Elverta Joint Elementary School District                                           “Principally Speaking” February 2010

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

QUALITY EDUCATION

IS FOREVER

 

 

 

Elizabeth Golchert

Superintendent/

Principal

 

 

 

 

2009-2010 Theme:

“Come, Grow with Us”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This newsletter is a monthly publication of :

 

Elverta Joint Elementary School District

Dear Students, Parents and Guardians:

 

It’s an exciting month in our District!  Elementary students in Grades K-5 have been involved in our Annual Reading Incentive Program organized by Librarian Sue Wyllie.  Students have been sharing their wonderful literary adventures, increasing their written and verbal vocabulary and growing a love a reading that will, without doubt, last a lifetime!

 

The same is true for Alpha students.  With the continuous development of our Accelerated Reading (A.R.) program, more students are reading books appropriate to their development reading level and being held accountable for comprehension.  After reading a book, a student takes a quiz on the content and earns points as he/she progresses through each level.  We often will see students in the Library during their recess and lunch times simply because they WANT to read and WANT to check how well they understood a particular book.

 

Outside of school, I know that families spend time keeping up with homework, long-term projects and parent-teacher communication.  Some parents, likely not the majority, are not as involved and this is unfortunate for students.  Some parents will not read this newsletter, nor do they carefully look over Progress Reports, Report Cards or teacher newsletters.  A child cannot succeed at their highest levels of potential without both home AND school support.

 

Some students, definitely not the majority, engage in unacceptable behaviors.  Secretively using cell phones during school hours, filling toilets with garbage or being disrespectful happen infrequently, but they DO happen.  We respond to these choices quickly, but cannot be fully effective without parent cooperation and support.  Thankfully, most students behave with high levels of integrity, maturity and respect for each other, adults and school guidelines.

 

Another area of concern is video games.  Our students are exposed to SO MUCH technology and long gone are the days of Pac Man (one of my favorites) and Atari.  Cell phones that take pictures, iPods that play ALL kinds of music, internet access and video games are all part of their world with new technology coming every day.  Students today will need incredible technological skills to survive and work in a world that seems sci-fi to many of us.

 

At the same time, we have seen an increase in students talking about tremendously violent and questionable video games that they play regularly.  Many of these games have parental cautions posted, but it seems that even our youngest students know about dismemberment and shootings and physical attacks.  They talk in great detail about blood and death and anti-social behavior.  Under the guise of ‘games’, students are daily witnessing death, violence and horrendous activities.  Please be cautious about what you allow your child to be exposed to…

 

As always, thank you for supporting homework and recreational reading in your home.  Thank you for valuing education and thank you, for doing your part in raising incredible young people!

 

Elizabeth Golchert, Superintendent/Principal

 

 

STUDENT INFORMATION

 

 

 

Continue to use your

Raley’s/Bel Air cards!

Our schools earn valuable points!

 

 

 

 

UPCOMING DATES:

 

Monday, February 1st

Report Cards Sent Home

 

Monday, February 8th at 5:30p.m.

Board of Trustees Meeting

 

Thursday, February 11th

BB Games vs. Marcum

 

Friday, February 12th at 3:00p.m.

Alpha BBYB Dance

 

Saturday, February 13th

BB Tournament

 

Monday, February 15th

No School

Presidents’ Day

 

Week of February 16th

Kindergarten TOPA Testing

 

Monday, February 22nd

No School

 

Tuesday, February 23rd

Progress Reports Sent Home

 

Friday, February 26th

Awards Assemblies

8:30a.m.:  Grades 3-5

10:10a.m.:  Grades K-2

12:30p.m.:  Grades 6-8

 

Tuesday, March 2nd

7th Grade STAR Writing Test

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Respect

Readiness

Responsibility