Husky Herald Newsletter

September 19, Volume 23

A Message from Dr. J

September has flown by and October is just around the corner! This year is flying by!

We hope you enjoy Fall Break next week (September 22-26) by recharging, having fun, and spending time together. When we return, October will be a busy (and exciting!) month at Haw Creek. Be sure to check our calendar for upcoming activities and events. We’re already looking forward to Chalk the Walk on Tuesday, September 30th, and Walk to School Day on Wednesday, October 1st—two great ways to kick off the month and (hopefully) enjoy some cooler fall temperatures.

A huge thank you to our PTO for organizing such an incredible fundraising opportunity and to our community for the amazing support. Our Huskies have loved the daily shoutouts and watching those fundraising graphs grow—we are so grateful for the encouragement you’ve shown our school! If we end up at that magical $30k by Sunday, I will need some help with camping gear - any suggestions are welcome! We only need $700 more to push us over edge - corporate sponsorships are always welcome!

October also brings Parent/Teacher Conferences, an important opportunity for families to connect directly with teachers about their child’s progress. As you prepare for those conversations, be sure to check out our Tips for Conferences below to help you maximize your time together.

Later in the month, we’ll celebrate Red Ribbon Week (October 27-31) and Book Character Dress-Up Day on October 31st. So many great things ahead—stay connected with our newsletters and messenger updates!

Thank you for being such an important part of our Husky family—we couldn’t do it without you!

The HCES Admin Team

Ashley Johnessee, Principal ajohnessee@forsyth.k12.ga.us

Berkley Fain, Assistant Principal 3-5 f39283@forsyth.k12.ga.us

Davis Barlow, Assistant Principal K-2 dbarlow@forsyth.k12.ga.us

Traci Avery, Assistant Administrator tavery@forsyth.k12.ga.us

Seen Around Haw Creek

Beginning with the END in Mind!

Reading is fun in 1st!

Plank, Reach, and Run? It's Pacer Time in PE!

Reading and Math Activities

Space Review in 4th

Naps for Pups

Kani Joins Music Class!

Community Celebrations!

WHOA! Look at that class GO!

We Love seeing our Leaders Shine!

Constitution Day: We The Kids

Class Prizes for our Fundraiser!

Plan Ahead: October 2025 Dates

This Month's Happenings

Here's a PREVIEW of the next two weeks! Click here to go to our Events Page and see the month at a glance!

Tuesday, September 30th: PTO Chalk the Walk Night is a GREAT day for families to come and write positive chalk messages on our sidewalks to make our Walk to School Day an extra positive experience!

Wednesday, October 1st: PTO Walk to School Day: Families are invited to walk to school in an effort to increase opportunities for families to engage in a positive physical activity that promotes clean air and student wellness as well as building community.

Tuesday, October 2nd: National Custodian Appreciation Day - let's celebrate our custodial team for keeping our campus gleaming!

Friday, October 3rd: 5th Grade Lunch on the Lawn

CFA Biscuits: Friday, October 3rd- PTO sells Chick Fil A Biscuits one Friday each month. Purchases are available through the PTO Website and orders close the Wednesday prior to the delivery day.

Spirit Wear Fridays - Husky Tradition has our pack dressing up in spirit wear and showing of our school colors on Fridays! One less decision to make each week: on Fridays, we wear Haw Creek Blue!

October 3rd October 10th October 24th

Monday, October 6th: National Coach Appreciation Day - let's celebrate our Instructional Coach, Mrs. Kumpel and our Educational Technology Coach, Mrs. Dunlap our appreciation for all they do to support our teachers and students! We are so lucky to have them at Haw Creek!

Tuesday, October 7th: Class and Individual School Picture Day!

King of Pops: Friday, October 10th - PTO also partners with King of Pops-Cumming to sell popsicle treats for students (delivered during recess) each month. Purchases are available through the PTO Website and orders close the Wednesday prior to the delivery day.

National School Lunch Week, October 13th-17th: Learn more about our School Lunch program through our social media posts and by checking out the lunch options offered in our cafeteria!

Parent Conference Day - No School: Friday, October 17th: Teachers will share more about how you can sign up for conferences with them both in the days surrounding and the day of our school conferences. Stay tuned to your classroom newsletters!

Monday, October 20th: Student Holiday - No School

Math Kangaroo Competition 2026

We are thrilled to announce that Haw Creek Elementary will once again be hosting the Math Kangaroo 2026 Competition on March 19th, 2026! We are excited to give Haw Creek students exclusive early registration for this event until October 10th. Please do not share this link or invitation code with anyone outside our school. After October 11th, if seats remain, registration will open to all Forsyth County students. Please click HERE for more information!

Counseling Corner

As we transition from September to October, we have a lot going on with our Dynamic Counseling Duo!

Letters will be going home when we return from Fall Break about participating in Child Safety Matters. If you would like to opt -out of these lessons, you will need to sign and return the sheet prior to October 10th. Questions? Don't hesitate to reach out to your child's counselor - K, 2, and 4: Bella Gravitt and 1, 3, 5: Danielle Maida
As soon as we return, we will be learning all how YOUR WORDS MATTER! Click here for a brief video about this important week from our counselors. We appreciate your partnership in keeping our language positive and school-appropriate because kindness matters!

National Arts in Education Week!

Student Notes for Mrs. Sneath and Mrs. Wylie!

Principal's Gallery 2025-2026

What can you do with a dot?

Dot Day

IS

AWESOME!

Leader in Me: 7 Habits at Haw Creek

Hallway Data Walls

Classroom Mission Statements

WIG Tracking

Schoolwide Data Tracking

What's with the Graphs?

Haw Creek is GRAPH crazy! We are going DATA crazy! All because our LEADERS are setting goals, tracking data, holding accountability meetings, and achieving their GOALS!

The pictures above show some examples of what you will see in our hallways where our students are tracking class, grade level, and school wide progress towards our Wildly Important Goal: 100% of our classrooms will participate ina Husky Huddle Meeting Daily.

So, what IS a Husky Huddle? Each day, student leaders go through our morning routines in our classrooms sharing announcements, shout outs, making connections, praciticing our school-wide expectations (Pause for PAWS), and learning about the 7 Habits daily. THEN, they TRACK that they have completed their task within their classrooms.

Each week, our Data Dogs transfer their classroom's data to our hallway graphs so that our school-wide data dogs can compile our school progress towards our goal. The first week in September we had a 97% success rate - that's amazing!

Now, our students in upper grades are expanding on this practice and applying it to not only their classroom progress towards a standard, but also for their personal goals for being proactive, showing kindness, and even for their sports teams! We love seeing their leadership and their success! Way to go, Huskies!

HCES Homepage

HCES Handbook

Haw Creek PTO

Reserve the Rock!

Video: How to Navigate The Husky Herald Website

HCES Lunchroom

Forsyth County Schools'

Community Engagement and Lifelong Education Updates

Plan Ahead for PTO!

5th Grade Families

Special events at Haw Creek are possible from partnership with our PTO! Make Plans to join our PTO, order your monthly sweet treats during recess AND order your monthly Chick Fil A biscuits. Money raised from these fundraisers not only impacts our academics and opportunities on campus, but truly help us make Haw Creek special.

You can pay for membership, order your biscuits and sweet treats, and even pay 5th grade dues online before Open House so all you need to do is check out our spirit wear for the year! CLICK HERE for our PTO Website and join today!