BRIARLAKE BEAVERS ARE ACHIEVERS:

Competitions, Clubs, and Academic Opportunities at Briarlake Elementary

We hope this page will help you learn more about the various clubs, competitions, academic challenges, and extracurricular activities that we plan to offer Briarlake students for the 2022-2023 school year. Our ability to provide some of these activities depends heavily on whether we have sufficient staff and parent volunteer support, so please sign up to help if you are able! You can view the information in a slideshow format with photos and graphics here.

Please use this form to indicate your child's interest and/or your own interest and availability as a volunteer. Feel free to contact Briarlakepta@gmail.com with any questions. Thank you!

COMPETITIONS

Briarlake Academic Challenges

• Individuals challenge themselves to complete the assigned academic activity. Includes challenges in Math, Reading/Writing, Social Studies, and Science.
• PK-5
• All year; 2 per semester
• Volunteers assigned by PAC
• No cost

Accelerated Reader Challenges  

• Students are encouraged to take AR (Accelerated Reader) quizzes whenever they finish reading a book and increase their words count. Each student's word count is tracked and every 6 weeks Ms. Graham runs a word count report to see who has increased their word count. 
• Word count benchmarks used to highlight our various levels of top readers. 
• 150,000, 250,000, 500,000, 750,000, 1 million words
• Every 6 weeks, during morning announcements, Ms. Graham announces the names of students in each Words-Read benchmark group.  Our lifelong member groups consists of students that have read 1 million words.  It is called the Million Word Club. 
• PK-5
• All year
• Ms. Graham is staff supervisor
• No cost

PTA Reflections

• The Reflections Program is a National PTA and Georgia PTA cultural arts competition
• A student may submit an entry in any of six arts areas. Only original works of art are accepted. The six art areas are: Visual Arts, Photography, Literature, Music Composition, Dance Choreography, and Film Production
• This year's theme is "Show Your Voice." Open to all students, including a Special Artist Division.
• PK-5
• Parent Reflections Committee Chair and 3-4 Staff Judges (1 day commitment) NEEDED
• September-October
• No cost

Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl

• Team competition between schools in which students answer questions about books they have read from a predetermined list.
• 4th-5th grade
• Practice begins in Sept. Practices are once or twice a week (either before school or during lunch)
• Bowl members must have read 5 books before sign-up, 8 of the books by October, and the remaining 2 books by November.
• Competition date: Sat. Jan.28, 2023
• Ms. Graham is staff supervisor. 1 parent coach is needed to attend the competition in January
• $55/registration paid by PTA; $10 t-shirts

Sagamore Hills Math Competition 

• Individual and team math competition between schools
• Math club to prepare for competition is possible with enough parent support.
• Tournament will be organized into three events:
• Individual Concepts and Computation
• Individual Problem-Solving
• Team Ciphering 
• 3rd-5th
• Competition is in January
• Needs staff supervisor and 2-3 parent coaches
• Cost is $15 per student

Science Olympiad

• Individuals and teams challenge themselves to complete a variety of fun science activities involving tests of knowledge and building skills. 
• Teams of up to 20 students, but no more than 8 can be 5th graders
• Descriptions of 18 ESO games available on website
• 3rd-5th
• Practice begins in January
• DCSD Competition is in March
• Staff supervisor and 2-3 parent coaches needed
• Registration fee paid by PTA, $ for t-shirts

Briarlake Spelling Bee

• Scripps National Spelling Bee is an individual competition using a variety of materials provided by Scripps and Merriam-Webster. Winners of classroom spelling bees will participate in school competition and may qualify for regional competition
• 4th-5th graders
• February
• Mrs. Wise is staff supervisor
• https://spellingbee.com/parents

DCSD Technology Fair (Grades 3-5)

Individual regional competition in categories including graphic design, digital game design, robotics, internet and mobile apps, and more.

DCSD Science and Engineering Fair (5th grade)

Individual regional competition. Students who excel in this competition then compete at the Georgia State Science and Engineering Fair.

DCSD Social Studies Fair

See full list of categories and competition details and rules at DCSD website. Students have the ability to earn scholarships as well as other prizes.

CLUBS

Garden Club

• The Briarlake Garden Club started in 2008 after a group of staff members participated in the School Master Gardener program and wanted to enlarge our school gardens and share our excitement for our gardens with the students. 
• Open to students  interested in learning about gardening and the plants and animals found in our schoolyard.  
• Capped at 20 students each semester; K-2 in the Fall, 3-5 in the Spring
• Usually has 2 meetings each month on Mondays from 2:30 - 3:20.  The meetings will be a busy 50 minutes of work and fun. 
• Sally Elliott is Coordinator, Additional staff and parent volunteers needed
• Requested donation of $10/student, to be collected at the first meeting

Track Club

• Track Club has previously partnered with The Atlanta Track Club and the Kilometer Kids, who have provided shirts, water bottles, sunglasses, and medals. We hope to have enough participants and volunteers this year to renew those partnerships!
• Briarlake's Healthy Habits 5K and Fun Run is a partnership between Track Club and PTA and was in it's 10th year before being paused during the pandemic. 2016 was our largest 5K with 200+ participants.
• Track Club members have the opportunity to participate in the Peachtree Jr. 3K and in the CHOA 2
• 3-5 in the Fall, K-2 in the Spring
• Staff supervisors: Mrs. Edwards, Ms. Brown
• Parent Coaches: Girard Hardy, need 3-4 more parents
• No cost

Signing Club

• Signing Club students will learn to use American Sign Language (ASL) in order to promote communication with students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing (D/HH) at Briarlake. They may be paired with a deaf/hard of hearing buddy to practice signs. The goal of this club is to help support deaf and hard of hearing students in the classroom and give them the opportunity to socialize with their peers.
• Kindergarten-2nd
• All year
• The Signing Club will meet every Tues from 7:00-7:30 am
• Staff supervisors: Mr. Ware and Ms. Kaplan
• No cost 

Sign Squad

• The goal of the signing squad is to promote inclusion of the deaf students with their hearing peers. Students will learn ASL in a “voice off” environment to promote learning of a second language. The students who join the signing squad will have the opportunity to use ASL throughout the day with their peers who are deaf and hard of hearing. Students will learn about ASL, deaf culture and what it means to live as a deaf person in a hearing world.
• 3rd-5th
• Thursdays from 7:00-7:30 am
• Staff supervisors: Ms. Maddox and Ms. Small
• No cost

Drama Club

• Students will engage in scene work, staging, presentation voices.
• 3rd-5th
• All year (Play in the Fall, Musical in the Spring)
• 3 performances of the fall play “Winnie the Pooh” before Thanksgiving break
• 11/17/2022 
• 3 performances of the spring musical “The Big Bad Musical” in May
• Date TBA
• Staff supervisors: Ms. Brazelton, Ms. Gibson, Ms. Davenport
• $50/student for costumes, financial aid available

Media Art Club - Bloxels Game Design

• Bloxels Art Projects
• Character Design
• Video Game Design
• Literacy
• 1st-2nd, limited to 30 students
• Fall; Will meet in the mornings before school
• Dr. Sery is staff supervisor

Girls Who Game

• An extra-curricular program that provides an opportunity for girls across North America to experience gaming and use Minecraft as a learning tool while developing global competencies like communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity. Briarlake Elementary was one of three schools to pilot Girls Who Game for DCSD. Our girls came in second place last season in all of North America!
• By invitation only, based on interest, ability to attend all practices (no scheduling conflicts with other clubs), and record of excellent behavior. We are allowed one team of ten students from 3rd-5th grades.
• Spring Semester, competition in March
• Staff Supervisor: Ms. Black
• No cost

Lego Robotics

• By invitation only, based on interest, ability to attend all practices (no scheduling conflicts with other clubs), and record of excellent behavior. We are allowed one team of ten students from 3rd-5th grades.
• Participate and prepare for 3 challenges as a team, including a robot game, EV3 robot programming mission, and solving a real life world problem
• Competition in December, practices begin in September on Mondays, with added days closer to competition
• Staff Supervisors : Mrs. Black and Ms. Wright
• Parent volunteers: Sean Mann, need 1-2 more
• No cost

Jr. Beta Club

• Briarlake's Jr. Beta Club is a branch of the National Beta Club.  The National Beta Club seeks to inspire young adults to lead by serving others. Their Mission: To promote the ideals of academic achievement, character, service, and leadership among elementary and secondary school students.
• 5th grade by invitation
• Briarlake's Criteria (created by Briarlake PTA and Administration) is as follows:  3.75 Cumulative GPA and score in the 75th percentile or higher in reading or math (MAP Assessment).
• This year our Beta members will participate in 2 - 3 service projects and compete in the Georgia State Elementary Convention.
• All year; competition November 29th - 30th at the Savannah International Trade and Convention Center
• Ms. Clishe Thomas is staff supervisor

Safety Patrol

• The patrol’s job is to set a good example and encourage other students to observe safety and school rules at Briarlake Elementary School. 
• Patrollers are selected by teachers, using the following set of criteria:
  • Student is on time to school.
  • Student turns in assignments on time.
  • Student has great attention to detail.
  • Student will work independently.
  • Student models excellent behavior.
• Report Time for Morning duty: 7:15 AM to 7:45 AM 
• Report Time for Afternoon duty: 2:10 to 2:45 PM 
• Ms. Clishe Thomas is staff supervisor
• No cost

Student Council

• Plans projects to improve the Briarlake community and build student leaders.
• 4th-5th by invitation, then class votes
• Staff supervisors: Ms. Gibson and Ms. Harris
• No cost