Early Release Dates for 2015-2016

Explorers,
Each year the county decides upon Early Release Days for schools.  Follow this link to access the dates of all early release days for our school:

Early Release Dates 2015-2016

Keeping you in the know,
Mrs. Graf

Student Parent Handbook

Parents,
Every wonder about the policies regarding healthy foods? Behaviors? Attendance?  Great information about our schools can be found here in the Student Parent Handbook!  Check out the link:  WCPSS 2015-2016 Student Parent Handbook

My Best,
Mrs. Graf

School Messenger 11/16 from Mrs. Graf

School Messenger from Mrs. Graf

November 16, 2015

Good morning Explorers,

It’s “Make It Happen Monday” here at East Garner.  This is Mrs. Graf with an update for you about the happenings here at school.

Parents report cards have been sent home and conferences have been scheduled.  Thank you to everyone who came out last Tuesday evening to meet with teachers and discuss your child’s progress.  Parents we have work to do with our academic growth and achievement.  We recognize that many of our students are not where they need to be with their academics and we want to do our very best to help each student.  Do you know where your child’s strengths and needs are with reading, writing, math, and science? Do you know what it takes for your child to move from a Level 1 to a Level 2 or a Level 2 to Level 3?  We do.  Please attend the scheduled conferences or call the school to schedule a conference with your child’s teacher so we can share valuable information with you that can help your child learn and grow!

This week at EGES:

11/16  PTA School Spirit Night-All Day at Chick-Fil-A.  Remember to drop your recepit in the PTA box so that our school gets the reward.

11/16 School Pictures sent home today!

Next Week at EGES:

11/24 PTA Board Meeting at 6:00 p.m. in the Media Center

11/25 Teacher Workday-No School for students!

11/26-11/27 Holiday Break

11/30 Welcome back to school!

That’s it Explorers! All of this information will be posted on our school website and will go out on the Principal’s Desk Blog.  Please call the school with any questions.  

My Explorer Best,

Mrs. Graf

Did you know about Parent Academy?

Explorers,
Did you know that WCPSS offers great information sessions for parents to support learning? It's true! Here is information for you about Parent Academy and a link for you to follow to learn more:

What is Parent Academy?

The Parent Academy provides free workshops and educational events for Wake County Public School System parents. The Parent Academy is committed to enriching the lives of children by bringing parents and schools closer together.

We believe every family functions as a learning environment, regardless of income, family structure, or ethnic and cultural background. In this respect, every family has the potential to support and improve a child’s academic achievement. When parents have high expectations for children and encourage them to work hard, they support a child’s success.

The purpose of the Parent Academy is to provide families with strategies that have a positive effect on the education of children. We strongly encourage families to take advantage of these free educational workshops.

Locations Near You 

• Family Resource Center: 108 S Harrington Street, Raleigh NC 27603 Download flier.
• Knightdale Recreation Center: 102 Lawson Ridge Road, Knightdale NC 27545 Download flier.
• Reedy Creek Middle School: 930 Reedy Creek Road, Cary NC 27513 Download flier.
• St. Monica’s Teen Center: 15 N. Tarboro Street, Raleigh NC 27610 Download flier.
• Triangle Lebanese-American Center (ARABIC): 241 Horizon Drive, Raleigh NC 27615 Download flier.
• Wake Co. Southern Regional Center: 130 N. Judd Parkway NE., Fuquay-Varina NC 27526 Download flier.

Click here to learn more about Parent Academy and to see the page in Spanish:

Parent Academy Site

What's the Buzzz here at EGES? Keep reading to find out more about the upcoming spelling bee!

Explorers,

We are rocking and rolling here at EGES.  We are into the second quarter of school and students are looking forward to the holiday break that Thanksgiving will bring.  This is also the time of year when we start to prepare for the spelling bee.  The gracious PTA has paid for enrollment fee so that our students can participate in classroom, school and the regional Scripps Spelling Bee in March.  See the dates below for upcoming dates.

Week of 11/15 Grade Level Spelling Bee Word Lists distributed to homerooms Grades 2-5
Week of 12/7-11 2nd, 3rd & 5th Grade Classroom Spelling Bees
Week of  12/14   4th Grade Spelling Bees

Our school wide spelling bee is scheduled for January 26th at 1:00 p.m.  This will be an event for parents, grandparents and community members to attend! All of our classroom spelling bee members will complete for the title of EGES Spelling Bee Winner 2015-2016!

This is a great opportunity for our students and our school.  I am excited that our students will have this experience here at our school.

My Explorer Best,
Mrs. Graf

The impact can be significant when a school and a family engage together...Parents Are Connected Night!

Explorers,

Tonight we will host our first Parents Are Connected event at the school.  In reflecting on this opportunity to engage parents in a learning event I can't help but wonder some "what ifs.."

What if all parents decided to attend tonight and learn about how to support their children in literacy? What would that look like? And what an impact that would have on our students learning!

What if our families and teachers collaborated to understand mClass data, identified what instructional needs each student has and then developed a plan to support that student? Wow! What an impact we could have on our children!

What if families walked away with a toolkit of strategies to use to supplement instruction at home to support our students could fill in their learning gaps? I can't help but think of the impact our parents, grandparents and significant adults in a students lives can have on a child when joined together with a teacher and a school.

Tonight's event is much more than a spaghetti dinner and an hour presentation on literacy content. This is an event in which a school that is deeply committed to individual student success can partner with families to provide a tight-knit layer of support for students embracing them, encouraging them and helping them move to higher rates of individual academic success.

I am looking forward to this evening and the relationships we will build and the impact we can have on our students.

Explorer Proud, Mrs. Graf

School Messenger from Mrs. Graf

Messenger September 14, 2015

School Messenger

September 14, 2015

Good evening Explorers,

Happy Make It Happen Monday Explorers!

Explorers, so much is going on at East Garner.  First things first, I want you to be aware of the ways that the school is sending home important information for you.  The school has a Twitter account that is live on our school website homepage.  The new website is now “live”  and will consistently be updated. And finally, I will be sending out school messengers via the phone about every week.  These messages will also be posted on the school website under Principal’s’ Message.  Parents I want you to know about the learning and teaching process that happens here at school everyday.  If you need support accessing our school website, the Twitter account or you are not receiving the automated phone calls please call the school. Also, parents we are tweeting out bus arrivals and dismissal times.  When you follow the bus twitter account you can get notifications straight to your phone when the bus arrives at school or leaves campus.  You can follow the bus account @eastgarneresbus and follow me for school wide information @eastgarneres.

This Week:

Tuesday, September 15th:  PTA General Meeting at 6:30  Come out and join us in the Media Center to learn more about our PTA and the plans for the school year!

Thursday, September 17th:  Join us for Open House! Open House is a time for parents to learn about the classroom procedures, curriculum expectations and our school wide expectations.  PTA will be on hand to discuss their plans for the school year.  There will be an opportunity for you to join the PTA as well! 

Saturday, September 19th:  Beautification Day 8:30-11:30 a.m.  Come on out and help us spruce up our campus grounds! 

Speaking of our PTA I have to share that we have hit a GOAL already in our first two weeks of school!  We have over 100 PTA memberships! This is amazing Explorers.  We are headed towards achieving our goals of increasing parent engagement in the school and strengthening our school to home partnerships.  Mr. Joyce, our PTA President and the PTA Board members are so excited about the plans that are in place for the school this school year. 

Finally, I want to address school security, carpool and bus transportation. As a reminder, all visitors to the campus must check into the main office.  All meetings, classroom visits, and volunteering must be prearranged.  We thank you for your support in our efforts to keep East Garner Elementary a safe environment focused on instruction with minimal interruptions to the classroom.  By tomorrow afternoon, all carpool tags should have been distributed.  The carpool tag must be displayed in the vehicle throughout the entire carpool dismissal time.  This tag will help us call out the number to students waiting to be loaded.  Please reinforce the carpool number with your child.  This will help us run carpool more efficiently.  Beginning this past Friday, all daycare providers will be using the Bus Loop for drop off and pick up.  This change has been explained to your child.  Please reinforce that students who ride with a provider to a daycare must listen for the announcement and watch the screen.  Bus arrival times and departure times are being Tweeted out LIVE through the EGES Bus Twitter account.  Parents, this means you can see when a bus leaves campus and/or arrives on campus to help you better meet your scheduling needs.  Lastly, early sign outs are NOT permitted after 3:15 p.m.  This has always been the expectation at East Garner but was not consistently reinforced.  Beginning this Friday, the Front Office will close at 3:15 to allow for afternoon dismissal procedures.  Early checkouts are for the occasional doctor appointment or dentist appointment.  These appointments should be prearranged and parents will need to call the Front Office to notify of the early checkout prior to 3:15 p.m.   I will not honor consistent early checkouts for extracurricular activities such as dance, gymnastics, football, etc. nor to avoid the carpool line.   Our school is focused on preparing students to reach academic proficiency.  Every minute from 9:15 until 3:45 will be used for instruction.  If you have questions about this school expectation, please email me at cgraf1@wcpss.net or call me at 919-773-7404 to schedule an appointment with me to review your child’s academic performance, current strengths and needs.  

That’s it Explorers! All of this information has been posted on the school website and go out on the Principal’s Desk blog.  Questions? Please call the school with any questions.  

My Explorer Excellence, Mrs. Graf