Tree Frog News

On Your Marks… Get Set… HOP! 🐸

💚 Shout-Outs of the Week!

Congratulations to all those who completed the AthHalf this morning. Our very own Ms. Ikedionwu was one of the runners who completed the grueling 13.1 mile course! Way to go!!

Thank you to our LSGT members for meeting this afternoon from 3:00-6:00 PM where we had wonderful discussions on how to continue to support the students at Burks.

📰 Weekly News

We’ve officially wrapped up the first quarter and now are beginning the second week of the second quarter. (I'm a week late in recognizing this.) I must say, this has been a fantastic quarter! Thank you to our students, families, staff, PTO, LSGT, CCSD, and our community partners for bringing positive energy and collaboration. Let’s carry that same momentum into Quarter 2 and keep strengthening our inclusive school culture!

Here’s a quick recap of just a few highlights from the first nine weeks:

• An fun filled Burks Back to School Bash and Title 1 Meeting

• A wonderful second season of girls volleyball - Playoffs tomorrow

• The completion of our One School, One Book - Stella Diaz Has Something to Say.

• Multiple Garden Club workdays

• Educational research on Hispanic Countries

• Basketball and cheerleading tryouts

• The expansion of our ASP program to include a wide range of new offerings like Community and Chess and Heal a Bear.

🗓️ Conference Week Reminder - Parent Conferences are THIS WEEK!!

We are excited to welcome families into Burks this week for conferences. Conferences are a wonderful opportunity to celebrate your child’s growth, learn more about their progress, and discuss next steps with their teacher. Our goal is 100% family participation. If you haven’t signed up yet, please reach out to your child's teacher. We want every family to be part of the conversation!

A Quick Note About Report Cards

CCSD report cards are standards based, with the goal of students demonstrating mastery by the end of the school year. Seeing a 2 after the first quarter is okay. It means your child is progressing toward mastery of that standard. Learning takes time, and many standards require continued practice throughout the year. During your conference, your child’s teacher can explain their progress and share ways to support their next steps.

One 🏫, One 📖

I hope that you all enjoyed reading one One School, One Book Stella Diaz Has Something to Say. I enjoyed reading how Stella overcame her fears, prioritized practice, and gained confidence along the way. These are the same things that we desire for all Tree Frogs here at Burks.

Also, if you didn't watch/listen to the last two chapters, I recommend you do so. The guest reader does a wonderful job and she has a unique connection the main character.

Let’s Cheer on Our Tree Frogs!

The Tree Frog Volleyball Team will take on Winterville, Monday, at 5:10 PM at CMS. This is the first round of the plays with the second round taking place shortly after at 6:10 PM. The winner from our game will advance to the 6:10 PM game.

Survey Says!

Our annual Measurable Results Assessment (MRA) survey is open! Your feedback helps our school and district understand how we are doing in leadership, culture, and academics—and where we can improve.

So far, 18 community members have shared their perspectives. We would love to hear from more of our families! Please set aside 5–10 minutes to complete the family survey.

⏰ Schedule Updates

Students will have early release at 12:20 PM on Wednesday, and there will be no school on Thursday, Friday, or Monday. While it’s a shorter week for students, our teachers will be putting in plenty of hours during the coming four days. Please take a moment and thank them for their dedication.

Thank you for staying connected, sharing your feedback, and supporting our Tree Frogs. Your partnership helps our school community grow stronger!

Keep hopping forward, Tree Frogs!! 🐸

• Bike to School with Coach Wright (Info flyer below)
• Book Fair 7:15 AM - 3:30 PM
• Volleyball Game vs Winterville @ 5:10 PM, CMS Gym
• Winner advances to second game at 6:10 PM
• Cheer Practice until 4:00 PM
• Boys Basketball Practice until 4:00 PM
• Girls Who Code until 4:00 PM with Mr. Weaver

Tuesday, October 13th - CCSD PINK OUT

• Book Fair 7:15 AM - 3:30 PM
• Girls Basketball Practice until 4:00 PM

• Early Release - 12:20 PM
• Book Fair 7:15 AM - 6:30 PM

Thursday, October 15th:

• NO SCHOOL - Conferences

• NO SCHOOL - Fall Break

Monday, October 19th:

• NO SCHOOL - Fall Break

Tuesday, October 20th:

• October 20th: Fall Picture Day

• October 20th: 3rd Grade Field Trip to Georgia Aquarium

It is time for our annual Measurable Results Assessment (MRA) survey! The Leader in Me MRA gathers feedback from students, staff, and families to evaluate our progress in three key areas: leadership, culture, and academics. The results provide our school and district with meaningful data to measure our progress and impact.

The survey is open through October 17. Please take five to ten minutes to share your perspective! Scan the QR code with your phone or click the link to participate.

For more information pertaining to E-SPLOST, please click here.

We are excited to announce that we will have a Spooky STEM night on October 22nd from 6:00 - 7:30 PM. This event is being put on by UGA student. Please join us for fun exploring science, technology, engineering, and mathematics....and eating pizza! This is event is free for all families!

Let's keep the good attendance rolling! Our goal is to see if we can make 10 consecutive weeks with our total number of weekly absences under 100. Three more to go!

Our school’s average daily attendance rate continues to hover above 95%! This means that we are averaging about 21 absences a day. In relation to last year, we are averaging 2 less absences a day.

If you have a student in Kindergarten, please do your best to get them to school! Kindergarten is a pivotal year. Data indicate that students missing more than 10 days for the whole year are at greater risk of a multitude of learning challenges including reading and math achievement, social emotional development, and executive functioning skills such as working working memory and cognitive flexibility. Please read the following articles for more information on the importance of attendance in Kindergarten.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10104485/

https://www.edweek.org/leadership/why-kindergarten-attendance-matters-for-the-whole-school/2023/05

We had a super seventh week of library visits thinking about fall, spooky season, and suspense--and getting excited for our fall book fair!

Pre-K through 2nd grade thought about all of the changes we notice around us in the fall and then enjoyed the book Millie Fleur's Pumpkin Problem by Christy Mandin. Ask your Tree Frog how Millie Fleur solved the pumpkin predicament in the story! (Note for Ms. Pritchett's kiddos - due to a schedule conflict we'll be reading this story on Monday 10/5!)

3rd through 5th grades discussed how writers create suspense in stories to keep us on the edge of our seats, and then we read the beginning of a suspenseful chapter book together--either Troubling Tonsils from the Jasper Rabbit's Creepy Tales! series or for the older kids Ghost in the Night by Tiffany D. Jackson.

Finally, Ms. Bolus's 5th grade group enjoyed a popcorn party to celebrate earning 12 stars for following the BURKS Way in the library!

Our fall book fair starts this week! Book fair is an amazing opportunity to purchase books for your home library while supporting our school library!

• All classes will preview the fair on Wednesday, 10/7
• Shopping starts on Thursday, 10/8!
• Families may shop together before or after school, and students may shop individually during the school day with their teacher's permission
• Visit our book fair home page for a sneak peek at this fall's titles
• Create an eWallet for cashless book fair shopping
• Visit our PTO's GivePulse page to help out with the fair
• Contribute to our Share the Fair fund to help EVERY kid get a book!

You can use any internet-connected device to navigate your Tree Frog to a wealth of digital learning resources! Some of our favorite and most-used resources can be found on our school's Clever dashboard. To access Clever, your child can either:

• Scan their Clever badge QR code with the camera on a device (perfect for K/1st) or
• Visit Clever.com and sign in with their CCSD username and password (message Mrs. Hudson or your child's teacher if you need this information!)

Once you're on Clever, choose an app! Here are some of the ones we use the most:

• iReady: Provides practice in reading and math. This logs in automatically with Clever!
• Starfall: Has tons of learning games for all ages. Log in with this info:
• username: jlb@go.starfall.com
• password: treefrogs
• Epic: Read ebooks and audiobooks! Log in with a class code from your teacher.
• Sora: Read ebooks and audiobooks! Log in with your CCSD Google Account and add Georgia Download Destination to your libraries.
• PebbleGo: Learn about people, places, animals, events, and more! This logs in automatically with Clever!

Lunch menu for October

CCSD Academic Calendar 2026-2027 (English)

CCSD Academic Calendar 2026-2027 (Spanish)

The Johnnie Lay Burks Elementary School PTO:

• Provides volunteer assistance for school-wide events
• Beautifies our school inside and out
• Raises funds for teacher and school-wide projects
• Helps connect the school and the community!

All are welcome to attend our monthly PTO meetings, which are generally held on the third Friday of each month at 7:45am in our school library. There is no cost or obligation to join! Our meetings for the 2026-27 school year will be on the following dates:

• October 23rd
• November 20th
• January 15th
• February 19th
• March 19th
• April 16th
• May 7th - voting meeting for next year's officers!

Want to learn more? Check out our PTO Welcome Video in English or Spanish:

• JLB PTO Welcome Video - English
• JLB PTO Welcome Video - Spanish

School-based health centers make accessing medical and dental care as easy as walking down the hall. Students and families throughout the district are encouraged to take advantage of one of our four school-based health centers for many of their basic healthcare needs. Click the links for additional information.

• Hilsman Middle Health Center
• Clarke Middle Health Center
• Classic City Health Center
• Coile Health Center.

CCSD offers bus transportation to students from their home school (if needed) to attend an appointment at a CCSD school-based health center. Please click this link to give permission for your student to use CCSD transportation to their appointment.

Visit this link for information about setting up and accessing the Infinite Campus Parent Portal, where you can update view student information, update contact preferences, and more.

One of the features of Infinite Campus is having access to your student's assessments. Please use this link to learn how to access the data in English and this link for Spanish.

October

October 20th: Fall Picture Day

October 20th: 3rd Grade Field Trip to Georgia Aquarium

October 22nd: Lilly Pad Luncheon for September Leaders of the Month

October 22nd: Spooky STEM Night 6:00 - 7:30 PM

October 23rd: PTO meeting 7:45 - 8:45 AM

October 30th: Story Book Parade (Turf field) 1:45 - 2:30 (Parents are invited!

November 4th: 1st Grade Field Trip - Experience UGA

November 4th: 5th Grade Jekyll Island Informational Meeting 5:30 - 6:30 PM

November 6th: Family Literacy Night 5:30-6:45 PM & Movie on the Lawn 7:00-9:00 PM

November 6th: Kindergarten Field Trip - Experience UGA