Sunday, May 6, 2012

ROARING NEWS

Hello Baldwin Community, 

The month of April was a busy one at Baldwin and even though May just began, it has not fallen short of activities and events that have kept all of us busy. 

In April, we celebrated spring with the PTA Family Movie Night. It turned out to be a beautiful evening and many of our families came out to the Baldwin field to watch a movie together. What an awesome way to celebrate as a learning community! Thank you to the Baldwin PTA for organizing and sponsoring such a fun event. Also in April, our third, fourth and fifth graders made it through the State Assessments, (STAAR), with lots of confidence and poise. I am very proud of the children in these grades for giving it their all on these testing days. I am also very proud of our teachers and staff for preparing our children with knowledge and strategies and for making sure the testing days went as smooth as possible. 

At the end of April, our PTA sponsored the first annual Baldwin Bash and silent auction event and it was an enormous success! The evening of the Bash was absolutely beautiful and we had a wonderful time. The venue was decorated with lots of lights and beautiful table settings, which made the evening even more special. The best part of the evening for me was the bidding on the auction items, the food, the music and especially the opportunities to talk with so many of you in such a relaxed and fun atmosphere. I loved learning more about each of you and watching everyone have a wonderful time knowing that all of this was for our Baldwin children! Thank you for coming out to the Bash and for participating in the silent auction! I hope to see many more parents and staff at next year's Bash! Thank you to all of the silent auction sponsors and to the PTA for putting on such a fantastic event!!

During the last few weeks of April, we also completed the Gifts of Time auction items. These auction items are all sponsored by our teachers and staff members. They have all volunteered their time and talents to spend time with your children and we appreciate you bidding on the items. This was also a huge success and we couldn't have done it without our PTA and you, the parents. We, the teachers and staff at Baldwin, are looking forward to all of the fun events we planned with the children. On May 17th, we will have the first Kickball game of Baldwin staff vs. Baldwin 3rd, 4th and 5th graders and on May 21st, we will host the Prek, Kinder, 1st and 2nd graders vs. Baldwin staff game. Both games will be at 9:00 a.m. on the Baldwin field and we invite all of you to come and support your favorite team. See you then.

As I stated earlier, May got here very fast and this past week was a busy first week of May for all of us at Baldwin. We had field days this week with our 3rd, 4th and 5th graders participating in all of the field events on Thursday and our Prek, Kinder, first and second grade classes enjoying the fun events on Friday. Coach Grumbles along with his helpers Coach Shaw, Mrs. Stevens, Mr. Mader, Ms. Schawrz and Mr. Shaddock organized some exciting events for all ability levels. I was even able to jump the hurdles, jump the long jump (sort of..) and complete a few of the soccer exercises. Both days were so much fun and all of the children were such great sports showing outstanding sportsmanship and team work. We also had many community sports organizations that gave their time to be a part of the field day events and taught the children so many skills. So to all of them, I say thank you and I send out a big Baldwin ROAR for their willingness to share their time and talents with all of our children. 

This past Thursday, our second grade classes learned about the history of Mexico and the meaning of Cinco de mayo by sharing in some Mexican cultural traditions which included some arts and crafts and games. If your child is in second grade be sure to ask him or her what they learned last week. 

This past Saturday our fourth and fifth grade Math Pentathletes competed in their division. The team did very well bringing home, 4 Honorable Mentions, 3 Bronze Medals, 4 Silver Medals, 1 Gold Medal and Hall of Fame Award. These math pentathletes will be recognized this Friday, May 11th at our morning assembly. Congratulations to all of these pentathletes and their coaches!

We have 17 school days left in this school year. Yes, only 17 days left!! It is unbelievable that our school year is almost over. There will be many more fun events and celebrations in these last few weeks so I ask that you continue to check your child's agenda/planner and to read the Weekly ROAR for updates and information. 

On May 10th, I invite all of you to come join us for some fun activities at our 2nd Annual Family Fitness Night. It will be held in the cafeteria and the gym and it will be from 6:00 p.m.-7:30 p.m. I know this is a very busy time for families but I hope you can make some time to join in on the fun at Baldwin this Thursday. This will be an evening for you to participate in some active movement with your children and learn more about ways to stay fit and healthy. See you then. 

Here are a few other events we will have in May that you will not want to miss: May 25-AR Recognitions; May 29-Arts Fest-all day at Baldwin and May 30-5th Grade Completion Ceremony at 8:30 a.m.

Thank you again for helping us make Baldwin such a special place to learn and grow. I look forward to seeing you around the campus at some of our May events. 

Roaring with Pride, 
Dr. Peña