Panther Press

New Prospect Elementary School Newsletter

February 11, 2025

THE Panther Pantry School Store is Officially Open!

Hello Panther Parents!

A few months ago I talked about how excited we were to open our new Panther Pantry Store after break...well it finally happened...and it was AMAZING!!! For the past year and a half, every month students can use their PAWS points to buy things or experiences at the Panther Pantry....which has been a cart that comes around to each classroom. Thanks to the PBIS Team and parent volunteers we were able to create a wonderful permanent Panther Pantry store! Jamie Jones, one of our amazing parents, painted a BEAUTIFUL mural to represent our very own Panther city! From there we loaded up all our trinkets, made a schedule and students went shopping this past Friday (pictures above)!

A HUGE thank you needs to go to our New Prospect PBIS Team: Tori Lee, Wendy Wilson, Christina McLeod, Jessica Brooks, Mary French, Heather Alterman, Kristy West, Kelly Ison, Robin Hubble, Aurielle Anadu, Summer Dempster Beth Starling, Sarah Davidson, Dr. T, and Clay Zimmerman for your endless planning to make this happen for our students!

Also THANK YOU to our NPE Student Council & Parent Volunteers: Lisa Gates, Wendy Le, Brittany Cox, Nitya Mareddy, Jamie Jones and Li-Ming Pu & David Eramian!

If you want to volunteer to help kids shop in future months, please email Mrs. McLeod at McLeodCR@fultonschools.org (it's easy and fun)!

One last thing...we had a district behavior specialist come to do a walkthrough this week and this was some of what he said: "I just wanted to give a special shoutout to the team at New Prospect Elementary! I had the opportunity to walk the school today and out of the 25 schools I support I would say that this school is near the top of the list in terms of implementing a positive school culture and PBIS. The initiatives that they have in place to motivate students and the program that they have built out is incredibly robust and should serve as a model for all elementary schools. Walking the halls you can tell that students and staff are happy to be at this school and excited to learn. Their discipline data is also reflective of the amazing work that they are doing in the building. A special kudos to this team!"

Thank you for your support of this amazing school!

Amy Lemons

Principal

Upcoming Events:

February 27th-Spring Picture Day, 2nd Grade Musical & 5th Grade Trip to Webb Bridge MS

February 28th-Panthers Pages & PJs Day! We still need BOOKS!

March 3rd & 4th- Teacher Workdays: No School for Students

March 5th-11th-Exceptional Children's Week

Wednesday-Wacky Socks Day & Wear Orange Day

Thursday-Wear Red Day

Friday-Wear Blue Day

Monday-Wear Gold or Silver Day

Tuesday-Be Bright Day-Wear Bright Colors

March 21st-Time Travelers Bash 5:00-7:00 at New Prospect

March 27th-April 4th-Boosterthon Fun Run

March 24th-PreK Lottery (Info Below)

March 27th-1st grade Musical 8:00am

April 7-11th-Spring Break-No School for Students

Saturday April 19th- 5th Grade Carwash Fundraiser

New Prospect Calendar 2024-2025

Click Here

Important Reminder!

Students are not allowed to be dropped off in carpool before 7:10am unless they are in Safety Patrol or SWAT Team. There are NO exceptions!

There are NO ADULTS watching the children at carpool before 7:10 or after 7:40. The carpool lane is a dangerous place because a lot of adults do not follow traffic rules. We want to keep all of our Panthers safe so please DO NOT drop off before 7:10 or after 7:40!

Take the Georgia School Climate Survey

Your voice matters! Help us create a safe, supportive, and thriving environment for our students by participating in the Georgia School Climate Survey. I know many of our families have students at multiple schools; please note that each school has a unique survey link. The link in this communication is for New Prospect Elementary.

This quick, anonymous survey gathers feedback on our school’s learning environment, safety, relationships, and overall climate. Your insights directly influence decisions to improve programs, policies, and culture—and impact school ratings with the State of Georgia.

Please take a few moments to complete the survey by March 31, 2025.

Access it here: https://survey.gadoe.org/FM?sid=03CAA8E7

What's Happening in Brain Building??

Guidance with Mrs. McLeod

During Brain Building last week, students in 3rd-5th Grade learned the "Rules for Fighting Fair" which is a lesson that encourages students to be kind, yet assertive when handling conflicts. Look above for rules:)

Students in K-2nd learned and practiced the strategy of using positive self-talk to manage their worries. We highly recommend these two books below to help students understand and use skills to reduce worries and anxiety: Worry Says What? By Allison Edwards & What To Do When You Worry Too Much by Dawn Huebner.

Health-Jamie Friedman & Coach Brooks

The most recent health lessons focused on exercising your body and mind. Students reviewed the benefits of exercise and movement and also learned about the importance of exercising your mind through learning, listening, thinking, imagining and problem solving. The term “mindfulness” was presented, as a way of having a calm mind and body to help one stay present and focused. Students also learned that being mindful can help us cope with our emotions. Students practiced deep breathing techniques and were introduced to “bubble breathing” during health, and students learned mindful muscle relaxation exercises during their physical education class.

Creative Thinking with Mrs. Share

This session of brain building was a fun way for students to think creatively in their art and writing. In kindergarten and first grade, Mrs. Share brought in a secret item. Students used critical thinking skills to determine that a balloon was in the bag. Then, they came up with their own secret item, illustrated it, and created clues that would help their friends guess their items. Their friends had a fun time guessing their items. In second through fifth grade, we discussed how emotions can be shown in a story. For example, what does it visually look like to be surprised? How can we write that with figurative language and dialogue? Then then completed a “finish the picture” and wrote the beginning of a story that demonstrated emotions.

Media Center with Ms. Spitzner

In the Media Center, grades K-2 have been learning about nonfiction and research. Kindergarteners helped Ms. Spitzner and Ms. Marshall sort fiction and nonfiction books about animals, 1st grade had their first lesson on the Dewey code, and 2nd grade is learning about how the nonfiction section supports what they're learning about researching online!

Grades 3-5 have been experimenting with Artificial Intelligence. Third graders learned about pattern recognition by exploring Google Quickdraw, and 4th/5th graders explored generative AI through Adobe Express! Fourth graders were challenged to create an accurate self-portrait (which is harder than it sounds!) and fifth graders had to reverse engineer a prompt to create the same image as one presented to them. In all cases, we agreed: AI is impressive, but there are things humans do better!

Congratulations Panthers!

Congratulations to our Academic Bowl Teams! Our 3rd and 4th grade combination team won FIRST Place & our 5th Grade Team won SECOND Place! We are so proud!

Grade 3 & 4 Team: Maya, Aarabhi, Neal, Ethan & Gurbaani

Grade 5 Team: Nikhil, Jishnu, Anden, Karthik, & Roshni