Dear Sierra Oaks Families,
It is hard to believe that we are more than half-way through the first trimester of this school year. Teachers have spent the last week looking over their students to see who is meeting standards and who is not. For students who are not meeting standards, teachers will be issuing progress notices. A progress notice lets families know that, currently, their student is receiving a "2" or below in academic areas or an "N" in social skills, work habits and/or effort. For Middle School students, a progress notice will inform parents of current failing grades in academic areas or in work habits. These progress notices will be mailed home to parents and also be available on the Parent Portal. (If you haven’t signed up for the Parent Portal, there is still time!)
If your child received a progress notice, you still have time to work with him/her to bring the grade up to meeting standards. Calling the teacher can give you ideas on what things can be done at home to help your child build better skills. Many times it is just making sure homework is done each night. Many parents have adopted the "No TV on school nights" policy to help their child focus on reading and math. Reading each and every night helps build reading skills and concentration skills. I highly recommend this to every family.
The first trimester will end on November 20, 2009. Our Fall/Thanksgiving Break will occur from November 23 through November 27. The week of December 7 through December 11 will be minimum days for parent-teacher conferences. All parents will be expected to attend parent-teacher conferences during this week. At the conference, teachers will go over student work and student progress toward the standards in Language Arts, Math and other areas. Children achieve best when their parents are actively involved daily in their school. This can mean volunteering in the classroom but it can also mean spending time each day talking about the school day. Children know if their learning is important to you by the amount of time you spend on it!
There will be minimum days during the week of December 7 through December 11, 2009. Grades 1-8 will be getting out of school at 11:10 am Monday through Friday. This includes Thursday. Kindergarten students will all come on the early schedule. (Dismissal time was recently adjusted from 10:55 to 11:10 to coordinate with kindergarten dismissal.)
