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 Upper School

The Wood Acres Upper School is officially complete!

We have our first class of 8th graders on campus to round out the scope of 5th through 8th grades in the Upper School program. It will certainly be a special year for these youthful trail blazers as they embrace the rigor, relevance, and inter-Relatedness of the superior Upper School eight grade curriculum. They have already embraced the “ABZ’s” of eighth grade- Algebra, the Basics of economics and etymology, and Zumba fitness classes to get the day started.

Fifth graders are now officially the rookies of the Upper School and are working diligently on honing organizational skills, research techniques, and demonstrated talent in their academic subjects. Fifth grade welcomes the language talent of an Administrative Assistant this year who will help “push in” Spanish into the everyday conversations of our “freshman” Upper School class.

Sixth graders are into the academic groove of multiple content area teachers as well as time management. Common Upper School lunch and break times for 6th, 7th and 8th graders provide students with wonderful choices for lunch time conversations, a pick up game of basketball or soccer, or just plain chatter with teachers and friends.

Seventh graders just “get it”. They have Upper School experience under their belts, time management skills in their organizers, and a sense of trust granted them by teachers who know they can “do it”. With earned trust, seventh graders excel in their learning and activities inside and out of school. Of course, looking forward to their class trip to the Disney Institute in Orlando each spring does wonders to keep one focused on learning, too!

Welcome back to the Wood Acres Grammar School

Grammar School @ the Woods (Kindergarten through 4th grade) is in full swing for the 2010-2011 academic year. Classrooms are already alive with literature circles, readers’ theater, math equations, science lab coats and experiments, art studio projects, Spanish conversation, and old fashioned recess just for fun! Time on task is so valuable to our students that authentic teaching and meaningful learning were happening on the very first day. The 180 days of school each year at the Woods are challenging, interesting, inviting, rigorous, engaging, and thoughtfully planned.

While our Grammar School classrooms are at capacity for the new school year, we encourage all prospective families to apply for the coming 2011-2012 school year beginning in October. 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.

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.

Parent Orientation Meeting dates for Grammar and Upper School

The Upper School’s Parent Orientation Meeting (grades 5th-8th) is Thursday, August 26 from 6:00-8:15 PM.

The Grammar School’s Parent Orientation Meeting (grades K-4th) is Tuesday, August 31 from 6:30-8:30 PM. 

We will have a New Parent informal reception one hour prior to each meeting in the Turner Hall Art Gallery and the Turner Hall Stacks (5-6 for the Upper School reception, 5:30-6-30 for the Grammar school reception).

Look here for Early School orientation dates.

Wood Acres now an official school zone on Johnson Ferry Road

What a great gift our Cobb Board of Commissioners and Cobb Department of Transportation gave to our deserving school to kick off this year! Our School Zone flashers are working perfectly and, along with our school signage on Johnson Ferry Road, remind the commuters that a school zone is a time to slow down, be cautious, and celebrate learning in our community.

This is the perfect time to renew the new school year resolutions to safe driving and respectful driver etiquette on our campus. Slow down. Hang up that cell phone. Respect campus signs for a right turn for ALL once on campus, no parking, etc. Park in designated spaces. Never leave children unattended in a car. Students must be accompanied by an adult from the parking lot onto campus. Keep fire lanes clear. Respect staff directives as to your vehicle. Leave enough time for carpool each day. Safety first followed closely by respectful drivers. Remind spouses, nannies, relatives about this simple “rules of the road”, too.

Cheers! Here’s to a wonderful 2010-2011 academic year @ the Woods!

Welcome Back to the Woods!

It’s here… the start to the 2010-2011 school year @ the Woods!

And we are full… full with 400 amazing students, new sneakers, backpacks and school clothes, reams of notebook paper and fresh curriculum, cases of tissues and liquid soap, every color of marker and crayon, sharpened pencils and sharpened minds. But will this be enough to carry our students through a successful academic year? The answer is simply “no”. If the answer is no, then what else could they possibly need?

Here’s your shopping list for the new year. Help us give our Wood Acres students daily doses of “vitamin “R”:

• Reading, wRiting, and aRithmetic
  Review and reinforce the basics at home, whether your child is 4 or 14!
• Respect and Responsibility
  The Golden Rule is as important in 2010 as it was a century ago.
• Rigor and Relevance
  Help us teach the best with the best by the best. Learning should be Velcro, not Teflon.
• Roots to Grow and Wings to Soar
  Practice “high expectations” in word and deed.

Post it on the fridge, slip it into your pocket, and put it on your iPhone or Droid. It’s that important. It will only cost time and is already in your heart and mind.

On behalf of a talented faculty and staff of over 50 we warmly welcome you to the 2010-2011 school year at The Wood Acres School. For many hours each day Wood Acres is your child’s academic home. For the remainder of each day our children continue to learn and thrive in their homes and community. It’s obvious that we cannot fill our academic shopping cart without your daily help, staunch support, and enthusiasm for teaching and learning @ the Woods.

Thank you for sharing your children with us and thank you for giving them Wood Acres as their school. Happy New Year!

Read the July edition of The Acorn school newsletter

In the July, 2010 Edition of the Acorn School Newsletter:

• A Note From the Woods…
  Now, take your time. Don’t hurry. Let’s do one thing at a time. Focus. Pay close attention.” How many times are these and other similar requests directed at children in the course of an academic year of learning?
• A New Approach to Conferences
  A glance at the 2010-2011 school calendar finds the fall parent teacher conferences at an earlier time in the year. Instead of having conferences at the end of the first quarter of instruction, conferences for Kindergarten through 8th grade are planned to occur at the mid–point of the first quarter.
• Tree House Club
  Reservations for occasional Tree House Club can be made beginning in September. For permanent or fulltime reservations, please call the school office at (770) 971-1880 by August 11th!

Read the July, 2010 Edition of the Acorn»

A Note from the Woods...

Now, take your time. Don’t hurry. Let’s do one thing at a time. Focus. Pay close attention.” How many times are these and other similar requests directed at children in the course of an academic year of learning? Yet the world in which they live “outside of school” rarely encourages or even permits single tasks to occur in such a linear progression. It’s been dubbed multi-tasking and children today do it as naturally as they click, drag, and work a cursor or roll a mouse! Children are techno natives while we mere immigrants do our best to keep pace with them, be they 4 or 14! LOL

The Wood Acres School has always encouraged the “real” multi-tasking skills as quite essential to a well rounded, impressive education. We are committed to teaching and learning, reading and writing, math and science, singing and dancing, laughing and playing, hugs and kisses, and even speaking bilingually in Spanish and English…at the same time! OMG!  

When it comes to your children and our students this year, may we stay committed to the singular tasks of listening, looking, and watching what they say and do. May they not have to compete with the multi-tasking of adult lives to gain our undivided attention. May we lead by example in a way that demonstrates how amazing and important each child is to us. TTFN 

Head of School

A New Approach To Conferences

A glance at the 2010-2011 school calendar finds the fall parent teacher conferences at an earlier time in the year. Instead of having conferences at the end of the first quarter of instruction, conferences for Kindergarten through 8th grade are planned to occur at the mid–point of the first quarter. These valuable September meetings will allow parents and teachers to focus on the student, not solely on the grades earned. It further allows closer collaboration sooner in a grading period when both compliments and plans for improvement can positively impact the rest of the nine weeks of learning.

These September conference dates work equally as well for parents of students in the Early School including the Two, Three & Four Year Old Programs. These conferences will be marked by close collaboration on the learning styles and talents of each unique Early School child. Parents hold a treasure of information that will help teachers unlock the many talents and abilities of our youngest learners.

“Getting to know you, getting to know all about you” is taking on a great significance this year as a renewed focus on close home school partnerships begins early in the school year for our families and The Wood Acres School.  

Tree House Club

The Tree House Club, the before and after school program, is an optional service for all enrolled students at The Wood Acres School. The Tree House Club offers supervised time for play, special activities and study time as well as enrichment tuition classes.

Hours of operation are 7:00am until class begins and continues after class dismissal until 6:00pm. Students must be in attendance in their academic program to use Tree House Club services.

The Tree House Club can be reserved through the school office. Reservations are required and are accepted based upon availability of staffing through 3:30pm the day prior. Cancellations are also accepted through 8:00am without penalty—cancellations after 8:00am for the same day will be charged a $10.00 fee.

Reservations for occasional Tree House Club can be made beginning in September. For permanent or fulltime reservations, please call the school office at (770) 971-1880 by August 11th!