Besides family members, are there other people who might be fun to send cards to? When I was a child, the president & I had shared a birthday. I drew him a birthday card, & he sent me back a mutual birthday card I still have!
Need more ideas? Feel free to email your art teacher, Victoria Sylvestre, any time!
Yearbooks
From the Arts Department
CCS Winter Arts Festival
Wanted! Ad Circulars, Magazines & Catalogs for Art Class. Please place items for donation in a plastic grocery bag & send to school with your student if you are attending in-person instruction. There will be a drop off box in the lobby area for them. This is an ongoing need throughout the 2020/21 school year. Thank you!
In addition, please take a look at the CCS Winter Arts Festival website to view a display of visual and performing arts from all of the Chatham County district schools, including our own Chatham Grove Elementary artists. This is in lieu of in-person winter exhibitions and performances.
North Carolina Symphony’s Adopt-A-School Program
I am so excited to announce that Chatham Grove Elementary will be partnering with the North Carolina Symphony this semester to provide learning opportunities to our students! According to the North Carolina Symphony website, “The NCS Adopt-A-School program will serve to foster the relationship between NCS musicians and K-12 students and teachers statewide.” Over the next couple of months, students will be interacting with Ms. Rebekah Dale, a horn player in the NC Symphony, to learn about the symphony, instrument families of the orchestra, the science of sound, and the life of a musician. She will also provide instrument demonstrations for our students. If you would like to learn more about Ms. Daley, please visit the following website: Rebekah Daley Biography.
Schedule
During the months of February and March, we will be scheduling visits for 2nd-5th grade students. She most recently joined fourth and fifth grade virtual academy students. On March 2nd, she will be meeting with our in-person 2nd-5th grade students on Zoom during specials. B-day students should plan to join the Zoom that day with their A-day peers. If fourth and fifth grade VA students missed her on February 3rd, they are more than welcome to join the in-person session on March 2nd. The Zoom link will be shared on the remote learning matrix. We will also begin scheduling K-1 visits in April. 2nd-3rd grade VA students will meet with Ms. Daley in April.
We are so grateful for this unique opportunity, and having the chance to provide this experience to our elementary students! We know that this will be a meaningful and valuable experience for all. Please contact Mrs. Galloway with any questions about the North Carolina Symphony’s Adopt-A-School program.
North Carolina Symphony - One State One Score Project
North Carolina Symphony - One State One Score Project
The NC Symphony recently launched the 'One State One Score' project. Students from across the state of North Carolina will be learning Beethoven's Ode to Joy, as part of the statewide initiative. During the next couple of weeks, all K-5 students are invited to learn and sing Ode to Joy. After learning the music, students will create a video to submit towards the NC Symphony 'One State One Score' project. Both VA and in-person students are invited to participate in this project. Mrs. Galloway and Mr. Smith will share all of the student video submissions from our school with the NC Symphony on February 28th. The NC Symphony recently extended the deadline, so please note the updated date from the original correspondence. After the video submission period concludes, NC Symphony will take all of the video submissions from across the state and create one final, collaborative arrangement of Ode to Joy. When the completed project is released in early spring, we will share the final product with families. For more details, please visit our ‘One State One Score’ website: One State One Score Website. Please contact Mrs. Galloway, if you need help with the recording process.
CGE Ongoing Information
School Nutrition Update: Curbside Meal Pickup
Curbside meal pick-up will take place at CGE each Wednesday from 10:30 to 1:00 starting on January 13th. Please reach out to our Cafeteria Manager, Ms. Jessica Frye, for questions. Her email address is: jfrye@chatham.k12.nc.us.
Materials Pick Up
Student materials will be available for pick up again starting on Monday March 1st at 9 a.m. Please contact your student’s classroom teacher if you have a question about the materials/resources that need to be collected at our school.
Specials Grading for VA Students
To create consistency in grading K-5 Art, Music and PE classes, all students for quarters 3 and 4 in grades 3-5 district-wide will receive the following feedback on report cards--Proficient, Developing, or No Evidence. For quarters 3 and 4, all students in grades K-2 will receive a 1, 2, 3, or 4 for specials.
Please know that in conversations and in our recent CGE Parent Survey, we heard feedback regarding assessing for Virtual Academy students in our specials’ classes. Specifically, some of our VA parents are really struggling with balancing, home, work, and school demands. We understand. For K-2 students who are unable to consistently attend specials, they will not receive a grade and that section of the report card will be blank. For 3-5 students who are unable to consistently attend specials, they will not receive a grade and that section of the report card will say ‘No Evidence.’
Meet Our Staff
Ronda Teta, Kindergarten Teacher
About Ms. Teta: I was raised, and currently reside in Pittsboro, N.C. My husband, Rick, and I graduated from Northwood High School. This October we will celebrate our 23rd wedding anniversary. We have 4 wonderful children: Sierra (22), Nicholas (20), Aaron (14), and Shiloh (10). We also have Daisy and Princess (our fur babies), Storm (cat) and 10 chickens. I have a Bachelor of Arts degree from Winthrop University, with a major in Art and a minor in Art History. I co-founded, and was the Director of Pittsboro Baptist Preschool from 2000 to 2005. Presently I am studying Elementary Education at ECU, while teaching Kindergarten. This is my third year teaching with Chatham County schools.
A few of Ms. Teta’s favorite things: Outside of school I like to spend time with my family. Hiking, hanging out on the beach, walking our dogs, horseback riding or watching my children do something they enjoy. I also enjoy reading Nicholas Sparks books.
Mary Jocys, 5th Grade Teacher
About Ms. Jocys: I have been a teacher for 23 years at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. I have two sons, Sam is 24 and Simon is 22. Both of them are still in college. Sam is an engineering major at Charlotte, and Simon is a Jazz major (the first mandolin Jazz major) at New England Conservatory. Mr. Jocys is also a teacher and has been teaching for 32 years. I have three chickens. I grew up in State College, PA and graduated from Penn State with a degree in English and Secondary Education and also a member and co-captain of the cross country and track teams. I have a Master's in Literacy from UNC-Chapel Hill.
A few of Ms. Jocys’ favorite things: In my free time, I enjoy walking, reading, cooking, and doing embroidery.
Chatham Grove Elementary School
Email: lsavage@chatham.k12.nc.us
Website: https://www.chatham.k12.nc.us/Domain/2227
Location: 1301 Andrews Store Road, Pittsboro, NC, USA
Phone: 919-642-7069
Facebook: facebook.com/chathamgrovees