Eagle Edition

Bill Howard, Principal ~ Jill Tolsma, Instructional Coach ~ Michelle Reynolds, School Manager

Email: bill.howard@csdecatur.net
Location: 440 East Ponce de Leon Avenue, Decatur, GA, USA
Phone: 404.370.4435 * Website * Facebook

What a wonderful week it has been! We loved welcoming our students back from Fall Break and seeing all those smiling faces ready to learn. Our Eagles did an incredible job jumping right back into “school mode,” showing great self-control and responsibility as they followed classroom routines and school-wide expectations. We’re so proud of the way they soared back into learning!

As a reminder, Parent-Teacher Conferences are happening this week and next. A heartfelt thank you to the many families who have already connected with their child’s teacher. These conferences are an important part of our home-school partnership, helping us stay aligned on your child’s academic growth and social-emotional development. We appreciate your engagement and support!

With the cooler weather arriving, we kindly ask that you label your child’s sweaters, sweatshirts, jackets, and coats with their name. Our playground and lost-and-found tend to collect quite the coat collection this time of year, and labeled items help us return them quickly.

We are also excited to share that CSD Reads Week, Glennwood's Booktoberfest and Dyslexia Awareness Month are in full swing! We kicked off the week with a special read-aloud from our very own Superintendent, Dr. Whitaker, in celebration of CSD Reads Week. Students have been participating in fun and engaging literacy events all week long.

As part of our efforts to spread the love of reading beyond our school walls, we’re launching a BUCKETS of BOOKS donation drive starting this Friday, October 3 through Wednesday, October 8. Students are encouraged to clean out their home bookshelves and bring in gently used books to donate to Children Read Atlanta. Let’s come together to support literacy across our state—thank you in advance for your generosity!

We’ll also be participating in World Dyslexia Day as part of CSD’s district-wide awareness efforts. The district celebration is scheduled for Wednesday, October 8, but here at Glennwood, we’re moving our celebration to Thursday, October 9 so students can wear their picture-perfect outfits for Picture Day on Wednesday! We encourage everyone to wear red on Thursday, October 9 to help us raise awareness and show support for students with dyslexia.

And speaking of pictures—don’t forget that Picture Day is next Wednesday, October 8! We can’t wait to see our Eagles dressed to impress with big smiles ready for the camera!

Thank you for all the ways you continue to support our school community. Let’s keep soaring together!

In partnership,

Bill Howard

Principal, Glennwood Elementary

bill.howard@csdecatur.net

Individual school picture photos for yearbook and purchase for families will be Wednesday, October 8 from 9:00-10:00 am. We will offer a picture make up/retake day on Tuesday, October 28. More info will be sent to families on ordering photos at a later time.

This week, I began a dragon-themed lesson on friendship in Kindergarten and 1st grade. We started the lesson with a mindful moment dragon breath (breath in through the nose, out through the mouth). Next, we played a short game on asking questions and making comments. In this, students were given a prompt and they had to either respond with a question or make a comment to show interest. For example, if the prompt was "I just got a new video game last night!" they could ask what video game it was or comment that they love to play video games too. Asking questions and making comments is a real social skill that can help facilitate friendships. Next, we read a dragon-themed book on friendship. Finally, we played a friendship prompt game where students had to answer open-ended questions about healthy vs. unhealthy friendships. We ended with some dragon-themed kids' jokes. My next lesson will be on bullying vs. conflict as October is National Bullying Prevention Month.

Read the October 2, 2025, issue of CSD Weekly, the district-wide newsletter.

If you're a second grade family, please consider signing up to bring in something for our staff. Please drop off your items with Ms. Reynolds at the front office October 14-15th anytime during school hours and the PTA will assemble the snack table for our staff to enjoy on October 16th.

Sign up here!

If you are unable to purchase items for the table, but would like to donate funds towards the event or to restock snacks in the teacher lounge, the PTA is also collecting monetary donations. Donations can be made here with a note that it is for the October Snack Table and we'll take care of it for you. If you have any questions, please reach out to Staff Appreciation Co-Chairs: Emily McDowell or Kate Myers (staffappreciation@glennwoodespta.com). Thank you!

Purchase Fall Festival tickets here.

If you need assistance with your tickets please reach out to Principal Howard at: bill.howard@csdecatur.net

Sign up to volunteer here

Can’t volunteer but still want to support our garden program? Please consider donating to the Glennwood PTA! Your contributions help cover the cost of seedlings, tools, garden maintenance supplies, and other materials we need to make the program a success.

When donating, simply add “Glennwood Garden” in the notes.

👉👉 Donate Here

Stay up-to-date with all things Glennwood and tag us! Our PTA Facebook Page on IG and FB, as well as our parents' page: Glennwood Parents' Page

We would like to invite y'all to our 2nd Annual Communities in Schools of Atlanta Reading Is Lit event. This event is in partnership with Talley's PTO and the Diversity Activities Committee.

Last year's event was so much fun! We enjoyed having families from the Clairemont, Glennwood and Winnona Park communities. We would like to extend an invitation again for this year's event.

The theme for this year is: Snuggle with a Book. Kids and families are welcome to wear their best book character, literacy or superheroes costumes (scary masks are not allowed). Entrance is free but you must register HERE in advance. Please bring a new or gently used book (lower elementary reading level) to donate. We’ll have music and concessions for sale.