Saturday, January 14, 2012

ROARING NEWS

Hello Baldwin Community, 

Happy New Year and Welcome Back! The past seven days have been busy ones at Baldwin. The children returned from winter break full of energy and excitement. During morning assembly, I have been reminding the students that January is a good time to reflect on the fall semester and set goals for the spring semester. I explained to them that their goals could be focused on improving their reading levels, earning more points in the AR program or learning more of their math facts. I also told them that it is important to reflect on their personal skills such as being more responsible by returning their homework everyday and completing all of their classwork on time. We also talked about being better friends by sharing, talking nicely to each other, and respecting each other's space. Perhaps you can have a conversation with your child to see what goals he/she will be working on during this second part of the school year. As I visit classrooms, I will be asking the children what goals they have set and how they expect to achieve their goals.

I have been hearing all of the "ROAR" about science fair! The children are very excited about sharing what they have learned through this process and I can't wait to see their work. Don't forget the deadline to submit science fair projects is this Tuesday, January 17th. Please help your child finish their project this weekend. You have an extra day since Monday is a holiday. Students will first share their projects with their class and their teacher before they can go to the next level of judging. Those projects that make it to the next level will be judged on January 26th and you will have the opportunity to come and see all of the great projects that evening from 6:30-7:30. Thanks so much for supporting our Baldwin scientists and their efforts! (We also need volunteers to help us organize all of the projects, set them up in the cafeteria and lead the children's tours. Please consider helping us with this event. It will make a HUGE impact since the children are very excited about science and learning!)

Speaking of volunteers, I want to personally thank all of those that have been coming to help some of our first graders improve their reading skills through the Great Leaps program. Because of the efforts of our volunteers, some of our students are showing great improvements. Since the volunteers started working with our students, these first graders have increased several DRA reading levels. What does that really mean? Well, we have some students that have improved from a DRA reading level 3, which is a beginning Kindergarten level, to a DRA 12, almost a mid-year first grade level. Those are some tremendous gains! These volunteer efforts have definitely been paying off; however WE NEED MORE VOLUNTEERS because some of the first grade classes do not have enough volunteers to meet the needs of our children! Please consider helping our first graders reach their reading goals. Being a better reader will help the children gain more confidence and help them be better prepared for learning in all academic areas. Again, I am sending a loud, strong ROAR for more volunteers. Please help us in these efforts by contacting Tawnya Savoy at tsavoy@austin.rr.com. I guarantee that your volunteer efforts will make a HUGE impact on our children and our school. 

At this time, I want to congratulate the following four students for advancing to the State Level in the Reflections competition:

Zoey in Mrs. Magana's first grade class; Vivian in Ms. Brady's second grade class; Hannah in Mrs. Reaves' fourth grade class and Catherine in Mrs. Beeler's fifth grade class. 

Additionally, I want to congratulate Jason in Ms. Murphy's second grade class and Ivey in Mrs. Lee's third grade class for receiving an Honorable Mention at the Area Level of the Reflections Competition.

I am very proud of these six students for advancing in the Reflections Competition but mostly for being courageous Bobcats and participating in this program. Thank you to these six students for representing Baldwin in such creative ways!

I hope you enjoy the long weekend and I look forward to seeing your children and you at Baldwin next week!

Roaring with Pride,
Dr. Peña