Thanksgiving Elementary School

Good evening parents and students! This is Mr. Jewett, principal of Thanksgiving Elementary School, with some important information. It is hard to believe that we have come to the end of this school year. Tomorrow, Thursday, June 6th, is the last day of school for students. Tomorrow is also an early release day- carpool and buses will be dismissed at 1:55pm. Also, we do NOT have after school care tomorrow. Please mark your calendars for the following dates- Thursday, August 22nd will be our Open House for our 1st through 5th grade students. Students with last names starting with A-L will attend from 4:30pm to 5:30pm; students with last names starting with M-Z will attend from 6pm to 7pm. Our Kindergarten Open House will be on Monday, August 26th from 5pm to 6pm. I hope all of you have a safe and enjoyable summer! I am going to truly miss our 5th graders moving on to middle school, and I can't wait to see the rest of our students back in August. Have a wonderful evening!

Good evening parents and students! This is Mr. Jewett, principal of Thanksgiving Elementary School, with some important information. I wanted to remind all of you that this Thursday, June 6th is the last day of school for students. We have an early release on June 6th as well- carpool and buses will be dismissed at 1:55pm. Also, please know that we Do Not have after school care on June 6th. Report cards will be sent home with students on Thursday, June 6th. We will hold onto the report cards for students that still owe for before or after school care or damaged books. Parents will need to come up to the school to make a payment to receive their report cards. Our 5th grade promotion ceremony is this Wednesday, June 5th at 9:30am. We will allow families to start entering the building at 9am. Please make sure that any guests who are attending have their ID; and if there is anyone who is attending who is not listed on the student information sheet they must be with the parent/guardian when checking in. Once we run out of parking in our parking lot you can park on the grass or use the right hand lane of our two lane carpool driveway. We need to keep one lane completely open just in case we need fire or rescue on campus. Today is the last day for 2nd and 3rd grade students who are eligible to attend Summer Reading Camp to register. If you have received a letter from your child's teacher with the link to register and you would like them to attend summer learning, please use the link today (if you have not already done so) to make sure they are able to attend. And finally, we still have about 200 books that need to be returned to the library. If your child has a book from our library still at home, please have them return it by tomorrow. Thank you for your time and I hope you have a great evening!

Good evening parents and students! This is Mr. Jewett, principal of Thanksgiving Elementary School, with some important information. Our 5th grade students will be taking the science EOG tomorrow. Please make sure they get plenty of rest and a good breakfast. We have free breakfast if they do not have time to eat at home tomorrow morning. This Friday, May 31st, is our next Caps/Pajama Bottoms for a Cause day. Students can wear school appropriate hats and pajama bottoms with the donation of $1 that will go to help a family in need in our community. My last few updates have had the dates and times of our end of year awards and celebrations for each grade level. I just wanted to remind everyone to please make sure they have their ID when they check in to go to the awards ceremony. If there is an adult coming to one of the awards that is not listed on the Student Information sheet filled out by our parents and guardians at the beginning of the school year, please make sure they are with the parent or legal guardian when they check in. We want to make sure that every adult visitor on campus has approval from the parents/guardians to be on campus and around your child. Thank you so much for understanding my position on that one- safety is a non-negotiable for me! I thank you for your time and I hope you have a great evening!

Good evening parents and students! This is Mr. Jewett, principal of Thanksgiving Elementary School, with some important information. Our EOGs begin tomorrow. Our 3rd through 5th grade students will take their Reading EOG tomorrow and their Math EOG on Friday. Our 5th grade students will take their Science EOG on Wednesday, May 29th. Please help make sure that the students get a good night sleep and have a good breakfast in the mornings. We do have free breakfast for the students if they are not able to eat at home. I also wanted to make sure that you are all aware of the date and times of our awards/celebrations. PreK awards will be in the classroom on June 3rd at 9:30am. Kindergarten awards will be in the classrooms on May 30th at 11:45am. 1st grade awards will be in the classrooms on May 31st at 10:30am. 2nd grade awards will be in the classrooms on June 4th at 1:45pm. 3rd grade awards will be in the classrooms on June 3rd at 11:30am. 4th grade awards will be in the classrooms on June 4th at 11:45am. 5th grade promotion ceremony will take place on June 5th at 9:30am in our gymnasium. Please make sure you bring your ID to check in a visitor on the day of your child's awards. If there is an adult attending an awards celebration that is not listed in PowerSchool or on the Student Information Sheets, they must be with the legal parent/guardian when signing in. Safety is my biggest priority and I want to make sure that everyone on campus on these days have permission to be here and around your child. And finally, I wanted to make sure that all of you know that we do not have school on Monday, May 27th. Students and staff will not have school since it is the Memorial Day Holiday. Thank you for your time and I hope you have a wonderful evening!

Good evening parents and students! This is Mr. Jewett, principal of Thanksgiving Elementary School, with some important information. I wanted to make sure that all of our families know that our End of Grade Reading Assessment is on Thursday, May 23rd. Our End of Grade Math Assessment is on May 24th. Our End of Grade Science Assessment for our 5th grade students is on May 29th. I also wanted to let you know that our students and staff do not have school on Monday, May 27th- it is Memorial Day Holiday. And finally I wanted to make sure our families know of our end of year award ceremonies for our grade levels. PreK will be on June 3rd at 9:30am; Kindergarten is on May 30th at 11:45; 1st Grade is on May 31st at 10:30am; 2nd Grade is on June 4th at 1:45pm; 3rd Grade is on June 3rd at 11:30am; 4th Grade is on June 4th at 11:45am; and 5th Grade is on June 5th at 9:30am. Thank you for your time and I hope you have a great evening!

Good evening parents and student! This is Mr. Jewett, principal of Thanksgiving Elementary School, with some important information. I wanted to send out this message as a correction to a message I sent last week. Our rising kindergarten parent information night is tomorrow night (Tuesday, May 14th) at 5pm to 6pm. I had said 5:30 last week as a mistake. Again, we will start at 5pm in our cafeteria and the meeting will finish at 6pm. We are also in need of proctors for our End of Grade assessments that start next week. If you are interested in proctoring, please call our office at 984-400-7300 or email our assistant principal, Mrs. Best, at heatherbest@johnston.k12.nc.us Thank you for your time and I hope you have a wonderful evening!

Good evening parents and students! This is Mr. Jewett, principal of Thanksgiving Elementary School, with some important information. I would like to start out by saying "Happy Mother's Day" to all of the mothers of our students. We thank you for all that you do for your children and the support you give to our school. I hope you have a wonderful Mother's Day Weekend. I wanted to remind all of our parents who have a rising kindergarten student for next year that we have a Rising Kindergarten Parent Information Night next Tuesday, May 14th from 5:30pm to 6:30pm in our cafeteria. We will be going over a lot of information to help make your child's transition to kindergarten as smooth as possible, and we have a packet of things you can do with them over the summer to help them be as prepared as possible for their first days of school. And finally, I wanted to make sure you all know of the dates for the EOGs that our 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders will be taking very soon. The Reading EOG is on Thursday, May 23rd; the Math EOG is on Friday, May 24th; and the Science EOG (5th graders only) is on Wednesday, May 29th. Please make sure your students have a good nights sleep the day before and are here on time so we can get started as soon as possible. We are also in need of proctors to give the tests those days. If you can give some time to help us with that please attend one of our proctor trainings. They will be on May 13th at 9am or at 3pm; and on May 15th at 9am. We need a lot of volunteers to help our testing run smoothly. Thank you for your time and I hope you have a wonderful evening!

Good evening parents and students! This is Mr. Jewett, principal of Thanksgiving Elementary School, with some important information. We are having our Spring Book Fair this week. Students will be shopping our book fair during their enhancement times this week. We also have a family night tomorrow night (Tuesday, April 30th) from 5pm to 7pm. You can shop our book fair as a family and we will have a food truck here as well. We have a day that parents can shop the book fair without their children (in case you are looking for a gift)- that day is Thursday, May 2nd from 9am to 10am. We have a Thanksgiving Elementary School Spirit Night at the McDonald's at Flower's Plantation (by the Harris Teeter) from 5pm to 8pm on Thursday, May 2nd. And finally, our next TES Spirit Day this Friday, May 3rd. Please wear your TES gear or school colors (maroon and orange). We will also have spirit sticks and stickers for sale- and this will be the last time we will be selling spirit sticks and stickers for this school year. Thank you for your time and I hope you have a great evening!

Congratulations to Thanksgiving Elementary teacher Kimberly Flynn on being named a 2024 Teacher of the Year semifinalist! 😎 Who will win? Stay tuned as we post the winner here on Tuesday evening, April 23rd. #GreatThingsAreHappeningInJCPS

Good evening parents and students! This is Mr. Jewett, principal of Thanksgiving Elementary School, with some important information. JCPS sent an email earlier today with a link for families to fill out a survey letting us know of your and your child's experiences this year. Please take some time to complete that survey- it helps us identify areas for improvement each year. Our 3rd through 5th grade students will also be taking this survey in the coming days if you signed and returned the letter (sent home prior to spring break) giving permission. We have our 1st annual STEM Night next Tuesday, April 23rd from 5pm to 7pm at our school. We had Duke Energy and our PTA donate STEM kits for families to explore together that evening. Please come out for a fun family event, and we will have a food truck here as well so you can grab some dinner on your way home. We still need some volunteers for this event, so please visit our Thanksgiving Elementary School PTA Facebook page and sign up if you are able to help. I wanted to let you know that we will have several law enforcement officers on our campus this Thursday, April 18th. They are piloting a new system with our cameras and they will be moving around our building and outside of our building. And finally, I wanted to let you know that if your 5th grade child is going to be attending Riverwood Middle School next year, there is a rising 6th grade parent night at Riverwood Middle this Wednesday, April 17th at 6pm. Thank you for your time and I hope you have a great evening!

JCPS is looking for Reading Buddy volunteers to help our students this summer! We need parents, grandparents, community members, and high school students to join our Summer Reading Camp participants during morning arrival. Volunteers will listen to and encourage students as they develop their reading skills. No experience is required, but you will need to register and be a volunteer with JCPS before you begin. To sign up: Complete the Reading Buddy Volunteer Form by visiting: https://bit.ly/JCPSbuddy Register to Volunteer with JCPS by visiting https://myvolunteer.com/jcps/volunteer/login Thank you and have a great evening!

Good evening parents and students! This is Mr. Jewett, principal of Thanksgiving Elementary School, with some important information. I wanted to let you know that our Lost and Found bins (that are now located in our cafeteria) are over flowing. We will be donating any lost and found items that are not claimed by this Friday, April 12th, so if you are missing any items please make sure to look this week. This Friday, April 12th is also our next school Spirit Day. Please wear your TES spirit wear or school colors (maroon and orange). Spirit sticks and stickers will also be on sale during our arrival time between 8:30am and 8:55am. Please come join us for our very first STEM Night on Tuesday, April 23rd from 5pm to 7pm. We have a STEM kit that our families can put together as a family that night. We also have a food truck that will be here if you would like to have a meal at our event as well. We are in need of some more volunteers to help make this event a great one, so please visit the Thanksgiving Elementary School PTA Facebook page to sign up if you can help. Our Spring Book Fair will take place during the week of April 29th through May 3rd. Our students will have an opportunity to shop during their enhancement times that week. We also have a Family Night at the Book Fair on Tuesday, April 30th from 5pm to 7pm so you can shop with your whole family. We will also have a food truck that evening so you can eat as well. And finally, our 3rd quarter report cards will be going home on Monday, April 15th. Along with these report cards will be an at-risk of retention letter if your child is performing below grade level or have excessive absences/tardies, and are possibly in danger of being retained. Parents of our 2nd and 3rd grade students who are performing below grade level and who currently qualify for the summer reading program will also receive a letter with some general information about the summer reading program. More specific information and how to register will come later after our end of year assessments are completed. Thank you for your time and I hope you have a great evening!

Good evening parents and students! This is Mr. Jewett, principal of Thanksgiving Elementary School, with some important information. First of all, I hope that all you have a very safe, restful, and enjoyable Spring Break. Our students will return to school on Tuesday, April 9th. Secondly, please be advised that beginning at 8:00 AM on April 1, 2024, the North Carolina Department of Transportation will begin construction on Buffalo Creek bridge along Covered Bridge Road in Northern Johnston County. Due to the construction, Cover Bridge Road will be closed in both directions, near Prestwood Lane. The project is expected to be continuous from April 1, 2024 to October 28, 2024. The closure will have a direct impact on 11 schools, including ours. We will not be certain until we begin to experience the delays, but it is estimated that detours could add 15-40 minutes of travel time for some routes. Our transportation department will provide some direct guidance to families on how commuters can prepare for the upcoming changes. The Edulog Parent Portal will reflect the closure and affected routes will be automatically re-routed by the software. Families have also been advised that stop times within the Edulog Parent Portal software will be altered immediately; however, the new route changes will not take place until April 8, 2024. Thank you for your time and have a wonderful evening!

Good evening parents and students! This is Mr. Jewett, principal of Thanksgiving Elementary School, with some important information. Unfortunately due to the weather forecast for this Wednesday and Thursday, we are having to cancel our field days. I am so sorry, but it is supposed to rain both of those days. This may have changed some other events your child's class may have been planning, so please make sure to check any messages from your child's teacher if they had events planned for this week. I also wanted to remind you that we sent home a letters to our 3rd through 5th grade students about the Panorama Spring Survey that we will be participating in when we return from Spring Break. If you are okay with your child in 3rd through 5th grade to participate in a survey, please complete the bottom portion of the letter and return it to your child's teacher. And finally, I wanted to remind all of our families that the students' last day of school before getting out for Spring Break is this Thursday, March 28th. Spring Break starts on Friday, March 29th and lasts through Monday, April 8th. Students will return to school on Tuesday, April 9th. Thank you for your time and I hope you have a great evening!

Good evening parents and students! This is Mr. Jewett, principal of Thanksgiving Elementary School, with some important information. We will be sending home a letter tomorrow, Friday, March 22nd, with our 3rd through 5th grade students about our Panorama Spring Survey. This is a survey that we would like all of our 3rd through 5th grade students and parents to participate in to see how are school is doing at providing an effective learning environment. Our School Improvement Team and our district reviews this data in making decisions to continually improve. For your child to be able to participate, we need for each parent to sign and return the letter to your child's teacher. If you do not wish for your child to participate in the survey, please let your child's teacher know and do not sign and return the letter. There is also a website listed in the letter for parents to visit to participate in the survey as well. The survey will open on April 15th. We have our Pre-K, Kindergarten, 1st Grade, and 2nd Grade Field Day on Wednesday, March 27th. Pre-K, Kindergarten, and EC self-contained classes will be from 9:15am to 10:55am. Our 1st grade and 2nd grade classes will be from 11:15am to 12:55pm. Our 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students will have their Field Day on Thursday, March 28th. 3rd and 4th grade will be from 9:10am to 10:40am; and our 5th grade will be from 1:00pm to 2:45pm. We are in need of volunteers for both days to help make this an amazing event for our students. If you have time to help, please visit our Thanksgiving Elementary PTA Facebook page to sign up. Parents, if you are coming to school to visit your child's classroom for any events or to attend your child's field day, please make sure you bring your ID to sign in. And finally, next Thursday, March 28th, is the last day of school for students before our Spring Break. Spring Break will start Friday, March 29th and last through Monday, April 8th. Students will return to school on Tuesday, April 9th. Thank you for your time and I hope you have a wonderful evening!

Good evening parents and students! This is Mr. Jewett, principal of Thanksgiving Elementary School, with some important information. I wanted to let you know that we have field days planned for our students before we go on Spring Break. Our Pre-K, Kindergarten, and EC self-contained classes will have their field day on Wednesday, March 27th from 9:15am to 10:55am. Our 1st and 2nd grade students will have their field day on Wednesday, March 27th from 11:15am to 12:55pm. Our 3rd and 4th grade students will have their field day on Thursday, March 28th from 9:10am to 10:40am. Our 5th grade students will have their field day on Thursday, March 28th from 1pm to 2:45pm. We are in need of more volunteers to help run the different events. If you are able to help, please visit the Thanksgiving Elementary School PTA Facebook page. These field days are weather dependent, so we are hoping for no rain or storms. I also wanted to give you the dates for Spring Break. The students' last day for school before Spring Break is Thursday, March 28th. Students will be out of school from Friday, March 29th through Monday, April 8th. Students will return to school on Tuesday, April 9th. Thank you for your time and I hope you have a great evening!

Good evening parents and students! This is Mr. Jewett, principal of Thanksgiving Elementary School, with some important information. I wanted to make sure that all of you know that the students who attend the dance this Saturday, March 9th, must have a parent with them in case there is an issue or an injury. I know that information was on the flyer and online, but I have not put that in one of my messages so I wanted to make sure that was communicated. Our pre-K, kindergarten, and 1st grade dance is from noon to 1:30pm. Our 2nd and 3rd grade dance is from 2pm to 3:30pm. And our 4th and 5th grade dance is from 4pm to 5:30pm. Information on purchasing tickets is on our Thanksgiving Elementary PTA Facebook page. We are also in need of volunteers, and how to sign up is also on that Facebook page. This is such a great time and I am excited to see you there! Tomorrow is Theodore Thursday as we celebrate Read Across America Week. So students come dressed up as your favorite storybook character. Thank you all for your time and I hope you have a great evening!

Good evening parents and students! This is Mr. Jewett, principal of Thanksgiving Elementary School, with some important information. Our students do not have school tomorrow, March 5th, it is a teacher workday. We are celebrating Read Across America Week this week. Wednesday is Wacky Wednesday- students can wear wacky clothes that are still in dress code; Thursday is Theodore Thursday- come dressed like your favorite storybook character; and Friday is Future Friday- dress up as your future career. Our school dance is this Saturday, March 9th. Our pre-k, kindergarten, and 1st grade students will have their dance from noon to 1:30pm; our 2nd and 3rd grade students will have their dance from 2pm to 3:30pm; and our 4th and 5th grade students will have their dance from 4pm to 5:30pm. Our theme is Out of this World and I know our students will have an out of this world time. Please visit the Thanksgiving Elementary School PTA Facebook page for details, tickets, and how to volunteer (we are still in need of volunteers to help make this a great event for our students). And finally, we will be sending flyers home about spring pictures. Spring picture day is on March 13th. Please make sure that your child's name is on the upper right hand corner. If it is not your child's name, please return it to the teacher and we will send home the right flyer. Thank you for your time and I hope you have a wonderful evening!

Good evening parents and students! This is Mr. Jewett, principal of Thanksgiving Elementary School, with some important information. I wanted to let you know that we have a general PTA meeting tomorrow evening at 6pm in our media center. We will be reviewing our PTA budget, upcoming events, and how you can get involved at our school. I will also be present to help answer any questions related to the different calendar options for next year from our school board and share our current progress toward our academic goals for this year. Please come out and join us! This Friday, March 1st, is our next Spirit Day. We would love for our students to wear their TES gear or colors (maroon and orange) to school. Our PTA will have spirit sticks and stickers for sale during our arrival time. Parents, this is a big one. We are having more and more issues involving our students and social media (Tik Tok, Snapchat, Instagram, etc.). I have talked with our 4th and 5th grade students directly, but I wanted to make sure you as parents know as well. Anytime a student posts or shares things online that creates a disruption at school, or in considered threatening to staff or students, or creates a conflict at school that student or those students can and will be suspended. I have had to deal with many students sending, sharing, typing inappropriate images and messages lately. Parents, please speak to your child about the importance of being responsible with their internet access and how getting involved with inappropriate uses of social media and texts can have severe consequences. And finally, next Tuesday, March 5th, is voting day and our students to not have school since we are a voting site. Thank you for your time and I hope you have a great evening!

Last night, JCPS celebrated the 2024 Leading with the Heart recipients!💝 The event, inspired by Mike Krzyzewski’s book, “Leading with the Heart,” recognizes those staff members throughout the school system that demonstrate leadership, compassion, and heart on a daily basis. One person from every school as well as central services was nominated by their peers, because of their unwavering commitment and dedication to their role. We honor the 53 amazing members of the JCPS family for their work that clearly does not go unnoticed! Thank you!✨ Stay tuned for an event recap video... #ILeadWithMyHeart