Save the dates!

One of the great things about setting up a blog that affects some 50,000 kids, their teachers, principals, staff, parents, other family and friends is that, once you put the word out, it certainly comes back to you.

That’s why we’re thrilled here at Talk Up APS to only be providing another way to spread the good news happening around the system every day, but also to hear from you about all these great things. Through this newsletter-turned-blog, we’ve been able to cover a lot more events and make contact with a lot more people. The result, today, translated to a record number of page views well before the end of the day — topping a crazy number we got last week! So thanks for spreading the word about the site.

In addition, thanks to a new service we provide out APS staff on the district Web site (www.AtlantaPublicSchools.us), we’re now able to solicit event information for possible coverage. It’s become an embarrassment of riches; we’ve got a lot of cool stuff coming up. So here, without further adieu, are some fun events to consider over the next week or so:

Parks Middle gets healthy with the Atlanta Falcons

Students at Parks Middle School have been participating in a weekly nutrition and health program sponsored by the Atlanta Falcons with teacher Jocelyn Johnson. The students through supervision of the teacher visited the Atlanta Falcons’ Web site to develop projects that include health collage posters, physical fitness charts/graphs, and sports activities.

Through delving into topics pertaining to health, students became aware of the importance of both good nutrition and physical fitness. At the close of the program, Johnson was asked student to write a short essay detailing one student who either made a nutritional life style change or grew through their exposure of nutrition and health. The essay was submitted to the Falcons, and seventh-grader Carlos Twine (pictured) was selected as one of 11 “Atlanta Falcons First Down for Fitness MVP” winners. As one of the winners, Carlos will receive four tickets to the Nov. 29 game against Tampa Bay, an NFL football uniform, and a fitness T-shirt. Additionally, he will participate in several pre-game activities prior to the onset of the game.

Pre-K lottery slots still available

Did you know that Atlanta Public Schools has a limited number of lottery funded pre-kindergarten slots available for the 2009-2010 school year?  Slots are still available at Burgess-Peterson, Dunbar, Grove Park, Humphries, Hutchinson, Kennedy, Toomer, Usher and White elementary schools.  In addition, a new Pre-K classroom with 20 slots has been added to Continental Colony Elementary.

If your child turned 4 years old on or before Sept. 1, 2009, resides within the Atlanta Public Schools’ attendance zone, or is the child of an APS employee, your child is eligible to attend the state-funded Pre-K program for one year.  Pre-K helps young children become independent, self-confident, and enthusiastic learners and prepares children for success in kindergarten.  For more information on the APS Pre-K program, call 404-802-3638.