The Grove Gazette

Wow, February flew by! It’s hard to believe March is already here, and with just three months left in the 2024-2025 school year, time isn’t slowing down. We still have so much to accomplish, and these next few months will be filled with exciting events.

We’re kicking off March with our second round of parent-teacher conferences, scheduled for March 5th and 6th. These are Early Release Days, so please plan accordingly. Then, on Friday, March 14, we’ll have our fourth and final Digital Learning Day.

Our first-ever Color Fun Run fundraiser launched in February, and the big event is happening on Friday, March 7! This fundraiser is helping us make important upgrades to our school, including exciting new additions to our playground. If you haven’t signed up yet, there’s still time to register! A huge thank you to everyone who has supported this effort—we appreciate you!

And don’t forget—International Night is coming up on Thursday, March 27. A lot of work is going into making this a fantastic evening for our students, staff, and community. I can’t wait to see you there!

On a personal note, I recently shared that I have accepted the position of Principal at Five Forks Middle School. My transition date is still to be determined. The process of selecting a new principal for Walnut Grove is already underway, and I encourage you to complete the community survey to share your thoughts. Your feedback is incredibly valuable in this process, and I hope you’ll take a moment to participate.

Thank you for your continued support—I look forward to making these last few months at Walnut Grove truly special!

Sincerely,

Dr. Dale Pugh

Each year, GCPS collects feedback from our families about their child's school as part of our

commitment to improvement. The Educational Effectiveness Surveys (EES) for Families provides

feedback on nine characteristics of high-performing schools. Those characteristics are:

• A clear and shared focus

• High standards and expectations for all students

• Effective school leadership

• Strong communication and opportunities to work together

• What we teach, how we teach, and how learning is aligned with state standards

• Frequent monitoring of learning and teaching

• Focused professional development

• Supportive learning environment

• High levels of family and community involvement

In addition, the survey asks about two other areas associated with high-performing schools- district

support for improvement and respect for diverse cultures and backgrounds.

The survey will be available for you to complete through Friday, March 7. We hope you will lend your

voice to making Gwinnett County Public Schools the best it can be for our students.

Walnut Grove Elementary will take the new Georgia School Climate Survey this year. Each parent or guardian is invited to take the family version to answer questions about the current school or schools you have a child or children attending. If two or more children attend the same school, please only complete one survey for that school.

The survey measures what you think about how the school engages with families. Answers are not linked to names in any way. When typing answers, please do not give names or information that you don’t want to share with this school. Data will be shared with school leaders to help improve the school and will be published on the GaDOE website.

Please help by sharing your honest opinion on this 22-question survey. To take the survey, please scan the QR code or use the link below:

Gwinnett County celebrated National School Breakfast Week March 3 - 7.

National School Breakfast Week (NSBW) celebrates the importance of a nutritious school breakfast in fueling students for success. This special observance during the first week of March celebrates the national School Breakfast Program and the many ways it gives kids a great start every day.

Students will be previewing new menu items: Cheese, Chicken Sausage & Potato Taco, Strawberry Parfait with Granola, Mini Cini Caramel, Cinnamon Toast Crunch Muffin and Trix Muffin.

Spread Positivi-TEE!

In celebration of #SEL Day 2025 on March 3rd, let's wear a positive message shirt and spread kindness!

SEL Day is a global, grassroots campaign for social-emotional learning to support children's academic recovery, mental health, and well-being. Since its inception in 2020, #SEL Day has supported self-awareness, self-management, social-awareness, and relationship skills.

At Walnut Grove we build on our SEL skills daily and celebrate the growth of our students!

All students will learn from home, completing assignments at their own pace. Students should plan ahead to ensure they have their district-issued devices at home for planned DLDs.

Help us reach our goal and inspire a love of reading in our students! When you shop the Scholastic Book Fair, a portion of the proceeds comes right back to our school, supporting the Media Center program.

📚 Book Fair Dates: March 24 - April 3
📚 Special Family Shopping Opportunity: The Book Fair will be open during International Night, 5:30-7:00 PM—a perfect chance to browse together!

Thank you for supporting our school and helping us keep our students excited about reading!

Set up your Scholastic eWallet starting February 28th.

For more information on eWallets, click the link below:

https://bookfairs.scholastic.com/content/fairs/videos/introduction-to-ewallet.html

March

• March 3-7: National School Breakfast Week
• March 3: SEL Day
• March 4: Spring/Class Picture Day
• March 5 & 6: Early Release for Parent Conferences, 12:50 PM
• March 7: Color Run
• March 7: PTA Pizza Bingo, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
• March 14: Digital Day
• March 17: PTA Spirit Night at Village Burger, 4:00 - 8:00 PM
  
• March 21: World Down Syndrome Day: Wear Silly or Mismatched Socks
• March 24-April 2: Spring Bookfair
• March 26: All Pro Dads Meeting, 6:00 PM
• March 27: International Night, 5:30 - 7:30 PM

April

• April 2: Art Show in the Cafeteria, 5:30 PM
• April 2: Chorus Concert in the Gym, 7:00 PM
• April 3: PTA Spirit Night at Bruster's, 5:00-8:00 PM
• April 7-11: Spring Break, No School
• April 14-18: Exceptional Children's Week
• April 24: PTA Spirit Night at Jim & Nick's, 5:00-9:00 PM
• April 30: All Pro Dads Meeting, 6:00 PM

Parents now have the option to be notified in the ParentVUE mobile app if their student’s grade fall below a preset threshold. Within the app, a parent can choose to enable the notification and will select the grade threshold of when to be notified. Thresholds can be set on the student’s class average or on assignment grades. The notifications are processed each afternoon starting at 5:30 pm. Specific directions on enabling Grade Notifications can be found here. Other ParentVUE resources are available on the ParentVUE site.

• Authorized visitors are welcome to sign in at the front office and join their child for lunch. However, outside food and packages are not permitted.
• Checkouts are not permitted past 2:45 PM
  
• Taking photos and videos are strictly prohibited.
• Outside birthday treats are not permitted, but we would love to celebrate your child's birthday through our Hooray, Hooray Birthday program. 🥳