Principal’s Monthly Letter and Family Update
Welcome Back to BLES!
The first day of school went very well! Thank you so much for helping our scholars transition smoothly.
The month of September is a time for us to build community, share our expectations and teach important routines and procedures. It is also a time for us to get to know our scholars better. We do this in a number of ways such as through surveys, morning meetings, informal chats and one on one goal-setting days. Any information that you can share with us about your child's interests, likes/ dislikes or talents will be very helpful to us at this time.
In addition to this, we will be collecting Beginning of the Year data on where our scholars are academically. We will administer the Acadience Reading assessment to scholars in K-2 and the iReady Reading assessment to scholars in grades 3-5. Every scholar in K-5 will take the iReady Math Assessment. These assessments will be administered again at the middle and end of the school year so that we can track student progress, provide interventions if necessary and tailor our instruction to student needs.
This month, you will have an opportunity to meet with your child's teacher to learn more about the curriculum and classroom expectations. Our first Parent Teacher Conference will be on September 14th from 3:00-5:30. Look out for more information about this in the coming days.
Very soon we will prepare our scholars for evacuation drills, shelter ins and other Building Response Protocols. These drills help our school community stay prepared and ready to take action in the event of an emergency situation. These drills can be alarming to young children who have never experienced this before. Please support us by having conversations about it with your children at home.
Finally, every year, we celebrate the International Day of Peace (United Nations) by having a mini-parade in the schoolyard right before dismissal. "From education to the arts, social justice to sports, health to the environment, neighborhood issues to service for others, there are many ways to participate in Peace Day!' We invite you to JOIN US as we march for Peace on Thursday September 21st at 1:55.
In Partnership,
Joyce Beckles-Knights