Talley Street Update

Save the Date!

Fall STAR Assessments: August 4th-15th
House Sorting Day: August 8
Walk n Roll: August 8
PTO Popsicle Social: August 9, 10:00-11:00 (3rd Grade), 11:00-12:00 (4th/5th Grade)
PTO Meeting: August 13, 6-7 PM
Author Visit Orders Due: August 22
Curriculum Night: August 26, 6-7:30 PM
Early Release: August 27 @ 12:15 PM
Family Trivia Night: September 4, 5-7 PM
3rd Grade Movie Night: September 12 @ 5:30 PM

Dear Talley Street Community,

What an excellent start to the school year! As we wrap up our first week, thank you for your support, patience, and partnership in helping our students transition back to school. Seeing our hallways filled with excitement, curiosity, and laughter has been a joy.

Our teachers and staff have been working hard to build strong classroom communities and set the stage for a year of growth and learning. Your cooperation has helped make everything run smoothly from morning arrivals to afternoon dismissals.

Annual Update

If you have not already done so, please complete the Annual Update. Use this link for more information. Currently, Talley has a participation rate of 46.81%. Please help Talley Street reach 100%!

Superintendent's Student Advisory Council

Applications for the 25-26 Superintendent's Student Advisory Councils opened on Wednesday, August 5th. The application deadline is Friday, August 22, at 5 p.m. Students selected to serve on the council will be notified by Friday, August 29, 2025. Serving on this council is an excellent opportunity for student leadership. Use this link to apply.

STAR Assessment Reports

Talley Street will send STAR Assessment reports home the week of August 18th. CSD's Teaching and Learning Department will host a parent webinar on August 20th at 6:00 p.m. to review STAR assessments, interim data, and the new ELA standards, as well as to answer any parent questions.

Teacher Wish Lists

Talley Street is committed to ensuring every classroom is stocked and ready for students and teachers to have what they need to be engaged and successful. We do this by using our allocated state and local funding to fulfill classroom needs. Funding covers essential classroom supplies, any specialized materials needed for educational programming in different grade levels/subjects, individual or team requests for specific supplies, professional learning and general operating costs. In addition to this, some staff at Talley Street have customarily shared supply wish lists with families via email or online. Please know that these are optional and individualized by the staff member. Wish lists should not be interpreted as an indication that classrooms at Talley Street or our programming lack supplies or funding. Instead, the lists reflect individual preferences for extra items. Any purchases made from these lists are considered gifts to staff and must follow state guidance and Georgia Professional Standards Commission (PSC) rules around gift-giving to public employees, including monetary limits.

If you have any questions about how supplies are funded or how you can support our classrooms, please contact the school at bheaton@csdecatur.net.

G.E.N.T.S

Again, during the 2025-2026 school year, Talley will offer the G.E.N.T.S. (Gentlemen Excelling with the Needed tools for Success) program. Students interested in the program should complete the application and return it to their classroom teacher. Charlie McAdoo, a teacher at Beacon Hill, will come to Talley Street every other Tuesday after school to help facilitate the program. More information about the start date will be forthcoming..

G.E.NT.S. Application

We look forward to continuing our work together to ensure every student has a safe, enriching, and successful school year.

Warm regards,

Billy

Other Front Office Announcements

Arrival Procedures

Students may enter the building as early as 7:20 AM.
Breakfast is served 7:20- 7:40 AM.
Students need to arrive in their classroom with their homeroom teacher (NOT walking in the door) by 7:45 AM.
Attendance will be taken by the classroom teacher at 7:45 AM.
Please send all absence and tardy excuses to Ms. SanAngelo (jsanangelo@csdecatur.net).

PickUp Patrol: Dismissal and Absences

Teachers use parent-entered Pick Up Patrol data to dismiss students. Please be sure your child's plan is accurate each day. The cut off time to change information is 1 PM (M-Th) and 12 PM (F).

Talley Robotics: Call for Coaches

The Talley Robotics First Lego League (FLL) Program for the 2025-2026 season will be kicking off soon. The competitive team (FLL Challenge) is for 4th and 5th graders. We hope to have more than one team again this year at Talley, but parent coaches are critical for this to happen. Each team needs at least two parent coaches. No experience necessary. Teams generally practice once a week for two hours after school and will compete in at least one day long FLL regional competition in December (more if teams advance past regionals). If you are interested in coaching a team at Talley, please complete this Google Form to let us know your interest and availability by Monday, August 11th. Once coaches are secured, an application will be shared for interested team members.

There is a Decatur Robotics information session for those interested in learning how to get involved on Thursday, August 7th from 6-7pm in the Decatur High School Cafeteria. More information and pre-registration is available here.

Girls on the Run - Coaches Needed!

Girls on the Run is looking for parents/caregivers/community members to coach at Talley Street for the Fall 2025 Season! If you are interested in becoming a coach/mentor for our participants, please see this flyer and visit girlsontherunga.com/coach to learn more about the kind of commitment it takes to be a coach, and to register to coach. Practice is on M/W or T/Th from 2:30-4:00 pm from September 1-December 9. No practice when there is no school or on Early Release days. We must have at least 3 coaches per team in order to host teams at Talley. We need you! Email programs@girlsontherunga.org for questions about GOTR or coaching, and nbundschu@csdecatur.net for questions about coaching at Talley. For more information about GOTR as a program, go to https://www.girlsontherunga.org/3rd-5th-grade-program-details.

Important Dates:

Lottery registration is open through 11:59 pm on Thursday, August 21.
A computer-generated lottery will take place on Friday, August 22 for teams that are full. For any teams that don't fill through the lottery, registration reopens by 3 pm on August 22 and will remain open through Thursday, September 11 on a first-come, first-served basis.
Practices for all teams begin the week of September 1.
The last day to register for teams that have not yet filled and the last day for refunds is Thursday, September 11.
The Girls on the Run 5K celebration is December 6.
The last week of practice will be the week of December 8th.

Author Visit: Emily Bowen Cohen

Our first author visit of the school year will take place on Monday, September 15! Author Emily Bowen Cohen will be visiting all Talley students to talk about her graphic novel, Two Tribes. In this book inspired by her life, the author explores her experiences growing up in the Jewish and Muscogee cultures. Book order forms went home in communication folders today. It is also linked below. Students should turn in their money and completed forms to their teacher by August 22!

Book Order Form

Beginning-of-Year Music Notes

Welcome back Talley musicians! Below are a few important notes from Ms. Jessup.

4th & 5th graders will bring recorders to school by Monday August 25th. Use link to purchase if recorder is lost or damaged
Professional/Amateur Adult Musicians: If you or a family member sings or plays an instrument and would like to share and/or support the Talley Music Program, please contact Tanya Jessup at tjessup@csdecatur.net. You may play for a class, make music alongside students, we’d love to have you any time of the year!
Chorus registration is for 4th & 5th grade only. Registration window closes August 15th! (https://forms.gle/FLwN5Yaa1H7Uagf29).

The first chorus rehearsal is August 20th. Chorus information page

Orchestra Overview: Tiffany Ryce is the director (tryce@csdecatur.net). Please contact Ms. Ryce for more information (This is a before or after school extra curricular activity for grades 3rd-5th)

Plastic Film Collection Is Back!

Thanks to the 10 families who signed up for Ridwell home service in the spring, Talley will have FREE plastic film pickup all school year. Our first collection (for house points) will be Wednesday, August 13. Students and staff are encouraged to bring their clean, dry plastic film to the front lobby in the morning, as they arrive at school. Items that fall in this category are: shipping mailers, grocery and produce bags, zipper-top bags, bubble wrap, bread bags and newspaper bags. Rule of thumb: If you can push your finger through the plastic and stretch it, then it’s plastic film. Learn more here.

Want some tips on how you can reduce plastic consumption? Read this article from the Ridwell Community.

Join the Green Team

Talley’s Green Team is a group of students, teachers and parents who are passionate about sustainability and want to help make Talley a zero-waste school. While recycling at school is a major part of our mission, we are firm believers first in the principles of reduce and reuse.

Green Team meets after school (from roughly 2:15 pm to 3:15 pm) on Tuesdays for participation in various sustainability projects and Fridays for our schoolwide recycling collection. Parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles are welcome to join us!

Attendance is NOT mandatory. Parents should select "Green Team" in Pick Up Patrol on the days their child plans to attend and include how their child will get home afterward. Please direct questions to Mrs. Roberts at kathryn.roberts@csdecatur.net. Thank you!

Green Team Sign-Up Form

Join the Talley PTO Parents Group on Facebook (bit.ly/Parentgroup) and follow us on Instagram (@TalleyPTO) to stay connected and receive PTO updates throughout the year!
Support the Talley community by donating to the PTO! Our Annual Donation drive is happening now. Give once up-front to support our plans and events for the whole year! Choose your contribution level and receive Talley swag as a thank-you gift: bit.ly/3ygCwRt
Our first Walk and Roll of the year is tomorrow, Friday, August 8th! Come join us and stretch your legs ahead of Sorting Day festivities!
We still need a few volunteers for Sorting Day tomorrow, Friday, August 8th! Parents can only attend Sorting Day if they volunteer. Come experience this fun-filled event! Sign up at: Signup.com/go/TDMOcxL
Join us for a Popsicle Social this Saturday, August 9th! We’ll have free popsicles for the kids, and lemonade and Talley spirit wear for sale. Come get to know other Talley families and stock up on House gear!

We are seeking volunteers to help with this event! Sign up using the button below!

Popsicle Social Volunteer Sign-Up

A few classes are still seeking Room Parents. Support your teacher with celebrations, communication, and classroom needs! bit.ly/3H6Zy1A
We’re still looking for amazing volunteers for Secretary, Room Parent Coordinators, Staff Appreciation, and other PTO positions. Interested? Email copresident@talleypto.org and/or come find out more at the Popsicle Social on Saturday! bit.ly/4mhwBPl