College Heights Connection

Dear Families,

It's hard to believe we are wrapping up our second month of school. I was able to spend a lot of time in the classrooms this week and the amount of social and academic progress our little learners are demonstrating is amazing. Be sure to ask your student about their "classroom helper job." The children take pride in their jobs and how they are contributing to their classroom family. Just a reminder our

Pre-K and Preschool special education programs are on fall break next week (September 23-27). I hope you enjoy a wonderful week.

Principal Garland

Make plans to join us for a full week of activities celebrating early literacy, including the Scholastic Book Fair, family literacy night held at the school with fun activities for all ages, guest readers, mystery readers, PTA Read-to-Me-a-Thon, and more. We will cap off the week with the annual Book Parade at 9:30 am on Friday, October 25. This event is not to be missed!

More details are coming soon; teachers will also be sending information to families through classroom newsletters.

Pre-K and Preschool students were introduced to National Hispanic Heritage Month with a reading of the book Manaña Iguana, a modern retelling of the folk taleThe Little Red Hen. We were excited to practice some Spanish words including conejo (rabbit), tortuga (turtle), and culebra (snake), as well as the days of the week.

Thank you for your amazing support of the AG Ford book order for Construction Site: Garbage Crew to the Rescue!. Pre-K students are really looking forward to our first author/illustrator visit of the year on Wednesday, October 2.

Book Fair is coming! Look for more information, including volunteer sign ups, after the break.

This week's stories:

I'm Brave! by Kate and Jim McMullan

Lola at the Library by Anna McQuinn, illustrated by Rosalind Beardshaw

I Love You, Mister Bear by Sylvie Wickstrom

Good Night, Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle and Jill McElmurry

Music classes with Ms. Lauren are a huge hit with our students! Lauren reports that she is excited to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month in music classes. Students will explore instruments with Latin origins such as castanets, maracas, guitar, and güiro. They will also listen and move to music by artists from Mexico, Spain, Central and South America, and the Caribbean.

Ms. B's students created pictographs to show the family members (and pets) that live with them. Look how fun math can be!

Playground fun with Pre-K (Ms. Bauer and Ms. Collins)

Artists of all ages are discovering the joys of self-expression at College Heights!

As fall break approaches, we're reminded of how DEF's Lighten the Load program began -- with an elementary school teacher who told us that one of her students dreaded school breaks because he and his siblings counted on having two meals a day at school. Our Lighten the Load program has evolved since then, but we're still committed to helping remove obstacles - like food insecurity - for our kids.

The number of weekend food bags we provide has DOUBLED this year, and we need your help to ensure we're able to continue to meet this need. This is our community, and these are OUR kids. Please consider donating to DEF, or purchasing items from our Lighten the Load wish list, today.

You probably know that September is Suicide Prevention Month -- but do you know that through Joe’s Fund, DEF’s behavioral health fund, we provide ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training) workshops multiple times each year? These two-day workshops are open to ANY CSD staff member or Decatur community member. We held a refresher course just this week, and the next trainings will be: October 10-11, February 27-28, and March 13-14. Help us make Decatur a suicide-safe community - sign up using the QR code. Interested in supporting this important work? Donate here: https://decatureducationfoundation.org/donate/.

A Season of Giving is a neighbor-led organization that brings joy to local children and seniors through gift-giving.

For Assistance: To apply for gift assistance, please complete our online application at Apply by October 31. We are excited to support children through 12th grade again this year.

Sponsor a Gift: Donors can purchase gifts based on individual wish lists for children or seniors. If you would like to be a sponsor, please fill out the form at Sponsor.

Donate Directly: If you prefer, you can make a donation, and we will do the shopping for you. Simply Donate at our website!

Volunteer: We would greatly appreciate your help! If you're interested in volunteering, please go to Volunteer and sign up.

Need Help or Have Questions? If you encounter any issues with the forms or have any questions, feel free to reach out to us at aseasonofgivingdecatur@gmail.com.

Thank you for your support and generosity of the Season of Giving!

September 20: Early Release Day (Pre-K only)

September 23-27: Fall Break (no school for Pre-K and Preschool special education students)

October 2: AG Ford author visit (Pre-K classes)

October 21-25: Literacy Week

October 25: Book Parade