Curriculum Night

Don't forget Thursday night this week is Curriculum Night, in addition a few other very important meetings. Normally we do not devote this much time to meetings before class visits begin, but with all of the changes across the state, within our district, and within our school, we need some additional time.

• 5:30pm - PTSA is hosting a meeting for all parents interested in volunteering at EPMS in the Media Center
• 5:30pm - Parent Liaison Isabel Lopez and Principal Springman are hosting a session for our Spanish Speaking Families about opportunities to get involved and the unique needs of our Spanish Speaking Communities in the Cafeteria
• 6:00 - Annual Title I Parent Meeting in the gym
• 6:10 - State of The School: Changes to State Testing & The EPMS 3 Year Strategic Plan for the System Charter
• 6:30 - PTSA General Meeting and Vote
• 6:50 - Curriculum Night Begins (Don't forget to have your child give you their schedule.)
  • This event lasts until almost 9:00pm, so please arrange for childcare.

Advisement Update

This week I have received several questions about our changes to Advisement Time, and I want to take a moment to explain the decision that was made with the support of our PTSA, LSGC, and Teacher Leadership Team. In the past, students received approximately 15 minutes a day to work on homework during advisement. While students may have described it as longer, a fifty minute period minus travel to and from a 30 minute lunch period truly resulted in about 15 minutes. The purpose of advisement in the middle school model across the nation is to advise our students on making good decisions, hold discussion around decision making, and provide the students with opportunities to learn "soft skills" that will make them stronger students and better citizens. Our new model allows us the time to do that.

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What is a SLO?

Why are students taking tests in World Language already? I have heard they will take them in band, art, and other subjects too. Is this true? YES, this is true. Per the state, every course will be tested in a manner that allows the state to monitor progress for students. SLOs are district-wide measurable, long-term academic SMART goals set to determine student growth. In simplest terms, SLOs are about student growth - measuring how and what a student learns in order to inform instruction and personalize learning. Students will take a pre-assessment at the beginning of the course to determine what they already know. Teachers will then use the results to plan instruction for the remainder of the course. The score students earn on the pre-assessments won't count for or against them or be factored into their overall grade in the course, but it will help their teachers plan instruction for the rest of the course in order to improve the level of learning to its highest possibility. This is one of the many changes to be discussed Thursday night.  Learn more in the attached Q&A document

The carpool line is usually finished by 4:15, if you are eager to pick up your child before 4:15, you must arrive before 4:00 to drive into the parking lot, park, and walk up to the sidewalk to wait for your child. If you arrive after 4:00pm, you must wait in the carpool line for safety reasons. It is not acceptable for parents to drive "in" the "out" lane after 4:00, as buses and cars are trying to exit.

Walkers should follow the sidewalk along the school and field to the crosswalk, and this should only be used for students who are walking home - not getting into their parents' cars at the bottom of the hill, creating unsafe situations and interruptions to traffic.

Please refrain from parking in the right-hand parking lot where buses line up or in the Hembree parking lot. For obvious safety reasons, this is not ideal. If you have a true emergency, again, you absolutely must park and walk to the sidewalk to collect your students so that you can monitor their safety.

Clinic Policies

This is a reminder for parents to please review the student health services parent letter 14-15 that went home with your student the first day of school. We would like to be proactive obtaining care plans and emergency medications for any students that have acute or chronic illnesses. You can download these from the Student Health Services website or you can pick these up from the school clinic.

Help Sessions and Passes Before School

Please remember that students must have passes from their teacher to travel down the hallway to classes before 8:43am. Parents may not write passes, as we cannot guarantee that teachers are available on any given day before school. We hold many of our staff meetings before school begins, and students are unable to find their teachers and are then unsupervised. We are creating a master list of teacher help sessions this week, to be available and posted on our website by next Tuesday. Parents will be able to write passes for help sessions once we have the list posted.

EOCT Test Out  

"UNLEASH YOUR CREATIVE TALENTS!!  Does your student like to draw or paint?  Do they write stories or poetry?  Do they enjoy composing their own music or creating new dances?  Or taking photographs? Do they make their own videos on their  smart phone or iPad?? Then you should encourage them to ENTER THE REFLECTIONS CONTEST!! REFLECTIONS is a national PTA arts recognition and achievement program for students in grades Pre-K through 12.  Students can enter their artistic creations interpreting a determined theme in six different categories: film production, visual arts, photography, musical composition, literature and film production.  Entries are judged at the school level, and winners from each grade in each category move on to compete against other entries from North Fulton schools, with an opportunity to advance to state and national levels.  There is no limit to the number of entries a student can submit.  All students participating for Elkins Pointe will be recognized at a reception held at the school in mid-October. This year's theme is:  "The world would be a better place if . . .. "  Entries will be due October 3. Entry forms and rules are available at the front office and on the Elkins Pointe webpage."

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• 8/26 - 8/28 - Soccer Try Outs (must have completed physical)
• 8/28 - Curriculum Night (see above for details)
• 9/1   - School Holiday
• 9/10 - Fall Picture Day
• 9/15 - 10/3 - PTS Reflections Competition
• 9/16 - First Progress Report Goes Home
• 9/23 - 6th grade Bring Your Parent to School Day