From the desk of Cherie Swader
September 10, 2007
Dear DES Family and Friends,
We have been in school a little over one month and everything seems to be running very smoothly. The students and teachers are working very hard and we are already seeing much academic progress. Please continue to read with or to your children - we are asking that each student read (or be read to) a minimum of 60 minutes each week.
Strategies for Reading Aloud
- Make reading enjoyable by choosing a comfortable place to read.
- Establish a pattern of reading frequently to children.
- Help children learn as you read.
- Ask children questions as you read.
- Encourage children to talk about the book.
- Read many kinds of books.
- Reread favorite books.
- Encourage your child to write or draw pictures about the book.
- Listen to books on tape while you are traveling
Your child's teacher can help you select books that are age/developmentally appropriate for your child. The first school-wide book fair will begin Saturday, September 29th - the day of our Fall Festival - and the book fair will continue until Friday, October 5th - plan on coming by the media center to check out the book fair and possibly helping your child select a book that you can enjoy together. We also need volunteers to help us with the book fair. If you can donate an hour or more during the week of October 1st-5th - please contact Sonya Snay or Charlotte Lane (media specialists) - 657-6165. We appreciate your help. We would also appreciate volunteers who would like to come and read with students during the school day. This is a great community project for individuals, civic groups, and church groups. Just contact one of our administrators or counselors to set up a day and time.
The School Council election will be held Tuesday, September 11th, please come by the front office to vote. This election will fulfill the new guidelines that have been established by the state school board concerning the composition of the school council.
PTO meeting - Tuesday, September 11th - 6:00pm in the school cafeteria. In addition to the program that will be presented by the 1st grade classes, there will be a short business meeting. The current officers and a few volunteers have worked hard to plan activities that students and parents can enjoy together. However, we have a very serious dilemma - we desperately need parents who are willing to volunteer to participate in at least one of the activities. With 1800+ parents (family members) - we should have plenty of help to go around. If each parent (family member) would sign up (and show up) to help with just one event - we could have the biggest and best PTO in the entire state, but if we don't get more participation - we may once again have to disband our PTO - that would be disappointing. Please consider signing up for just one activity. The activities will be posted on our DES website, or you may come by the front office and sign up. Please support your child's school by supporting the PTO. The PTO is once again selling the handprints which represent our school motto: "Hand In Hand - We Learn Together."
The handprints are imprinted with your child's name and the date that he/she will be graduating from Dade Elementary School. The handprints are then displayed on the hallway wall. The children love to see their personalized handprint. The handprints can be purchased for $5.00 and will be sold at the PTO meetings and the Fall Festival.
Following the September 11th PTO meeting - we will be holding a short meeting for parents of 3rd and 5th grade students. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss the CRCT tests. We will be providing parents with valuable information on state requirements and objectives. We will also be discussing ways that parents can work with their child's teacher to help their child prepare for the test.
I'm sorry that I was unable to attend the first Parent Involvement meeting that took place, Tuesday, September 4th - however, I understand that although the numbers were small the event was a success. I would like to thank Brenda Wheeler and Cathy Shepard for their planning and preparation and for those of you who attended and brought soup. I hear that there was a lot of wonderful soup and many of you are sharing the recipes. Mrs. Wheeler is planning another event for October. The focus for this event will be math, and will provide parents and students with an opportunity to participate in some "hands-on" math activities. Be watching for a specific date and we hope that you will plan on attending this event with your child.
FALL FESTIVAL- SCHOOL WIDE EVENT
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 29TH-2:00-6:00 (ENDING WITH BINGO).
WE INVITE EVERYONE FOR A DAY OF FUN, FOOD, AND FELLOWSHIP.
BRING YOU FAMILY AND FRIENDS. DON'T MISS IT!!!!!!!!!!
Mid-term progress reports will be going home with the students on Wednesday, September 12th - please go over this report with your child and if you have questions or concerns, please contact your child's teacher or schedule a conference.
Please mark Thursday, October 25th on your calendar - that will be our Parent/Teacher Conference Day (early release day - 1:00 - for the students). You will be invited to make an appointment to meet with your child.s teacher and at that time you will receive your child's 9 week report card, sign a compact, and also receive your child's CRCT scores from last year. The teacher will explain your child's scores, the grade level benchmarks and Georgia Performance Standards and discuss how you can help your child have a successful school year. We look forward to seeing you at that time.
Although we don't put a great deal of emphasis on the events of September 11th (911), we are remembering those who lost their lives or participated in saving lives on that day by wearing RED/WHITE/BLUE. This is an optional activity in which your child may participate - we will not be holding any kind of school-wide assembly because of the sensitive and emotional effect on young children.
TARDIES AND CHECKOUTS:
School begins at 8:00am - if your child is going to eat breakfast please make sure that he/she arrives in time to eat and get to class on time. Instruction begins when your child arrives in his/her classroom, so it is very important that your child is on time. It is also our responsibility as adults to teach our children the importance of being punctual. Likewise, it is important that students remain at school the entire day - release time is 2:50 (2:30 for pre-k and kindergarten students (only) who do not have other siblings in our school) - we realize that sometimes you must make afternoon appointments, but please try to keep those to a minimum - instruction takes place to the end of the day.
Please make sure that you put your child's full name (many children have different names than their parents) on all correspondence - this is very important for our records and documentation.
CHARACTER TRAIT FOR SEPTEMBER: RESPECT FOR OTHERS
Talk with your child throughout the month about what this means and point out specific examples - commend your child when he/she displays acts of respect.
Please do not park on the grass - although it looks "dead" now - due to lack of rain - we are in hopes that it will come back. We have plenty of parking spaces - although you may have to walk a little distance - we really would appreciate your cooperation in this matter.
Thanks for your support and encouragement. We look forward to seeing each of you at Dade Elementary School and especially at the PTO meeting. You are important to us, and we want you to know that DES is your school.
Cherie Swader
Principal
Dade Elementary School
"Hand In Hand - We Learn Together"
