Director News

“February 2010”

Formal Parent Teacher Conferences- Wednesday, February 10 and Thursday, February 11^th each parent will be allotted precisely 20 minutes in order to keep the flow of the conferences steady. If you feel you need more time after the 20 minutes, simply tell the teachers you want a follow up appointment.

Early Dismissal- Wednesday, February 10^th @ 12PM- No lunch

PTO Lottery- A special thank you to our Top Sellers: First Prize- $100 off tuition goes to the Ahner Family. Second Prize, $50 off tuition goes to the Benart Family and Third Prize $25.00 off tuition goes to the Collura Family. Thank you everyone for your support. Continue to check your email for the daily winners.

Email- Please let me know if you do not check email so I may put updates in your child’s cubby.

Vote for Your Charity- Please help us to talk with your children about the meaning of charity and the importance of giving. We would like you and your child to vote for your charity of choice. The suggestion box is in the front library. All proceeds will go to the charity with the most votes. If you do not come into school regularly, you may email me with your vote. There were questions as to whether or not Haiti was a choice. The charity may be local or national. This is your choice. There are no stipulations.

Children’s Art Auction- Please check the school calendar and make note of the Tuesday change. The Children’s Art Auction will be held on Friday, March 12^th 5:30 to 7:30PM. All are welcome. This is a wonderful opportunity to spend extra quality special time with your child. He or she can help you collect all the creative works of art on display. All Art work is sold for $1.00. Please spread the word to family and friends to help make this evening a success!

Art Basket Raffle- We will be selling raffle tickets for $1.00 to win an Art basket to give added support for our charity efforts.

World Cook Books- There is still time to submit your favorite recipes for the World Cook Book. This will be sold at the Children’s Art Auction. Please remember to put your family name at the top! Cook books will be sold for $2.00. It would be easier to know ahead of time, for the most part, who is interested in buying one. This way I can be sure to make enough. Last year I ran out of them!

School Closed- President’s Day

Classroom News- We added new Listening Centers to both Maple and Oak preschool classrooms. Ask your children if they checked out the new storybook listening activities. We are slowly making improvements to the front library to include adding more shelving. It has proven to be a convenient extra space for the toddlers who wake while others are still sleeping and also for added enrichment. We are considering the idea of possibly offering a school age tutoring and after school program for enrichment in the future. I would love to hear your thoughts and comments. Email me with feedback!

A Special Note about Conferences- In order to help children reach full potential in learning and in life, we must remember “whole child” development. When we get “too caught up” in written evaluation and assessment we stand the chance of ignoring the most important part of your child’s cognitive development. Social and emotional development is the driving force behind real learning. Ultimately, by the time your child enters young adolescence, he or she should be able to learn how to form close relationships, find ways to be helpful to others, show respect for others, resolve conflicts, be inquisitive in problem solving and make good choices that are good for themselves. These are the things I want our teachers focusing on in our classrooms. “When a child doesn’t have an emotional connection to his/her work it is more likely that he or she will not retain it or be able to apply it to real life experiences”. Eric J. Anctil- Curriculum Leadership

“Education that consists mostly of direct teaching often impedes, rather than helps, human development.” Dr. Maria Montessori-

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