Hembree Highlights
December 18, 2020
Note from Mrs. Smith
Congratulations to the winner of our school spelling bee, Crystal Braganza, and our runner-up Eleanor Wilderspin. Crystal will represent Hembree Springs in the Fulton County spelling bee on January 23rd.
This week I was reminded of the joy of the "now." I saw a kindergartener get out of her car in carpool Thursday morning. The car behind her was that of a classmate. They both laughed and chatted until they saw two more classmates. The kids laughed and screamed like they hadn't seen each other in months. The excitement of nothing more than a chance visit in carpool created such joy and laughter. Our kids are so good at finding joy in the simple things. If your family traditions are different this year because of COVID, be reminded that we can spark joy in every moment for our kids.
I hope the next weeks bring laughter, love, and fun! I know that I am ready to see 2020 as hindsight, and I have hope that 2021 will be a brighter year. No matter what 2021 brings, Hembree will continue to be a place of learning that is safe and happy. Our teachers have planned and are ready for January. They have worked so hard the past two weeks getting ready for the end of this semester and the start of a new one. They have earned this break as have "our" children. We have weathered some very rough waters this year. As promised, we have done it together.
In closing, I hope that you all have a safe, happy, and healthy break. I hope that rest comes to parents and teachers. I hope that play and laughter fills the air from our children. Since this is the last Hembree Highlights of 2020, HAPPY NEW YEAR to you and your family from your Hembree Springs Family!
Stay Strong! Stay Positive! Stay Well!
Sincerely,
AJ Smith
Principal
Hembree Springs ES
470-254-2905 - office
678-525-7704 - cell
From Our PTA
Volunteers Needed December 29th!
Helping Feed Those in Need - On December 29, 2020 Hembree Spring will be hosting a grocery pick up with the help of The Atlanta Community Food Bank to help feed families in our community.
We are hoping to feed those families in need that attend Hembree Springs, Elkins Pointe Middle School and Milton High, and any others in our area that are in need.
If there are any that are willing to help put the grocery bags together please consider volunteering. Many hands make light work. Register to volunteer here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0D48A4AD29A3FB6-food
Hembree Family,
I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone - parents, students, teachers, community members, and our admin team for coming together to support each other this year.
Through countless in-kind donations from community partners we have sourced earbuds, hand sanitizer, bottled water, masks, and many more items for our students and teachers. We have received more than $1,000.00 in monetary donations from community partners as well.
Our families, school team, and friends have donated around $3,000 to our annual fund. The funds have been used to purchase extra school supplies, more earbuds, device charging stations, back to school goody bags, Halloween goodies, staff appreciation items, Reflections program awards, winter party crafts, and other items to support our community engagement events.
We’ve provided our teachers with around $1,300 in grant funding. These funds have been used to purchase chairs for outdoor classrooms, additional non-traditional seating, overhead light diffusers, and other hands-on materials for students.
We’ve also received countless donations of non-perishable food items and monetary donations to support our community connection fund. We’ve provided close to 1,000 bags of extra groceries for our families. We also stocked our “giving closet” with gently used clothing, new shoes and more. Through our partnership with area restaurants, we provided more than 300 fresh lunches for our children over the summer. On December 29th, we will continue this work by partnering with Atlanta Community Food Bank to distribute 10,000 pounds of food to families. More details on this can be found in this newsletter.
Thanks to your investment in our PTA, we’ve also increased our membership numbers from last year. These memberships not only support our work, but our advocacy efforts at our state and national levels as well.
Through our School of Excellence work, we are continuing to further student success. Our “Ask PTA!” sessions include involving parents in planning for student transitions and including
students and parents in discussions of expectations and work quality (e.g. parent-teacher conferences). With “Ask PTA!” and the monthly advocacy newsletter, we are working to inform and encourage families to speak up for students at the school, local, state, and national levels. Additionally, we are working to provide information on family rights and responsibilities under federal and state laws. Thank you to everyone who has attended and contributed to these online forums and those that read our monthly newsletter. We hope these have been informative.
Additionally this year, we received a membership grant from our District 10 PTA. We also received the Connect with Council Award at the North Fulton Council level, as well a The Model PTA Award at the Georgia state level.
WOW! We have so much to celebrate during this incredibly challenging year. A huge thanks to each of you for your participation, donations, input, and encouragement. I’d like to give special thanks to our teachers and staff for their tremendous efforts to keep us safe, happy, and learning. None of this work is possible without each of you. I am so grateful that you all have allowed me to be a part of this school family.
Together, I know that we can do hard things. My wish for us all next year is that there will be fewer hard things, more ordinary things, and lots of fun things too!
I hope you each have a chance to take some necessary rest and enjoy quality time with those you love. Have a wonderful winter break!
Lucy Gilbert
Hembree Springs PTA President
K-2 ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS TEXTBOOK ADOPTION
Parents and stakeholders will have the opportunity to view presentations from all three vendors being considered for adoption and provide feedback to help with the selection of one resource for the district. Please click on the pdf below for links to the meetings.
ADOPCIÓN DE LIBROS DE TEXTO DE
ARTES DEL LENGUAJE INGLÉS
K-2
Los padres y las partes interesadas tendrán la oportunidad
para ver presentaciones de los tres proveedores
considerados para la adopción de estos libros de textos y proporcionar comentarios para
ayudar con la selección de un recurso para el distrito.
Sitio web de adopción de libros de texto de ELA K-2
Presentaciones de los proveedores:
7 de enero de 2021
5:00 – 6:45 PM
Haga clic aquí para participar
9 de enero de 2021
9:30 – 11:15 AM
A Message from the YMCA Afterschool Program:
Dear Hembree families,
The Y is currently running afterschool at Hembree Springs, but our numbers are much lower than in the past. In order to keep our program operating we need more participants. The purpose of the below survey is to understand what afterschool services families are using and understand current need and future need for Y Afterschool. We greatly appreciate any feedback you are willing to give.
If you are interested in signing your child up for Y Afterschool for January please do so! We need more children to sign up in order to stay open at Hembree Springs.
You can sign up here: https://www.ymcaatlanta.org/program-locations/afterschool/alpharetta.php
If your child used to attend Y Afterschool and no longer does, please complete the survey below.
If you would like your child to start with the Y Afterschool, please sign up TODAY!
Substitutes Needed
Hembree Springs needs you! In these trying times Fulton County is in need of substitute teachers.
Fulton County has increased substitute pay for the upcoming year until May 31.
Substitute Paraprofessionals/Clinic/Clerical pay has increased to $100.00/day.
Substitute Teacher pay has increased to $175.00/day.
Substitute Teacher Long Term pay has increased to $200.00/day.
Visit the Fulton County webpage at www.fultonschools.org and click on the Careers tab and then click on Substitute in Fulton for information.
Closing Matrix
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
Community Corner
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