Principal Corner March
Dear Lion parents,
Thank you to the parents who are teaching their children to follow the traffic rules. This helps ensure the safety of our children. Parents who continue to ignore these rules put all of our children at risk. Please use the crosswalks and honor our no parking and drop off zones. Remember, our "children listen to what we say...but they watch what we do."
We are very grateful that we have such hard working students and families here at Mason! However, we need to remind the families that we rarely see that WE NEED YOU TOO! There are many things that we wish to accomplish at Mason for our children. There are several events that we could really use your support with. Mason Clean up day on March 2nd from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. This is a time when we do our spring cleaning and beautify our school. We really need all Hands on Deck for this event. In addition, please support our school by attending our BINGO night (March 6), Book Fair (March 18-22), and Movie Night (March 22). Remember, TOGETHER WE WILL ACHIEVE MORE!
Are you wondering why we are always trying to raise money? Over the past few years there have been significant cuts to our school budgets. Mason has felt less than most schools because of your support (our PTA) and the many grants we have received. However, we face a variety of budget challenges for next year that will impact us greatly because this is the last year of our Operation Student Achievement grant.
Parent conferences are scheduled for the week of March 25th and we will have a 12:15 dismissal time Monday through Thursday. It is critical that your children are picked up on time and that parents attend conferences as requested by the teachers.
We begin spring vacation on FRIDAY MARCH 29th and we are on vacation until -April 26th. School will resume Monday, April 29th .During our break, students are still expected to read and practice their number facts. Encourage your children to participate in learning activities when school is not in session. Here are some suggestions:
- Encourage reading. Reserve a time for "Family Reading". During this time, everyone reads.
- Read with your child by taking roles in stories and acting out dramatic poems.
- Have your children select pictures from magazines and newspapers, and put them together to tell a story. Ask your children to number the pictures--1, 2, 3, etc. First, ask them to tell the story with the pictures in numerical order. For variety, have your children rearrange the pictures and tell a new story using this different arrangement. Older children can write the story on paper or in a book format.
- Have your child keep a journal of their vacation.
- Use the sale ads to "shop". Help your child make a shopping list and estimate the total cost of their items. For older children, you can have them figure out the sales tax and/or the percent of discount.
- Use a deck of cards to practice math facts (greater than, less than; or who has the largest sum or the greatest difference).
- Look at our school website (http://www.sandi.net/mason/) for links to educational websites such as Learning Upgrade, Achieve 3000, and Envision Math.
- Make a graph of the types of cars counted in an hour while driving; how many Toyotas; Hondas, Fords, etc. Make predic-tions based on this data. Based on your sample, how many of each would you expect to see in 2 hours?
For our children,
Deidre Hardson
Principal