Starting a New Semester

Welcome to Spring! I know it doesn’t seem that way and we’ve had more than our share of snow this winter but the days are now getting longer and it feels like we’ve started to turn the corner. February seemed to pass as quickly as it arrived, due to the snow days and mid-winter vacation, and we are now into our second month of the new semester. We’re ready to start our extra activities in earnest and you should receive a copy of our second semester calendar of events this week. We have some wonderful things planned for the month of March!

Our annual Parents as Reading Partners (PARP) began this week. We kicked off on Monday with a door decorating contest for each of the classrooms. Judging will take place on March 11. Students have brought home information about our PARP events, including the reading documentation sheet. If you or someone else in the household reads five days a week with your child and he or she returns the signed sheet, they will receive a prize for the week. Students successfully completing all four weeks of PARP will receive a book at the conclusion of the program.

We encourage you to join us at school for special programs that provide opportunities for you to read with your child or help your child learn. This includes the parent child read aloud on March 10 and our OPT Book Night and Title I meeting on March 17. On that evening you will be able to purchase books and our reading teachers, Mrs. Tuttle, Miss Wheater and Miss Shatraw, will have special computer and reading activities in the computer lab.

Coffee with the Principal and CyberU for Parents. Each month I focus on one issue or concern that parents have brought to my attention. For the past two months we’ve done a review of the school to try to make it more welcoming for our visitors. You may have noticed the new Bear Paw rug in the main lobby. We also have plans for “paws” in other areas of the building and we are looking into purchasing new curtains for the cafeteria stage. This month we’ll address a request by parents for information about cybersafety. Mrs. Scott will join us to give some information to help you make certain the websites your child visits are secure. This will be the first part of our CyberU for Parents this spring. We’ll have more cyberstuff for parents at our Family Book Night on March 17. This is also our annual Title I Meeting where we explain our programs and offer some computer time for families. A third event will be offered by Miss Chapman and Mrs. Crump with some interesting websites for parents on another evening in the near future.

We would like to offer these events at times when it is most convenient for parents. We are also ready to offer workshops on tips for reading with parents. Please help us schedule these events by responding to an online survey. If you’re on the internet, just paste this address into the browser and click enter:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dGZseHd4UGp1UDFmMk9DNTVuZXJxQVE6MQ

Parent Breakfast Meeting. Our annual Parent Breakfast for the parents of all students in Grades 3 through 5 will take place on the morning of Tuesday, March 22. The breakfast meeting is sponsored by our OPT and its goal to provide an opportunity for parents to become better informed of the high challenges and expectations of these grade levels. It also serves as one of our Title I Parent Involvement meetings for the year.

This year New York State has made radical changes in the format of the exam and the level of achievement students are expected to reach before they are considered to be proficient. We hope you will take this opportunity to join us for breakfast, then meet with me and your child to get an overview of the changes for students in those three grades and the support programs we offer to help them. Usually the students do not join us, but I am inviting them this year because they have already seen some of this information and should be able to share their feelings and comments with you. You will receive a letter and sign-up form later in the week. If you plan to attend, return it to the West Side office or notify us no later than Friday, March 11.

Here is a complete list of events this month that you should be aware of:

2 Classes read together to celebrate “Read Across America”
(Dr. Seuss’sbirthday)
9 Volunteer Training at 5:30 p.m.
OPT Meets, 6:30 p.m.
10 Come and read with your child in our library media center
11 Progress Reports are sent home
Coffee with the Principal – Topic: Cyberbullying
15 Scholastic Book Fair begins
17 OPT Book Night and Title 1 Meeting
21 Staff Development Day – No School for Students
22 Breakfast Meeting for Parents of Students in Grades 3-5
23 Hampstead Players performance of Aladdin
28 PARP ends
31 Student of the Month Assembly – 1:15 pm.

We hope you will consider attending as many of our events as possible. An extra reminder that there will be no school for students on Monday, March 21. Have a great month!