The Weekly Update #4

RES Mission: Learning, Loving and Growing Together

RES Vision: Equipping Everyone for Excellence

Dear Ringgold Elementary Families,

As I write my first letter as principal, I can’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude. Having served as assistant principal here for the past six years, I already know how special this school community is. The opportunity to continue serving our students, staff, and families in this new role is both humbling and exciting.

Our character focus for November is citizenship, and I can’t think of a better trait to highlight as we move forward together. Citizenship is about showing respect, taking responsibility, and contributing to the good of our community. Every day, I see our students practicing good citizenship—whether it’s lending a hand to a classmate, taking pride in their school, or showing kindness and respect to others.

I’m proud to be part of a school where students, teachers, and families work together to make Ringgold Elementary a place where everyone belongs and thrives. Thank you for your trust, your support, and your continued partnership as we make this school year our best yet.

With appreciation,
Daniel McMurry
Principal, Ringgold Elementary School

RES students are invited to attend the RPS Momster Ball on Friday November 7th. This event is for boys only. (There is dance for girls later this year.) A flyer will come home in Tuesday folders on November 4th. Return the form and payment no later than Thursday November 6th.

We are once again honored to host a Veterans Day Celebration at RES. All community veterans and family veterans are invited to join us for a Veterans Day celebration to honor your service on Tuesday, November 11th. Please use the link Mrs Coney shared on Dojo to share your veteran’s photo and military history. If you shared this information last year, you do not need to share it again....we will use last year's information/photo. It will be included in our slide show honoring our veterans. If you can attend, please arrive by 9:30 to our Family Resource Room # 203, where light refreshments will be served. The ceremony will begin in our school gym at 9:45. Unfortunately, due to space restrictions, we are only able to invite veterans to this assembly, not family members.

The chorus Christmas concert this year is called A Vintage Christmas. It will be held on Thursday December 4th. Students will have a permission slip coming home to travel to the RHS theater to watch the 9 am showing of the concert. The chorus will perform the show again that night at 7 pm for friends and family. Admission is $4 for adults and $2 for students.

Ringgold Elementary students are going to have a blast this month with our annual Kids Heart Challenge service project! KHC is a national fundraising event created by the American Heart Association and the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. The jump-roping event encourages elementary students to join other students nationwide to fight heart disease and stroke. The children will be learning about community service and will become engaged in learning more about how to care for their bodies and establish heart-healthy lifestyles at a young age. RES set a goal to raise $4,000! We are excited and looking forward to celebrating as we meet this goal! Thanks for all you do to make this event a success.

Fun websites to encourage healthy living:

www.nutritionexplorations.org/kids/main.asp

www.mypyramid.gov/kids/index

This time of year is always busy, busy, busy, especially in the STEAM lab.

3rd grade will be finishing early exploration and moving on to the Native American unit where we will focus on Native American art.

4th grade will finish up Solar System

5th grade will be working on the most exciting thing all year.... volcanoes!

We have several competitions that are ongoing for students to participate in:

Doodle4Google (art) - deadline Nov 21

NGEMC Poster Contest - deadline Dec 19

Red Ribbon Week Photo Contest (vote) til Nov 16th

Tech Club will be traveling to Atlanta on Nov 10th for a STEM tour at Mercedes Benz stadium.

Tech Competition will be held at CCA on Dec 3rd.

Congrats to our Catoosa County Conservation District Poster Contest winners:

1st place - Roberto Alvarado

2nd place - Isla Bettis

3rd place - Sadie Bevans

Honorable mentions: Coral Crain, Kynlee Crump, Avery Grimes, Ryder Steven, Henli Reynolds, Avery Shrader, Beckett Blevins and Ivory Cameron

A special thank you to all the families that came out and participated in our STEAM night. The amount of people blew me away. I enjoyed looking at all the pictures and seeing all the smiling faces. I hope each of you had a great time and enjoyed all the memories that were made. Thanks again for all your support.

Thanksgiving Holiday Support

As the holiday season approaches and in preparation for the students to be home from school for extended breaks, please let me know if your family could benefit from a voucher to Christ Chapel Share and Care Mission for groceries to help over the Thanksgiving holiday. Please return this form by Friday, November 10th if your family needs a voucher for food items so I will have time to send vouchers home before we are out of school for Thanksgiving break.

Angel Tree

Ringgold Elementary School will be sponsoring an Angel Tree at our school for students in need during the Christmas Holidays. If you need assistance, please look for the RES Angel Tree form that will be coming home in your child's Tuesday Folder on November 11th. Forms are to be filled out and returned to the school by November 21st to ensure that the donors will have ample time to purchase the Christmas presents.

Stocking Full of Love

Stocking Full of Love will continue this year through the Catoosa County Sheriff's Department.

Look for more information to come soon.

STEAM Night

Thank you so much to all who were able to attend our STEAM Family Night on October 21st! We had 107 students, and 293 total family members here! It was a great night of pirate fun and learning! Be sure to make plans to join us for our next Family Curriculum Night.....Math & Reading Family Game Night on February 23rd!

Parent Workshop: Learning Styles

We will be hosting a Parenting Workshop on November 13th along with RPS. A flyer with an RSVP and more information will come home on Tuesday November 4th. We hope you will join us as we share:

• characteristics of each learning style
• how to determine your child's learning style(s)
• ways to help your child with school work based on their learning style(s)

Turkey Feather Project

Did you know that November is National Family Engagement Month? We are so thankful for all of our students and their families here at RES! We value your involvement and engagement at our school.

To celebrate National Family Engagement Month we are creating a school wide turkey project together! Each student will receive a turkey feather in their Tuesday folder on November 4th. Please work together as a family to cut out and decorate your feather. Then discuss what your family is thankful for and have your child write it on the feather. Return the feather to school to be added to our turkey! Stop by and check out the turkey bulletin board. Also watch Dojo for pictures of Tom the Turkey as he gets more and more feathers added!

4th Grade Thanksgiving Lunch & Learn

We will host a Lunch & Learn on November 19th for our 4th Grade family members. An RSVP paper and schedule will come home in Tuesday folders on November 4th. Please note this change: Per the cafeteria manager's request, you now need to PREPAY for your meal. Adult visitor meals will be $5.25, and can be paid by cash or check, sent in along with your RSVP for your meal choice (turkey & dressing or chicken fingers.)

Does your child want to be internet famous?

Some kids dream of being on YouTube. Help your child understand what’s private and what’s not.

Get conversation starters here.

Many students look up to YouTubers and TikTok stars. Talk about fame, privacy, and healthy boundaries online.

Explore tips at Parent ProTech by clicking here.

Home practice for reading may be found on our school website. At the top of the main webpage, look for the heading titled, Students. Click on that heading and then select the sub tab on the left side of the page titled, Home Practice. Once it's opened, there are two pages for the reading home practice, so be sure to click the arrow for the next page.

Free Statewide 3rd Grade Georgia Milestones ELA Prep Tutoring Sessions. GaDOE has partnered with Tutored by Teachers to offer Georgia Milestones test prep for third-grade literacy/ELA from November 3 through 8. This statewide tutoring series will cover phonemic awareness, decoding, morphology, and comprehension. Click here for Information and Registration.

We are excited to host our upcoming RES Spelling Bee on Friday, November 7th at 8:00 am. Congratulations to the following participants who placed in their classroom competitions!!

4th Grade:

Abel Waters, , Noah Belt, Journey Barnes, Aela Petty, Anna Sexton, Jahziah Ciampoli, Noah Gravley, Jaxon Fields, Marco Alvarado, Beckham Johnson

Alternates: Miakoda Oberg, Scarlet Dickerson, Karin Cortez Guerrero, Camden Wise, Liam Llewellyn

5th Grade:

Asher Gass, Kyree Jones, Konnor Turner, Sam Mejia, AJ Brown, Kyla Stearman, Noah Stojnic, Killian Lee, Jackson Stephenson

Alternates: Wyatt Mozingo, Eli Cate, Eileen Torres, Ryals Holcombe, Silas Baker, Sadie Bevans

This November, Catoosa County residents will have the opportunity to vote to approve ESPLOST VII. Please mark your calendar for this important vote that affects our ability to support students and schools in Catoosa County!

Click here for more information regarding future ESPLOST projects.

Below are some of the previous projects ESPLOST has funded for Ringgold Elementary:

MAP Reading and Math

Benchmark Advance K-5

I-Ready Toolbox K-8

Lexia/Ready Intervention Seats

Amira Learning 4-5

Pear Assessment

Radio Repeater

Phone Conversion

LED Sign

Crosswalk Addition

Additional fencing

On our Fall Survey, we had several parents ask for information about the Catoosa County Library. Here is the link to their website. As soon as they update their calendar of events, we will add it here as well.

Click the link below for information about signing up for Catoosa County emergency alerts.

Dear CCPS Bus Rider Families,

We are excited to announce a new bus-tracking app called Traversa MyRide K-12 for the entire district. CCPS Parents will have access to our new app, MyRide K-12. Please scan the QR code below with your smartphone's camera to download and sign up for our new CCPS Bus app.

Changing over to Traversa offers a more advanced and user-friendly platform designed to improve the safety and efficiency of our student transportation. Key benefits include:

• Improved Efficiency: Streamlined processes and real-time updates.

• Enhanced Safety: Advanced features to ensure student safety.

• Better Communication: Timely notifications and updates through the MyRide K-12 Parent App, allowing you to track your child’s bus with:

• Estimated arrival times

• Potential delays or route changes

• Notifications for specific events (e.g., bus approaching)

• Data Privacy: Rest assured that student data is protected and the app adheres to all privacy regulations.

After scanning the QR code, you will be directed to download the app and create an account using your student ID.

Directions to Download MyRide K-12 App

We encourage all CCPS Bus rider families to participate in the new Bus app program. We are particularly interested in your comments regarding the accuracy of bus pick-up and drop-off times displayed in the app. You will be able to track your student 30 minutes prior to and post pick-up time.

Please share your thoughts and suggestions with:

• Mr. Ernie Ellis, CCPS Director of Transportation: eellis@catoosa.k12.ga.us

• Mrs. Mary Lanham, CCPS Transportation Manager: mlanham@catoosa.k12.ga.us

• Or call our Transportation Office @ 706-965-2913

All comments are welcome and appreciated. We look forward to our new MyRide K-12 Program and all it can offer by way of accuracy. We look forward to partnering with you to make our transportation system the best it can be.

Sincerely,

Mr. Ellis

CCPS Transportation Director

“Any verbal or written threats of violence, intimidation, or harm directed towards students, staff, or school property will be taken seriously and reported to the authorities immediately. This includes online threats, social media posts, or direct communication expressing intent to cause disruption or danger within the school environment.”

Beginning January 3rd, 2025, EZ School Pay became the new meal payment system for Catoosa County Schools. This means that parents and guardians will use EZ School Pay to add funds to their child’s school meal account and manage payments for meals. Be sure to stay updated on any specific instructions from the school district about setting up or transitioning to this new payment system.

Click here to view more information about this change on the CCPS website

You may access EZ School Pay site by using the link below:
https://www.ezschoolpay.com/Login.aspx?District=9749330

Website: https://res.catoosa.k12.ga.us/

Address: 322 Evitt Lane Ringgold, GA 30736

Phone Number: 706-935-2912

To request a paper copy of this newsletter, email Parent Involvement Coordinator, Cathy Cooper at ccooper.res@catoosa.k12.ga.us