College Heights Connection

Dear Families,

We have a lot of great information in this week's newsletter. We are looking forward to welcoming our families to the many parent engagement opportunities we have this month. Be sure to save the date for our annual Book Parade on Friday, October 25 beginning at 9:30 am.

Have a wonderful weekend,

Principal Garland

Make plans to join us for a full week of activities celebrating early literacy, including the Scholastic Book Fair (sign up to volunteer for the book fair here), 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!

Check your child's classroom communications for more information.

Pre-K students had a marvelous time getting to know AG Ford, illustrator of over 30 children's books including the super popular Construction Site series. We heard an excerpt from the newest book in the series, Construction Site: Garbage Crew to the Rescue!, and he talked to us about how we can create illustrations using shapes that we already know how to draw. Special thanks to Little Shop of Stories for making this event possible. See photos below.

This week's stories:

Three Cheers for Kid McGear by Sherri Duskey Rinker, illustrated by AG Ford

Sheep in a Jeep by Nancy Shaw, illustrated by Margot Apple

The Sleepy Little Alphabet by Judy Sierra, illustrated by Melissa Sweet

If You're Happy and You Know It! adapted by Anna McQuinn, illustrated by Sophie Fatus

Deana Kingsbury will be returning to take student photos. Black and white, candid student photos will be taken during morning recess time the week of October 14th. You can see some of Deana's amazing work displayed in the hallways on either side of the library. Please see photo schedule below.

Just a reminder College Heights is closed to all students (0-3 and Pre-K) on Tuesday, November 5 for a teacher professional learning day. Pre-K students will engage in at-home instruction using a learning choice board. Look for more information from your child's classroom teacher.

Special thanks to the Wilson Center for sending so many wonderful mystery readers to College Heights this morning for Decatur Reads Week. Many brought books to share that are now or were once favorites of their own children. Here are just a few of our guests. (R - Mikkal Hart Murunga, Chief Communications Officer)

Each year, the annual College Heights Read-To-Me-A-Thon encourages parents to read with their children and promotes childhood literacy while supporting our district equity goals by adding new, high-quality books related to diversity, equity, and inclusion and social-emotional learning to our library!

Read-To-Me-A-Thon dates: October 16-23, 2024

Help us reach 100% participation!

REGISTER YOUR READER TODAY & START GETTING SPONSORS!

Step 1 – Register Your Reader TODAY:

• Go to pledgestar.com/collegeheights/ and choose “Not Yet Registered for This Event” to set up your child’s personal fundraising page and place to log reading minutes!

• You can download the Pledgestar app and register using the code: collegeheights

Step 2 – Set a Goal for your Child:

• Set a goal for how many minutes your child will read with you or others during the event (the grandparents will love it!)

• Sign up friends & family as reading sponsors by October 16th to contribute either a flat amount OR pledge an amount based on minutes read!

Step 3 – Log Reading Minutes from October 16-23:

• Log your child’s “Reading Minutes” every day from October 16-23 on your child’s personal online reading log!

• Reading together is a great way to connect with your little one and encourage your child’s love of reading!

• Remember to dive into reading to get those minutes, as there will be winners announced for the highest number of logged minutes and classroom participation!

At the Book Parade on Friday, October 25, we'll celebrate the classrooms with the most logged reading minutes and the most participation per age group (Infants/Toddlers, Preschool, and Pre-K), as well as the highest number of individual reading minutes per age group. Top readers (minutes read at each grade level) will receive prizes!

Click here to get started!

Questions? Please email averydavisbell@gmail.com.

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!

October 21-25 - Literacy Week

October 25 - Book Parade, 9:30 am

October 30 - Early Release Day (Pre-K only), 12:15 pm

November 5 - NO SCHOOL for 0-3 and Pre-K (teacher professional learning day)