Brain Building!
Hello Panther Families!
“Brain Building Time” happens for your child around once per month or 6 times per year from August till March. Your child rotates through four sessions. Guidance lessons with Mrs. McLeod, Media Center lessons with Ms. Spitzner, Creative Thinking with Mrs. Share and Health with Mrs. Friedman.
One of the reasons we started and continued Brain Building is to allow dedicated time for the subjects above without interrupting a normal school day. This time is not a loss of instructional time for students, but rather compiled instructional time they need plus enrichment help prepare them for our creative and innovative future. Additionally, it provides our teachers with a block of time to really dive in and plan units targeted to their students’ individual areas of need. This time is SO important for teachers, as typically they only have about 35 mins a day to go to the restroom, respond to emails, plan with their teams, grade and assess student work, and more!
We have had Brain Building already for 1st and 4th on August 14th, 2nd & 5th on August 21st and Kindergarten & 3rd grade is tomorrow August 28th. Here is what your child has been doing in their sessions. Please ask about it to reinforce the learning!
Guidance with Mrs. McLeod-This month's Brain Building Counseling lessons focused on how a school counselor can help students, how to differentiate between small and large problems, and identifying feelings. Students in K-1 made emoji's, grades 2-3 played charades, and students in grades 4-5 got to play some Nerf basketball when reviewing ways to get help from a school counselor.
Media Center with Ms. Spitzner- In the Media Center, we are setting expectations for how to manage our library space together and sharing books through read alouds and exploration, which we call "book tasting." Soon we'll move into digital citizenship in all grade levels.
Creative Thinking with Mrs. Share- This month, we discussed the rules of brainstorming, which includes the welcoming of unusual ideas, thinking about as many ideas as possible, combining ideas, and that there are no right or wrong answers. K-3 students brainstormed things that were squishy. Students then categorized these into groups they identified. Ideas were different in every class. 4-5 students worked on captioning photos. I put fun pictures on the screen, and they worked in groups to brainstorm fun captions for each picture.
Throughout the year, we will focus on activities that inspire:
• Fluency: Brainstorming multiple ideas
• Flexibility: Making new connections or thinking about concepts in a different way
• Originality: Creating unique or unusual ideas
• Elaboration: Adding details or embellishing ideas
Health with Mrs. Friedman-Students learned about the different types of health, physical health and mental health and ways to keep our mind and body healthy (setting up for this year of learning). Then we did a fun experiment to show how fast and wide germs spread using GLITTER! Next time we will start learning about Nutrition!
As always, I am here if you have any questions. Thank you for your support!
Amy Lemons
Principal
Upcoming Events:
August 29th-ESOL Virtual Curriculum Night 5:30 *get link from ESOL Teacher
August 30th-Panther Pantry Day! Wear House Colors!
September 2nd-No School-Labor Day
September 3rd & September 4th-No School-Teacher Workdays (look below for a cool camp offer)
September 13th-Bookfair Kickoff Event 5:00-7:30
September 20th-iCode Parents Night Out Game Night 5:00-8:00
September 26th-Fall Picture Day
September 27th-Fall Movie Night!
October 10th-Parenting Class: Empower & Engage Positive Parent with Connection 8:00am
Did you miss Curriculum Night??
We missed you! Please pay attention to your child's teachers communication so you can watch the recording of their presentation.
Please watch the school wide presentation here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1C1IJdWhbFK1p9hNHtxLT_afmlQAijWfk/view?usp=sharing
Both presentations are very important for your child's and your families success here at New Prospect!
Did the PBIS App QR Code not work for you? The QR code provided on the family letter is not to be scanned with your camera. You must scan the QR code inside the PBIS Rewards Family app ONCE you have downloaded it.
Thank you!
We are looking for volunteers for our counseling advisory council!
An advisory council is a group of stakeholders selected to advise and assist with school counseling program implementation. The council meets at least twice a year and maintains an agenda and minutes for each meeting. Advisory councils assist school counselors by:
· Advising on program goals
· Reviewing program results
· Making recommendations about the school counseling program
· Advocating and engaging in public relations for the school counseling program
· Advocating for resources
We are scheduled to meet from 7:20-7:45 on Friday 9/13 . If you would like to join us or have suggestions for our program, please contact Christina McLeod @ mcleodcr@fultonschools.org
New Prospect Elementary School
Email: lemonsa@fultonschools.org
Website: https://newprospect.fultonschools.org/
Location: 3055 Kimball Bridge Road, Alpharetta, GA, United States
Phone: (470)254-2800
Twitter: @npepanthers