The Principal's Desk At Sycamore
January 20, 2020- Celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Dr. Crystal Cooper, Principal
Dr. Martin Luther King Day
Thank you for honoring the work of an amazing civil rights leader today who fought for equity and excellence in our world. When we think of the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we can always use his life of hope, resiliency and strength to continue to build our communities to be better places to live, work and play. We are proud of how our students model kindness, care and support to one another in a world that needs this every day.
History Moment:
Martin Luther King Jr. Day is always on the third Monday of January. Martin Luther King Jr. was an important leader in the civil rights movement. He campaigned against racial inequality through nonviolent resistance. His most famous speech was “I have a dream” and he was the youngest man to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. At the age of 39 he was murdered. Shortly after his death, people started a campaign to honor him at his birthday, 15th of January. Dr. King would have been 91 years old this year.
Soft Lock Down- Friday, January 17th at 2:45 PM
Dear Sycamore Elementary Families,
I want to thank you for your patience and understanding on Friday following the delayed dismissal of students. While our Pre-K buses were postponed, our regular bus routes and day care buses were able to begin normal dismissal at 3:45 PM.
At 2:45 PM, I was given direction from the Gwinnett County Police that there was police activity in our surrounding area, unrelated to our school. We placed our school in a soft lock down which requires all students to come in from the playground and gym into the school. All students and staff stay in their classrooms and continue their normal lessons. Additionally, we brought all of our parents who were in cars into the building to also keep them safe. The lock down was implemented as a precautionary measure and I want to assure you that our students were safe at all times. Once the all clear was given, the lock down was lifted and school was dismissed.
It is important to be proactive and follow our safety procedures when it comes to ensuring the safety of our students and staff. As always, I thank you for your continued support of our school and students.
Dr. Crystal Cooper
Principal
Sycamore Elementary School
Kindness Club-1st meeting Friday, January 24th
January Updates
Happy New Year 2020!
We hope that your new year has been positive and productive. We hit the road running at Sycamore and are excited to have just celebrated the 100th Day of School on Thursday! We also had an engaging STEAM night with many of our students being acknowledged for their accomplishments on their Science Fair entries. We are very proud of all of our students.
We are also extremely excited to have you, parents, in our building this week for our series of Awards Days! Please park in the back parking lot and check in at our desk in the gym. Our seating will be different this year, and will allow for a much more organized format.
Please note our Awards Days below:
1/22/2020 Wednesday: 2nd grade 9:00 AM; 3rd grade 9:45 AM
1/23/2020 Thursday: 4th grade 9:00 AM; 5th grade 9:45 AM
1/24/2020 Friday: Kindergarten 9:00 AM; 1st grade 9:45 AM
With our more rigorous work aligned to our AKS, students may not have achieved the honor of the Principal's list or Honor Roll like they may have in the past. We are very pleased in how hard our students are working and are excited about seeing them conquer their goals for the end of the year. Please continue to help your child grow in all of their subjects and congratulations to all of our students for their amazing accomplishments for the 1st semester.
Week of: 1/20/2020
Monday: Celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Legacy
Tuesday: Parent review of Child Lures program from 12:30-1:30
Wednesday-Friday- Awards Days
Week of 1/27/2020
Monday-Friday- Great Kindness Week
Tuesday: Local School Council Meeting 9AM-10AM
Thursday: Lanier Education Foundation Zumba Family Night from 6:30 -8:00 PM
Reading:
Wonderful improvement with reading! Since the first semester is now complete, we are continuing to push our reading support for our students. A great sign is that almost 60%-70% of our students are on or above reading level. Please continue to make sure children are increasing their reading and being asked questions about what they are reading. There are many ways to do this, even online. They must read books to gain the stamina to read longer texts. Thank you for helping us create more on grade level or above readers!
We are tasked to make sure that our students are literate readers and writers. We are equipped with teaching them to read analytically and write clear messages in different genres. It is helpful if you are able to make sure they are reading every night and taking the time to practice through their homework.
Due to our belief in the grand amount of research, we believe that if students are reading at home, it will motivate them to be prepared to read at higher levels in all subjects. Please look at the impact below of making sure your child is reading at least 20 minutes a day. Take them to the library, ask them what they are reading and encourage them to read for pleasure and information. This will yield high results for our elementary aged students for the long haul.
More Challenging Instruction:
As mentioned, students are being expected to do much more challenging work at Sycamore. Our staff has been working hard to teach lessons that require a higher level of thinking and responsibility. We have also noticed in all grade levels, that our student are performing higher than last year on all district assessments. We are overjoyed and excited about their performance.
Please continue to review your child's homework with them every night to make sure that you are supporting them in mastering the AKS (curriculum). We will continue assessing our students to gather information about how they are learning. Please ask them frequently to tell you what they are learning. It helps them feel connected to the school day.
Student Behavior:
Behavior is improving in a great way and we also noticed a large drop in discipline issues over last year. Please continue to encourage your child to model great behavior at school. We appreciate you for discussing great behavior with your child frequently. Misbehavior in class and on the bus prevents your child from being the best they can be. Letting them know that a misbehavior call would disappoint you, will help our students in knowing that you are expecting great behavior at home as well. Thanks for your support with this and congratulations to our entire community for a much stronger and safe teaching and learning environment!
Car Rider Procedures
Please do not release students from the parking lot, release them from cars or walk them to the door prior to 8:20 AM. It isn't safe and it also presents a hazard because we have no one there to supervise them until the school bell rings at 8:20 AM. We want to show understanding to all of the parents who come early to sit in line and assure that they are able to get their child in soon and off to work as well. Coming in to circumvent that poses a problem for all car rider parents and also those who patiently wait in their cars. if you have any feedback for this procedure, please don't hesitate to call me.
School Communication-Changes
We miss this feature, as it was a great way to communicate with parents and our community. However, we hope to keep you informed on our website, Principal's Desk, and social media pages.
We have received approval to utilize Class Dojo, so you will be getting correspondence from your child's teacher if they use this format for communication.
City of Sugar Hill
Mercy Montgomery, Director Mmontgomery@cityofsugarhill.com
Joe Meyers, Marketing & Commmunication jmeyers@cityofsugarhill.com
Joel Hoffman, jhoffman@cityofsugarhill.com
Friendly Reminders
- All visitors will be asked at the door who they are and their reason for entering the building by our front desk clerk. Always have your ID ready to show every time. Vanessa Camacho-Chapparo is our new front desk clerk and is happy to join our team. Please be patient with our new district requirement that ensures a stronger and safe environment for our school community.
- We will begin our morning announcements at 8:45 AM daily and ask that all car riders are in their seats ready to begin their day prior to 8:45 AM.
- We are going to use Mypaymentsplus for all of our monetary transactions besides small fundraisers throughout the year. Please make sure that you sign up for this with the information below.
- We are infusing social emotional learning with our PBIS discipline program. Every classroom will have morning meeting daily where they will greet one another, share something based on a focused topic, engage in an activity and end with a morning message. This 10 minute activity every day ties to our AKS, but also helps to start the day off positively. Ask your child about the amazing experience.
Sycamore Elementary School Sponsors
Kona Ice of Gwinnett
(678) 480-1213
Lanier Education Foundation
Sugar Hill Church
Signarama-Buford
Suite 200
Buford, GA. 30518
(770)831-9660
Publix- Sugar Hill Corners
5885 Cumming Hwy
Sugar Hill, GA. 30518
(770)614-8860
Champion Taekwondo Academy
Sugar Hill, GA 30518
(678)714-8837
Kumon
Sycamore Elementary School
Please go to the links below for essential updates and exciting news!
Email: crystal_cooper@gwinnett.k12.ga.us
Website: http://sycamorees.org/home.htm
Location: 5695 Sycamore Road, Sugar Hill, GA, United States
Phone: (678) 714-5770
Facebook: facebook.com/sycamorees
Twitter: @sycamorees