The Bulldog, August 27, 2026

Note from Mrs. Lockwood:

Everyone is settling into our daily school routines. Last week's Back-to-School Picnic was a huge success! Thank you to all who were able to come out and connect as a Clairemont community.

As a reminder, Curriculum Night is tonight! I look forward to seeing you there; we have some good information to share.

Our room parent coordinator, Frances Ennis, is organizing room parents for the school year! If you do not want to receive communication from your child's room parent(s), please complete this opt-out form.

Starting this week, I will share our school-wide daily attendance percentage from the previous Friday-Thursday. Our daily goal is 98%. I know we can meet our goal!

Friday = 92%

Monday = 96%

Tuesday = 94%

Wednesday = 94%

Thursday = 99%🎉

Events at a glance:

• Thursday, August 27; 5:30-7:30: General PTA Meeting and Curriculum Night

• Friday, August 28; 8:15: First Community Crew of the year!

• Wednesday - Friday, September 2-4: CogAT testing for 1st grade

• Friday, September 4: Walk & Roll

• Monday, September 7: Labor Day - No School

• Friday, September 11: Community Crew

• Wednesday, September 16; 5:30 - 7:00: PTA Meeting (Find Zoom link on school calendar.)

• Monday, September 21 - Friday, September 25: Fall Break - No School

Join us this evening with the Clairemont team to learn about what your child will be learning this school year. Please join us for a general PTA meeting followed by curriculum night. Childcare will be provided!

Daily school attendance is the cornerstone of student success. At Clairemont, we closely monitor attendance to understand how we can best support our students and families. Understanding that unforeseen circumstances arise, however, please partner with us to ensure our students are at school to the greatest extent possible. Our daily school-wide attendance goal is 98%. Let's work together to reach this goal and ultimately see our students succeed! If your student needs to be absent, please communicate with your homeroom teacher and our school manager, Mrs. Brackins (malika.brackins@csdecatur.net). Thank you for your continued partnership!

Starting this week, I will share our school-wide daily attendance percentage from the previous Friday-Thursday. Our daily goal is 98%. I know we can meet our goal!

Friday = 92%

Monday = 96%

Tuesday = 94%

Wednesday = 94%

Thursday = 99%🎉

From September 2-4, all 1st-grade students will be taking the Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT). Unlike traditional achievement tests, which measure how well a student has learned the curriculum, the CogAT assesses a child’s ability to reason abstractly and recognize patterns and relationships in the world around them. Teachers can use CogAT scores to better understand a child’s pattern of cognitive strengths and weaknesses. Our school district also uses CogAT scores to screen for cognitively gifted students.

We had a great turnout for our annual PTA Back to School Picnic! Parents got to connect while students and siblings played on the playground and a grand time was had by all.

Our spectacular specials team put on a bubble party for all grades this week on early release day. This party was to celebrate all the hard work and responsible behavior students have shown during the first weeks of school. Students can earn Dojo points during specials that qualify them for the "Specials Spectacular" parties that will happen each early release day. Students enjoyed bubbles, balloons, hula hoops, and more!

Join Clairemont Class Dojo to view school-wide and classroom updates!

Kindergarten Specials link: https://www.classdojo.com/ul/p/addKid?target=class&class=6a7dca9ad42bba3a635bb4ae

1st grade specials: https://www.classdojo.com/ul/p/addKid?target=class&class=6a738bd6b48a1985e61c3704

2nd grade specials: https://www.classdojo.com/ul/p/addKid?target=class&class=6a7dcc512624b5de5533f045

Decatur Holiday Marketplace is our PTA's largest fundraiser in its 35th year! Our school will transform into a magical artist market including paintings, glass art, jewelry, pottery, gourmet food items and much more. We will have professional food vendors and food trucks to keep you fueled for shopping and music! We had over 80 vendors last year!

We invite you and your family to join us here at the school for this wonderful community tradition. All proceeds from the event support learning initiatives for Clairemont students & teachers. Follow us on Facebook or Instagram for the latest updates. This year's Marketplace will be held at Clairemont Elementary School on Friday, December 11th from 5:30pm-9pm and Saturday, December 12th, from 10am-5pm.

Want to help with the Marketplace? We rely on all of our Clairemont parent volunteers and our Clairemont Bulldogs to put this fundraiser on its feet. It takes the whole CREW to pull off this wonderful tradition! Please email Marketplace Chairperson Melissa Godbee at decaturholidaymarketplace@gmail.com for more information or if you would like to be more involved with any of the preparations such as artists, bands, transformation, silent auction, raffle and sponsorships!

A HIGH PRIORITY NEED:

A CPA (Certified Public Accountant) to hold the raffle!

A RAFFLE CHAIR- to help with curation of the baskets

A SILENT AUCTION CHAIR

A SPONSORSHIP CHAIR

A Co-ARTIST CHAIR

Do you want to be a vendor?

Applications are open!

decaturholidaymarketplace.com

Application Dates:

Applications available online opened August 15, 2026 and close September 30, 2026.

Read this week's CSD Weekly for district-wide news and information.

Is your student interested in joining the Superintendent's Student Advisory Council for their age group? These councils are designed for two-way communication between students and the Office of the Superintendent. Students Advisory Council members attend monthly, after-school meetings at the Wilson Center to share their perspectives and experiences with the superintendent on a variety of issues.
Meeting dates are linked in the application below. The deadline to apply is Friday, September 11, 2026, and selected students will be notified by Friday, September 18. Learn more and apply for the Superintendent's Student Advisory Council here.

Signing up as a member allows you to fully access our website and add your bulldog to the directory, along with classes and groups/clubs. This membership supports our school and the National and State PTA by paying annual dues that help us operate. We use PTA funds to support teacher grants and school events. A portion of the $10 serves as dues paid to the National and State Parent Teacher Association, which is our governing organization.