Panther Press
New Prospect Elementary School Newsletter
Nurture-Personalize-Engage-Succeed
Readers' & Writers' Workshop Blast Off!
“Children should learning that reading is pleasure, not just something that teachers make you do in school.” -Beverly Cleary
Last week, the admin team did calibration walkthroughs in all of our classrooms. Basically, this is for us to get on the same page about what we are seeing and what we expect to see during instruction in all classrooms. Well let me just tell you, we saw some GREAT things.
Our curriculum is the Georgia Standards of Excellence, but at New Prospect we believe in creating opportunities for students to feel successful with reading and writing every single day by using the workshop model. Readers’ and Writers’ workshop are frameworks for teaching reading and writing.
These are the things we believe:
-Reading (and writing) instruction should match the individual reader;
-Reading instruction should teach toward independence;
-Reading instruction should explicitly teach strategies to access skills;
-Reading instruction should value time for reading (and writing), volume of reading (and writing), and a variety of reading (and writing) experiences; and
-Reading instruction should follow predictable structures and routines.
(Serravallo & Goldberg 2007)
As you can see in the picture below our Reading and Writing Workshop has blasted off! All the things we believe are happening and we are so excited about it!
If you want to learn more about Readers’ and Writers’ Workshop there will be a Panther Parent Prep class on Wednesday September 26th from 7:15am-8:15am taught by Mrs. Widis and Mrs. Alterman. We hope to see you there!
Your Partner in Education,
Amy Lemons
Upcoming Events:
September 13th-College Dress Up Day!
September 14th-Braves Night
September 19th-Community Balance Night
September 20th-Bruster's Night
September 26th-Panther Parent Prep-Readers' & Writers' Workshop 7:15-8:15 am
September 28th-Pops, Pizza & Hoops
October 5th-No School for Students-Professional Workday
October 8th-No School-Holiday
October 9th-No School for Students-RFF Day
October 16th-Reflections Entries Due
November 6th- NO School for students-Election Day
November 8th-Taste of New Prospect
March 7th-WE HAVE SCHOOL
March 8th-NOschool for students-RFF Day
March 11th-No School for Students-Professional Workday
Taste of New Prospect-Save the Date: November 8th
Taste of New Prospect, our school’s opportunity to highlight the food and fashion from the cultures represented by our students and staff, will be held on November 8 from 6-7:30pm. Invitations to sponsor a table or participate in the fashion show will be sent home on September 27th. Start thinking about how you can participate in this exciting event and share more about your cultural background.
NPE Dad Squad
We have been so lucky to have two very important men come and help us out in the past week. We had Mr. Young help us in carpool and P.E. and Grandpa Cueny help us in the Cafe!
Wanna be on the Dad Sqad? Sign up here: www.SignUpGenius.com/go/70A0D44AEA72AA7FC1-volunteer
Positive Behavior Interventions and Support
Our PBIS House teams had an incredible month of August! We had record numbers of points being awarded for positive behavior in our classrooms, hallways, cafeteria, playground, and all around the school! Our winning house for the month of August was Earth house with 808 points. The classroom teachers with the highest points for each house were; Ms. Turturro (Earth), Ms. Wells (Air), Ms. Widis (Water), and Ms. Alterman (Fire).
Did you know that you can earn points for your child’s classroom? If you see your child exhibiting one of our P.A.W.S. (Pride, Attitude, Wise Choices, Safety) please snap a picture and put it on twitter! Please make sure you add @MLevineIST and #PBIS, #fourhousesonehome.
Our PBIS self-assessment window (SAS) has opened, and parents and community members are encouraged to participate in the survey, which helps drive our action plan. Please go to the following link to complete the survey:
PTA News
Braves Game this Friday! Last Day to buy tickets is tomorrow (Wednesday) at midnight! Get tickets here: https://groupmatics.events/event/Newprospect
This year’s Reflection program theme is “Heroes Around Me”. We invite everyone to tell your story through dance, a short film, a poem or story, an original song, a photo or visual work of art. The Reflections program is for all kids! You do not need to be proficient in the arts to participate!
Pick up a PTA Reflections Entry Form today from the front desk, access online (button below) or email Laura Armistead at lsarmistead@gmail.com
NPES Entry Deadline Oct 16th
Watch the Video for More Info: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSvo7vS4Hgg
Every child who participates will attend a 'Heros Around Me' Celebration Breakfast with their parents in January.
Panther Pride Winners-August
September is Mental Health Wellness & Attendance Month
From the Desk of Our Social Worker, Lisa Lewy
- · We take school attendance very serious and follow the Georgia Compulsory Attendance Law as well as Board Policy (JBD). (Please review these to know specific details)
- Please have your students to class ready to learn by 7:40am and stay all day.
- Please have your child ride the bus to school so he/she is not late. Being late to school is a disruption for your child, other children, and the teacher. Traffic in Roswell and Alpharetta is difficult so please be aware and leave your house with extra time if you must drive your child to school. Chronic tardiness to school creates a bad habit that can follow children into adulthood. It’s important to form good habit patterns early in life.
- · We strive for perfect attendance, but understand that sometimes children get sick and need to stay home to recover from illness.
- · Serious/contagious illness such as the flu, strep throat, stomach virus, fevers, vomiting, diarrhea, chicken pox, fifths disease, hand and mouth disease, croup, bronchitis, pneumonia (and others) will mean that your student must miss school, possibly attend a doctor’s visit, and return to school when healthy again with a doctor/parent note to excuse their absence.
- · Things like colds, a little cough, headaches, a little tummy ache, runny nose, being tired, returning from a trip late, rainy day, snow flurries (without school being cancelled), cold weather, behavior disruption from another child in the family, incomplete homework, traffic, etc… are not reasons to be late to school or miss school. Please send your child to school first and allow our staff to make an assessment if you are not sure.
- · Parent e-mails for any legal excuse are acceptable to the teacher AND copy the data clerk (Creek View & Sweet Apple)/front desk secretary (New Prospect) so that the absence can be updated as medical/religious/legal/death in the family/military leave (and others) in our computer system. It is the parent/guardian’s responsibility to make sure a note is received within 5 days of any absence or it will be counted as unexcused. Excessive unexcused absences will constitute a social worker referral and possibly court intervention.
- · Please do not schedule trips during academic time. Our school calendar is filled with plenty of breaks from school for vacation time. However, if for some reason you absolutely cannot avoid going out of town for things such as weddings, family reunions, 90th birthday celebrations, college tours (for siblings), travel for business trips without adequate supervision for elementary students at home, etc… than please e-mail the principal and data clerk in advance of leaving for the trip and ask for the time to be approved. Please check with each principal because he/she have their own school policy regarding “approved” absences.
- · Statistics show that students who miss less than 6 days of school, for any reason, make better grades and in the long term, end up more successful than students with excessive absences.
- · Our society is highly competitive and we want to give our children the best advantage to get into a college and then get a wonderful job someday, this begins with great school attendance.
Steps to become a Volunteer
Fulton County Schools values and promotes active engagement of the community in all of our schools. Thousands of individuals serve as volunteers in our schools each year. Volunteer opportunities may include:
* Serving as tutors, mentors, or guest speakers
* Providing assistance in classrooms, cafeteria, library, or main office
* Organizing student enrichment and recognition activities
* Supporting special events, athletics, and school planning councils
How do I become a volunteer?
1. Register at the Fulton County Schools Volunteer Page. (Link Below)
2. Complete the mandatory online training.
3. Complete the volunteer application.
Please allow 48 hours for your application to be processed before you visit the school to volunteer. Volunteers must complete this process EVERY year.
When you arrive at the school for your first volunteer assignment, please present your government identification (i.e. driver's license, state issued ID cards, Mexican consular cards, green cards, military ID) to verify your identity.
Transportation & Absence Notes
No Student is allowed in the school until 7:10 am. There is no supervision until that time.
We have had a lot of students who are tardy to school. Please make sure your children are here before 7:40.