Sunday, September 7, 2014

ROARING News!

​Hello Baldwin Community, 

We had a fabulous second week of classes! All of our students are learning their routines and procedures and seem to be having a wonderful time learning. 

Our safety patrol started helping us this past week with arrival and dismissal. This group of 5th graders are great leaders and helpers. They were very kind and respectful with everyone and were excellent examples of Baldwin students. I am very grateful to these students for their help and I appreciate their parents allowing them to get to school a little earlier than usual and allowing them to stay a little later to help us with these procedures. 

This past summer,  Luke Severson, who is an older sibling of one of our Bobcats, presented a proposal to me as part of his Eagle Scout service project that would benefit the "Take Flight" reading program at Baldwin.  Luke is very passionate about helping struggling readers grow their love for reading and he felt that his Eagle Scout project would be a great way to help us at Baldwin. He organized a summer reading camp at his home in which he recruited some of his friends to be camp counselors. The camp counselors along with Luke read and dramatized a novel. With the outstanding attendance and participation in the camp, Luke was able to raise $835.00 for the "Take Flight" reading program at Baldwin. Luke worked with our two "Take Flight" reading teachers and they were able to order many materials and supplies needed for our program. I want to personally thank Luke for his commitment and passion in helping children learn to read and for all that he has given to Baldwin through his Eagle Scout service project. Hooray for Luke and his hard work!! He is a great example to all of us!

I want to thank all of our parents for helping us with our morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up procedures. These procedures are moving quickly and smoothly because of you! I ask that as you drop-off your child in the circle drive that you wait to have him/her get off the car until you have reached the area between the two crosswalks in front of our school. It is important that you pull all the way forward and allow one of our safety patrol members or one of the teachers to help your child off the car. Thank you for having your car placards on your car windows for us to see without any trouble. This has been very helpful to us in the afternoons. Together, we will keep all of our children safe!

 

Don't forget that our Back to School Nights are scheduled for this week from 6:30p.m.-7:30 p.m.  Monday is for Grades PreK-2 and Thursday for Grades 3-5. We will also be hosting GT informational meetings prior to each of these nights from 6:00p.m.-6:25 p.m. in the library. Our Back to School Nights are focused around curriculum information for you the parents and are not evening events for the children. I look forward to seeing all of you at our Back to School Nights and to working with each of you to help all of our children succeed at high levels!

Roaring with Pride, 

Dr. Peña


         
Confidentiality Notice: This email message, including all attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential student and/or employee information. Unauthorized use of disclosure is prohibited under the federal Family Educational Rights & Privacy Act (20 U.S.C. §1232g, 34 CFR Part 99, 19 TAC 247.2, Gov’t Code 552.023, Educ. Code 21.355, 29 CFR 1630.14(b)(c)). If you are not the intended recipient, you may not use, disclose, copy or disseminate this information. Please call the sender immediately or reply by email and destroy all copies of the original message, including attachments.

Monday, September 1, 2014

Welcome to the 2014-2015 School Year!

Dear Baldwin Community,

 

We had a fantastic first week of classes! It was great to see so many smiling faces on the first day and during the entire first week! All of our students looked excited to be starting a new year and our teachers were well-prepared to receive each one of them. It's unbelievable that we are starting our fifth year together at Baldwin. We ended the last school year with many accomplishments and everyone should be very proud of our students' successes. We have about 750 students and are waiting to see if more will join us this week. We still have space in our Pre-K program for more students, so if you know of anyone that has a 4 year old send them our way.

 

This school year, we will focus on each individual student's academic and social progress. We will continue to implement the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills in all content areas so that all of our children are meeting and/or exceeding the standards at each grade level. We will also implement the district's Social Emotional Learning (SEL) curriculum in each of our classrooms. Research indicates that emotional well-being and social competence provide a strong foundation for brain development and emerging cognitive abilities. Students will learn critical life skills such as recognizing and managing emotions, solving problems effectively and establishing positive relationships. During our first week, we focused on being "respectful," which is also the first skill that is emphasized in our R-O-A-R expectations: the first "R" represents respect. I am sure you have seen our ROAR expectations throughout our building and on your child's agenda. Baldwin's ROAR expectations are how we expect every Bobcat to represent themselves: R-respectful, O-outstanding, A-accepting, and R-responsible.  You will hear more about our SEL lessons and learning throughout the year. I encourage you to ask your children to share what they are learning in all areas. I bet there will be some skills that you will be able to implement at home too.

 

We have begun to plan many activities and events for our families. The first two events will be our Back to School Nights, which are scheduled for Sept. 8 and Sept. 11. We want to see all of you on these nights so that you can learn more about our learning goals and expectations for this school year. It is also important for you to attend so that we can hear from you regarding how we can work together to build stronger partnerships to help all of our children learn at high levels. I look forward to seeing all of you at our Back to School Nights.

 

I want to take this opportunity to remind everyone to review the drop-off and pick-up procedures that have been sent in our weekly ROAR news and are posted on our website. It is important that we all follow the set procedures so that we can keep all of our children safe at all times. If you have a change in pick-up procedures, be sure to inform your child's teacher with enough time so that he/she can have your child in the correct pick up line. We appreciate everyone's efforts in following our procedures and keeping all safe.

 

 Don't forget that this Wednesday is Spirit Night at Craig-O's Pizza and Pastaria. If you go to Craig-O's between 4-10 pm Wednesday, 10% of all proceeds will benefit Baldwin. Also, don't forget to wear purple and gold on Fridays to show your school spirit!

 

I look forward to another exciting, fun and successful school year! Thank you for being a part of our learning community and for sending us your children every day!

 

Roaring with Pride, 
Dr. Peña


         
Confidentiality Notice: This email message, including all attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential student and/or employee information. Unauthorized use of disclosure is prohibited under the federal Family Educational Rights & Privacy Act (20 U.S.C. §1232g, 34 CFR Part 99, 19 TAC 247.2, Gov’t Code 552.023, Educ. Code 21.355, 29 CFR 1630.14(b)(c)). If you are not the intended recipient, you may not use, disclose, copy or disseminate this information. Please call the sender immediately or reply by email and destroy all copies of the original message, including attachments.