Hello Penderlea Families!
We are anxious to start the new year with our Penderlea Family!
Here are a few reminders regarding the first two weeks of our return to school. Also included are ideas as to how parents can support their child's learning.
Monday January 1st is a holiday...Happy New Year!
Tuesday January 2nd is a teacher workday
We will welcome students back on Wednesday January 3rd
Report Cards will go home the week of January 8th
Our annual STEM night will be January 11th, please stay tuned for times.
We are happy to announce that we will have our first Awards ceremony on Friday, January 12. Parents will be notified by their child's teacher if he or she is receiving an award so that you can plan to attend. We are looking forward to celebrating the hard work that students are putting in this school year. The grade level schedule is below:
K-2: 8:00-8:45 am
3-5: 9:00-10:00 am
6-8: 1:30-2:20 pm
We hope that you can join us during this celebration of our student's accomplishments.
Also parents may be soon getting correspondence from members of our attendance team. We will be reaching out to parents of children who have chronic attendance issues in an effort to remove barriers and improve attendance. We cannot grow our students if they are absent. This will also include those children who arrive tardy and leave early. We cannot afford for students to miss school with such a demanding curriculum as it becomes very difficult to catch up on what has been missed. Please work with us this year by ensuring your child is here every day. We will be measuring our attendance and posting it in our building so that we are all aware of our attendance goal of 95%. We can reach this goal with your help!
A final note regarding report cards. Please keep track of your child's progress and keep them reading each night. This accountability along with consistent practice in reading improves fluency, or reading speed, which over time improves overall understanding. Please help us grow your child's Literacy skills by having them read to you or a sibling each night. Kindergarteners through grade 1 students need to be fluent (able to produce/identify letters quickly) in Letter naming, please practice this critical skill with them at home.
For our upper grade students, fluency is also critical, in addition to the expansion of their academic and conversational vocabulary. Please make it a point to discuss your child's ideas and thoughts with them, along with their learning, as they are studying pieces of art, participating in Socratic seminars, reading and comparing incredible literary works of art. Ideally we will hold them accountable at home as well as at school for their learning. In the coming weeks teachers will be using EVAAS projections to set goals with students regarding how to best work toward their End of Grade testing goals. Please let your child know you will be listening for these conversations and that you are expecting them to share these with you.
Thank you for sharing your child with us, working together we can do great things. Happy New Year!
Principal McNeill