School resumed Wednesday and our routines re-established. We hope everyone made it through the flooding unharmed.

Have you witnessed the Peace Flags display? Take a look on our school front lawn. It's beautiful.

8 days 'til the Fall Festival. We still need "U".
It will NOT be a success without YOU!! We need everyone to make it work. Read below for details. We are getting desperate.

$23,000 in wrapping paper? Are you kidding me? Power to the people! See what a difference you make...YOU make Briarlake Great! Read more below. Irenea and Michelle..you are amazing!

Please also enjoy reading our September Beaver Bulletin, it is filled with great news and information.

Janice Benator Memorial Garden Dedication

Briarlake teachers, staff, parents and students were amazed by the bittersweet ceremony dedicating the new Janice Benator Memorial Garden. Tears followed laughter and memories were shared. A video montage reminded all of us how much we miss Mrs. Benator and what a great smile she had. Walk by the official Janice Bentor Memorial Garden sometime and witness the beauty of life. Thank you to the Master Gardeners, who almost drowned Saturday during campus beautification, sprucing-up the garden. It's truly alive.
A portrait of Mrs. Benator will hang on the wall in the 3rd grade wing adjacent to the garden. Notice how she's smiling...like she's watching the butterflies...

Quinn Roberts-- YOU make Briarlake Great!

Quinn Roberts, 2nd grader, will undergo a kidney transplant on Tuesday, September 29. She will be out of school approxaimately 4-8 weeks. We ask for your thoughts, wishes, blessings, vibes, messages, and prayers as she faces something most of us can't even imagine.

Quinn lives with PKD, polycystic kidney disease, and Tuesday she faces this monster and will continue her battle against it.

Quinn and her brother, Gage, have PKD, a life-threatening genetic kidney disease affecting 600,000 Americans and 12.5 million people worldwide. PKD causes cysts to grow on the kidneys, often leading to kidney failure. Dialysis and transplantation are the only treatment options. There is no cure for PKD.

The not-for-profit PKD Foundation is the only organization, worldwide, dedicated to fighting PKD through research and patient education. Learn more at PKDCure.org (http://www.pkdcure.org).

Their story will also be featured on WXIA/11 news in the next week by reporter Julie Wolfe.

If your child would like to send Quinnlin a card in the coming weeks, we know that she would appreciate her school community thinking about her. Her home address is: 2876 Guinevere Dr. NE, Atlanta, GA 30345.

If you would like to see updates on Quinnlin's surgery and progress or you want to help the family with meals, you can visit her mom's blog at www.kidneysandeyes.com.

The entire Roberts family is in our hearts!

Beavers for Vikings

Are you ready for some high school "Football'?

If you are, join us for the Lakeside v. Chamblee game this Saturday night at Adams field (on N. Druid Hills Rd.). Game begins at 7:30 p.m. Tailgating is offered either at Chick-fil-A starting at 5:30, or in the stadium parking lot. Look for the white tent. It's the Vikings' Community Spirit Night! Wear your Briarlake spiritwear and cheer on our future high school!

SALLY FOSTER

Results are in for the Toad-ally Awesome Sally Foster fundraiser...

Congratulations! Briarlake sold almost $23,000 in Sally Foster earning our school $11,400. This beat last year's sales!

Thank you to EVERY student who participated. EVERY sale made a difference and is very appreciated!

Mrs. Johnson's 4th grade had the highest participation - 76%.Mrs. Winburn's Kindergarten had the Second highest participation -69%. Both classes win a class party! Honorable mentions go to Mrs. Tonka and Mrs. Pittman's classes.

Harris Simpson in Mrs. Cernoch's class is the Top Seller with over $900 in Sally Foster sales! Pete Neal in Mrs. Spencer's class is the second highest seller with over $700! Big congratulations to these students and their families for their hard work! A family fun prize is coming come today.

Check the bulletin board for students who sold $150 or more and will ride the Fur Bus on Wed. Sep. 30th! Please have permission forms in by Tuesday, Sep 29.

Everyone who participated will receive their cool catalog prizes on October 13th when orders arrive. We will send a reminder about delivery.

Thank you to all students, parents, teachers, and staff for their generous support of this year's Sally Foster fundraiser!

Irenea Seufert and Michele Lindner
Sally Foster Chairpersons

Fall Festival

FALL FESTIVAL COUNTDOWN...

TWO WEEKS TO GO!

"Vol _nteer" - The only thing missing is U!" Please volunteer to staff a game, inflatable, craft or help with the food on the day of the festival. We currently have dozens of openings from both 10:45-1:30 and 1:15-4:00. Please contact Vanessa Erens today with your shift of choice.

The Fall Festival has new hours this year. Make note that it will begin at 11am and end at 4pm. The craft show opens one hour earlier at 10am.

Fill out those ticket order forms that were sent home last Friday. Purchasing tickets early gives you more tickets for the same price and that means more fun! Be sure to buy more tickets than you think you need because you'll use them all and then want more!
We are in need of EZ-ups (those pop-up canopy tents) to provide shade for the children's craft and auction areas. If you have any to lend, please contact Carolyn Hansen.

There are sponsorships available for the fall festival. If any parent or business is interested in sponsoring the Fall Festival contact Tonya Roberts.

Thanks so much. We are looking forward to another wonderful Fall Festival with our Briarlake families and the community!

Carolyn Hansen and Angela Pilcher
Fall Festival Co-Chairs

International Peace Day -

Mrs. Norris-Brown and Mrs. Kramer helped to organize our annual "NO place for Hate" Peace Day rally. All students learned to "Increase the Peace".
Students also sang a beautiful peaceful song adapted by Ms. Goodwin, "May Peaceful Music Fill the Air" .

Due to inclement weather, the Peace Flags were planted Wednesday morning. What a beautiful site and powerful message!

Testing coming for 1st, 3rd, and 5th Graders

Start preparing your child now for testing in October by getting to bed early, and getting in the habit of eating a good breakfast. The test window for the Iowa is October 5-8 and 13-23, and for the Cog AT is October 21-30. Ms. Jenks will be sending home additional details soon.

Holiday Performance Schedule change

Change your calendars now. The holiday performance has been change to Tuesday, December 1, 6-8 p.m. The performance is for pre-K through 3rd graders. 4th and 5th graders will have a spring show.

Green Team News

The Green Team is very pleased to be collecting juice pouches for our school. These pouches are used to make purses, lunch boxes, backpacks, etc. Not only do they get recycled, but our school receives 2 cents for every pouch! Now that's a good deal! The collection box is just inside the front doors. Please remove straws and as much liquid as possible. The pouches being collected are CapriSun, Kool-Aid, and Honest Kids.

Another great recycling opportunity is the cell phone collection. Our team is helping to collect cell phones that benefits gorillas. For each cell phone collected, Zoo Atlanta gives 100% of the recycling proceeds to the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International. It's great to be GREEN and GLOBAL !
Who knew that cell phones have a direct effect on wild populations of gorillas? A critical component of cell phones and other small electronics is a substance called coltan. One of the few places in the world where coltan is found is in the forests of gorilla habitat. As a result of mining for coltan, critical habitat has been destroyed and gorillas have been displaced or illegally hunted.
Materials from phones recycled are assembled into new phones. By recycling your phone, you will be helping to raise money that will go directly to help these populations of gorillas.
First, donations to The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International will help further their work to protect gorillas. Second, the reuse of cell phones results in the need for fewer new ones, which in turn reduces the need for coltan mining. What a wonderful way to help some wildlife.
The cell phone box is also just inside the front doors.

Information provided by Susan Mancusi-Ungaro

Reminders

Recycle News

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Girl Scout troop # 25437 will be collecting eye glasses at the Fall Festival. We will have a box to collect all glasses. They will be given to the Georgia Lions Lighthouse who provides assistance to those in need in our community by helping to pay for glasses or a visit to an eye doctor (among other programs). The Lighthouse collects used eyeglasses (or sunglasses) for use in Operation Eye Care. Donated glassed are washed, read and sorted by their volunteers. They are then sent on mission trips to developing areas in the world.

Thank you,
Mrs. Francis

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Reflections
This year's theme is "Beauty is...The deadline for all entries is October 17th. Details here.
If you have any additional questions, please contact Lisa Spivack
Box Tops
Continue clipping Box Tops. Look for Box Tops on many different products, not just food. Box Tops Website.
School Store Hours
Open Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays before school--7:35-8:00 a.m. Volunteers needed! Contact Paige Fitts to help.

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Sarah Rigby and Laurie Hobbs, PTA Co-Presidents
Briarlake Elementary PTA