Calling All Campers!

CAMP … one of the best four letter words around!

CAMP … is your homework for the summer!

And it doesn’t get any better than eight great weeks at Camp Wood Acres beginning June 4-8 and concluding July 30-August 3 (no camp the week of July 2-6).

Download the complete Camp Brochure (also available in the school office)

Download and print the Camp Registration Form

Registration is now open to both Wood Acres legacy families and friends of the Woods in our area communities. Camp is open to rising 3s, 4s, and rising kindergartners through rising third graders.

We saved the best for last … Camp fees will remain the same as 2011 … no increases! HOORAY!

Your camper will enjoy action-packed weeks of themed activities, yummy lunches and snacks, creative crafts, and classic summer fun under the sunny skies at the Woods. So, stop reading and register now! Let the countdown begin for summer fun at

Camp Wood Acres 2012

A Day On, Not Off...Wood Acres Day of TLC- Teaching, Learning, Caring!

Monday, January 16 marked the Wood Acres Day of Service. The whole campus came together to begin this “day on” at a Rally ‘round the Flag. Special visitors at the Rally were Sandy Welfare, Executive Director of Cool Girls of Georgia, Norman Davis, one of Atlanta’s first black police officers and father of one of our Early School teachers, Pearline Davis, Director of Spellman College, retired and mother of our teacher, and Dr. Terrence Roberts, member of the Little Rock Nine and international consultant. Wood Acres’ own music teacher, Brishelle Miller, gave a rousing performance of Lift Every Voice.

 
Members of the Glee Club gave an outstanding rendition of Bruno Mars’ hit song Just the Way You Are.

 
Every student, from the Twos through Eighth Grade, participated in creating links of love and kindness that encircled the entire quad. On the paper links, all 5,000 0f them, were messages of service and dreams and wishes for our world. What an awesome sight! 

 
Several guest speakers and visitors roamed the Woods on this day honoring Dr. King. The Upper School had the pleasure of hearing from Justice Harold Melton from the Georgia Supreme Court. Dr. Terrence Roberts spoke to Upper School students encouraging them to embrace a life of learning and caring. Family members of students also came to share their personal stories and give students a firsthand account of what life was like during the time of Dr. King.    

 
Projects on this Day of Service included raising funds for a Heifer International Animal Ark, Better World Book Drive, canned food drive for MUST Ministries, clipping coupons, Bike-a-Thon for Smile Train, compiling birthday bags, Mittens for Moms for MUST Ministries, compiling “Get Ready for School” bags for a local school, donating breakfast foods and a complete non-perishable meal to MUST Ministries, creating file folder literacy games to donate to a local school, compiling dinner bags to go to the Marietta Soup Kitchen, authoring ABC books for area children, clothing drive for Cool Girls organization and the Atlanta Women’s Shelter, touring Loaves and Fishes Soup Kitchen and MUST Ministries Distribution Center, and donating books to children of Joplin, Mississippi.    

 
What a fabulous day “ON!”    

A Dual Dynamic Celebration!

Friday, November 11, was a day of celebration at Wood Acres. Not only were United States Veterans and current servicemen honored, but the Fours through Eighth Graders also participated in Wood Acres’ second Science Carnival, It’s Elemental! Students were immersed in activities that demonstrated a variety of scientific principles.

 
While learning about and exploring the scientific principles, students also enjoyed spending time with friends.

 
Lots of laughs as well as encouragement could be seen and heard throughout campus. 

 
None of this outstanding day could have been possible without the help of all of the parent volunteers.    

 
The entire school Rallied ‘Round the Flag in the middle of the science carnival festivities where the Pledge of Allegiance was recited at 11:11 on the 11th day of the 11th month. The third graders dazzled us with their performance of America.    

 
Servicemen and Veterans were recognized and honored with a boisterous, “Thank You!” What a touching moment as Wood Acres students proudly joined their family members.    

Thank You, Troops

From the Woods to our men and women in uniform wherever they serve…

 
Take a peak into the thankful hearts of Wood Acres students in sketches and in words as they write to our military and their families in anticipation of both Veterans Day and Thanksgiving.

 
These letters and artwork will be sent along with hundreds of thousands of other messages from the Atlanta area to our troops both home and afar to be received in time for Thanksgiving. Classes are also learning about Veterans Day in anticipation of our school-wide celebration of this Day of Honor for both veterans and those still on active duty. 

 
Join us to show your thanks at 11:00 AM on 11-11-11 as we Rally ‘Round our Flag to Pledge our continuing Allegiance to our country and the people who serve to keep us safe!  

Constitution Day Celebration

We the People…celebrated the 224th anniversary of the signing of the Constitution of the United States today!

The Wood Acres School was awash in red, white, and blue as hundreds of students and families came together on the campus Quad to Rally ‘round the Flag for this special occasion.

 
We retired our old colors and posted the bright new flag with a moving flag ceremony done by the Wheeler High School Jr. AFROTC under the leadership of Sgt. Love. The flag was flown over the US Capitol just for Wood Acres in honor of the new school year.

 
We cheered, we sang, we laughed, and we learned as a united school family…“We the People.” 

 
We were even visited by the 39 signers of the Constitution and enjoyed a surprise finale of a mini flash mob of enthusiastic students singing “Firework.”  

 
At the Wood Acres School we develop the habits of citizenship and pride in our country in word and in action, in song and in verse, in heart and in mind. And “We the People” had a wonderful time! Hooray for the Red, White, and Blue! Happy 224th birthday, Constitution!

Early School Parent Orientation Meetings

For our youngest students in the Early School’s Two Year Old and Three Year Old programs, Parent Orientation will be “one-on-one” during Parent Teacher conferences September 20 and 21. That will allow ample time for students to adjust to new routines and friends to create meaningful meetings between teacher and parents. Parents will receive their appointment time in their child’s Wood Acres tote bag after Labor Day. We hope to see all our Moms and Dads at these important meetings as we plan a year of growing and glowing for each Two and Three Year Old at the Woods!

Parent orientation meetings for The Early School’s Four Year Olds will be held on Monday, September 13, at 6:30 PM. We’ll begin in the Multi Purpose room with program overviews and a long range look at the Woods with Mrs. Thigpen. Ample time to visit classrooms and meet with teachers will follow with a fond farewell at 8:00 PM. This “parents only” meeting will help parents with the curriculum and specials programs that make up the Fab Fours.

Look here for Grammar and Upper School parent orientation dates.

New to The Woods? Not for long!

We cordially invite all new Early School parents (2’s, 3’s, and 4’s) to an informal reception with Mrs. Judy Thigpen and Mrs. Maria Thigpen to learn more about The Wood Acres School. Light refreshments and punch will be served beginning at 5:30 PM on Monday, September 13th in the Turner Hall Art Gallery & Stacks on campus.

Update on Sunday, August 22, 2010 by The Wood Acres School

Note: The Early School Four’s Program Parent Orientation Meeting and New Parent Reception is Monday, September 13th. We originally posted Wednesday, September 13th in error.

Welcome back to the Wood Acres Early School

August is here and September is around the corner for the youngest learners in The Wood Acres School. By September 8 all our Early Childhood programs will have begun and the cadence to another great year of teaching and learning will be in place. Until we go “live” again with the start to all our programs, here is an excellent link to a PBS site on the ABC’s of Childhood Development. While there are thousands of web sites on this very topic, we find this PBS site to be helpful and informative.

Until school begins, the best preparation you can provide your two, three or four year old child is lots of TLC:

• Teaching the beginning skills of independence and social interaction.
• Lap time with favorite children’s literature or homegrown story telling, and
• Cavorting, laughing, and playing creatively with your child and siblings.

Now that’s the kind of homework and readiness skills work that a parent can enjoy, too!

While the Early School for the 2010-2011 year is at capacity, we keep an active waiting pool in case vacancies occur. Please contact Faith Hoople, Admissions Director, for the status of each program. Visit the admissions portion of our website for additional information on the Early School @ the Woods.

Save the Date! Open House on January 23

The Wood Acres School will open our doors to both legacy and prospective families on Saturday, January 23rd. Our annual Open House is a wonderful opportunity to learn more about the next program or grade for your child. In addition to visiting the classrooms, parents can ask questions about curriculum, what a typical day is like, field trips (for elementary students) and so much more!

Open House hours will be from 10:00am-12:00pm for families visiting the Two,Three and Four Year Old Programs and 1:00pm-3:00pm for families visiting Kindergarten through 8th grades.

Parents and students are invited to attend. Feel free to invite friends & neighbors as well! Your official invitation will be coming in January and we look forward to seeing you and your terrific students at this wonderful campus event.

You can optionally sign up for a reminder notice on our Open House page.

Admissions Season @ the Woods

It’s beginning to look a lot like… admissions season @ the Woods! Nestled amongst the festive celebrations of “Boo”, “Gobble, Gobble” and “Ho, Ho, Ho” is the annual admissions cycle for prospective new Wood Acres families as well as the welcomed re-enrollment of our legacy families. As with everything we do at The Wood Acres School, our admissions process is personal, student specific, and geared to making certain that the school and student are well matched for success. We honor your choosing private education for your child and will seek to earn your respect as we work together to provide your child an amazing educational experience.

Our first Open House for prospective new families was very well-attended and those families are already in the process of making application, taking individual campus tours, and awaiting the next steps in the admissions process. Our next Open House is scheduled for Saturday, January 23 for both Early School families as well as Grammar and Upper School students. The whole campus will be ready for your visit!

We are so pleased to announce the addition of 8th grade for the 2010-2011 academic year, completing our goal of becoming the most affordable, high achieving independent K-8 school in metropolitan Atlanta. And let’s not forget our outstanding Early School programs for the youngest, yet ever so capable, 2’s, 3’s and 4 year old students. Having just celebrated our 40th anniversary of teaching and learning at Wood Acres, our reputation speaks for itself.

Our website is the best and most comprehensive place for the discerning parent to learn more about our school, programs, curriculum, Open House details, and the complete admissions process. The information is just a click away as is our Admissions team at 770-971-1880. We look forward to your visit to our campus where not only your child, but you, will fall in love with The Wood Acres School. May you see the wonder of this special holiday season through the eyes of your children! “God bless us everyone!”

Warmest regards,

Head of School

Early School News

Terrific Twos

The Terrific Twos have learned the routines of the classroom and are in a lovely cadence of learning. Our youngest students have made great strides since the beginning of school and are practicing being good friends, using polite manners and sitting in circle time. The students also love playing with the teachers in physical education class and music class!

Awesome Threes

The Three Year Olds had a blast with their Winter Camp Out! They pretended to toast marshmallows, played flashlight tag and devoured delicious s’mores for snack and even learned all about hibernating animals! The students are also busy reviewing shapes, working with numbers and recognizing their own names. We’ll also continue to practice fine motor control with fun activities!

Fabulous Fours & K-Prep

The children in the Four Year Old Program and Kindergarten-Prep are fully immersed in the understanding of the consonant sounds of our language. With the terrific curriculum of Happily Ever After and Apples to Zucchini (in K-Prep), the students are mastering the building blocks of our language. These important early reading skills will set the students up for tremendous success in Kindergarten

Kindergarten through 2nd Grade

Kindergarten

Students continue to practice their reading daily and practice their word decoding skills. Using the writing curriculum embedded in the Superkids program, the students are producing beautiful written work include vocabulary dictation and sentences. In math, the students are practicing with time and money. The children are also studying maps and continents to understand their place in the world as well as the world around them.

First Grade

First Graders have learned all of the “star rules” in reading. In math, students are taking timed tests to gain mastery in the their addition and subtraction facts. Skip counting, finding patterns in tables of numbers, place value and money are all touched on as these fabulous First Graders prepare for a challenging second grade year. The students also made and delivered beautiful Valentine vases for senior citizens at Sunrise Assisted Living Center.

Second Grade

Second Graders are rocking the world with great cursive writing! With their new writing skills, they are also taking on comparative writing using many descriptors as well as conjunctions. Math is being tackled with 2 digit additional and sub- traction with regrouping. There is also lots of practice with math facts. In history & geography, the students are learning about the Civil War and what life was like in the 19th century.

On the Road...Wood Acres Style!

Field trips expand children’s learning beyond the walls of the classroom with the rich resources of the local community and the discovery of new places. The Wood Acres faculty carefully plans field trips to reinforce and expand the learning happening in the classroom. Some of the recent and upcoming field trips include:

• Center for Puppetry Arts for Kindergartners who are touched by the creative stories and magic of the theatre
• Zoo Atlanta for First Graders to learn about the many different animals of the world and where they live naturally
• William Harris Homestead for Second Grade who walk in the footsteps of 19th century boys & girls to learn about life in a log cabin, farming, food & clothing production and life before, during and after the Civil War
• Chattanooga Aquarium for Third Grade who take the “River Journey”, learning about great rivers of the world from the Amazon to the Yangtze
• Jekyll Island 4-H Environmental Center where Fourth Graders & Fifth Graders connect with the coastal environment of Georgia, focusing on marine science and coastal ecology
• Renaissance Fair for Fifth Graders to explore the wonders of another age
• Washington, D.C. for Sixth Graders who see our democracy in action with visits to the White House, the Supreme Court, the Pentagon and Capitol Hill including visits to congressional leaders

This list offers only a few of the intriguing field trips that grade level Wood Acres students participate in each year. Research indicates that field trips increase knowledge and understanding of our world for students. These experiences cannot be duplicated in the classroom and bring a depth of knowledge for children.

Wood Acres is dedicated to experiential learning, both inside and outside the classroom, that inspires students to think critically and creatively in all aspects of their lives

Everything you ever wanted to know about standardized testing... (but were afraid to ask!)

In the world of academia, “ratings sweeps” month is around the corner. Kindergartners through Sixth Graders at Wood Acres will demonstrate their academic prowess by taking the Stanford 10 Achievement Test and the Otis Lennon Ability test in late April. At Wood Acres, we are always pleased to say that test preparation for our students is done each and every day with quality teaching and monitoring of student progress.

Results are shared annually with parents and are also used in-house to fine tune curriculum, shape educational plans for students, and celebrate the corporate success of our unique learning environment. These standardized tests are just one of the many formal and informal assessment tools that Wood Acres faculty utilize to monitor student progress and develop and modify curriculum. Informal assessments are often qualitative in nature and typically provide the best snapshots of the young learner in progress. Wood Acres would never trade a trained mature, professional set of watchful teacher eyes for a #2 pencil and a bubbled-in test.

Parents often ask with great anxiety, “How can I help my child do well on standardized tests?” The best preparation is a student’s attendance at Wood Acres! During testing week, logistics such as a good night’s rest, a healthy, nutritious breakfast as well as smiles, hugs and encouragement from those at home provide a winning combination for a student to do his or her best!

After School Music Lessons

Once again Lessons In Your Home is proud to offer quality, private music lessons for your child as part of the “Woods” after school program for the 2008/2009 school year. Lessons will be offered through the Music In Your School program. Music In Your School, and it’s parent company, Lessons In Your Home, has been teaching in various school programs, after school programs, and in student’s homes since 1997. For more information, please visit us on the web.

Lessons are available to students attending Tree House, but may also be scheduled with non-Tree House children as well. This musical option for parents and students will be handled much like the Chess program that Wood Acres has offered for five years. Wood Acres does not benefit financially from the program in order to keep the fees affordable to our families. Our benefit will be hearing the sounds of music in our halls and corridors. 

Music In Your School encourages each student to achieve an understanding of the language of music. Private lessons in piano, guitar, and band instruments (to compliment the 5^th and 6^th grade bands) will be offered to your child. These unique, interactive lessons are 30 minutes in length and meet once each week. Half hour lessons are available on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday from 3PM to 6PM.

Lessons can start at any time and will continue through the end of the schoo lyear. Lesson fees are $140 per month and are paid directly to Music In Your School at the beginning of each month. In addition, a one-time $55 registration fee will be charged to cover the initial cost of books and materials. Any additional materials needed during your child’s advancement are not included. In addition to weekly lessons, your child will have the opportunity to perform in a Spring Recital.

To ensure availability, please contact Lessons In Your Home at 770-439-3579 for lesson availability. If your student doesn’t participate in the Tree House program, but wishes to take lessons, please make us aware of that when calling.

Jay Maurice

Teacher/Owner/Operator
Lessons In Your Home
Music In Your School
www.lessonsinyourhome.net
770-439-3579

Magical Things are Happening at The Wood Acres School

Judy Thigpen, Head of School,
in front of newly built Turner HallMagical things are happening at The Wood Acres School in the heart of East Cobb! For over six years, Head of School Judy Thigpen has been working her magic transforming this private, non-sectarian school into an educational Field of Dreams. Following a successful career in public education in Cobb County, Judy brought her “renowned” gumball machine, a massive ABC book collection and her passion for quality teaching and learning to the Woods. She had an educational vision and an entrepreneurial spirit that if she built it, they would come…and they did!

A $2.6+ million dollar expansion and renovation plan for the 10-acre campus has recently been completed. The state of the art construction of Turner Hall added twelve additional classrooms and houses “The Beaker” science laboratory, “The Stacks” library, a dedicated music room equipped with an assortment of instruments including a beautiful grand piano, a wireless computer lab, and a spacious Spanish classroom. Expanded parking, new play fields and recreational equipment, and an outdoor learning amphitheatre are set amid beautifully landscaped surroundings.

While Judy has transformed the school into a modern educational showplace, The Wood Acres School has evolved into much more than just an attractive physical school facility offering academic programs that grow with your child. Sixty-five dynamic educators share Judy’s passion for a nurturing educational community for Early Childhood through 5^th grade built upon mutual respect, trust and a shared vision for student learning. Indeed, Wood Acres’ high academic expectations, strong instructional leadership, and safe learning environment make it a viable and exciting suburban choice for discerning parents seeking an affordable and unique private school education for their children. Plans for future expansion include the addition of a 6^th grade in 2008-2009 and the addition of 7^th and 8^th grades thereafter.

The Wood Acres School embraces a traditional yet exciting curriculum. Teaching is approached with a Jeffersonian spirit of developing an informed citizenry that will help perpetuate our democracy. State of the art teaching tools, combining the best of the old and new, are used to achieve this. Advanced curriculum based on national standards in the areas of reading and language arts, mathematics, history, geography, and science partner with music, art, physical education, computer technology, and foreign language instruction to present a 21^st century student with a 21^st century educational experience.

All this occurs in light filled classrooms with optimally small class sizes, teaching assistants in all programs and grades, as well as reading, writing and study skills coaches to facilitate the academic achievement of Wood Acres students. With annual standardized testing to affirm formal student achievement, the true measure of academic success at the Woods can be seen on the faces of resilient, eager and spirited children who revel in learning and excelling. “Learning is cool” at The Wood Acres School!

The Wood Acres family embraces the belief that “the creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.” Perhaps Ralph Waldo Emerson was imagining a not-so-little independent school tucked away from the distractions of everyday life where children have the freedom to grow, learn, and enjoy being a child.

Note: This article was published in the October, 2007 edition of The East Cobber.