A Letter From Dr. Tennies, Our Principal
Hello Families,
I hope you found last month’s connections of parent teacher conferences valuable. We were happy to see families all day on October 19th. This year for the first time, we had an online learning day while teachers conducted parent teacher conferences. The full day of conferences was a new initiative for our district. Teachers could meet with families early in the morning and all afternoon. Families had a greater window of time to get to the school. We are invested in partnering together. When families and schools work together, great things can happen. We could not have done it without your support, thank you for helping with our online learning day.
Parent Teacher conferences are on our school calendar twice a year: once in October and again in March. Although it may be understood, I would like to say that any time you have questions and want to partner, we are here for that. Staff have email addresses. During the day, it is difficult to stop teaching and answer the phone, so you could leave a voice mail for your teacher. We will return your call and phone when teaching is done.
Communication is an important part of our partnership. This month is Family Engagement Month in the state of Georgia. One thing I learned from researching family engagement is that you do not have to be present at school, your engagement as a parent can occur from home. When parents ask how school was, when they inquire about assignments, and when they share how important it is to go to school, those are all examples of family engagement from your home. Reading this newsletter and our weekly messenger is another example of engagement from home. I would like to invite you to our November Coffee Chat on Friday, Nov. 17th at 9:30am in the Family Resource Room. We will be celebrating National Family Engagement Day.
Communication between home and school is so important.
Thank you for partnering with us. Our partnership is vital for student success.
Together we are Chestatee!
Kindly,
Dr. Polly Tennies
Principal
Chestatee Elementary
School Pay
School Pay is a new program we will use for all payments EXCEPT meals. My Payments Plus will still be used for cafeteria accounts. Click here.
Our PTO is a Great Way to Get Involved!
Our PTO board members raise money to help teachers and our school.
You can support our PTO through our fundraisers, Spirit Nights, events, and spirit wear.
There are no membership dues this year.
Contact our PTO at chestateeelementarypto@gmail.com any time!
A Note from Nurse Kristen
Dear Families,
The main reasons for keeping your child at home are as follows:
- If he/she is too sick to be comfortable at school
- If he/she will spread a contagious illness/disease to another child
Remember: Students must be fever free for 24 hours without the use of fever reducing medications before returning to school. Students must also be vomiting and diarrhea free for 24 hours before returning to school.
Kristen Knottek, BSN, RN
School Nurse
Chestatee Elementary
770-887-2341 ext. 722151
f41520@forsyth.k12.ga.us
Dear Families,
November is my favorite month. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It is rewarding to me to always find reasons to be grateful. Family Engagement Month happens every November in schools across the state of Georgia. It’s such a great month to celebrate our partnership. I also love celebrating and thanking our fantastic families during November. We are posting on Facebook each day this month different ways our families show engagement. It's awesome to see all the great examples. Let's face it! Our families are amazing. Happy Family Engagement Month!
Lunch guests, Watchdog Dads, Boosterthon and fundraisers, helping with homework, partnering with the teachers, attending APTT meetings, viewing social media, keeping up with Messengers, emails, newsletters, coming to performances, PTO events, LSC, Parent Advisory Council, special projects, volunteers in classrooms, the media center, and car line, … the list goes on and on and on. We have involved families…. That is for sure! I love November so that we can look back at all the ways every year and smile! Our families are the best!
So on this month of family engagement- I want to ask the adults of our families- are you taking care of yourselves so that you can keep this great engagement going? That’s important for all of us to remember. Slow down. Take care of yourself too. Find something you love and do it. Grant yourself some time for self-care. You can’t pour from an empty cup. Whether it’s exercise, nature, camping, nails, hair, shopping, a movie, date night, puzzles, reading, hobbies, or something else… find something. Doing something for yourself will be what helps you keep up all the great family engagement you have been doing.
A wise woman said to me…. Okay, Dr. Tennies said to me at the beginning of the year, “Meg… remember that this is a marathon, not a race. Pace yourself.” I encourage you to do the same. Thank you for all you do for the beautiful children you send to Chestatee each day. Happy November and happy Family Engagement Month, Chestatee Families!
Together WE are Chestatee!
See you soon,
Meg
Meg Killingsworth
770-887-2341 ext. 723002
Kroger and Publix will donate money too...
Publix Partners with Chestatee also. You only need to put your phone number in as you checkout. Publix will donate a certain percentage of their profits to Chestatee from your purchase!
We love our Partners in Education!
Chestatee Elementary School
Email: chestateees@gmail.com
Website: http://www.forsyth.k12.ga.us/site/default.aspx?domainid=260
Location: 6945 Keith Bridge Road, Gainesville, GA, United States
Phone: 770-887-2341
Facebook: facebook.com/ChestateeES
Twitter: @chestateees