Thanksgiving Elementary School

Good evening parents and students! This is Mr. Jewett, principal of Thanksgiving Elementary School, with some important information. Due to Johnston County School's being closed tomorrow, Thursday, August 31st, we will have our Kindergarten Open House on Tuesday, September 5th from 5pm to 6pm. We will start in our cafeteria so I can share some information with all of the parents, and then you will go and meet with your child's teacher in their classroom. Secondly, if you are needing to change how your child is needing to go home during the school day, please send an email or a letter to your child's teacher. We need to make sure that change is in writing; and please send that by noon on that day. This Friday, September 1st is our first Thanksgiving Elementary School Spirit Day. Please wear you Buffalo shirts or colors (maroon and orange). Our PTA will have Spirit Sticks for sale from 8:30am to 8:55am. Spirit sticks are $2 each. And finally, I wanted to explain why we have changed some things for carpool. The past two years we had students staged for carpool in our media center and front hallway. With our school growing quickly, that has become a very large group of students and if something were to happen, we could not get them locked down and safe quickly. Having our students dismiss from the classroom keeps them safer and the movement in the building is orderly and efficient. We have drastically cut the time of carpool the past two days, but I know this is slower than before. However, and more importantly, it is a lot safer for our students and they are able to be monitored more closely by all of our teachers. I truly appreciate your patience and understanding with these changes. Please be safe with this impending weather and I will see everyone back on Friday!

JCPS CLOSED FOR ALL STUDENTS AND STAFF THURSDAY, AUGUST 31 Due to the impending inclement weather conditions caused by Hurricane Idalia, Johnston County Public Schools will be closed for all students, staff, and visitors tomorrow, Thursday, August 31. This includes all after school activities on Thursday. The district will operate under Condition 1 of our Inclement Weather Procedures. Weather Conditions can be found online by visiting www.johnston.k12.nc.us/weatherconditions. This decision has been made out of an abundance of caution and per the guidance of local and state emergency service officials. We hope that all of our students, staff, and families stay safe, and we thank you for your understanding and cooperation as we navigate this severe weather event.

We had a wonderful first day back to school and want to thank all of our students, staff, and families for working together to make today a success. We want to share a few reminders to keep things running smoothly in the days and weeks ahead. In the first few weeks of school, it’s typical for our bus routes and carpool lanes to run a bit slower than normal. Our drivers are getting used to new routes, there are more drivers on the road, our students are getting into a routine, and most importantly - we are focused on keeping everyone safe at all times. We ask that you keep these things in mind if our arrival and departure procedures are moving more slowly than we anticipate. If your student is a bus rider, we encourage you to download the EduLog Parent Portal App, for real time information on where your student's bus is on their route. We also want to remind our families that the majority of our schools are offering free breakfast and lunch this school year. All schools, with the exception of Clayton High, Cleveland Elementary, Cleveland High, Corinth Holders High, and Powhatan Elementary, will offer free breakfast and lunch through the Community Eligibility Provision. Families with students attending non-qualifying schools are encouraged to complete a Free and Reduced meal application to receive benefits for this school year. This form, which can be found on the district website, assists our schools in many other services throughout the year, and can be beneficial for our families and students. Lastly, please be reminded that all of our school campuses now have a weapons detection system in place at the entrances of our school. All students, staff, and guests will be expected to pass through the system upon arrival to our campuses. This first week of school is a busy time, with a lot of excitement for our students. Please be reminded that attendance will be taken daily. However attendance calls for students who are marked tardy or absent will not resume until next week. We thank you in advance for your help in making this a great school year.

Good evening parents and students! This is Mr. Jewett, principal of Thanksgiving Elementary School, with some important information. I want to thank all of our staff, students, and parents for a wonderful first day of school. It was amazing to see students in classes again. I wanted to remind our 1st through 5th grade parents that tomorrow is the last day that you can walk your child to class. Starting Wednesday, August 30th, we need for students only to enter the building unless you have a meeting or are volunteering. I also would like to thank you all for your patience with carpool and buses this first day. Our carpool system is new so students can dismiss from the classrooms. It will take us a couple of days to get our students used to the new process, so please be patient with us. For buses, Mrs. Best is sending out Remind messages in addition to the app that you can use. Please send a text to 81010 and text the message @buses23 This will get you signed up for her messages- she is good about messaging our families just in case the app is not accurate. Again, I would like to thank each of you for helping today be a great day!

Just one more sleep until we welcome our students back to school!! We hope all of our students get a good night's rest and are excited to take on the day tomorrow! We can't wait to see you in the morning! ❤️📚🍎

Just one more sleep until we welcome our students back to school!! We hope all of our students get a good night's rest and are excited to take on the day tomorrow! We can't wait to see you in the morning! ❤️📚🍎

Good evening parents and students! This is Mr. Jewett, principal of Thanksgiving Elementary School, with some important information for the start of our school year. I am excited to see all of our 1st through 5th students for our first day of school this coming Monday, August 28th. First of all school starts at 8:30am. We are allowing parents to walk students into the building if you need to the first two days of school. Starting on Wednesday, August 30th we ask that only students enter the building unless you have a meeting or are volunteering. We will have our security system up and running for our front entrance, so please be patient with us. If it goes off, we will ask to look into bags to make sure all of our students and staff are safe. Also, there will be two videos posted to our school's website and our Thanksgiving Elementary School Facebook Page explaining our procedures for our security system and carpool. Please take a few minutes this weekend to watch these brief videos to make sure you are familiar with our processes. This will help make sure it runs as smoothly for you as possible. If you are coming into the building at any time, please only bring your car keys, phone, and ID (which you will need to check out a student). These items will not set off the security system. Also, if you are picking up your child in carpool in the afternoons, please have the school-issued carpool tag clearly displayed. If you do not have your school-issued carpool tag, we will ask you to park and wait to enter the building to check out your child with your ID. I am so excited to see everyone back on Monday for another wonderful school year!

Good evening parents and students! This is Mr. Jewett, principal of Thanksgiving Elementary School, with some important information. It is time, tomorrow night is our Open House for our 1st through 5th grade students. Students with last names A through L will come to Open House from 4:30pm to 5:30pm. Students with last names M through Z will come to Open House from 6pm to 7pm. Sign-ups for our before and after care will be in the cafeteria and we will have slots available for both times at Open House. Also, our PTA will have a table set up at our front hallway. At tomorrow's Open House you will notice our new security system for our front entrance. We ask that anytime you come to enter our building, please just bring your ID, phone, and car keys (paperwork and medication will be fine too if you are bringing that to the office). For tomorrow night you can bring your school supplies, and based on the items on the list that should not set off the alarm either. If it does go off I will be there to make sure all items are safe to enter the building. I will have a video for this procedure posted on our Facebook Page and website soon. I will also be posting a video with our new afternoon carpool procedures as well. I will send another Connect ED when those are posted. Please take a couple of minutes to watch them to help our processes go smoothly. Thank you for your time and I hope you have a great evening!

We're just FIVE days from the first day of school! Can you believe it?! Be sure to check the Johnston County Public Schools mobile app off of your school supplies list! Parents, teachers, and students will use the mobile app for our two-way communication tool this school year! Download it in the Apple or Google Play store today so you're ready for the first day!

All students enrolled in a qualifying Johnston County Public School (with the exception of 5 non-qualifying schools) will receive a healthy Breakfast and lunch at no cost to the household this upcoming school year through the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP). Households of students that attend a qualifying CEP school will no longer need to submit a Free and Reduced Meal Benefit Application for the upcoming school year. Students that attend a non-qualifying school will still have the opportunity to submit a meal benefits application in order to qualify for free, reduced, or paid eligibility status. Applications for the 2023-2024 school year will be accepted starting July 10, 2023. For more information, click here: https://bit.ly/3P10t3J

It's hard to believe that we are just two weeks away from the start of the 2023-2024 school year. I can't wait to see our staff, students, and families; I have definitely missed everyone this summer! The following is some important information to help make sure you are ready to start another great school year. First, teachers will be returning to school this Wednesday, August 16th and they will be filling out postcards for the students on their rosters. Families of 1st through 5th grade students will be receiving these post cards by Tuesday, August 22nd. This post card will inform you of who your child's teacher will be for this coming school year as well as their room number. Our 1st through 5th grade Open House is on Thursday, August 24th. If the student's last name begins with the letter A through L, you will attend our Open House from 4:30pm to 5:30pm. If the student's last name begins with the letter M through Z, you will attend Open House from 6pm to 7pm. Our Kindergarten Parent Information Night is on Thursday, August 31st from 5pm to 6pm. We encourage that only parents attend this event due to the length of information and forms to be signed. Secondly, all of our school supply lists are posted on our school's website. The link to the supply lists is on the first banner image on the homepage. I would also like to encourage all of our families to download the new JCPS app. Once you download the app you can select Thanksgiving Elementary School as your home school to receive updates, events, news, and these messages directly to your cell phone. And finally, please be on the look out for some new videos on our website and our school's Facebook page. I will have a video explaining the process for our new afternoon carpool procedures and the new weapons detection system at our front entrance. I will do another message when those are live. Thank you for your time and I hope you have a great evening! Our Open House for our 1st through

Our families seemed to like the one-stop-shop format for Orientation Information on our website - so we thought we'd make school supply lists just as convenient! Supply lists for our elementary and middle schools for the 2023-2024 school year are available now at: www.johnston.k12.nc.us/schoolsupplies We hope this makes you getting ready for the first day of school - August 28th - a little bit easier!

Good Evening JCPS Families, We hope you will join us at one of our Summer Information Fairs, happening this Monday and Tuesday. We’re hosting a Summer Information Fair at eight of our schools on July 31 and August 1st. We invite families to attend the information fair in their student’s feeder pattern. The Information Fair will provide parents an opportunity to request, verify, and ensure your student has bus transportation and receive meal service information prior to the opening of school. While students won’t receive their bus number at the Information Fair, attending and signing up for transportation guarantees that the student will have transportation on the first day of school. Bus information is expected to be shared at Orientation. If your student does not ride a bus, back to school information will be provided at Orientation. We’ll also have staff on hand for families who need assistance with enrolling their student for the upcoming school year. The Summer Information Fair will be held from 1:00 PM to 7:00 PM on Monday, July 31st at North Johnston Middle, Cleveland High, Corinth Holders High, and South Johnston High. We will hold Information Fairs the following day, Tuesday, August 1st from 1:00 PM to 7:00 PM at Clayton Middle, Smithfield-Selma High, Princeton High, and West Johnston High schools. You can find more information by visiting the home page of our website. We hope to see you there!

The 2023-2024 school year is just one month away! Orientation information is available now! Find your school's orientation information by visiting: www.johnston.k12.nc.us/orientation

We're so excited to introduce our new and improved mobile app to our JCPS community! We've been hard at work to overhaul our mobile app and offer our users an even better experience. We're offering a NEW app in the Apple and Google Play store - that our parents and students alike will want to download before the start of the school year! We'll use our mobile app to send you important information about your school, share athletic schedules, and post our lunch menus every day! The most important feature: our mobile app is going to house our new two-way communication tool for students, teachers, and parents. It's called Rooms - and you're going to love it! Download the JCPS mobile app today so you're ahead of the game!

Johnston County Public Schools (JCPS) will hold its second annual Summer Information Fair for families on Monday, July 31 and Tuesday, Aug. 1. In preparation for the 2023-2024 school year, JCPS Transportation Services, School Nutrition, Communication, and Student Information will host a Summer Information Fair at schools throughout the Johnston County community. The information fair will provide parents an opportunity to enroll their student, and request, verify, and ensure your child has bus transportation and receive pertinent back to school information from school nutrition and communication services. The summer information fairs will be held on July 31 and Aug. 1 from 1:00 - 7:00 PM. Please see below for dates and locations. Monday, July 31st North Johnston Middle (Cafeteria) Cleveland High (Cafeteria) Corinth Holders High (Cafeteria) South Johnston High (Cafeteria) Tuesday, August 1st Clayton Middle (Cafeteria) Smithfield-Selma High (Cafeteria) Princeton Middle/High (Cafeteria) West Johnston High (Cafeteria) Families are invited to attend the Summer Information Fair at the school and date that is most convenient for their schedule, and are not required to attend the fair in their student’s feeder pattern.

Our wonderful custodial staff were hard at it and learning new strategies to keep our schools environments in tip-top shape. Last week's team building and training exercises were informative, interactive, and a great opportunity for the entire team to grow closer. Way to go team! ✨

Free summer meals for students provided by JCPS School Nutrition As part of its efforts to ensure kids have access to healthy meals during the summer months, JCPS School Nutrition is pleased to announce its summer meals sites that will be serving kids and teens. Beginning June 19, all kids and teens 18-years-old and under can receive meals free of charge, no registration needed. Meals will be served from June 19 through July 13. Breakfast will be served from 7:00 AM- 8:00 AM and lunch will be served from 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM. Please note that times may vary depending on the site and participation and that additional locations may be announced after July 13. Locations opening on June 19 are: Archer Lodge Middle Benson Elementary Benson Middle Clayton High Clayton Middle Four Oaks Middle McGee’s Crossroad Elementary Micro Elementary North Johnston Middle River Dell Elementary Selma Elementary Selma Middle Smithfield Middle Smithfield-Selma High South Johnston High West Clayton Elementary West Smithfield Elementary For kids who rely on school meals, summer can be the hungriest time of year, and hunger has short- and long-term consequences for a child’s health, education and well-being. Making sure kids and teens have access to nutritious summer meals is especially important this summer. The Summer Meals program is funded by the USDA and run by school districts and local organizations, and sites can be found throughout the community. We’re always happy to see you at various locations throughout Johnston County, but there may be more convenient locations closer to you. Families can text “FOOD” or “COMIDA” to 304-304 and type in a zip code to find nearby summer meals sites, along with operating days and times. No application, registration or proof of residency or citizenship is required at sites.