Bear Essentials

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Ashley Coughlin and I am honored and humbled to be Berkeley Lake Elementary’s newly appointed principal. Berkeley Lake Elementary prides itself on creating an environment where kids come first and I felt that from the moment I walked in the building. I am excited to partner with the staff and community to ensure our rich history of academic success and positive school culture continues.

I am a proud product of Gwinnett County schools and a graduate of North Gwinnett High School. After receiving my bachelor’s degree from Georgia State University, I returned to GCPS to start my career as a fourth grade teacher at Suwanee Elementary. I continued my career as a second and fifth grade teacher in the North Gwinnett cluster before joining the Duluth community at BB Harris Elementary as their Local School Technology Coordinator and then assistant principal where I proudly served in that role for nine years.

When I am not at school, I enjoy spending time with my family. My husband, Wil, and I will be celebrating 15 years of marriage this April. We are the proud parents of two children, Lillian (11) and Jude (8). We enjoy family movie nights, traveling, and attending after school events for both of our children.

As principal, I believe all students should feel connected and valued within our building. When students are known and engaged, we can better meet their individual needs and maximize their learning experience to help them reach their true potential. I feel lucky to have landed at Berkeley Lake because I know the staff holds these same values. I look forward to working together to ensure our students have the best opportunities for success in elementary school and beyond. My door is open and feedback is always welcome. Please do not hesitate to call, email, or schedule an appointment. I am so happy to be at Berkeley Lake where kids come first!

Sincerely,

Ashley Coughlin

Ashley.Coughlin@gcpsk12.org

We post a lot of reminders, information, and miscellaneous photos to our school's two social media sites, Facebook and Instagram. Following us on these apps will help you stay informed about school events, so we encourage you to click the links shown in this section and follow us on these two platforms.

Monday, March 6

• Educational Effectiveness Survey (EES) open for parents (more info. below)
• "Spread the Love" Donation Drive (more info. below)
  
• 3:00pm Chess Club
  
• 3:15pm Green Team meets

Tuesday, March 7

• Educational Effectiveness Survey (EES) open for parents (more info. below)
• "Spread the Love" Donation Drive (more info. below)
  
• 7:00am IT Girls
  
• 9:30am Play2Learn
  

Wednesday, March 8

• Educational Effectiveness Survey (EES) open for parents (more info. below)
• "Spread the Love" Donation Drive (more info. below)
  
• 9:00am Basic English Class in the Parent Center

Thursday, March 9

• Educational Effectiveness Survey (EES) open for parents (more info. below)
• "Spread the Love" Donation Drive (more info. below)
  

Friday, March 10

• Social Emotional Learning Day - students should wear a t-shirt with a positive message
• Last day to collect personal items left in the Lost and Found
• Last day for Educational Effectiveness Survey (EES) for parents (more info. below)
• Last day for "Spread the Love" Donation Drive (more info. below)
• Last day for students to purchase recorders from the school store
• 10:00am Little Learners Academy (more info. below)

To help celebrate Social Emotional Learning Day (#SELDay), encourage your child to wear a t-shirt with a positive message on it. Let's spread Positivi-Tee!

A key improvement strategy calls on organizations to study the user experience. Therefore, it makes sense to include our students and parents in the work we are doing to improve our schools. The Educational Effectiveness Survey (EES) measures what students in grades 4-12 and their parents/guardians think about their school experience. Our 4th and 5th grade students have already taken the survey during their tech special time, and we are now asking parents/legal guardians to take the survey. It will be available through March 10. The link to the survey will be sent out via email from the county.

Additional information about the surveys can be found here.

From Mr. Green, Music teacher: Recorder sales will stop on Friday, March 10. If children would like to purchase a recorder, they are $6. The nicer bags that hold the recorders are $2, and cleaning rods are $1. All of those items will be removed from the school store and unavailable after Friday, March 10.

Lets use this season of love to spread some love and help others that are in need. Donations can be dropped off in marked donation bins that are located in the cafeteria. Note: This drive has been extended to March 10th, even though the flyer below shows March 3rd as the deadline.

Our Lost & Found is overflowing! We are marking items with green tags, and on March 10th anything that is still in the Lost & Found with a green tag will be donated. Please have your child look for lost items before then or feel free to stop by school to look.

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PTO would like to thank all of the families who supported the school during Tuesday's Spirit Night at Latin Fresh. We had a good turnout and it was great to see our families enjoying the delicious food that Latin Fresh provided.

Don't miss your opportunity to order your copy of this year's memories. You can still order your book for $35.00 until the sale ends April 19, 2023.

We are excited to celebrate reading! This month, our students will participate in a book competition, which coincides with the March Madness NCAA College Basketball Tournament. We start with 16 books and the students watch a video of each book being read by a staff member during class time. Over the next few weeks, the students will vote in class to narrow down the books they liked best. The winning book will be announced on the morning announcements on Friday, March 31st.

Check out the books on the BLES website under the 'Quicklinks' area > March Madness Tournament of Books.

Music in schools give positive experiences to millions of students across the country, and we especially would like to recognize this during the month of March. GCPS does a tremendous job of supporting the music and arts in all of the schools, and my goal at Berkeley Lake Elementary is to balance music instruction with fun activities; to make the learning relevant and enjoyable. Behind the scenes, I am always working on making sure that the students are moving, creating, and that we are maximizing our time with activities that will challenge the students. Furthermore, I often try to pull from curriculum that classroom teachers might be working toward , whether that be historical events, language concepts, or even math concepts like coins and money lessons for the younger students. My goal is to support each grade level to the best of my ability. Thank you for all of your support of the music program at our school.

Mr. Green,

BLES Music Teacher

Through the month of March, Gwinnett will have student artwork on display by cluster. The Duluth cluster's artwork was on display this past week. Below are some photos of the artwork on display from our very own Berkeley Lake students.

Ms. Anderson,

BLES Art Teacher

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Thanks to your support for last year's Boosterthon, one of the things we were able to order to improve our school was two shade structures for teachers and students to use when out on the playground. As you can see from the pictures below, the shade structures are already a hit on warm days with our staff.

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Thank you Mr. Green and the BLES second graders for a fun music program last night, honoring Dr. Seuss. Also, thank you to all of the parents and friends who came out to see the students perform.

Looking for a fun summer activity for your kids? Come join the Berkeley Hills Barracudas Swim team. Registration is now open. Get a spot before they fill up. Contact Danielle Rankin at (404) 452-2134 or derankin73@gmail.com for more information or use the link here to visit the website.

BINGO Night will be done in 2 sessions based on last name:

• Session 1- 5:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m. if your last name begins with A-L
• Session 2-6:30-7:30 p.m. if your last name begins with M-Z.

Food will be sold at this event.

Bingo is made possible with great prizes that are donated by businesses in our community!

Thank you to the following sponsors:

• Original Pancake House
• Cue’ BBQ
• Crave Pie
• Bagel 101 Cafe
• Fabrik @ The Forum
• Dollywood (?)
• Vom Pass
• Spool School
• Uncle Jack’s Meat House
• First Watch
• Jason’s Deli
• Atlanta Eats
• Marlow’s Tavern
• Playa Bowl
• Buff City Soap
• Cinnaholic
• Knuckies
• Gas South District
• Silver Linings
• 7 Leaves Cafe
• First Nail Salon
• Santa Lucia Brazilian Steakhouse***
• Compu-Sports Inc.
• Discovery Point- Duluth
• Tiff’s Treats
• Crave Pie
• Rice n’Pie
• Bruster’s

2 Things:

• Last Digital Learning Day for this school year.
• K-Kids will have a Zoom meeting. Mrs. Ashadele will post the Zoom link to the K-Kids Google Classroom page, since this meeting will be virtual.

The UGA Extension office in Gwinnett is having a 4-H Family Science Night on March 23, 2023 from 6:30pm to 8:00pm at Rhodes Jordan Park Community Recreation Center in Lawrenceville for ages 5-12. Registration and payment per child is required for this event, adults are free.

Thank you for supporting 4-H and UGA Extension! Click here to see the flyer for this event.

If your child is currently in the 5th grade, you will not want to miss the upcoming meeting hosted by Duluth Middle School on Tuesday, March 28 at 6:00pm. The meeting will be held in the Duluth Middle School gym. Click here to see an English or Spanish flyer with more details.

Kindergarten registration for next school year will take place on April 12th. More details about Kindergarten registration will be forthcoming.

Click here for more information.

The end of year Georgia Milestones Assessment (GMAS) will take place the following dates and attendance on these dates will be important. Please do not schedule appointments or schedule out-of-town trips during this period if at all possible.

Click here for general information about the Georgia Milestones Assessment.

If your child is receiving special education services from GCPS, then the state is asking you to participate in a parent survey to measure parent/family perceptions of the success of parents engagement between home and local schools. The survey is now available and will run through May 31st. Click here to access the survey.

See the flyer here.

• English
• Spanish

Click here for more information.

We are looking for High School Leaders, Middle School leaders and Campers. Please check out this link for more information. Email Trina.Ashadele@gcpsk12.org if you have questions.

Camp Rise was founded by a Speech Language Pathologist and an Occupational Therapist for children with special needs. It is a summer camp geared towards individuals with various diagnoses ages 4-13.

We provide a friendly, supportive, and cooperative atmosphere. Our approach fosters individual growth in functional communication and motor skills at each camper’s own pace. Click here or on the image below to learn more.

• Withdrawing or Enrolling a Student? Click here to learn the steps for the process.

• Would you like to purchase a small gift item for our PBIS (Positive Behavior and Intervention Store)? Click here to see our Wish List.

• Podcasts in English and Spanish

• If your family does not have internet at home and you will need it for the various Digital Learning Days, click here to request a hotspot now. You only need to request one per family and you may keep it for the entire school year. You will need to return it at the end of the year in May.

• Student fines - click here to see if your child has a library, technology, or other school fine.

• GCPS 2023-2024 School Year Calendar

• GCPS is Hiring

• Weekly eTips for Parents in English and Spanish

• Reminder about sending in birthday treats for students Per the Student Handbook: Parents may provide snacks only, no drinks, favors, balloons, or flowers for the child’s birthday. Whole cakes that need to be sliced by staff are not permitted. All students should be included. Nutritious snacks are encouraged. Birthday treats should be handed out and eaten in the cafeteria during the last ten minutes of the lunch period. Please make sure that students mainstreamed in your classroom are included in the count for treats. Buying ice cream at school for each class member is encouraged. Students may not pass out invitations to parties at school unless all members of the class are invited.

• If your family needs additional support, our counselors and Care team can help with basic needs like food, clothes, personal hygiene items, etc. If you would like to access these resources please contact Lyndsay Murphy (K,2,4) Lyndsay.murphy@gcpsk12.org 770-582-7523, Laura Marantz (1,3,5) Laura.marantz@gcpsk12.org 770-582-7522, or Sandra Orci (Spanish) Sandra.orci@gcpsk12.org 678-291-4232

• Afternoon Transportation Changes Parents, please remember that afternoon transportation changes must be made by 1:30 and there are only two ways for you to make an change for your child: Use the PikMyKid app or send in a signed note. Dojos, emails, or phone calls to change afternoon transportation will not be accepted. Thank you for helping us enforce this rule and keep our kids safe!

• No Student checkouts after 2:15 PM

• If your child misses school Information needed on the excuse note includes: today’s date, the child’s full name, child’s teacher, child’s grade level, date(s) of absence, reason for absence, and parent signature (typed full name if sending via email or Class Dojo).

• Berkeley Lake Elementary's Local School Plan for Improvement (LSPI)

• Follow us on Social Media Facebook and/or Instagram

• MyPaymentsPlus Gwinnett Public Schools uses MyPaymentsPlus as a site for school-related payments and documentation sign off. If you do not yet have an account with this site, you will need to set one up. Click here to learn more.

• We recycle: Berkeley Lake recycles aluminum cans and old clothes and shoes (in any condition) in the two bins in the upper parking lot. The Green Team receives 10¢ per pound of donations, which helps pay the fee for the weekly paper and cardboard pick-up. The aluminum cans are recycled at Progressive Recycling on Simpson Circle. Please support our Green Team by recycling these items here at Berkeley Lake. Thank you!

• We Collect Box Tops Online. Here are instructions for how to continue to give to our school using the new Box Tops process.

• Do You Have a Parent Portal Account? You may have heard about Gwinnett's Parent Portal. The Parent Portal is a website that will allow you to log in and see your child's information, such as attendance, grades, standardized test scores, etc. If you need to register with the portal, please print and complete this registration form and turn it in to the main office. Along with the completed form, you are required to show a photo I.D. for verification.

• Georgia After School Program (GASP) Click here to get more information about the Georgia After School Program.

• Our Parent Center The Berkeley Lake Parent Center is located across from the front office and it's providing services by appointment. For Parent Center support please call Ms. Sandra Orci, Parent Liaison, at 678-291-4232 or email her at Sandra.Orci@gcpsk12.org

• We Thank our Business Partners - if you would like to learn more about a business partnership with our school, click here.
• The Tutoring Center, Duluth, Ga.
• Mathnasium
  
• Ultra Baby LLC (Ultrasound and Photography)
  
• Atlanta Urgent Care - 5246 Peachtree Pkwy

Berkeley Lake Elementary

4300 S. Berkeley Lake Rd.

Duluth, Georgia 30096

P: (770)446-0947

F: (770)582-7514