Eagle Edition
August 20, 2020
Glennwood Elementary ~ Where Learning Takes Flight
Holly Brookins, PhD, Principal ~ Jill Tolsma, Instructional Coach Karen Hearn, School Manager
Email: hbrookins@csdecatur.net
Website: https://www.csdecatur.net/glennwood
Location: 440 East Ponce de Leon Avenue, Decatur, GA, USA
Phone: 404.370.4435
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gleagles/?modal=admin_todo_tour
Calendar of Events
Monday, August 24
School Leadership Team Nominations Due
Friday, September 4
First Virtual Community Circle
Monday, September 7
Labor Day Holiday (No School)
Wednesday, September 9
No Wellness Wednesday (Regular virtual learning day)
Where Learning Takes Flight
August Design Principle: The Responsibility for Learning
"Every child has a different learning style and pace. Each child is unique, not only capable of learning but also capable of succeeding."
~Robert John Meehan
Greetings from Dr. Brookins
Hello, Glenwood Families!
I hope we all can take a deep breath now that we have the first few days of virtual learning behind us. As kids and families get more familiar with the technology, platforms, and routines, each day will get easier. Wellness Wednesday was a great day to be able to have some time to focus on the whole child and social and emotional welfare. I hope you enjoyed the SEE lessons!
Huge thank you to our PTA for supplying every child with school supplies! We had a very good turnout and lots of happy families who didn’t have to shop for supplies- thank you, PTA, for providing us with supplies this year and all you do for us throughout the year. If you were not able to pick up your supplies, please reach out to Karen Hearn to set up a time to pick up or for delivery. Reminder to K families- your teachers delivered your supplies.
In an effort to support family engagement and participation in the learning process for students as we are learning virtually, we have prepared content guides for each grade level and core content. Please follow the link below to review the content pacing for your child’s learning.
My word for 2020 is “grace”. I try to remember to give myself and everyone I come in contact with grace right now. This is not easy on anyone but we are working together to make it happen! Together, we can do virtually anything and together we can do hard things! Thank you for supporting us here at Glennwood as we work to make virtual learning engaging and effective for your children. Thank you for giving us grace as we work through this first week- it will get smoother and easier but I am so pleased with how things have gone thus far. I am so incredibly impressed with our staff, families and most of all our students who are rockstars!
As always, please reach out with any questions or concerns.
Dr. Brookins
Virtual Learning Help
Guardian Notifications for Google Classroom
The evening of Thursday, August 20, Information Services will begin attaching parent/guardian contact information to our students in CSD Google Classroom. When this happens, you will receive an email inviting you to accept a guardian connection and to receive email summaries of missing work, upcoming work, and class activities posted to Classroom. (Some of you accepted a guardian invitation during remote learning in the spring, and you will not receive a new invitation.) If you do not click the “accept” button in the invitation, you will not receive guardian email notices. Parents can receive guardian notices to any email address. Please click here for additional information on what the guardian invites look like. And FAQ is also available.
- A team from City Schools of Decatur has created this awesome website with all kinds of tools to help you during virtual learning! Check out the Virtual Learning Help and Knowledge Center for everything you might need to know.
- If you need to complete a request for a Chromebook, hotspot or enter a tech ticket, please follow this LINK.
- Video Tutorial to Upload a Photo to Google Classroom
- If you are using a school-issued Chromebook and you are having audio issues during a Google Meet, usually restarting the Chromebook will resolve this problem.
- Beginning each virtual school day by restarting the Chromebook every morning will help with many tech issues.
- Please encourage your child to keep themselves muted during live sessions until the teacher calls on them.
- Students may use the space bar to mute and unmute themselves with the Chrome extension Push to Talk which the district has installed for students. However, you must have the sync turned on in Chrome in order for it to work. Follow the steps here.
City Schools of Decatur Introduces FLYbrary
If your child still has an outstanding library book from last spring semester, please return it to the school as soon as possible in order to clear your child's patron record. There is a cooler located on the front doorsteps of the school for library book drop off.
In order for us to have a better idea of participation, please complete THIS SURVEY by Friday, August 28. Only one survey per GL family is needed. Please contact Mrs. Rittenhouse at drittenhouse@csdecatur.net if you have any questions.
Hello from Mr. Blase, Our School Counselor
Greetings from Our School Nurse - Beth Barrington
We are excited for the start to the 2020-21 school year and wanted to provide some important reminders as the year gets underway. We know this school year is beginning unlike any other and wanted to make sure students and families have what they need for a safe and healthy start.
In keeping with recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the CDC, we strongly recommend that children continue with routine well visits and immunizations. These visits serve several important purposes, including:
tracking growth and development including milestones, social behaviors, and learning
discussing any concerns about your child’s health, and
getting scheduled vaccinations to prevent illnesses
In addition, if your child has any chronic medical conditions requiring a specialist’s care, please contact that provider to ensure they are current with all recommended visits.
We encourage families to be prepared for in-person learning with all necessary health requirements. These requirements include:
A current Georgia 3231 Certificate of immunization record or completed Georgia Department of Health form 2208 (Affidavit of Religious Exemption to Immunization)
If this is your child’s first year enrolled in a Georgia public school, a Georgia Department of Health form 3300 Certificate of Vision, Hearing, Dental, and Nutrition Screening is required
If your child has a medical condition that will require treatment in school, a Care Plan is required from your child’s healthcare provider. These may include Asthma, Seizure or Diabetes Care Plans and must be updated yearly
If your child will require medications at school, please be sure to follow the guidelines outlined in our District Handbook regarding Medications
Additional forms may be found at CSD Medical Forms
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Nurse Barrington at ebarrington@csdecatur.net. Wishing you all a safe and healthy school year!
Glennwood Yearbook Photo Requests for the 2020-21 School Year
Hi! By way of introduction, my name is Natasha Vorspel-Rueter and my daughter Mia is a kindergartner in Ms. Mason's class this year. My husband Christian, my daughters Mia (5) and Zoe (2) and I have called Decatur home since 2014. Prior to COVID, as a family we enjoyed traveling, riding our bikes to Butter and Cream for a sweet treat and going on outdoor adventures in the greater Atlanta area. We're now enjoying slowing down, hanging out at home, playing in the pool, doing lots of science experiments and baking different treats.
I'm excited to be taking on the role of the Yearbook Chair this year! I know the start of the 2020-2021 school year looks REALLY different this year. We'll probably share lots of cheers and tears as we go through the next few weeks. No matter what, I am committed to documenting the school year as much as possible and I'll need the help of parents, teachers and staff to ensure we capture these crazy moments. One day we'll all look back and say wow what a crazy year 2020 was!
The links below will allow you to upload your photos to our school shared folders. You can also email me pictures along with a 1-2 line description! My email address is Natasha@vorspel-rueter.com
I look forward to making this school year a memorable one!
Upload your photos here: Yearbook Photos 2020-21
Room Parent Request for 2020-21 School Year
I’m Martha Allen and I’m the Room Parent Coordinator this year. If you are interested in becoming a room parent for your child's classroom, please email me at marthanenni@gmail.com. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hooray for Our First Wellness Wednesday!
8:30-9:00 Kindergarten students
9:15-9:45 1st Grade students
10:00-10:30 2nd Grade students
How Does My Child Attend the SEE Learning Session?
Students will report to their homeroom Google Classroom at the designated time for their grade level session. A SEE Coach/Co-Teacher will be leading the live session in their Google Classroom. No new Google Meet link is needed - simply report to the homeroom teacher's Google Classroom tomorrow at the designated time listed above.
Attendance is required in these sessions however, if a student misses a SEE session, they will have 48 hours to complete the lesson in order to have their attendance counted. Makeup assignments will be sent via the SEE Google Classroom with the video links posted.
To ensure students have a full academic week during the week of Labor Day, student schedules will not include Wellness Wednesday on September 9th. The academic schedule will shift one day (i.e., Monday classes will be held Tuesday and Tuesday classes will be held Wednesday).
(GL student pictured here in a Wellness Wednesday session.)
As a reminder, we will have two vacancies on our School Leadership Team this year. This team serves as a collaborative, guiding coalition for all things Glennwood. Please consider submitting your application here. The nomination asks you to write a short bio which will then be published in the Eagle Edition. An example of a bio can be found here.
The deadline for submission is August 24th and candidate statements will be included in the Eagle Edition Newsletter. Voting will take place in early September in conjunction with our virtual Curriculum Night (to be scheduled) via a Google form. If you have any questions, please email Dr. Brookins at hbrookins@csdecatur.net.
PTA's New Website and 2020-2021 Membership Drive:
Over the summer, the Glennwood PTA transitioned to a new website in an effort to improve efficiency and better support our students, teachers, and families. The new site will make it easy for you to gather information, volunteer, and engage. We are especially pleased to announce that it will include a password-protected directory of students and parents, to help you stay even more connected during these unprecedented times. Very simply, visit www.glennwoodpta.org to register (following the instructions below) and provide information for the directory, if you wish to be included (please note that creating an account on the website does NOT register you as a PTA member; this just registers you for access to the website material).
Click My Info/Sign In
New User? Click here to register
The password is: soareagles
Follow the prompts to set up a user account and add students/teacher assignments/etc.
While you’re there, please consider joining the PTA for $20 per individual adult, and, if you're able, making a donation to provide valuable support for our students and teachers for the 2020-21 school year. Membership dues and donations will be used to support the PTA’s mission to make every child’s potential a reality by engaging and empowering students, families, and communities in education. Dues will directly support our community and the initiatives, events, and services we offer throughout the year. Our goal is to have 100 percent participation in the PTA this year (financial assistance is available upon request). To pay your dues, please visit: https://glennwoodpta.org/join/ If you have any questions, please reach out to president@glennwoodpta.org We thank you for your support!
Volunteers Needed:
The PTA is seeking the following Board and Chair Positions:
-Community Outreach and Development- PTA Board Position; one monthly meeting (via Zoom currently) required; works with PTA Board to oversee community outreach and fundraising opportunities for the school. No previous experience necessary.
-Co Chair for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Committee-The objective of this Committee is to help promote and enhance spaces at our school community where everyone is appreciated and celebrated. The group will be listening to the voices and needs of all families at Glennwood and aims to be intentional about modeling and promoting the building of meaningful relationships among members of our diverse school community. The Chair(s) will be responsible for leading a monthly meeting and working with the Committee to host (virtual) events that foster a sense of community (both at Glennwood and at the CSD level) and promote conversations on the topics of diversity, equity, and inclusion. If this work speaks to you, please consider volunteering for this very important position at our school.
After School Clubs (Virtual):
Glennwood has a few virtual after clubs available. To view the opportunities, visit https://glennwoodpta.org/custom-page-2/ (Please be aware that these clubs are NOT sponsored by Glennwood or City Schools of Decatur (CSD), nor will there be a Glennwood staff person present during the class. Glennwood nor CSD are liable and do not specifically endorse these classes.)
The CSD Virtual Meal Plan- Delivery or Pick up options available!
Did you know the CSD nutrition department is offering a week of breakfast and/or lunch to all our students! Meals can be picked up at the Decatur High School cafeteria or delivered to your bus stop. Meals can be picked up at the Decatur High School cafeteria or delivered to your bus stop.
If you choose to have your meals delivered to a local bus stop, we suggest signing up for "Predictable Ryde" through the CSD Transportation Department. For more information about predictable ryde, how to register, and how to set up your app, please visit www.csdecatur.net/bustracker.
- To order meals for the week of August 31-September 4, we will move back our ordering window. So instead of Tuesday through Thursday, the ordering window will be Monday, August 24, at 8 am until Wednesday, August 26 at 3 pm. We are changing the time frame to better coordinate with CSD Transportation. Thank you for your flexibility.
For more information on special dietary needs, frequently asked questions, prepayment, and to order, visit www.csdecatur.net/nutrition.
City Schools of Decatur Contact Directory
Decatur CREATES Leaders at Glennwood Who S.O.A.R.
S.O.A.R.
Show Self-Control
Offer Kindness
Act Responsibly
Respect Others