Bear Essentials

The end of the school year is always so bittersweet. It’s a wonderful time to celebrate the accomplishments of our students and recognize the growth they have made this school year. At the same time, saying goodbye is difficult. This is especially true for our fifth-grade students as they prepare for middle school. I enjoyed celebrating them at their promotion ceremonies. Thank you for making the day so special for them.

With summer break quickly approaching, now is a good time to plan out your child’s summer reading list. Continuing to promote literacy in the home will help your child sharpen their reading skills and be better prepared to next school year. The public library is a great place to start and your child automatically has an account as a GCPS student.

I am looking forward to hearing all about our students’ summer break adventures when they return to school in August. Please continue to follow us on social media and check our website for information for the 23-24 school year. Thank you for all you do!

Sincerely,

Ashley Coughlin

Ashley.Coughlin@gcpsk12.org

• Monday, May 22

  • 1:00pm 5th Grade End of Year Walk and Drumline

  
  

  Tuesday, May 23

  • No events

  
  

  Wednesday, May 24

  • Last day of school
  • 8:30 - 11:00am 5th Grade fun day

We will have our annual 5th Grade Promotion Walk on Monday, May 22 at 1:00 pm. The DHS drumline and high school seniors who previously attended BLES will also participate in the walk. It should take about 15-20 minutes. Part of the route will be inside the school, but fifth grade parents are welcome to stand outside by the bus lanes and wave to their child as they walk by them during their outside route time.

We are so proud of our 5th graders, and we have a super fun last day of school planned! We still need some volunteer help to make it a success. If you can, please plan to come and help make it a fun and memorable day by clicking on this link to sign up! (Make sure to be on time and bring your ID for check in.)

PTO and Berkeley Lake Elementary would like to thank the volunteers who have helped us prepare for 5th Grade Promotion:

• Amanda Tokarz
• Alissa Berzen
• Denisa Hid Agu
• Josie Mu
• Lateisha Hardy
• Amy Potter

Ms. Marantz and Ms. Murphy would like to thank the 5th grade leaders who gave their time and talents to serve BLES this school year through Safety Patrols, School Store, and as Peer Mediators.

Safety Patrols

• Julian
• Bella
• Malaysia
• Adrian
• Luis
• Genesis
• David
• Camila
• Connor
• Sophia
• Anaya
• Halima
• Lucas
• Shalimar
• Jesus
• Allison
• Phoenix
• Morgan
• Sophia
• Yen
• Val
• Angelique
• Gabriel
• Isabella
• Aidan
• Patrick

Peer Mediators

• Damian
• McKinnley
• Dalaney
• Kaylee
• Athena
• Amelia
• Lizzy
• Vy

School Store

• Hector
• Esther
• Anamia
• Olivia
• Carol
• Yahir
• Steven
• Angie
• Jannah
• Benet
• William
• Eimy
• Eliana
• Nina
• Cassidy
• Lily Grace
• Samuel
• Steven

Thanks to the hard work of our staff and students, Berkeley Lake Elementary School has been named a No Place For Hate school again this year. This is an Anti Defamation League honor that our school has earned in past years and we plan on continuing the work with our staff and students in future years to come too.

Voting has ended and our PTO slate of officers has passed. Congratulations to our 2023-2024 PTO Board:

• Co-Presidents Pam Bloch and Tali Boots
• Vice-Presidents Casey Case, Erin King, Nancy Lopez, Megan Rohall, and Sohini Whatley
• Treasurer Sarah Yang
• Secretary Kori Dickens

We also want to thank and send a fond farewell to our current Co-President, Monique Somervell, for her service and dedication to the PTO over the years.

Thanks to your support of our PTO fundraisers, PTO was able to fund High Touch High Tech for kindergarten and 1st grade again this year.

On Thursday the K-Kids welcomed the new rising 5th graders to the 2023-2024 K-Kids Club. Here are our new members for the 2023-2024 school year:

• Madddie Cruz
• Katherine Jackson
• Jaelyn Nguyen
• Laila Hall
• Kerrigan Hill
• Ruby- Khanh Hoang Qui Le
• Olivia Mooney
• Justus Williams

We look forward to building a larger group in the fall, so if your student is still interested have them look for applications in the August.

We would like to say goodbye and wish our current 2022-2023 K-Kids members well next year! We also want to give a big congratulations to Vy Hun for being selected as our K-Kid of the Year and Cassidy Sheehan for receiving the Mel Hayden award - Georgia Leadership Medallion!

All items in the lost and found will be donated after the last day of school. If your child is missing a lunchbox, jacket, sweatshirt, etc. we encourage you to come by the school to check and see if it is in the lost and found before the last day.

Order your school supply kits online now and make the start of next school year a breeze. The order deadline is July 17 and the supplies ship to the school. BLES PTO receives a percentage of sales, so you can save time and support the school all at once. Please see the image below for details or click the link here to place your order.

Our school and district uses School Messenger to deliver text messages straight to your mobile phone with important information about school closings, safety alerts, events, and more. But, you have to opt in to receive these messages!

If you are not already receiving notifications from both Berkeley Lake Elementary and the district, you can sign up now by sending a text message to number 67587. In the text field area of your message, just type a "Y" or the word "Yes" and you will be opted in.

Now that Digital Learning Days are over for the year, all student Chromebooks should be back in the building, and we are asking teachers not to send them home any more at this point. We will be assessing and collecting student Chromebooks, loaned out hotspots, and adding fines to the students' eCirc and MyPaymentsPlus accounts, if necessary. If your child has a hotspot, Chromebook, or any powercords at home, please be sure to send them back as soon as possible so we don't have to charge any fines.

Students should please return all of the Media Center books they have checked out by May 24th.

Students will be bringing pink notices home if they have overdue books or outstanding fines. Please remind your students to return their overdue books to the Media Center or take care of any outstanding book fines before they leave for the summer.

GASP, Georgia's After School Program, offers an in-house affordable after-school program here at BLES. Click here to learn more.

If your family needs economic support, please click here to view resources shared by our school counselors.

June 20th – June 30th from 9:30am to 2:00pm

NO walk-ins will be accepted! Space is Limited!

You MUST pre-register online using this google form.

Exams are on a first come first come basis. You will receive a confirmation email IF your child has been selected for an exam. This summer, Gwinnett County Public Library System, in coordination with Vision To Learn, will offer vision screenings, eye exams, and, if necessary, glasses for your child. These services are free and will be provided at NO COST to you. Quality vision care is an important component of education; students that cannot see often struggle to learn to read, to see the board, and to succeed academically. During the course of this event, your child will be screened. If your child fails the screening, a trained and licensed Optometrist will then perform a basic eye exam on your child and will prescribe glasses if appropriate. You will be informed if your child may need follow-up care. Following the eye exam, if your child needs glasses he/she will have the opportunity to pick from a variety of frames, and glasses will be ordered for your child. Approximately 4-6 weeks later, Vision To Learn will return to the library to deliver your child’s glasses. You will be notified by library staff once glasses are ready for pickup. The eye exam and eyeglasses are available to all students who need them, at no out-of-pocket cost to parents or children. FREE!!!

If your child is in Kindergarten, 1st, or 2nd grades or is a multilingual learner, it is likely he/she has been using Imagine Learning Literacy this year. This program will still be available to students over the summer, and we encourage them to use it for 20 minutes/per day for best results. Imagine Learning is also holding a summer contest and winning students can earn $50 Walmart gift cards. Please see the image below for more details.

Students can access Imagine Learning from any computer or online device by going to https://login.imaginelearning.com/.

This summer, all Berkeley Lake Elementary students in grades K-5 are encouraged to participate in the Beanstack Summer Reading Challenge! We want to give students a summer reading experience that will help instill a love for reading among all of our students.

The Beanstack Summer Reading Challenge runs from June 1 to July 31, 2023. All students will be enrolled automatically in the challenge on our Beanstack site. We challenge our students to participate and keep track of their reading on our Beanstack site at http://gcpsk12berkeleylakees.beanstack.org/

Mrs. Norby will be monitoring the progress of BLES students who participate in the challenge and rewards will be given to those who participate! Students who participate will also be helping our school get to the top of the leaderboard! We're competing against schools and libraries across the nation for a chance to win cash prizes from Beanstack.

1. Click here to log into your student Beanstack account. For student login, students should use their student number and 4-digit birthday (mmdd).
2. Once students are logged in, they can access the Summer Reading Challenge, where they can log their reading and receive badges!

The Gwinnett Summer Meals program will provide free grab-and-go breakfast and lunch to children 18 and younger and those 19 and older with physical or mental disabilities. Meals are available from Tuesday, May 30 through Tuesday, August 1, and can be picked up Monday through Friday from 11:00am to 1:00pm (including County holidays) while supplies last. Visit GwinnettSummerMeals.com to learn more and find a complete list of meal locations.

If you're interested in volunteering for the Summer Meals program, visit VolunteerGwinnett.net.

Click here to preview summer enrichment opportunities and activities for gifted and high ability students. Students can benefit greatly by participating in summer enrichment opportunities and activities.

Click here for all summer camp information.

• Withdrawing or Enrolling a Student? Click here to learn the steps for the process.

• Parents, please do not bring in fast food to the school cafeteria. Thank you in advance for your cooperation in this matter.

• Would you like to purchase a small gift item for our PBIS (Positive Behavior and Intervention Store)? Click here to see our Wish List.

• Podcasts in English and Spanish

• If your family does not have internet at home and you will need it for the various Digital Learning Days, click here to request a hotspot now. You only need to request one per family and you may keep it for the entire school year. You will need to return it at the end of the year in May.

• Student fines - click here to see if your child has a library, technology, or other school fine.

• GCPS 2023-2024 School Year Calendar

• GCPS is Hiring

• Weekly eTips for Parents in English and Spanish

• Reminder about sending in birthday treats for students Per the Student Handbook: Parents may provide snacks only, no drinks, favors, balloons, or flowers for the child’s birthday. Whole cakes that need to be sliced by staff are not permitted. All students should be included. Nutritious snacks are encouraged. Birthday treats should be handed out and eaten in the cafeteria during the last ten minutes of the lunch period. Please make sure that students mainstreamed in your classroom are included in the count for treats. Buying ice cream at school for each class member is encouraged. Students may not pass out invitations to parties at school unless all members of the class are invited.

• If your family needs additional support, our counselors and Care team can help with basic needs like food, clothes, personal hygiene items, etc. If you would like to access these resources please contact Lyndsay Murphy (K,2,4) Lyndsay.murphy@gcpsk12.org 770-582-7523, Laura Marantz (1,3,5) Laura.marantz@gcpsk12.org 770-582-7522, or Sandra Orci (Spanish) Sandra.orci@gcpsk12.org 678-291-4232
  

• Afternoon Transportation Changes Parents, please remember that afternoon transportation changes must be made by 1:30 and there are only two ways for you to make an change for your child: Use the PikMyKid app or send in a signed note. Dojos, emails, or phone calls to change afternoon transportation will not be accepted. Thank you for helping us enforce this rule and keep our kids safe!

• No Student checkouts after 2:15 PM

• If your child misses school Information needed on the excuse note includes: today’s date, the child’s full name, child’s teacher, child’s grade level, date(s) of absence, reason for absence, and parent signature (typed full name if sending via email or Class Dojo).

• Berkeley Lake Elementary's Local School Plan for Improvement (LSPI)

• Follow us on Social Media Facebook and/or Instagram

• MyPaymentsPlus Gwinnett Public Schools uses MyPaymentsPlus as a site for school-related payments and documentation sign off. If you do not yet have an account with this site, you will need to set one up. Click here to learn more.

• We recycle: Berkeley Lake recycles aluminum cans and old clothes and shoes (in any condition) in the two bins in the upper parking lot. The Green Team receives 10¢ per pound of donations, which helps pay the fee for the weekly paper and cardboard pick-up. The aluminum cans are recycled at Progressive Recycling on Simpson Circle. Please support our Green Team by recycling these items here at Berkeley Lake. Thank you!

• We Collect Box Tops Online. Here are instructions for how to continue to give to our school using the new Box Tops process.

• Do You Have a Parent Portal Account? You may have heard about Gwinnett's Parent Portal. The Parent Portal is a website that will allow you to log in and see your child's information, such as attendance, grades, standardized test scores, etc. If you need to register with the portal, please print and complete this registration form and turn it in to the main office. Along with the completed form, you are required to show a photo I.D. for verification.

• Georgia After School Program (GASP) Click here to get more information about the Georgia After School Program.

• Our Parent Center The Berkeley Lake Parent Center is located across from the front office and it's providing services by appointment. For Parent Center support please call Ms. Sandra Orci, Parent Liaison, at 678-291-4232 or email her at Sandra.Orci@gcpsk12.org

• The Tutoring Center, Duluth, Ga.
• Mathnasium
  
• Ultra Baby LLC (Ultrasound and Photography)
  
• Atlanta Urgent Care - 5246 Peachtree Pkwy
• Brooks Injury Law (Boosterthon Business Partner)
• Peachtree ESQ (Boosterthon Business Partner)
• Fives Group (Boosterthon Business Partner)
• Friend of BLES (Boosterthon Business Partner)
• Georgia After School Program (GASP) (Boosterthon Business Partner)
• JR's Log House (Boosterthon Business Partner)
• Ms. Sweet - 3rd Grade (Boosterthon Business Partner)
• CAMP RISE GEORGIA (Boosterthon Business Partner)

If you would like to learn more about a business partnership with our school, click here.

Berkeley Lake Elementary

4300 S. Berkeley Lake Rd.

Duluth, Georgia 30096

P: (770)446-0947

F: (770)582-7514