Staff Chat

College Heights Early Childhood Learning Center cultivates an atmosphere where children take their first steps in building an authentic love of learning through developmentally appropriate practices in an environment that fosters family and community involvement.

What a gorgeous Fall weekend. I hope you got a chance to go outside and enjoy the weather. Our family loves any excuse for a fire and smores. Georgia had the weekend off so no football stress at the Garland house. I am getting excited for our first holiday break coming up. You all DESERVE some time off. Thank you all for a great week. We had to quarantine our first classroom and as always you rocked the procedures and calmed the parents. You all are so amazing. Be sure to take care of yourself.

Thank you for all you do!

Sarah

From CSD

Teacher of the Year -The DOE could not recognize the cohort of teachers that won in the 2019-2020 school year so they decided to postpone the TOTY selection for a year so that group could be properly recognized. So our 2019-2020 TOTY is the TOTY until we select a new one. We will be revising our process to better match the state timelines and we will move our selection process to the Spring.

Flu Clinic

The last flu clinic will be held at Renfroe Middle School: November 18, 1-3 p.m.

Holiday Fun

The social committee has begun planning some holiday fun. Doesn't matter if you are virtual or in person, this is a great time for us to come together and celebrate our school community. If you would like to participate in the Secret Elf Exchange please email Ms. Lo (lspencer@csdecatur.net) by November 17th. Elf exchange will be Dec 7-11th. In addition, we will start our winter break countdown with the "12 Days Til Winter Break" activities. More to come.

Holiday Break Schedule

Pre-K/ESS- Last day is Dec 11. Return on Jan 4th for PL

0-3 Program- Last day is Dec 21. Return on Jan 4th for PL.

Please remember any day before or after the days listed are black out dates.

PreK Pod

The district has made the decision to close the preK Pod. Unfortunately, the Pod was experiencing many challenges due to the age of the students and structure of their day while in person. The last day for the pod will be Friday. The pod facilitators will be reassigned to a different school.

I am challenging you all to take care of yourself with a little fun Self-Care Bingo game. Starting Monday the first three employees who email me that she/he has completed the bingo game card wins a special prize. You have until the end of December. You must cover each bingo space (so LOTS of self care). I have also shared the bingo card below in a PDF format so you can print it.

Part of our Cognia reaccreditation process is to gather stakeholder input on school culture and climate Your feedback is a valuable part of the improvement process. Please take a minute to complete the survey linked below. A similar survey will be sent to parents as well.

The survey will close on November 30th. Feedback will be used to address our continuous improvement plan. I very much appreciate your participation and feedback.

https://eprovesurveys.advanc-ed.org/surveys/#/action/147266/28473

The PTO has made the decision to not hold our annual Bids for Chicks’ Annual Auction.

In lieu of an in-person auction this year for safety measures, we will auction off a series

of items throughout the months of December to February. The PTO will begin reaching out to parents and the community for donations.

Suggested donations:

1. Vacation home rentals, beach houses, mountain cabins, or a weekend at a local

hotel for a staycation

2. Online/ Virtual classes such as for cooking, Pilates, Yoga

3. Personal care packages

4. Gift cards to local restaurants or stores

5. Other experiences or small group/ family activities

6. Gift baskets, drive-in-movie theater tickets

A Season of Giving/Christmas Decatur

A Season of Giving/Christmas Decatur is beginning preparations for our 26th year of service to the City of Decatur community. As with everything else in 2020, this program will be a little different than we are used to! Due to the pandemic, we will be changing our program to be managed online. If your family would like to request assistance with holiday gifts for children who live with you, through 8th grade, you must complete the SurveyMonkey application by October 31st: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2020ASeasonofGiving If you have trouble with the form, questions, or concerns, please email us at aseasonofgiving@decaturga.com or call our voicemail, 404-378-8068, and leave a message. For those families who do not need assistance, and would like to participate, we would love your help! We have changed how we will handle the program for 2020. We will not be collecting physical gifts but providing gift cards to the families requesting assistance. If you would like to help us this year, please donate at https://legacydecatur.com/give/. Please select ‘A Season of Giving / Christmas Decatur’ for the organization in the donation form.

Decatur Anti-Racism Speaker Series December Speaker

Speaker: Tim Wise
Thursday, Dec. 3 • 6-7:30 p.m.

Tim Wise is among the most prominent antiracist writers and educators in the United States. He has spent the past 25 years speaking to audiences in all 50 states, on more than 1,000 college and high school campuses, at hundreds of professional and academic conferences, and to community groups across the country. He has trained corporate, government, entertainment, media, law enforcement, military and medical industry professionals on methods for dismantling racism in their institutions.

Visit decaturga.com/speakerseries to register and view recordings of past speakers.

Big Cheers to our November birthdays

18- Cynthia Andrews

23- Aneesah Edwards

29- Elecia Fulton