"Roaring News"

Hello Baldwin Community,

I wanted to express my most sincere appreciation to all of you for the wonderful luncheon you provided today to the Baldwin Staff!! The parents that helped out today transformed our teachers' lounge into a beautiful cafe with purple and gold tablecloths and fresh flowers. Every dish that was prepared looked delicious and I have to admit, I think I tasted almost everything. Most importantly, you made every staff member feel very special! On behalf of the staff, I thank you for your kindness and generosity!!


Today, when I visited classrooms, I was so impressed with our students' work products. In the PreKindergarten class, the students were counting and graphing. They created some bar graphs that showed the number of members in their families. They began with a picture and then were able to create a bar graph. In one Kindergarten class, I noticed the students were writing words that began with the letter T as they searched around the room. Some of the words the students wrote were:  teacher, treasures, trust, tiger, Tuesday and turtle. In first grade, I noticed that the students are using graphic organizers to help them write the sequence of events of a story.  I am so proud of our littlest Bobcats!

In a second grade classroom, I had the pleasure of seeing children work with their teacher as the class reviewed the process for writing a "personal narrative." The students shared their ideas orally and then were able to begin working on their own writing independently. In one of our fourth grade classrooms, I observed the teacher holding writing conferences with the students. The students were editing their compositions and working on their next writing draft. In this same class, I had the opportunity to hear four young ladies share an idea they had with their class. The girls are going to start a class newspaper and they explained to their peers how they would gather their ideas to get the newspaper completed. I was very impressed with their ideas and organizational skills. I told them I would share some of their newspaper stories with you on my blog when they were ready.

During lunch time, the classes with "Purrfect" behavior, (those that follow the cafeteria expectations), earn a paw. When a class earns their 10th paw, the class will get to eat at a special table on the stage. Ask your child, how many paws his or her class has earned thus far. You will be surprised!!

I also want to thank our numerous parent volunteers that have been coming to Baldwin to help us laminate, cut , copy and even read with children.  I have seen parent volunteers in our parent workroom every day helping us out! Thank you!!

Don't forget we are having our first Principal-Parent coffee hour this Friday from 8:00-9:00 in the Bobcat Den, (some of you know it as our Baldwin Cafeteria).  I hope to see you then!

Roaring with Pride,
Dr. Peña

Roaring News

Hello Baldwin Bobcat Community!

Happy Friday to All!  I am just thrilled that we have completed our fifth week of school and I have some more "Roaring" news to share with you. Our Fifth Graders returned from their Camping Trip full of excitement and with many stories to share. One of the fifth graders told me, "the rock wall was the best! I made it to the top!" Another fifth grader told me, "I loved the astronomy lesson. I loved learning about the constellations."  Our teachers told me that the students were superb and that they received many compliments from the camp counselors. I want to thank our fifth grade parents for allowing our students the opportunity to go camping as a team and for helping make this a great success. Thank you to Ms. Webber, Ms. Kane, Mrs. Quiroz and Mr. Crowley for being there to experience this with our children.  Thank you to the PTA for providing some scholarships to make sure all of our students attended the camping trip!

In classrooms this week, I observed and heard kindergartners comparing numbers and sorting objects that were similar and different and using vocabulary such as more than, less than, and the same. The best part of these activities was listening to the students explain their thinking processes and communicating their mathematical ideas to their friends. In third grade this week, I saw the students representing currency amounts in different ways and they were also explaining their thinking. In many of the classrooms,I visited this week, the students were going through the writing process and sharing some excellent stories. I even had four first grade readers come to my office today to share their writing on their favorite characters and on the setting of the story they had read in class. I am so proud of all of our learners and of our teachers!

Today was our first drawing from the Box Top Barrel and Jason A. in Mrs. Lentz's class was the lucky winner and he chose a colorful slinky from the treasure box.  Remember to bring in your box tops in a ziploc bag with your child's name, his/her teacher's name, and the number of box tops that are in the bag. We will be giving more prizes to individual students and to the classes that collect the most box tops. Thank you to Ms. Suzie Bradford for helping us with the Box Tops program.

On Tuesday, we had a fabulous turn out for out PTA General Meeting and our first Bobcat "Paw"ty. Thank you to the PTA for sponsoring this event. I had so much fun dancing with the children in the gym! Next time we want to see more parents on the dance floor!

Our math pentathlon classes are off to a great start too! All of the student participants are so excited about their classes and this is just another way of enriching their lives with math fun!! Thank you to all of the Math Pentathlon Coaches for giving their time and energy.

Next Friday, October 1st will the the first Parent-Principal Coffee Hour! Please make plans to attend on Friday, Oct. 1. We will meet in the cafeteria from 8:00 a.m.-9:00 a.m.  for some coffee and time to talk about your concerns and ideas. I look forward to seeing you on Friday!

Have a great weekend!

With Roaring Pride,

Dr. Peña

Roaring News from Dr. Peña

September 20, 2010

Hello Baldwin Community! We have completed four weeks at our new school and what an exciting adventure it has been thus far! Congratulations to our students, teachers and parents for finishing these four weeks with such enthusiasm and energy.

Since this is my first blog of the new school year, Boy, do I have some "Roaring" news to share with you! Ms. Kane and I have visited classrooms for the past four weeks and we have observed exciting and challenging work in all classrooms. We have observed and heard children sharing their ideas on different topics such as "nifty numbers," "story characters," "personal memoirs," and the "constitution."  We also observed children from all different grade levels using different art tools in art class to show their creativity. As we walk through each hallway of our beautiful new school, Ms. Kane and I have to stop and admire the beautiful work that is displayed by each class.

Some of you are aware that we have morning assembly every day in the cafeteria where either Ms. Kane or I share some thoughts for the day and/or recognize students that are celebrating their birthdays or their accomplishments. We say the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States Flag and the Texas Flag together every morning too. Every class has been assigned a week to lead the pledge of allegiance. It is very rewarding to see our student leaders take pride in modeling this for all of our bobcats. We also review our Baldwin Guidelines for Success which we say that Baldwin Bobcats will "ROAR"-by being R-respectful, O-outstanding, A-accepting, and R-responsible. The children have also become experts at our quiet signal. Ask them to show you what this is if you haven't experienced it with us.  On Fridays, it is even more exciting at morning assembly because we sing the school song together. Mrs. Stevens our music teacher wrote the school song this summer and all of our children sing it with such pride every Friday! They are pros at this! I get goose bumps when I hear them sing the school song with so much pride on Fridays!

Another great accomplishment for us since we are a new school is the formation of our first Baldwin Choir. I want to thank Ms. Stevens, our Music teacher, for taking the time to hold auditions and for getting our choir started. The students I spoke to about the choir were very excited that they were chosen and can't wait to sing for us.  Being involved in extracurricular activities is very important in the development of the whole child. We also thank you parents for encouraging your children to try-out for the Baldwin Choir. We still have many other traditions to establish at Baldwin and we have the whole year to do this together.

On another note, the Accelerated Reader program, which was purchased with funds from some anonymous donors, the PTA and our school budget will begin very soon. We are working on getting all of the necessary class lists to the company so that we can begin using the system. We will send more details on how this program will be implemented in Grades 1-5 at Baldwin.

I want to publicly thank the Baldwin PTA for all that they have accomplished and done for our school. They have been hard at work since the association was formed late last spring. Please mark your calendars for the Fall Carnival. It will take place on October 22 from 5:30-8:30. The PTA is still looking for volunteers so please visit the PTA website for more details on how you can help with this important event.  We want to make this a great carnival so make plans to attend!!

The annual PTA membership drive will be held this week; please read the information that will be sent home with your child or through the Baldwin Google Group to become a member of the Baldwin PTA. The PTA is also holding a general PTA meeting and a spirit "paw"ty  on September 21 at 6:30 p.m.  The meeting will be in the cafeteria for the adults and the "paw"ty will begin in the gym with DJ Guy. Your children will be supervised by adults while you attend the PTA meeting. As soon as the meeting concludes, we will open the partition between the cafeteria and the gym so that you can join the celebration and enjoy some dancing with your children. This will only last an hour so come to the meeting at 6:30 and then be ready to show off your dance moves.

Math Pentathlon coaches' training took place last week and we had many parents and community members join us for this training. Many of our Baldwin parents have volunteered to be coaches. Thank you to everyone who is a part of this fun and challenging program! We know our Bobcats will be learning so much through this after school activity. We are also proud that the Baldwin "Bots" will be starting this year too. Our Sister School, Kiker elementary, was kind enough to let us borrow a couple of robots to help us get started and our Baldwin PTA also donated some funds to help us purchase 2 robots. Thank You PTA for your help and thank you to the parents that are leading the Baldwin "Bots" Club.

I will begin holding a monthly parent-principal coffee hour to talk with you in an informal setting. We will hold the first one on October 1 in the cafeteria at 8:00 a.m. This forum will give us an opportunity to hear your ideas and any concerns.  There is also a principal's suggestion box in the office, if you prefer to present your concerns in an anonymous way feel free to fill out one of the forms in the office and place it in the box. I will do my best to address these concerns at the coffee times once a month and/or through this blog.  Please join us if you can on October 1 for the first parent-principal coffee hour from 8-9 a.m.

I look forward to an exciting first year together. Please visit the PTA website for volunteer opportunities at Baldwin. We will see you at Baldwin!

Go Bobcats!

Roaring with Pride,

Dr. Peña