La Fiesta Grande
Wednesday, Dec. 8
4:00 - 9:00 pm

Dine at La Fiesta Grande on December 8th, tell them you are there for Marengo's fundraiser, and 20% of your purchase will be donated back to the school!

Please contact Kelli Driscoll with any questions, tedsmom@sbcglobal.net.

Dear Marengo Community,
 
This week you will meet with your child's teacher to discuss his or her academic and social growth.   Parent-teacher conferences are a wonderful opportunity to extend lines of communication between home and school, keep you informed about your child's progress and for developing cooperative strategies that can ultimately benefit your child as well as others. As the conference date draws near, remember the meeting is an opportunity for you and your child's teacher to collaborate. Remember that you are the expert about your child, while the teacher is the expert on teaching kids at his/her grade level. You will both come to the table with ideas and opinions. Remember, too, that collaboration sometimes requires compromise; striking a balance of ideas is often in the best interest of your child.  Below are a few ideas that I hope help make the conference a meaningful and beneficial experience.

Before the conference

• Ask your child how he/she feels about school.
• Ask your child if there is anything that he/she wants you to talk about with his teacher.
• Tell your child that you and the teacher are meeting to help him/her.
• Make a list of topics that you want to talk about with the teacher.
• Prepare a list of questions such as: 

After the conference

• Talk about the conference with your child.
• Talk about the positive points, and be direct about problems.
• Tell your child about any plans you and the teacher created.
• Keep in touch with the teacher during the school year.  

Parent Conferences are important part of your child's academic and social growth at Marengo.  You play a crucial role in your child's academic success and we appreciate all that you do for your child and Marengo!
 

Dear Parents,
 
Over the years we have discussed and implemented Developmental Assets, the 40 essential building blocks that every child needs as a foundation for healthy maturation.  These skills help children avoid at-risk behaviors and make choices to become responsible, happy, and successful individuals.

Attendance at the parent-teacher conference is one way of building assets for your child. By talking with your child's teacher, a difference is made in your child's life. You are demonstrating that you care in the following ways:

1. You are telling your child know how much you value education. Many of you are having to rearrange your schedules to talk with your child's teacher. By intimately understanding their passions, their learning style and how they perform at school, you are communicating a family commitment to learning.
2. You are directly encouraging your child to do well, reach their potential and accept responsibility. Kids want to feel good about their performance and their effort in school. They are excited for you to be a part of their classroom, to be interested in what their teacher might say about them and to see how they are performing. Developing goals with the teacher supports a child's effort to do his or her best.
3. You encourage a strong sense of self for your child. This conference is a showcase of individual creativity, personality, effort, and time. The skills they practice each day will be used throughout their life. Getting along with different types of people, completing assignments in a timely manner, working in groups, and creatively solving a problem are just some of the ways our children prepare themselves for the future and develop a sense of purpose.

Your attendance at the parent-teacher conference speaks volumes to your child. That twenty or thirty minute session with a teacher is a wonderful opportunity to build your child's self esteem, encourage them in a lifelong passion for learning, and support their efforts. Good for you!

Kathryn Sievert Hutto
Early Intervention Counselor
khutto@fc.spusd.net

Super Scientist Night is back!
Mark your calendars, for on Wednesday, January 26 from 6 to 8 pm in the Marengo Auditorium, we'll explore the fascinating world of science careers and hobbies.                
This spectacularly cool event needs spectacularly cool people.    Are you a scientist, engineer, nurse, or architect? Biologist, botanist? Do you have a degree in horticulture, sports medicine, acupuncture? Are you a chemist, ophthalmologist, physician?  We are looking for scientists of all stripes who can participate in our Super Scientist Night -- showing students what you do, and why it's exciting to have a career in science, engineering, medicine, or related field.  It's fun, and easy!  If interested, please contact Susan Turner-Lowe by Dec. 3 at sturner@huntington.org or by calling 626-818-3985.  We're also looking for cool, science-related raffle items -- posters, t-shirts, DVDs, pencils, science books, buttons, plants, seeds, etc.  And, as always, thanks for all that you do for Marengo!
               
Let's aim to show our students just how much of a blast science can be!

• Award of Excellence (1st place TIE) - Sydney Morrow - 1st grade  
and  Alex Yang - 2nd grade
Merit Award (2nd) - Lance Santana - 2nd grade
Honorable Mention (3rd) - Stephanie Li - 1st grade