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Dates to Know:
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October 5th -
- Back to School after Fall Break
- PTA Fundraiser Information distributed
October 7th - Custodial Appreciation Day
October 8th - Session 2 of Big Creek Clubs Begins
October 12th - PTA Fundraiser Begins
October 19th - Bus Driver Appreciation Day
October 20th - Battle of the Books
October 21st & 22nd - Early Release & Fall Conferences
October 23rd - No School, Professional Development Day
October 28th - Fall Picture Retakes
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Staying Informed at Big Creek
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Homeroom teacher's itslearning page
Big Creek Main Phone Voice Mail
Remind Texts - text @6015e7 to 81010
Big Creek Website
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Notes from the Creek
Dear Big Creek Families,
We hope you all enjoyed our first Fall Break! Whether you went to the beach, mountains, or just stayed at home and had a restful time with your families, we hope you had a wonderful time and made some great memories! We loved seeing the smiling faces of your students and the bounded through the doors of Big Creek this morning!
Go Wildcats!
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Veteran's Day Celebration
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All Veterans are cordially invited to attend Big Creek's Veteran's Day Tribute in honor of those who have served and are serving our country! Please RSVP to shamilton@forsyth.k12.ga.us. We would love for you to share any pictures of yourselves or family members in uniform. Please send in or email pictures to the address above and include the name, branch and rank. All family members are welcome to attend!
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After School Activities at the Creek
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 Big Creek Clubs
To sign up for the 2nd Session of clubs click here. Registration is open until October 5th and clubs start on Thursday, October 8th. This session of clubs will feature Game Club, Spooky Art Club, Lego Club and Kitchen Kids.
Kid Chess
To register for the second session of Kid Chess which begins on January 27, 2016 and will meet on Wednesdays at 2:30pm and 3:30pm. For more information click
here for a full schedule and registration link.
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Custodial Staff Earns Perfect Score!
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Congratulations to our fabulous custodial staff who earned a perfect score on their inspection on a rainy Friday afternoon! Big Creek has the best custodial crew around! Thank you Mrs. Slavka, Mrs. Elda and Mr. Steve!
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ROARing Wildcats
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Last year we started our ROARing Wildcat program which recognizes students who exemplify the qualities of a ROARing Wildcat; Responsibility, Organization, Attitude and Role Model.
The first quarter ROARing Wildcats will be recognized in the next issue of "Notes from the Creek" and they have earned and extra recess which is scheduled for Friday, October 16th!
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New Employee Spotlight
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This year we welcomed many new staff members to our Big Creek Family and over the next several newsletters we will highlight each of these new faces!
Nicole Baldwin
We are thrilled to welcome Ms. Baldwin to our Kindergarten team. Although she is a recent graduate of Kennesaw State University, Ms. Baldwin has vast experience in working with children. She was selected for the Pearson Review of edTPA portfolio to represent the Bagwell College of Education. Ms. Baldwin is familiar with STEM, and was a part of the TOSS program, which dealt with incorporating technology to accommodate all classroom learners. She is a member of the Student Professional Association of Georgia Educators and has worked in various day cares since high school as small group leader/teacher. Ms. Baldwin, we know that your excitement for learning will be contagious in your classroom! We can't wait to see your children grow!
Sarah Cox 
Mrs. Cox Graduated from Western Michigan University and moved to Georgia after graduation where she taught in Gwinnett County at Beaver Ridge Elementary for 6 years. After staying home with her children for five years she returned to teaching at Shiloh Point Elementary. This year marks Mrs. Cox' 12th year teaching students with special needs and she is a lead teacher in our K-2nd MOID special needs class. She has always had a love for special needs that goes back to working with students in high school.
While teaching at Shiloh, Mrs. Cox piloted several programs for the county in Special Education. The first being the iPad pilot program. She piloted Unique Learning Systems and the Adapted SLO's which was implemented this year.
She loves the relationships with the students and and families and watching her students grow through the years brings her much joy.
Kayla Deak 
Ms. Deak is a lead teacher in our 3rd - 5th MOID special needs class this year. She actually grew up in Forsyth County and graduated from Forsyth Central High School. She received her Bachelors in Early Childhood and Special Education from the University of North Georgia and she received a Master's in Special Education from Georgia Southern and is currently pursuing her Specialists degree in Special Education and Behavior Management. Ms. Deak has taught Special Education students for three years, with the last two being at Shiloh Point Elementary School. She
absolutely loves her students and learns something new about them everyday. She says it is so exciting being by their sides as they learn and discover new things. Her passion for special needs students comes from growing up with a cousin
who has Down Syndrome. Ms. Deak said, "Seeing her everyday challenges and also her successes led to me further my education in the area of special education." She has known from a very early age that she wanted to work with individuals with special needs and has thoroughly enjoyed every second of it.
Mrs. Herman joins our 2
nd grade team from Holsenbeck Elementary where she was a kindergarten teacher. According to her previous principal, "Mrs. Herman exemplifies the teaching profession at its very best and demonstrates excellence in all that she does." Mrs. Herman was grade level leader for many years there as well as being a kindergarten curriculum representative at the county level. She was the teacher liaison for TKES and a Leadership Team member for many years. Even with her leadership responsibilities in and outside of the school, Mrs. Angie Herman was still such a wonderful and dedicated teacher, that she was named Teacher of the Year during the 2013-2014 school year at Holsenbeck Elementary School. We are thrilled to have Mrs. Herman join our 2
nd grade team!
Heather Hummel 
Ms. Hummel is joining our Special Ed department as a speech and language therapist. She is coming to us from Cobb Pediatric Therapy, where she had worked for two years. During these two years, she provided evaluation and treatment for a diverse caseload, as well as educated her patients and parents regarding speech and hearing disorders and treatments. Ms. Hummel is a member of the National Speech-Language-Hearing Association, and is a previous volunteer with the Georgia Special Olympics. She has her Masters in Speech and Language Pathology from UGA (Go Dawgs!) and North Georgia, where she graduate with a B.A. in English Writing and Publication. Ms. Hummel, we are so glad that you are joining us. We know that you are a wonderful addition to our Support Team!
Brittany Knoup 
This person is no stranger to Big Creek! You could feel the sadness across the school when teachers realized that she would no longer be able to substitute. Ms. Knoup is moving from substitute teacher to front office secretary extraordinaire! She comes to us with a strong background in management and emphasis on total customer satisfaction. Ms. Knoup has previous work experience with Bridge Capital Investment and World Savings Bank, were she served as branch manager and supervisor. A reference stated that she works at an excellent pace, and can multitask without difficulty. Ms. Knoup, we know that you will jump right into the rapid pace of the front office without batting an eye!
Andrea Meister 
Ms. Meister is joining our fourth grade team with 9 years of experience from Wilson Creek Elementary School. She participated on the School Leadership Team as grade level chair, the STEM committee, LSC, technology leadership forum, mentor program, and staff development. Ms. Meister worked with the county to develop math units including tests, standards, guides and lessons for teachers throughout the county to use. She was Teacher of the Year for 2011-2012 school year. After graduating Cum Laude from Bowling Green State University with a degree in Early Childhood Education, Ms. Meister taught both 3
rd and 4
th grades at Wilson Creek Elementary School. She also has her Masters of Early childhood education from Kennessaw State University where she graduated with honors in 2009. We are lucky to have Ms. Meister join the 4
th grade team!
Dina Zorinich 
Mrs. Zorinich is a paraprofessional in our K-2nd MOID special needs class this year at Big Creek. Mrs. Zorinich attended
undergraduate school at Pennsylvania State University and received a Bachelors in Animal Bioscience. After her undergraduate degree she attended graduate school at Edinboro University of Pa. where she received a Master's degree in Elementary Education. She taught third grade in Las Vegas, NV for 1 year and taught 9 years of Elementary Science in Livermore, Ca. After moving to Georgia she work in the "Shark Time" after school program at Shiloh Elementary School for 2 years and watched a 3 year old autistic child in her home during the day. She loves working with Mrs. Sarah Cox and Mrs. Ashley Nash and says they are the most warm, brilliant, wonderful dedicated teachers she has ever had the privilege to work with.
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Big Creek PTA
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2015-2016 PTA Officers
Vice Presidents:
Hemanth DK Singh, Jennifer Hester-Hall, Kristin Hicks, Tara Shannon
Treasurer:
Kate Smithing
Secretary:
Samantha Thomas
Please visit the PTA website at www.BigCreekPTA.com for more information on upcoming events and membership.
How
loud can you "Roar" Wildcats?
The fall 2015 fundraiser begins October 12th. Look for information coming home with your own wildcat after fall break!
Volunteer Opportunities:
Media Center - You can volunteer once per month, once per week, or every day! Whatever works in your schedule. Mrs. Cable is teaching classes all day now and could really use the help shelving books. If you are able to commit to an hour or more then please sign up using the sign up genius link
Media Center Sign Up Genius
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Holiday Shop - This is definitely a highlight of the year for our kids. We will need a ton of parent volunteers in order to make this event successful. We will be decorating the shop on Tuesday December 1st. The Shop will be open for the kids Dec. 2, 3 and 4. Family Night will Wednesday Dec. 2nd (no volunteers needed that night). There will be a sign up genius set up next month. Please contact Linda Selbach at l_selbach@yahoo.com to make sure your on the volunteer list.
This is a great way for us to earn money for our school with only spending seconds of our time! Please cut out every box top and send them in a baggie or envelope labeled with your child's teacher.
You can order our cool spiritwear at anytime, click here to access the order form.
Yearbook:
Parents! If you take pictures at school, please send them to us! Just upload them via the free Balfour ImageShare app or by going to
images.balfour.com
and entering this info:
School Project Number: 624271
Password: yearbook
Please name the photos with the teacher's name. Or, you can email the pics to
bigcreekyearbook@gmail.com
. Thanks!
Don't forget to order your yearbook today to make sure you get the early bird price! Go to
www.shop.balfour.com to order.
Yearbooks will be sold online through December. Order forms will be sent home in November.
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Parent Survey - We need your feedback
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The school climate surveys for the 2015-2016 school year
will officially open on Monday, October 5, 2015 and will remain open through Friday, February 26, 2016.
Parents please take a moment to click on this link and take the Parent Survey as completion of the survey adds to Big Creek's
College and Career Ready Performance Index (CCRPI) "Exceeding the Bar" indicator.
Georgia Parent Survey: http://apps.gadoe.org/schoolclimate/parents.nsf/Survey.xsp
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Wildcat Happenings
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Check out some of the fun things our students and staff have been doing!
Geyser Experiment in Ms. Deak's Class
5th Grade student, Nina wins 1st place in President Jimmy Carter's annual Postcard Contest. She received her award from President Carter himself! Congratulations to Nina!
Buntini Breakfast from PTA
Ms. Barsky at the ball field
Community Helpers in Kindergarten
5th Grade Students in Mrs. Penland's class
debating a novel study through a gallery walk/writing feedback on the desks.
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Thanksgiving Food Drive
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This year Big Creek is collecting boxed packages of oatmeal for The Place of Forsyth County's Thanksgiving Food Drive. There is a collection box in the front foyer of the school to drop off donations from now until Monday, November 16th. Thank you for your support!
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2016-2017 Redistricting Information
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Forsyth County Schools BOE will release Draft #2 of the Redistricting Lines on October 16th. Click
here for more information on the redistricting process and the timeline.
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BYOT Bubble Soccer Tournament
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Important Reminders from Big Creek
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Fridays are Team Jersey Day
Students and staff remember to show your team or school spirit by wearing your favorite sports team jersey or spirit wear!
Attendance
For questions regarding attendance please contact Brittany Knoup at bknoup@forsyth.k12.ga.us.
Transportation
Transportation changes must be handwritten notes sent in with your child or dropped off in the front office by 1:00pm.
Early Check-outs
Please remember that we have changed the latest time you can check out your child during the school day to 1:45pm this year.
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Warbington Farms - Fall Family Fun
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Looking for family fun? Take the whole family out to Warbington Farms to enjoy a family challenge through Forsyth County's only corn maze, enjoy a hayride to feed the cows, spend time cuddling with the baby animals, or play in the fun park. Guaranteed fun for the entire family! Click
here for more information on their fall events and rates.
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New Remind Text Messaging
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Please Sign Up for Important Texts from Mrs. Black
New this year we are asking all parents to sign up to receive text messages from Mrs. Black. Simply text @6015e7 to 81010 on your cell phone.
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Become a Mentor
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If you are interested in becoming a mentor to a student please click
here or contact our school Counselor, Ms. Kate Rounds at krounds@forsyth.k12.ga.us.
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A parent training video has been created for schools to use for itslearning parent training. The video is 10 minutes long and provides an overview of what parents can expect to see when they login as themselves or their student(s). Additionally, it describes the consistent planner and dashboard that the district is using this year. The video is ideal to distribute to parents who are unable to attend curriculum night or any itslearning parent training nights you may offer. The video can be found here at the following URL:
https://youtu.be/2NWIQsgoEnI
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Big Creek Elementary School
1994 Peachtree Parkway
Cumming, GA 30041
770-887-4584 phone
770-781-2247 fax
http://www.forsyth.k12.ga.us/bigcreek
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