Thank you to all of our parents who attended Curriculum Night this past week. We had a big turn out and the teachers felt your support and engagement. If you were not able to attend, your child’s teacher will be sharing their presentation so you can review it digitally.
I am excited to share with you our newest outdoor space at White Oak Elementary, The Wellness Ranch. Hopefully your children have already come home talking about their time playing there. One day a week, your child’s class visits Wellness Ranch to play, explore, and create. Our vision for the space is to provide students with opportunities to engage with their peers through movement and mindfulness. Through participation in the activities, our children will engage in healthy physical, social and emotional behaviors.
Check out some pictures of Wellness Ranch below.
In Partnership and Service,
Stacey Pickett
This year, we are excited to continue using the PurposeFull People program as part of our focus on Social Emotional Learning (SEL). Tomorrow, we begin our Kindness Kickoff! For the next two weeks, students will spend time learning the meaning of kindness and practicing real-world examples of kindness at school. See the linked Family Connection newsletter for more resources and ways to reinforce kindness at home.
White Oak students in grades K-5 have begun taking their i-Ready math and reading diagnostics during the intervention block with their classroom teacher. In addition, students in grades K-3 are being screened individually on literacy fluency, a component of i-Ready. Students will have until Friday, August 23 to complete all online i-Ready and individual literacy screeners at school.
iReady diagnostics and literacy fluency screeners will help us determine your child’s strengths and areas for growth, personalize their learning, and monitor their progress throughout the school year. It is an adaptive assessment that adjusts its questions based on student responses. Each item a student receives is based on their answer to the previous question. For example, a series of correct answers will result in slightly harder questions, while a series of incorrect answers will yield slightly easier ones. The purpose of this is not to give your child a score or grade but to determine how to best support their learning.
The i-Ready diagnostic and literacy fluency screeners will provide results that help the teacher identify your child’s strengths and determine next steps for instruction. The teacher shares these results with you throughout the year and provides a learning experience that will engage your child while teaching important skills and concepts. More information concerning the i-Ready program can be found at https://i-readycentral.com/familycenter/
Thank you to our fabulous White Oak PTA for supporting our teachers and students. How can you help? Join White Oak's PTA today!
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Gwinnett County Schools is committed to providing the highest level of safety for our students and staff. Please review the visitor procedures that we will follow for the 24-25 school year. White Oak visitors will have a three - step process for entry into the school.
1.Primary Door
- Visitors use the intercom to request entry, stating their reason for visiting (lunch, check-out, check-in, classroom volunteer, etc...) These intercoms have cameras, and the audio quality is excellent.
- Receptionist communicates with the visitors to grant access to the entry/vestibule.
2. RAPTOR System
- Once in the entry/vestibule, visitors scan their driver's license, government I.D. or passport.
- Everyone needs to have their identification upon arrival.
3. Secondary Door
- A second intercom is installed in the entry/vestibule area.
- If you are here for lunch, as a classroom volunteer, or for a scheduled meeting, the receptionist will grant entry into the school and provide you with a yellow sticker.
- If you are here for student Check-Out, you will remain waiting in the entry/vestibule area.
Our goal is to provide a welcoming atmosphere when you come to White Oak. We have added some seating, decor, and plants in our entry/vestibule for visitors' comfort. Again, we thank you for your patience as we work together to ensure safety for all.
Student and staff safety are the top priority at White Oak Elementary. For the 24-25 school year, the bus lane and front parking lot will be closed off during active bus unloading/loading. As soon as all buses unload/load, the parking lot will be opened. You are welcome to wait in the middle school parking lot during the time the White Oak lot is closed.
The bus lane will remain closed off between the hours of 7:45-8:15 and 2:45-3:15. If you need to pick up/drop your child off your child, please use the car rider lane. We will be issuing car rider tags at Open House for anyone who needs one. Reminder, the last student check out occurs at 2:30 each afternoon. We appreciate your support and understanding with this process.
Last year GCPS adopted a new form of school-to-home communication called ParentSquare. This unified communications platform is designed to keep parents and guardians informed and encourage greater engagement and connection with Gwinnett County Public Schools.
ParentSquare is a unified communication platform that offers a whole host of tools that allows district leaders, school administrators, and teachers to communicate and engage
with families and students more effectively. Some features include:
- Mass notifications and Urgent Alerts with two-way communication
- Mobile application for administrators and parents (iOS and Android)
- Attendance notifications (district-managed)
- Teacher and classroom communication
- Direct Messaging with two-way translation
- Social (Facebook and Twitter) and website share
- And so much more!
New families should have received an activation email for their ParentSquare account by the week of July 21. Parents who download the app can interact by viewing photos, downloading attachments, leaving comments, messaging teachers, signing permission slips, and managing their communication settings and preferences.
Wondering about the difference between ParentSquare and ParentVUE? Check out this link to see how these GCPS tools help families support their student's learning.
White Oak Elementary School
Mrs. Stacey Pickett, Principal
6442 Suwanee Dam Rd
Sugar Hill, GA 30518
678-546-5550
https://www.gcpsk12.org/WhiteOakES
School Hours
7:45 AM - 8:10 AM Student Arrival
8:15 AM - 2:45 PM Instructional Time
2:45 PM - 3:00 PM Student Dismissal