Tree Frog News

On Your Marks… Get Set… HOP! 🐸

💚 Shoutouts of the Week!

A big shoutout to Mr. Diaz for coordinating the Spooky STEM Night event last Thursday. I heard everyone had a wonderful time exploring a variety of stations. Thank you to those staff members who volunteered as well.

Thank you to all the UGA volunteers who made Spooky STEM Night so engaging for our students.

📆 This Week’s Happenings

We have some fun events happening this week.

All week long we are celebrating Red Ribbon Week. Please see the flyer below for each day's theme.

We kick off the 2026 Tree Frog Basketball season tomorrow (Monday) at Clarke Middle School, where we are taking on Cleveland Road. The boys play first at 4:30, followed by the girls at 5:30. Come show your support along with the Cheer Frogs and watch some intense basketball.

We have our second annual Burks Storybook Parade on Friday the 30th! This event kicks off on the turf field at 1:45. Adults are welcome to attend. Students will be seated on the turf, and families will stand on the perimeter of the field.

We look forward to another incredible week at Burks. Remember, every school day brings opportunities to learn, connect, and grow. Let’s make the most of them by being at school!!

Keep hopping forward, Tree Frogs!! 🐸

• Red Ribbon Week—Wear Red
• Girls Who Code 3:00-4:00
• Cheer Practice 2:40-3:30
  
• Basketball Game at CMS Gym—Boys at 4:30 PM and Girls at 5:30 PM

Tuesday, October 27th

• Red Ribbon Week—Dynamic Duos (Find a friend and dress alike)

• Girls Basketball Practice until 4:00 PM

• Red Ribbon Week—Superhero Day (Dress like a superhero or a role model who inspires you)

• Boys Basketball Practice until 4:00 PM

Thursday, October 29th:

• Red Ribbon Week—Team and Talent Day (Dress to represent a team you love, a sport you play, or a talent you possess)

• Cheer Practice until 4:00

• Girls Basketball Practice until 4:00

• STEP Team Practice until 4:00

• Red Ribbon Week—Storybook Parade (Wear your book character costume)

• Storybook Parade 1:45 on the turf field. Families welcome!

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

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. ONE more to go!

Families, it's almost time for this year's storybook parade on Friday, October 30th! You are all invited to join us on the soccer turf as we march around the field in costumes inspired by our favorite books!

Homeroom teachers will all be planning a class costume based on a book their students love, and your Tree Frog can join in on the class costume for a no-stress participation option.

Students may also choose to wear their own costumes, but they must have a book to go with it! For example: if they wear a Batman costume, they have to carry a Batman book! No weapons and nothing bloody or gory please - this is an all-ages event!

We can't wait to see everyone's book-inspired costumes!!

We've had an excellent eighth week of library visits!

Every pre-K, kindergarten, and 1st grade class got to read one or two brand new books from last week's book fair! Ask your younger Tree Frogs which new book(s) their class got to enjoy!

In 2nd through 5th grades, we have been learning all about voting and elections and participating in the YOUth Vote Georgia statewide mock election! Classes read books about elections and voting and then had the opportunity to cast their own votes for the next governor and lieutenant governor of Georgia.

• 2nd & 3rd grades read the book Vote for Our Future to learn about all the ways they can remind their grownups about voter registration, early and absentee voting, and more!

• 4th & 5th grades learned about the history of voting rights with the books Equality's Call (4th grade) and Lillian's Right to Vote (5th grade).

Ms. Berry's 2nd graders enjoyed a choice day to celebrate 12 library stars for following the BURKS Way! They'll vote in the mock election on Monday, November 2nd.

Ms. Hacker's 3rd graders read Mary McScary and The Little Shop of Monsters to get ready for next Thursday's virtual author visit with the master of kids' spooky stories, R.L. Stine, so they'll vote in the mock election when I see them again on Friday, October 30th.

A day off + a big field trip got Ms. Hull's 3rd graders off schedule this week, but on 10/26 we'll enjoy stories by RL Stine before our author visits, and on 11/2 they will get to cast their ballots in the mock election!

Finally, stay tuned for more details about our Family Literacy and Movie Night coming up on Friday, November 6th! Join us for all kinds of fun literacy activities from 5:30 to 6:30pm, come out to the soccer turf for pizza and popcorn at 6:30, and then at 7:00 we'll enjoy a movie Stella Diaz would love: Finding Nemo!

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 e-books 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.

November 1st-30th: Can-a-Thon to benefit the Athens Area Emergency Food Bank

November 3rd: NO SCHOOL Election Day

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