Dear Parents:

Welcome back. We all hope that you had a wonderful Holiday season and that your children are all ready to return to school. I know you probably are eager to send them.

The third quarter is a very important one. Attendance and arriving on time is extremely important during the next ten weeks. Some believe that this is the quarter that makes or breaks it as far as student success on the EOGs and year end assessments.

When your child arrives late, it is necessary for you to sign him/her in. Three unexcused/illegal absences count as one illegal absence. Four unexcused absences could result one illegal absence. Forty illegal/unexcused absences could result in retention.

The next round of MAP assessments is from January 24th-February 1st. From those assessments we will gather the data to use to focus in on learning needs as we begin to approach the end of the school year. The students get very excited about their scores and the progress they have made. Do not forget to ask them what their results were.

Grades third through five grades began departmentalization today. Students moved to three different teacher/experts for Math, English Language Arts and Science. They will do this everyday except for Wednesdays. On Wednesdays and every afternoon students will focus upon writing skills, reading non fictional material and Social Studies.

This quarter we also begin our partnership with Magellan Charter School. Several of their students will be coming here on a few Mondays to provide science enrichment activities to our second and fifth graders.

We are in session now for several weeks. Our first early dismissal day is Friday, February 17th. Our first holiday is Monday, February 20th to honor Presidents’ Day.

We plan on locating readers to come into our classrooms during the month of February. I will be letting you know the time periods available. We would love to include as many parents as possible and encourage you to not only schedule yourself in but to encourage your friends to participate as well.

Our performance to acknowledge Black History month is scheduled for Thursday, February 23rd. This is a school wide event which should really be something to see. Every class is participating. Last year we raised over $1000. We hope to top that this year. The performance begins at 6:30. Please mark your calendars now!!!

Once again: Happy New Year!!!