Let's Help Houston Success!
Thank you to all our students and families that helped us raise money for Kate Bell Elementary in Houston, Texas. We raised nearly $2500 that will help families affected by Hurricane Harvey.
We appreciate the generosity of our Barnwell community to help others in need.
Foundation Fun Run 10/27
Our Foundation is hosting a Boosterton Fun Run on Friday, October 27th! We are excited to partner with Boosterthon to provide this fun event for all our students.
A kick-off pep rally will be held on October 18th and more information will be sent home soon on how you can support our Foundation's efforts to raise funds to complete our Sensory Garden.
Iowa Testing
All Fulton County 3rd and 5th grade students will take the IOWA Assessment over the coming weeks. Barnwell students will test on 9/19, 9/20, 9/26 and 9/27 for about 90 minutes each day. The IOWA is a norm-referenced test and will help us look at how our students perform compared to similar students across the nation. We expect results in early November.
PTA National School of Excellence!
Our PTA has been recognized as a 2017-19 National PTA School of Excellence! This is one of the highest awards any PTA can earn - only 143 schools in the country (only 16 in Georgia) were recognized as National Schools of Excellence!
We are very proud and appreciative of our PTA for working each day, hand in hand with our staff, to enhance the quality of our student experience.
It's not too late to support our PTA - please visit Barnwell PTA 2017.18 to learn about the many exciting events and activities our PTA has planned for this year, and click here to join our efforts and get involved. We need all our parents to partner with us to make this year our best year ever!
Welcome to Barnwell!
Do you know that we have students attending Barnwell that have families from all over the world? Our PTA has created the following "welcome" guides in multiple languages to make it a little easier to learn about our school and to get involved.
Click on the following links for each language of our PTA Important Information guide:
2017-18 Calendar
As a reminder, we have three Professional Learning Days for the 2017-2018 school year (amending our regular Fulton County calendar). During these days our staff will be working on our Strategic Plan initiatives, including learning how to incorporate more Project-Based Learning opportunities for our students. Please plan accordingly as students will not have school on the following days :
September 1, 2017 (Barnwell students only)
October 5, 2017 (all Johns Creek Cluster schools)
March 8, 2018 (all Johns Creek Cluster schools)
We appreciate the support of our community in helping our staff improve our instructional practices to better meet the needs of our students. Click here for a printable 2017-18 calendar.
Fulton's TOTY is Barnwell's Ms. Kerley!
Barnwell's own Allison Kerley is Fulton County's 2017 Teacher of the Year! We have 8,000 teachers in Fulton County working in 105 schools – for our own Ms. Kerley to win this recognition is incredible! This is an amazing accomplishment for her and our Barnwell family – her success is our success and I'm proud she's part of our school family!
William Yeat's famously said, "Education is not the filling of a bucket, but the lighting of a fire". That's what Ms. Kerley does each day for her students – she ignites their curiosity and passion, helping them find their purpose and own their learning. Dr. Rose, our Superintendent, asked one of her students during the surprise announcement what one thing she likes best about Ms. Kerley, and the student responded "There's not one thing, it's everything, that makes her great!".
Thank you Allison for leading the way for us and all of Fulton County – we're proud of you! Check out this 30 second video of Allison being surprised by Dr. Rose to announce our Fulton County Teacher of the Year: http://bit.ly/kerleytoty.
What is Personalized Learning?
The concept of personalized learning means utilizing various strategies and having flexible pacing of instruction to help each child learn. Students have ownership of their learning and are able to demonstrate mastery in multiple ways. Our focus this year is on creating independence in our students, utilizing technology and choice activities to allow teachers to meet with students in small groups, providing direct, personalized instruction for each child. We are focusing on the concepts of Varied Strategies, Co-Planning Learning, and Just-in-Time Instruction (click here for our Instructional Model).
Have questions? Please ask! Start with your child's teacher or reach out directly to our Personalized Learning Coach, Daniel Hodge at hodgedv@fultonschools.org. We are excited about this new direction and appreciate your input and support as we move from a traditional approach (where the teacher is the center of learning) to a student-centered approach (where the student is the center of learning). Visit here to see what our personalized learning path looks like or here to see a video based on the Mannequin Challenge.
Volunteer Requirements
Do you want to be a mystery reader? Would you like to help out in your child's classroom? We welcome all parents to come volunteer and be a part of your child's school experience at Barnwell. Per Fulton County policy, ALL parents that want to volunteer MUST complete the mandatory training or they will not be allowed to volunteer in classrooms!
Lately, we have had to turn many parents away as they haven't completed this training this year - which is heartbreaking for everyone! Please don't let this happen to you - visit the FCS site directly to complete the required informational training at least 72 hours prior to volunteering:
http://www.fultonschools.org/en/divisions/sup/comm/Pages/partnersvolunteers.aspx
Digital Citizenship Certification
Barnwell is a Common Sense Certified School! This certification recognizes our efforts in teaching digital literacy and citizenship to our students from Common Sense Education, part of a national nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of kids and families by providing the trustworthy information, education, and independent voice they need to thrive in a world of media and technology.
We are one of the more than 100,000 schools across the country that use Common Sense Education's groundbreaking education resources. As a result, our students are better equipped to navigate the digital world and use devices for learning.
Lunch Visits/Birthday Celebrations
Any parent wanting to celebrate their child's birthday with the class is welcome to come to the cafeteria to purchase a frozen treat or cookies from our cafeteria and hand out to the class during lunch.
Per Fulton County policy, no outside food of any kind is permitted for distribution to students in classrooms or the cafeteria (while you are welcome to provide your own child with any treat to celebrate a special occasion, no store-bought or homemade cupcakes, cookie cakes, etc. are allowed for class distribution). Parents wanting to celebrate with their child must order in advance (see flyer included in Open House papers for details or click on the (Flyer/Order Form) and hand out during lunch.
Please note that teachers/school staff will not be handing out birthday treats in the cafeteria or classroom.