I would like to recognize a group of ladies who work very hard for our students at White Oak. These ladies give unselfishly of their time to devote themselves to projects that benefit White Oak. These ladies are on our PTO Board and they are: Sandee Strickert, President; Cindy Johnson, Vice President; Sarita Workman, Treasurer; and Kelley Sorenson, Secretary.

They have created quite a “buzz” at White Oak this year by providing our school with the funds to purchase and install our first Promethean Board in Tina Marsh’s third grade classroom. The Promethean Board is a high-tech interactive, hard surface electro-magnetic white board that allows students to take an active role in their learning. To learn more about these boards go to www.logicalchoice.com and click on Activboard. You can also go to In the News and More News at that site to see how they are being utilized in classrooms across the country.

Installing the Promethean Boards will put White Oak on the cutting edge of technology. The following are comments from Mrs. Marsh:

“The Promethean board is a wonderful learning tool. Students not only have the benefits of the large visual display, but they can also participate in the learning experience with interactive activities, videos, and sound files. We have used our board in all subjects, starting first thing at 8:00 with our math problem of the day. No more ‘I can’t see the board!’ Then students can come up and demonstrate how they arrived at the answer right on the board. It’s a great learning experience! We are fortunate that our PTO Board will be committing monies earned this year to purchase Promethean Boards for as many classrooms as possible. This will require help from our parents during fund raising activities, as the boards cost approximately $5000.00 a piece.”

At this time, we have one of our biggest fundraisers going on. Sally Foster orders are due on September 12. Please do your part by ordering and supporting the PTO’s efforts.

We are off to a great start this year. Look for an upcoming Standards Night. We appreciate your support and look forward to a great school year.

Dates to Remember

Sept 7 Mrs. Arnold’s Birthday

Sept 11-13 CogAT Testing for 2^nd & 4^th Grades

Sept 12 Progress Reports Go Home

Sept 12 Lori Stockham’s Birthday

Sept 13 Stevi B’s Pizza Spirit Night

Sept 13 Latisha Stinson’s Birthday

Sept 21 School Pictures

Sept 22 Ms. Neal’s Birthday

Sept 27 5^th Grade Bake Sale during lunch

Making School a Priority

Affidavit Renewals

On Tuesday, September 4, your child should have brought home a letter from our Superintendent, Mr. Blake Bass, explaining the affidavit renewal process. The following is a list of documents that are needed from all parents by December 18th:

· mortgage documents or a security deed which indicates the location of the residence

· current utility bill for electricity or utility application for electricity showing the current address

Our new motto is “Growing Towards Excellence with PRIDE.” Our Character Education Program will begin September 10. We are utilizing the Film Clips for Character Education provided by the Georgia Department of Education. This program utilizes short clips from current major motion pictures to help explore this year’s nine chosen character traits. Every morning, immediately following announcements, an introduction and film clip will be shown via closed circuit. Following the film clips, teachers will facilitate discussion in their classrooms. At the end of the month, teachers will select the student who best displayed the designated character trait and name him/her as Warrior of the Month. Warriors of the Month will have their pictures taken for display in the hallway and the pictures will be submitted to the newspaper.

The character trait for September is Self-Control. The film clips shown will be from:

We all are excited about our new program. Please talk with your child about what he/she has seen and discussed at school, and help us reinforce the importance of these character traits.

The Georgia Performance Standards (GPS) provide the framework for the curriculum taught to our students. They incorporate the content standard, which simply tells the teacher what a student is expected to know (i.e., what concepts he or she is expected to master), and expands upon it by providing three additional items: suggested tasks, sample student work, and teacher commentary on the work.

The performance standards isolate and identify the skills needed to problem-solve, reason, communicate, and make connections with other information.

As you walk through the school, you will notice the GPS’s as you pass by student work in the hallways. The GPS will be posted within the display of work. You will also notice GPS’s posted in the classrooms.

You will learn more about the Georgia Performance Standards in the near future. Further information can be obtained at the GeorgiaStandards.Org website.

The week of September 11 – 13 our second and fourth graders will be administered the Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT). The CogAT is used to assess the level of a student’s cognitive development. The results from these tests, along with teacher evaluations and grades can help determine your child’s academic progress.

You can help your child do his/her best on the test by ensuring that they get a good night’s sleep, eat a healthy breakfast and arrive at school on time. If you have any questions about the CogAT testing please call Mrs. Wunner at 770 254-2860.

Lexile Framework for Reading

Your child’s CRCT scores this year had a Lexile score listed on them. What is a Lexile? A Lexile is a score that matches a student’s reading ability with difficulty of text material. A Lexile can be interpreted as the level of book that a student can read with 75% comprehension. Experts have identified 75% comprehension level as offering the reader a certain amount of comfort and yet still offering a challenge.

How can a parent use a child’s Lexile score? Readers can experience frustration if they are reading material that is too hard for them. Try to find books that are 100 Lexiles below to 50 Lexiles above their score. This is their Lexile Range. For example, if your child’s Lexile Score was 839, his Lexile Range would be 739 to 889. Finding books in his Lexile Range will help your child experience growth and decrease his frustration level. It also helps increase comprehension.

Where can you find the Lexile level of books? You can visit the website lexile.com and search their database. They have many books listed with the Lexile score.

Coming in October:

The White Oak Animal Club Fitness Challenge

1) What is the White Oak Animal Club Fitness Club Challenge? It is a voluntary extracurricular program that promotes physical activity.

2) Who can participate? All students, parents, family members, and staff are encouraged to participate!

3) What does the “White Oak Animal Club Fitness Challenge” mean? Participants will attempt to keep up with the world’s fastest animals! These animals are the fastest on earth. For example, earning into the Lion club equals 50 miles of exercise because the Lion can run up to 50 miles per hour! Of course, we will take a little longer than an hour for our 50 miles!

Computer Labs will be open daily from 7:30 – 8:00 to provide an opportunity for students to take Accelerated Reader (AR) tests. The Media Committee met and decided that students will not be allowed to take tests after school. Please be advised that parents cannot help students with tests at any time. The students in Kindergarten – Third grade will strive to meet goals set by the individual grade levels. The students in grades four and five will be working with Mrs. Pratt, our media specialist, to meet goals based on the Georgia Performance Standards (GPS) and required grade level reading.

Greetings from the Media Center

We are off and running with a quest for the Lamp of Knowledge! In addition to Accelerated Reader children will be learning many skills that they will use throughout their lives as they research topics, learn to write effectively, and write without plagiarizing. They will learn how to use our new on-line catalog and find materials that interest them. I am sorry to have to tell you that my budget can no longer be used for Accelerated Reader trophies. However, teachers will continue to give incentives in their classrooms for children who score 80% or better on tests over books that are on their reading level as determined by the STAR test.

Guidelines for the Accelerated Reader Program were established by the media committee which includes:

Here’s a special invitation! Barnes & Noble is a new book store opening in Newnan next to Dick’s Sporting Goods. Their Preview Party is September 18, 4 – 10 pm. This special night will include door prizes, award winning authors, activities and storytelling for children, and a special bonus of 10% of sales that night going to Coweta County Schools. They will have a list of books that I would like to have for our White Oak library. Anyone purchasing one of these books and donating it to our library will receive a gift certificate when the book is brought to the media center for a book ($5.00 or under) from our first Scholastic Book Fair in November! I hope to see you there!

You can help us earn extra money to be used to purchase the Promethean Boards by using your Publix and Kroger cards. The Publix cards will need to be scanned each time your purchase items at the store and White Oak will receive a percentage of what you spend. The Kroger sheet needs to be scanned only once at any Kroger, and then every time you purchase items White Oak will automatically receive a percentage of money spent.

If you do not have a Publix card or Kroger sheet, they can be found in the acrylic holder on the wall by the School Store, or we will send one home if you let your child’s teacher or the office know.

Also, when we have spirit nights at Shane’s Rib Shack, Chick-fil-a, and Stevi B’s pizza White Oak will receive a percentage of what you spend. These are easy ways for the school to earn extra money for the Promethean Boards.

We need volunteers to assist with the inventory and organizing the Science Lab. For more information please contact Tina Marsh at tina.marsh@cowetaschools.net.

In music, we are all learning the Star-Spangled Banner. All students in grades 2-5 will be expected to memorize the first verse by the end of October. The words are in the agenda, so you can help them learn the words at home. I think it is important to teach our children our Patriotic songs and a love for our country. For more information, please see Mrs. Bartlett’s webpage at www.schoolrack.com/amybmusic

In the morning, the car rider line is for those students whose parents will be dropping them off while remaining in their cars. If you wish to walk your child into the school you may park in the front parking lot and walk across the cross walk to the front of the school. For safety reasons students may not be dropped off in the parking lot to walk by themselves.

In the afternoon, during dismissal, if you wish to pick up your child you must be in the car rider line. Students cannot be picked up in the front parking lot. Students exiting the school via the front door are walkers only.

Students are tardy if they are not in their rooms by 8:00 when the last bell rings. Please leave early enough in the morning to avoid traffic delays. Tardy students are disruptive to classes, as teachers begin instruction immediately after the 8 o'clock announcements. At that time teachers are working on introducing or reviewing skills through Mountain Math, Reading and Language Arts activities. Mastery of these skills will help your child with his/her performance on the CRCT. Please make every effort to help us maximize the opportunities for instruction by having your students here on time each day.