It is hard to believe that we are about to start the 5th week of school.  I am sure that you can tell that things are starting to settle in at this point.  Hot lunch is running well, the Silent Study Center is open, after school activities are under way, and I know that a lot of work is getting done in the classrooms and at home.

Last week, I wrote to the staff about the typical cycles at the start of the year.  You may recognize your child (or yourself) in the following:

• Week 1:  We are excited to be back at school and see friends and get to know our new classes
• Week 2:  Everything seems pretty good. We are doing work and moving along.
• Week 3:  Oh my gosh...How am I ever going to keep up with this?
• Week 4-6: Routines and time management strategies start to settle in.  

Sometimes just recognizing the yearly pattern helps us manage the "moments" better.

Student Progress

Five weeks of school is already the mid-point of a Quarter. (The 6th -8th grade works on a quarter system; the 4th and 5th grades work on a trimester system.) 

The mid-point of a quarter is a great time to make sure that home and school are communicating about student progress.

Most of our teachers keep parents up to date by printing out "grade sheets" that they periodically send home.

During the 5th week of school, we ask all teachers to be sure that families are informed if a student's grade thus far is a below a "C".  Some teachers will mail such "status reports"; others will ask students to take home a grade print out and have it signed.  Many teachers will also let you know if your child is doing well in class.

If your student is earning below a "C" at this point, please do the following:

· Read the grade sheet to determine if it was sent as a grade warning (grade below a "C"), as a good news notice, or just to give you information.

· If the notice was sent as a grade warning, please review the notice with your student to get some feedback from him/her.

· Please contact the teacher to get more specifics, and to help design a plan for improvement.

In addition to the classroom teachers, our counselor, Emily McDonough, is also available to help families design plans for academic improvement.  The Silent Study Center is also now open on Monday's, Tuesday's, and Thursday's from 2:40 - 3:40 p.m. (in the library).  The Study Center is staffed by a teacher, and is a place students can go to get help on their work or just to have a quiet place to work (see article below.)

Family Picnic

Our annual PTA Family Picnic is Thursday, September 22.  We hope that you will be able to join us from 5:30-7:00pm for fun activities, music, socializing, and food.

If you will be ordering a Lutticken's dinner, please remember to pre-order online at www.laentradapta.org/_programs/family_picnic.html

Safety

Finally, I would like to remind everyone that we deal with a potentially hazardous traffic situation everyday.  As we get into fall, it would be wise to begin to plan for rainy days.  Please discuss with your students the best ways to get to and from school in the rain.  Even in the rain, please consider having your student get to school in ways other than private cars.

I hope to see you all at our Family Picnic on Thursday, September 22!!

Warmest Regards,

Larry Thomas

As we continue our investigation into "Learning for the 21st Century," we thank Dr. Ira Lit for speaking to our audience of over 120 parents, teachers, staff and administrators last Tuesday evening.  If you were not able to attend the program, please go to our Leading Education web site to read a summary of the speaker's comments: http://www.leadingeducation-llesd.org/  

Please mark your calendar for our next big event - the Strategic Planning Committee Parent Forum, on Monday, September 26th, from 7 to 9 pm in Cano Hall.  We urge you to come and share your ideas and questions about how to improve education for our children.

We also recommend that you read The Global Achievement Gap by Tony Wagner, as this book will form the basis for many of our Strategic Planning discussions.  In addition, the Governing Board has set October 3rd at 7 pm as the date for a special board "study session" meeting to have a facilitated discussion of the ideas raised in the book.  All are welcome to attend and participate.