School Messenger 8/30 from Mrs. Graf

School Messenger from Mrs. Graf

August 30, 2015

Good evening Explorers,

Happy first week of school! This is Mrs. Graf, school principal with a weekly update about the happenings at East Garner Elementary.  

First things first, I want to give a shout out to our teachers, parents and students for making this the best Meet the Teacher session and first week of school yet for East Garner!  We had a high attendance rates for our families and students at our Meet the Teacher event.  I hope that you enjoyed the process of cutting the ribbon to mark the start of our school year! The organization of all of the people and items that you needed to start school off was located in the Cafe.  Your Cafe Manager, Carpool Tags, PTA, School Supply distribution, Before Care, and this year, we were able to invite and partner with City BBQ to provide samples of their products.  City BBQ is a local restaurant who is partnering with our PTA to support EGES this school year. I hope that you were able to get all of the information to start your child’s school year off successfully.  We were also able to offer the family photo station to commemorate the new school year.  Be on the lookout for photos on our website soon! Thank you again for coming to the Meet the Teacher event this school year.

The first week of school has been successful overall! Students are learning the expectations of their classroom teacher and our universal school wide expectations.  Please encourage your child to follow MAPS on the bus, in carpool and throughout their school day.  Remember MAPS stands for Make smart choices, Always do your best, Practice self control and Show Respect.  Parents, when our children follow the rules of school, without a doubt they can learn.  Thank you for supporting us with school wide expectations.

Universal Breakfast:  Due to a Parents all children can receive a free breakfast at EGES.

Great News: Universal School Breakfast in More Wake Schools!

In June, the Wake County Board of Commissioners voted to expand Universal School Breakfast to 15 more elementary schools in the Wake County Public School System. USB allows all students to eat breakfast for free, eliminating the perception that school breakfast is only for students from low-income households and allowing more children to enjoy the benefits of starting the school day with a nutritious breakfast. It is truly a win for students and schools, as research shows that students who eat breakfast have higher test scores, better attendance and graduation rates than those who do not. Thank you,  Commissioners! If you have any questions or concerns regarding USB, please call the school.  

This week:  

9/3: Character Kick Off-We will kick off our focus on the character trait Responsibility!  

9/4:  Early Release Day:  Dismissal for ALL Students will be at 1:15 p.m.

Next Week:

9/7:  Labor Day Holiday:  No School

9/8:  School Resumes! Welcome back!

9/9 & 9/10:  Beginning of Grade Testing for 3rd Graders

That’s it Explorers! All of the information will go out via our school website, the school Twitter account and the Principal’s Desk Blog!  Want to know how to receive up to the minute information about our school, call the school!  

Follow me on Twitter at the handle @EastGarnerES

Sign Up for the Principal’s Desk blog at http://eastgarnerprincipal.blogspot.com/

My Explorer Excellence, Mrs. Graf

School Messenger July 22, 2015

School Messenger

July 22, 2015

Explorers,

Happy Wednesday to you!  Yes, it’s the middle of Summer and your Principal is calling you!  I wanted to check in with you and let you know about changes going on in your school and some upcoming events.  Please listen carefully.

First things first, I miss you!  The hallways are too quiet! I can’t wait to have you back in the building bringing learning and teaching to life. :) I can’t wait for you to see the newly refreshed Front Office space, the new materials and resources we have ordered for you and so much more.  We are working hard to get our building and classroom learning spaces ready for you.  A special thanks goes out to our Custodians and our Summer Support Crew for all of their work in preparing for the first day of school.

Secondly, the school is open Monday through Friday.  We will be offering Story Time for all students from 1-2 p.m. in the Media Center.  Ms. Ferguson, Ms. Horton and I will be taking turns running the Media Center each day next week. And maybe even a Guest Teacher will surprise you!  You can come listen to a story and check out a book.

Parents this next message is just for you.  If you have a rising Kindergarten student and have not enrolled your child in school yet, please come next week anytime between 9:00 -2:00 p.m.  You can call Ms. Horton at 919-773-7407 if you have any questions about enrollment.

Calling on all 4th graders who are participating in the Summer READS program:  Keep reading your books and don’t forget to complete your trifolds and mail them back in.  The more you read, the better reader you will become!  Don’t forget the reading celebration that your 4th grade teachers are planning for you when you return to school.  In order to attend the celebration you must read at least 8 out of the 10 books AND send in your trifolds!

Summer school parents: I want to thank you for getting your students up and ready for Summer School.  I’ve been over at Creech Road Elementary and your children are well behaved, engaged and learning important skills.  We could not do it without you!

Supply lists are ready for the 2015-2016 school year.  You can stop by and pick up a hard copy or check our school website.  Speaking of the school website, get ready for a new look.  Our website will be transitioned to the newly updated district format in the very near future.  It will be more parent friendly and it house all of the important information about East Garner Elementary that you need to keep connected and be informed.  

Finally Explorers, I want to share out that our PTA is up and running effectively! They are setting goals for membership, celebrating students and teachers and increasing family engagement.  I have been meeting with our new PTA President, Mr. Joyce routinely and he is extremely motivated and ready to make this our best school year ever!

That’s it Explorers! All of this information will be posted on the school Twitter account at the handle @EastGarnerES.  I will also send out the new Principal’s Blog.  The blog address is http://eastgarnerprincipal.blogspot.com.  

My Explorer Best, Mrs. Graf

Free Lunch and Dance Party at the Poe Health Center

Explorers,

It's FREE LUNCH and End of Summer Dance Party with special guest Stormy from the Carolina Hurricanes this week at the Poe Center.  Here's your friendly reminder about the Poe Center's FREE LUNCH FOR KIDS program.

FREE Summer Lunches - http://www.poehealth.org/events/free-lunch-during-the-summer-wednesdays-2015-08-05/
Food that’s IN when school is out.

Who:     Youth ages 18 and under.  Groups of 8+ must RSVP 24 hours in advance to Lauren McCallum l.mccallum@poehealth.org 919.231.4006

When:    Wednesdays, June 17 – August 5, 11 a.m. – Noon

Where:  Poe Center for Health Education, 224 Sunnybrook Rd. Raleigh, NC

My Best, Mrs. Graf 

New school year, new school!

OK followers...here we go! As many of you I transitioned from the Principal at Banks Road ES to take on the position of Principal of East Garner Elementary here in Garner, NC!  Although I was sad to leave Banks I looked forward to the challenges of the new principalship.  I took some time away from blogging to get my knee deep in my new position.  Since East Garner follows the traditional calendar, I am finally taking the time to switch over my blog to reflect my position change.  If you were a Trailblazer follower, I hope that you will choose to keep following! I will be posting district information, information for my new Explorer parents, and still information about the teaching and learning process regardless of where your children go to school!

I will also share my thoughts on education, homework, tips on supporting your child in school and much more!

Be on the lookout for posts about how to sign up for the volunteer process so that you can attend our school events such as field day, classroom activities and volunteering in the classrooms.  Additionally, the beginning of the year brings about many reminders about processes, procedures and activities that will be happening here at East Garner ES but also in our district.  I will post this information pretty routinely so that you will be in the know about the opportunities for your children and for your family.

For now Explorers, should you need to contact me, please feel free to call the school at 919-773-7411 or email me at cgraf1@wcpss.  And don't forget to follow me on Twitter at the handle @eastgarneres.  I consistently tweet information for you about school, events and education.

My Explorer Best, Mrs. Graf

A PTA Update

Trailblazers,

An update from our PTA...

Happy Snow Day!!!

I just wanted to update you all on the Fun Run.  Due to the weather last week, we have changed our Fun Run scheduled for T1/T3 to March 4th. Classes will be running at the same time slots as before.  

T-shirt decorating has also been reschedued for those who have not decorated yet. Track 3 will be on 2/25, with the exception of Ms. Garvey's class. They will be spray painting on 2/26.  The rest of Track 1 that has not spray painted, will be doing their shirts on the 27th. 

Prizes will be awarded on Fridays, starting this week.  We have changed the last day to collect money for ALL tracks to Mar. 20th. If tracked out, the student will receive their prize when they return.

Due to this weeks weather, nothing is set in stone :) I will update you if this changes.

We will collect money on Mondays and Fridays. Please place collections inside your classroom to the right of the door.  Please indicate you have a collection ready for pick-up by placing the PTA magnet on the outside of your door.  If you need a new magnet, please let me know.  I heard the first collection was a bit intrusive and to minimize this we will plan to collect in the afternoon and only pop in to grab collections ready. We do not want to interrupt your class. 

Important dates:  

Mar. 2nd:  Steel Drum Band will be joining the student's as our music guest during the day.

Mar. 10th:  Footworks Percussion Dance will perform once during the school day and again from 6-7PM for those student's who cannot participate during the day.

Please let me know if you have any questions.  Thank you and enjoy your day!  ~ The Banks Road ES PTA

WCPSS Parent Academy is hosting the Second Annual Family Summit

The WCPSS Parent Academy is hosting the Second Annual Family Summit on Saturday, February 21, 2015 from 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in collaboration with the NC Alliance of Black School Educators. The event will be held at Millbrook High School, 2201 Spring Forest Road, Raleigh, NC for all Wake County Public School families.

The objective is to provide families with a variety of informative and engaging workshops on academics and social/emotional development to share strategies on student success.

We will be offering separate Spanish workshops for our Latino families. In addition, upon request we will provide interpretation service in Arabic, French, Korean, Russian, and Vietnamese. 

The conference is FREE of charge, will provide FREE Continental Breakfast and Information Fair.

Read to Achieve Camp Update

3rd Grade Parents,
Coming home this Friday in folders are invitations for the Read to Achieve Camp.  Please remember that attendance is not required this school year, but I would like you to consider having your child attend camp if they receive an invitation.  If you have any questions please contact Mrs. Reed at lreed@wcpss.net.   She is our Read to Achieve contact.  Thank you, Mrs. Graf