College Heights Connection
Welcome back, Pre-K families! We hope you had a restful and fun-filled Fall Break.
Fall is always a busy season here at College Heights, and we have a lot of exciting events coming up over the next few weeks. Please make plans to join in the fun!
Upcoming Highlights (scroll down for full details on all of these upcoming events):
Read-To-Me-A-Thon: Our PTO is preparing to kick off our annual reading fundraiser soon.
Literacy Week & Book Parade: We’ll wrap up the month with a week of engaging literacy activities for all ages, culminating in our beloved Pre-K Book Parade on Friday, October 30.
A big shoutout to the families in Ms. Ramirez, Ms. Tate, Ms. Jenkins, and Ms. Evangelista’s classes for providing such a wonderful staff breakfast! Our team felt so celebrated and grateful for your generosity.
Have a great weekend,
Principal Garland
College Heights Early Childhood Learning Center
School pictures are next week!
Say cheese! Individual school pictures will take place the week of October 5-9. Our photographer is the very talented Melle Houston, and she is excited to take photos of our adorable College Heights chicks. Please see the display of Melle's photos across the hall from room 159. Order forms for photos will go out in plenty of time to order prints for the holidays. The schedule with each classroom's photo day is below; families with students in 116 and 117, please see the note below.
Melle is looking for volunteers to assist with photos that week. If you are available to help coax smiles out of our little ones and help keep the process flowing smoothly, please reach out to her directly at hello@mellehouston.com.
College Heights celebrates Georgia Pre-K Week
College Heights is excited to participate in Georgia Pre-K Week next week (October 5-9). Georgia Pre-K Week is a statewide event celebrating Georgia's Pre-K program, created in 1992 as a pilot program for at-risk students. Since then, the program has expanded to become the largest voluntary universal Pre-K program in the nation, with over 2 million children served. Recently, Georgia became the first universal Pre-K program in the country to meet all 10 national quality standards set by the National Institute for Early Education Research. The Georgia Pre-K program is administered by Bright from the Start through the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL).
To kick off the celebration, a special book is coming home with Pre-K students this week. This book is a gift from the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning's Bright from the Start program and is meant for your student to keep. The book is titled Every Amazing Song, and it was written by two Georgia authors, Malcolm Mitchell and Coy Bowles. Click this link for a video to accompany the story.
On Wednesday, October 7, we invite all Pre-K students to dress up as what they want to be when they grow up. We are so excited to see our future firefighters, postal workers, doctors, teachers, zookeepers, race car drivers, professional athletes - our future innovators and community leaders - who started their journey in Pre-K!
Stay tuned for daily updates on Georgia Pre-K Week activities and celebrations next week!
Flu vaccine clinic at College Heights on October 15
College Heights is partnering with the East DeKalb Health Center to host a Flu Clinic. Anyone in the community is welcome to come get their flu vaccine (ages six months and up).
Where: College Heights
When: October 15, 3:00-5:00 p.m.
Accepted Insurance: Blue Cross Blue Shield, United Healthcare, Aetna, Georgia Medicaid, Cigna, Medicare and Humana. Please make sure you bring your insurance card and a photo ID.
Not Accepted Insurance: Kaiser, Tricare and Oscar
The cost of the vaccine without insurance is $21.93 (cash, check or credit card).
If you have questions, please contact College Heights Health Aide, Anika Bakker.
College Heights Receives DEF Grant
We are delighted to announce that College Heights was selected to receive a Teacher Innovation Grant from the Decatur Education Foundation. We requested funds to purchase Yoto players and cards for the College Heights library. Families will be able to check out the players and story cards and enjoy these at home. In the next few weeks, we will purchase these resources, add them to our catalog, and prepare them for circulation. If you are interested in serving on a Yoto parent advisory committee, which will help decide which story cards to purchase and make recommendations on circulation policies, please email Leslie Joiner.
We are so grateful to the Decatur Education Foundation for their continued support of early learning at College Heights!
Library news
In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, Pre-K students enjoyed Mañana, Iguana, written by Ann Whitford Paul, illustrated by Ethan Long, an engaging version of the classic tale, The Little Red Hen. We learned the Spanish words for rabbit (conejo), tortoise (tortuga), and snake (culebra), as well as the days of the week. Preschool students loved Carina Felina, by Carmen Agra Deedy and Henry Cole, which tells the story of a very naughty cat with a HUGE appetite!
Get ready for some book fair magic! During Literacy Week (October 16-30), College Heights hosts the fall Scholastic Book Fair. More details will be coming soon, along with an opportunity to sign up to volunteer. We can't do the book fair without you!
This week's books for one-, two-, and three-year-old classes:
A Busy Creature's Day Eating by Mo Willems
Pete the Cat Checks out the Library by James Dean
Good Night, Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle and Jill McElmurry
The Babies on the Bus by Karen Katz
Who am I? An Animal Guessing Game by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page
