Welcome Back!
Greetings Parents and Community Members!
And just like that, we’re back! I can’t believe it’s already 2020. With a new year (and new decade) comes hope, opportunity, growth and unforeseen challenges! Everyday I look forward to taking one step at a time as we continue to grow and nurture Morris Brandon’s most prized possessions, our students! I hope everyone had a restful, relaxing and rejuvenating vacation. I loved seeing all of the adventures our families had on Facebook and social media. Students were so eager to greet me and tell me all of the cool things they did over break, the presents they received, and the fun they had! Of course, not everyone traveled, some families, like mine, stayed put in Atlanta and spent much needed time with family and friends. Whatever you did, I hope you enjoyed your time with your children!
As you can probably tell, we are off and running this semester and we’ve already established our school wide spelling bee champion. Congratulations to 4th grader Teddy Kelly out of Ms. Windle’s class! In a heated match that lasted close to two hours, the top spellers in 4th and 5th grade came together with Teddy winning it all. Let’s wish him luck as he moves on to the district spelling bee next week!
These next three months are critical in the social, emotional, and academic development of our students. Teachers are now rolling into new math and ELA modules for learning. We are narrowing down our learning lab to our students who will continue to benefit the most. We’re introducing our new reading dog program and there are lots of in-house and out of school field trips on the horizon! We’ll be gearing up for our annual Read-A-Thon soon. We’ve kicked off our Race2Read initiative (ask your child if they know about kiss the cow). GO Team elections are right around the corner, and next week, we are preparing for an APS iPad distribution for ALL of our 1st and 2nd grade students. The program is called Tablet2Read and is a district initiative funded through several grants that allows all 1st and 2nd graders the chance to take an iPad home with 40 reading apps that don’t require any internet connectivity. This is a totally optional take home privilege as students are able to accept the iPad and leave it at school with their teacher where it will be used as part of a class set should you so desire. We’ll be sending home further information on Wednesday in regard to this exciting new program.
Happy New Year to everyone! I hope that your 2020 is off to a great start; I know it will be the best year yet!
J