Sawnee Elementary
August 2019 Newsletter
A Note from Mr. Hershey
Dear Sawnee Families,
Thank you for such a wonderful start to our school year. We are already a few days into the school year and our students are learning so much! I would like to personally say thank you from my family to yours for all of your warm welcomes and allowing us to be part of the Sawnee community.
Sawnee Elementary continues to be an amazing school with over 1,475 students and is attracting many new families to the area. We are welcoming over 200 new families including our kindergarten families to Sawnee this year. We also have hired 15 new staff members. Although this is a very large community, our goal is to continue to make it feel small, personal, and family-oriented. If you have not taken the time to get to know a new family member or staff member yet, I would strongly encourage you to connect with them to support them with this transition.
Our vision at Sawnee is “Investing in the future by preparing students today.” Every student at Sawnee Elementary is valued and worth our best effort. We will continue to be guided by the Forsyth County Learner Profile as our end goal for each child. The main objective of the Learner Profile is to “Grow Leaders for Success” in the following areas:
- Pursue Continuous Learning
- Exhibit Strong Personal Qualities
- Utilize Creative and Critical Thinking
- Engage and Contribute
- Interact Effectively
Please join me in thanking our PTO for all of the support they provide to our school. If you have not joined our PTO yet, I would strongly encourage you to do so as a way to invest and partner with us to help directly improve your child's educational experience. Our PTO has continued to be supportive to our staff and students as they continue to host family events and support staff initiatives.
We are excited to partner with you as we work toward this common goal together. Again, welcome back to school and thank you for your continued support. It is an honor to serve as your child's principal.
Derrick Hershey
Principal
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The Leader in Me
Sawnee will continue to use The Leader in Me as our school leadership and character development program in order to support our students needs beyond academics. We will be sending additional information throughout the year about The 7 Habits, but in the meantime, you can visit their webpage at https://www.leaderinme.org/the-7-habits-of-happy-kids/. We will be continuing a school-wide behavior system based on Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports (PBIS). PBIS is a great teammate for The Leader in Me. We will have common expectations for student behavior that contributes to developing our students as leaders. Sawnee promotes the 3 Bs: Be Respectful, Be Responsible, and Be Safe. Positive behavior support is an application of a behaviorally-based systems approach to enhance the capacity of schools, families, and communities to design effective environments that improve the link between research-validated practices and the environments in which teaching and learning occurs.
The 7 Habits
- September - Habit 1: Be Proactive – You’re in Charge
- October - Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind – Have a Plan
- November/December - Habit 3: Put First Things First – Work First, then Play
- January - Habit 4: Think Win-Win – Everyone Can Win
- February - Habit 5: Seek First To Understand, then to be Understood – Listen Before you Talk
- March - Habit 6: Synergize – Together is Better
- April - Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw – Balance Feels Best
We will be coming up with creative ways to give our staff, students, and parents tools to learn these powerful habits on a deeper level. Stay tuned for more information....until then, please click here for more information about The 7 Habits.
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What's Happening at Sawnee?
Safety Entrances
Building 2 New Entrance
Building 1 New Entrance
Building 1 New Entrance
Car Rider Line Procedures
Thank you to all of you for continuing to help us with our morning and afternoon car rider lines. Here are a few reminders to help us continue to be safe:
- Please see the photo below of our traffic patterns for the car rider line. This traffic pattern allows for as many cars to get off of Hwy 20 and Spot Rd. Connector so that traffic doesn't back up on the main roads. The blue line represents the pattern to follow when arriving for both drop-off and pick-up.
- For the morning drop-off: To ensure a timely arrival at school, we strongly encourage students to ride the bus. Once your car comes to a complete stop (designated drop off location with a green line), encourage your child to quickly exit on the passenger side only. Please note that the car rider line is for students in both buildings, so no matter where your car stops on the designated drop-off area, your child will need to exit wherever you stop. Although we know that it is easier to drop students off directly closer to their specific building, this slows the car rider down tremendously and will not allow us to get our students into their classrooms on time. ***Please note that adults should not get out of the car while in car rider line. If you need to assist your child in exiting the car, please pull into a parking spot and walk your child to the front door.
- For afternoon pick-up: Once your car comes to a complete stop at the designated cone, encourage your child to quickly enter the vehicle on the passenger side only. If they need support buckling up, please feel free to pull forward out of the car rider line to allow other vehicles to pass by. Please continue to work with your child on memorizing their car rider number at home.
Sawnee Zone Pick Up Location
Want to Volunteer?
Sign Up for My Payments Plus
To activate your account go to www.mypaymentsplus.com. You will need your student(s)' ID number when you activate the account. This six-digit number can be found on the label on the outside of your child's red Open House folder, on your child's registration paperwork or by coming into the front office with your picture ID. Once you have the Student ID# and are logged in, go to Manage Accounts (upper left of the MPP home page)/Manage Student/Add all your students.
If you have any questions about My Payments Plus, you can contact Sharon Hamilton (Bookkeeper) here at Sawnee, shamilton@forsyth.k12.ga.us.
Cafeteria News
Click here to view breakfast and lunch menus.
- Peaches - are a good source of Vitamin C, Vitamin A and Potassium. Did you know you can ripen peaches by putting them in a paper bag for 2-3 days.
- Cantaloupes - are high in Vitamin A (100% of the Recommended Daily Allowance) and C (80% of RDA) and are a good source of Folate and Potassium. Cantaloupe derives its name from the town of Cantalupo, Italy, where cantaloupe seeds arrived from Armenia and were planted in the Papal Gardens in the 16th century.
Cafe 1 Staff
Cafe 2 Staff
Lunch Visitors
Important Dates to Know
August 21 - West Community Family Night
August 22 - Volunteer & Room Parent Breakfast, 8:30am, Cafe 1
August 30 - Early Release (Dismissal begins at 12:30 pm)
September 2 - Labor Day (No School)
September 5 - PTO Fundraiser Chief Challenge Kick-Off
September 6 - National Read a Book Day; SOAR Bus Safety Training
September 17 - LSC Meeting, 3:30pm, Chief Corner
September 18 - West Community NO Homework Night
September 19 - PTO Kona Ice Day
September 20 - Chief Challenge
September 25 - Custodian Appreciation Day
September 26 - Chief Leader Awards, 6:30pm, Cafe 1
September 30 - October 4 - Fall Break (No School)
Clinic News
Welcome to the new school year. If your student has a medical condition please update the nurse with the most current information, including no care needed at school or if the medical condition has been resolved. If care or medication is needed at school, see the link below for care plans to be completed by the physician. Care plans must be completed each school year. All medication should be brought to school by the parent and left with the school nurse. If you have any questions, please contact Nurse Robyn (PK-2/SPED) or Nurse Sheila (3-5/SPED)
Counseling News
My name is Bonnie O'Neil and I will be the part-time counselor at Sawnee Elementary. I am a semi-retired educator with over 35 years experience. I look forward to working with you and your students.
I would like to introduce Jansky, my Certified Professional Therapy Dog, who will work with me while I'm at Sawnee Elementary. She is a 10 year old Labrador Retriever that has worked with me at schools since she was a year old.
People often confuse Jansky as a Service or Guide Dog. Service Dogs assist people with physical and emotional disabilities and Guide Dogs assist people who are visually impaired. Although Jansky was trained to be a Service Dog, she is used as a Therapy Dog. So it's Jansky's job to be friendly and help people feel better. It is okay to pet her but please be respectful and ask first.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to call me at 770-887-6161 ext. 772318. Jansky and I are excited to join the Sawnee family.
Mrs. O'Neil
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PARENT CORNER
Sawnee PTO
2019-2020 Board Members
President- Jen Scribner
VP Volunteers-Ashley Serge
VP Hospitality-Rebecca Roberts
Treasurer-Nicole Hale
Secretary-Rebecca Frank
Contact us: sawneeptoboard@gmail.com
* Want to join PTO? Flyers will be coming home soon!
* Spirit Wear is still on sale. Flyers will be coming home for anyone who missed ordering. Online ordering will be available starting August 26th. The deadline to order is Sept. 13th.
* Chief Challenge fundraiser will kick off on September 5th.
* Kona Ice day will be Sept. 19.
* Chief Challenge Event Day will be Sept. 20.
* PTO/Room Mom Volunteer Breakfast will be Aug 22 at 8:30 in cafe 1.
Digital Citizenship
Community Events & Information
We will be sending business flyers home this year digitally to save paper. Please click on the links below of our local businesses that wish to share information with you:
Contact Sawnee Elementary
Website: http://forsyth.k12.ga.us/sawneeelementary
Location: 1616 Canton Highway, Cumming, GA, USA
Phone: 770-887-6161
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SawneeES/
Twitter: @SawneeElem