Message from Principal Neill: 

Greetings Briar Vista Families and Friends,

** Fall Garden Day Is Cancelled and will be Rescheduled**

Wow, it's hard to believe we are in the last week of September! We are working hard in our classes in Reading, Math, Science, and Social Studies. Your child is on the path to excel academically by completing daily work assignments and homework as required by the teacher. Please encourage your child to work hard and to love learning. Help Briar Vista increase our academic levels by partnering with your child's teacher and engaging with your child. I am honored and humbled to serve as the Proud Principal of Briar Vista, we are working hard for your family.

PTO will be opening times for parents to sign up for Carpool with Friends twice a month to help with traffic and getting students into the building safely. Please take time to sign up and enjoy time with fellow Briar Vista Parents. Parents, please try to have your children on time to school, 7:46 am is considered tardy. If your child is tardy, you will need to exit your car and sign them up in the front office. We will be conducting meetings with parents who are excessively tardy. Please remember that children can enter the building at 7:00 am from the bus, and 7:10 am for car riders. Due to road construction, traffic in our area can be very challenging at times.

Have a wonderful weekend!

If you would like to contact me, feel free to email me at cammie_neill@dekalbschoolsga.org

Together We SOAR!!!

Principal Neill

Upcoming Events

The following are upcoming events at Briar Vista:

• Penny Wars September 26-30, 2022
• PAC meeting September 29, 2022, at 8:00am
• Fall Garden Day- CANCELLED- will be rescheduled for a later date
• Fall Break- Friday, October 7-10, 2022- NO SCHOOL
• Parent/Teacher Conferences- October 11, 2022
• Spirit Night MOD Pizza Decatur - October 12, 2022
• International Night- October 19, 2022

We need YOU at Morning Drop Off

Attention Adult Eagles! This means YOU! Dads, Moms, Uncles, Aunts, Cousins,
Grandparents, Caretakers, Briar Vista Neighbors! We'd love to have your help in the
morning to help get our Eagles safely out of their cars and into the school ready for
another day. Meet us at the school and be ready to go by 7 am and wrap up by 7:45 am.

Come on out and show your school spirit and allow our teachers and staff to focus on
preparing and teaching our students. Use the Sign Up Genius Link to save your spot!

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F4FAFA72FA3FAC25-adult

PENNY WARS
 

Starting Monday, Sept. 26th & Ending Friday, Sept. 30th

What Is It?
Penny Wars is a fundraiser where teams compete for the MOST points. Students & families bring in pennies or checks to place in their team jar or pay online at PayPal or Zelle for POSITIVE points for their team (make sure you mark which team).
To SABOTAGE a group: place silver coins in their jar to give them NEGATIVE points.
We've also added a Star Wars spin because....it's Star Wars, do we really need a reason??

How it works/Rules:
Students are divided into teams (upper, middle & lower hall) and each is assigned a collection bucket.
Buckets will be located outside the entrance gates on campus each morning from 7:00 – 8:00 AM.
Pennies/Dollars/Checks/PayPal/Zelle are positive points. Silver coins are negative points.
Strategy tip: Place silver coins in opposing team jars.
Please make checks payable to Briar Vista PTO.
The money in each team bucket will be counted daily and the points tallied. Point standings will be posted daily at the end of the school day on the bulletin board, PTO Facebook, and Instagram page.
The team with the most points at the end of the week wins a Popcorn Party!
Academic Connections:
Students learn to differentiate coin value.
Students practice counting money.
Builds classroom & hallmate camaraderie.
New vocabulary – strategy, competition, SABOTAGE
Practice at home:
Practice identifying money values and counting money.
Older students can practice converting money to Penny War points.
Have your child total the points that they are planning to donate to their team jar.
Review the end-of-day tally sheet to see how many of the total points they contributed.
Points Values:
Penny: (+) Add 1 point
Check: (+) Add check amount (e.g. $5 check = 500 points)
$1 Bill: (+) Add 100 points $5 Bill: (+) Add 500 points
Nickel: (-) Subtract 5 Points Dime: (-) Subtract 10 Points Quarter: (-) Subtract 25 points Half Dollar: (-) Subtract 50 points

SNEAK Attack: Any donations made via PayPal or Zelle are POSITIVE points (make sure you put which team you're supporting)!

CELEBRATING HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH

Mr. Vaswani is from Puerto Rico. He grew up in Santurce and has lived in San Juan. He loves the beaches of Puerto Rico. His family loves cooking Puertorrican dishes such as "arroz con gandules" (Puertorrican rice with Pigeon peas), plantains, empanadillas de pizza y queso, flan, "tembleque" (coconut flan), and he'll never turn down a strong cup of Puertorrican coffee, plain, without sugar!

He loves his role of being in constant communication with Hispanic students and
getting to know their parents and families. Witnessing his students' growth and
exiting the ESOL program is most rewarding to him because it's an achievement that lights up the faces of all non-English speaking students.

DeKalb County School Board Member
Whitney McGinniss will be hosting a series of listening sessions in October. 
Meet your new DeKalb School Board Member. Whitney's Listening Sessions.
Stop in at any of the locations listed below. Let her know what questions, concerns, and ideas you have about our schools. Or just grab a cup of coffee or tea and say hello. "I am here to listen and to learn, so I can serve you on the School Board"
Wednesday, October 12th, 3-6 pm Coffee Bar Atlanta 1602 Lavista Road

Friday, October 14th, 7-10 am, Corner Cup 2625 Lawrenceville Hwy
Thursday, October 20th, 11 am - 2 pm Souther Roots Cafe 3701 Clairmont Rd

Saturday, October 22nd,  11 am - 2 pm Waller's Coffee 240 DeKalb Industrial Ave

Tuesday, October 25th, 3 - 6 pm SunO Dessert 2144 N. Decatur Rd

PTO NEEDS VOLUNTEERS

Do you have a few hours a month you could spare? We can use some extra help with upcoming events, beautification, and the Spring BOOK FAIR!
https://forms.gle/ABhpZuHo3p9pTFDi7