The Bulldog 11.21.24

Note from Mrs. Lockwood

What a great week of teaching and learning! We celebrated National Family Engagement Month in style with our annual Thanksgiving luncheon, annual musical, and family movie night. Families, we appreciate your involvement and support. We are indeed a strong Clairemont community!

This week is our annual musical. Come out and see Clairemont’s production of "Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs Before Dark!" We have some amazing talent at Clairemont. The show starts at 6 p.m., we hope you can attend!

This Friday is Early Release. Students will be dismissed at 12:45 p.m. Our dismissal process will be the same just earlier in the day.

Next week school will be closed from Monday, November 25 through Friday, November 29, 2024. School will reopen on Monday, December 2, 2024. I hope that everyone has a wonderful holiday break. I cannot wait to see everyone back in the building on Dec. 2, rested and recharged!

Events at a glance:

• Thursday, November 21: "Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs Before Dark - The Musical," 6 p.m.
• Friday, November 22: Early Release Day
• Monday, November 25-Friday, November 29: Thanksgiving Break
• Tuesday, December 3: Spirit Night at Chick-fil-A, 5-7 p.m. (Mobile orders only, see flyer below.)

The Magic Treehouse: Dinosaurs Before Dark is playing at Clairemont Elementary in Decatur, GA this Thursday, November 21st at 6pm!

This 45-minute musical, designed for elementary school-aged performers, is based on the The Magic Treehouse book series by Mary Pope Osborne. Clairemont’s kindergarten through second grade cast has over 50 cast members and is brought to you by a host of parent volunteers and staff!

Join Annie, Jack, and their new dinosaur friends as they spin through an amazing adventure in the age of the dinosaurs. This musical is full of beautiful songs, comical characters, and lots of imagination. The Magic Treehouse: Dinosaurs Before Dark is sure to be a crowd-pleaser!

The performance is open to family, friends, and the Decatur community and will take place at the Clairemont Elementary auditorium. Admission is $5. All Clairemont students are free of charge. We hope to see you there!

City Schools of Decatur appreciates the contributions of parents, students, and staff. Here are three important surveys that are open or will open prior to winter break. Please take a few moments to make your opinion count!

1. 2026-2027 District Calendar Input Survey (Expires 12/4/24)
   Thank you for your continued partnership in evaluating the academic calendar options for the City Schools of Decatur. Please review the proposed 2026-2027 Academic Calendar and provide feedback using the links below. The estimated completion time is 5-7 minutes.

2. First-Semester Teacher Engagement Survey (Expires 12/6/24; for teachers only)

3. Coming Soon! School Climate Survey (Opens 12/2/24)

K-12 students will take the STAR Early Literacy, Reading and Math Assessments during the winter assessment screening period of December 2-6 and December 9-13. CSD measures results from this winter assessment screening period against results from the previous fall screening period to track growth and adjust instruction to best meet students' individual needs. These assessments are crucial for ensuring your child's continued success.

Families may use these directions to opt-in to receive the results of the STAR assessments upon completion.

CSD's School Health Team is preparing for DeKalb Public Health's immunization assessment on Friday, December 6, for all Kindergarten students.

Please ensure your child's immunization records are up-to-date and submitted to the school clinic by Thursday, December 5. If your child is missing any required immunizations, please schedule an appointment with your child's healthcare provider or visit Dekalb Public Health, 445 Winn Way, Decatur, GA 30030.

We appreciate your cooperation in keeping our students healthy and compliant with Georgia's immunization laws. If you plan to submit an Affidavit of Religious Objection to Immunizations (Form #2208), please remember that it must be notarized. Please contact the school nurse with questions or assistance with immunization records.

We had quite a treat Monday morning when the mayor of Decatur, Patti Garrett, stopped by Clairemont to visit our students and see all the great work they are doing. We had a special community circle gathering where Mayor Garrett greeted the whole school. Then after taking a tour of campus, Mayor Garrett got to visit individual classrooms. She read a story and talked to the students about some of the community updates coming to the Decatur square. The students were excited to get some insight into what our local government can do!

One more chance for Camera Club this semester! Camera Club will meet on Thursday, December 5, from 7:30-8 a.m.

Come and take pictures with us! Cameras will be shared for those students who do not have a camera. We will focus on a different topic each week (i.e. take pictures of different things each session).

Contact Sarah Wade to RSVP or if you have questions at (225) 892-7007 or sarahwade2013@gmail.com.

Stay up-to-date with all the Clairemont PTA news and see pictures of our fun events by following the PTA on Facebook and Instagram. You can find all things Clairemont PTA, as well as the form to join, at the Clairemont PTA website.

Grab a friend and join us! We need all sorts of volunteers (parents, family, neighbors, teachers and students) to make this event happen. Clairemont students can take photos, be greeters, be concierge, help decorate, or sell beverages in the café!

Parents are a critical set of volunteers, and you can pick what you want to do – Sell raffle tickets? Help decorate the café? Be a troubleshooter or concierge for artists? We have a spot just for you!

We’re also looking for Clairemont Crew to help unload our classrooms, setup, load in artists and transform our little school into an amazing artists marketplace, then help with breakdown, load-out and put the classrooms back together.

Just a few hours of effort on Friday afternoon or Saturday evening ensures a WONDERFUL event. Sign up to volunteer here!

Check out @decaturholidaymarketplace on Instagram for a preview of some of the amazing vendors!

Decatur, you ABSOLUTELY blew us away last Thursday! Thank you for celebrating the return of Supper & Sips with us! You helped us raise a record number in one night... more than NINETY THOUSAND DOLLARS in support of Decatur’s kids! Thank you for ALL the ways you show up for DEF so that we can continue to show up for our kids. Visit our website and follow DEF on Facebook and Instagram to learn more about the important work we’re able to support in our schools and in our community, thanks to the generosity of this Decatur community of ours.

Giving Tuesday is right around the corner! There are countless worthwhile organizations to donate to, but when you give to the Decatur Education Foundation, your support directly impacts kids, teens, and educators right here in our community. Your tax-deductible gift provides essential needs for CSD families struggling with food insecurity, supports student mental health initiatives, provides arts infusion programming in our schools, and allows us to support our amazing educators through Teacher Innovation Grants! Through your generosity, we've been able to do so much good work in our community, and with your continued support, we'll be able to do so much more! Visit DEF's website to learn more about how you can get involved!

Do you have plans for a new garden or class project for spring? Are you full of fantastic ideas for incorporating farm-to-school principles into a teaching unit? Need funds for a "green" field trip?

The Wylde Center Decatur Farm to School Committee invites you to apply for a grant for 2024/25. Teachers, administrators, PTA members, and parent volunteers can apply on behalf of their CSD school. Please get your applications in before December 13, 2024.

2024-2025 DF2S School Grant Application