Well how did that happen so quickly??? It's 2012! I hope all of our MOT Mustang Families had a pleasant holiday and will return to us safely on January 3rd ready to focus on their New Year's resolutions that surround learning, setting goals and being a positive addition to our school environment! That will surely make for a great year.

In December we completed our Winter DCAS testing in grades 3-8 and January will bring our next round of NWEA (MAP) testing for K-8 and a benchmarking in Dibels (for grades K-2) It's always exciting to see how far our students have grown in just these few short months. All of your child's results, along with any changes to their RTI (response to intervention) placements will be sent out at the end of January.

Thank you to all of our Reading POSSE members! It's been great working with you and seeing how eager you have been to help support the learning for all of our students. We will be expanding to have a Math POSSE in the coming weeks. If you are interested in participating (dedicating 1 hour each week, the same day and the same time) please send me an e-mail and let me know- elaine.elston@mot.k12.de.us

'Tis the season to start planning for the 8th grade Semi-formal. If you 1)have experience planning dances 2) like to meet with other creative minds to make an event happen or 3) have time and/or energy to help get a very specific task completed---we'd love to have you! Many hands make light work :)  Parents from any grade are welcome! Please e-mail Mrs. Harrigan if you are interested- tera.harrigan@mot.k12.de.us Our meetings are in the evenings 1-2 times per month.

Congratulations to the following students who successfully completed the New Castle County Summer Reading Club.

Happy October!

Can you believe we have already completed our first interim marking period? Progress reports come home today. We have completed the first round of DCAS, NWEA and Dibels testing. Clubs are up and running, teams are competing and school spirit is running high!

I'm pleased to announce that the response to our "Standing on all Fours" notifications has been very positive. We have recognized numerous students and even some entire classes as being true examples of Respect, Responsibility, Kindness and Believing in themselves. I had hoped to dedicate a front showcase to those students who have exemplified those behaviors, but the numbers are too great and the showcase would be too small. Go Mustangs!!! I think I may have to dedicate a wing of school as the display area.

While our turn-out for parent movie night was disappointing (Mrs. Elston,who wouldn't come out for a two hour documentary on a busy Tuesday night???--next time I think we'll offer up a good comedy or mystery movie :)) I have already heard from some parents about their interest in being part of our MOT POSSE (Parents Offering Support Services in Education) Thank you to Mrs. Cerutti for heading up our Kit and Caboodle Club and to those parents who have signed up to be Reading Rustlers. Training will start in the next few weeks. There's still time to sign up so let me know if you're interested. I promise I will not show a 2-hour documentary during our time together!

Some house-keeping issues and reminders:

1) Please remember to keep an eye on student dress code---change of season always brings a new set of reminders. At this time there's a need to revisit tights and knee socks (solid, school color--no stripes, no big patterns, etc.), school sweaters/sweatshirts for the fluctuating temperatures in the building, and ever growing children! The skirts and shorts that were long enough last year are no longer long enough. And of course, middle schoolers (mostly boys) who think that black and grey have been added to the selection of undershirt colors. Please remind them---the rules apply all the way through June.

2) Bus riders--- please take a few moments to review with your child the importance of safe behaviors on the bus. In an environment where there are many more children together in a small space with very limited adult supervision possible, it is so much more important that children "be on their best" behavior. They know what's safe, they know what's kind. We need your help in continuing to send that message. Please remind them that riding the bus is a privilege so students who are unsafe or unkind on the bus are likely to lose that privilege.

3) Homework and school work---continue to support your child's learning by asking questions like " What did you learn about today in math?" or "What is something new that you know?" Ask them "How did you do that {homework} question?  These opportunities help a child think about their learning and apply what they are learning. If they can teach someone else (you!) then they really have it. Try to steer clear from vague questions like "How was your day?" or "What did you do today?" as children tend to respond with "O.K." or "Nothing."--it doesn't help you have a better understanding of their day or what they are learning about.

4) Attendance--- please remember to send notes (e-mails are best--cc Mrs. Harrigan in the front office as she is the direct line to keeping our attendance records accurate. Her e-mail is Tera.Harrigan@mot.k12.de.us ). Also, if you are planning on using your "one time family obligation" during this school year, please remember to make the request to my office at least 30 days in advance.

5) Backpack clean-out---- please encourage your child to lighten the load of their backpacks. Every classroom has cubbies or desks for students to store their heavy books in during the day. All children have access to their materials at different times throughout the day so there is no need to carry everything all the time. I know they feel more secure (and less likely to "forget" something) by carrying everything, but when the backpack weighs  more than the child, they are setting themselves up for back troubles later in life.

With very slight encouragement (and a few recognition awards for being kind & respectful) the "Hello's" I receive in the morning have grown 100-fold. It is the smallest of gestures, but very meaningful and certainly makes for a great start to my day :) In these days of hustle and bustle and busy lives, encourage some of the little things your child can do to better someone else's day---and ultimately their own. A little joy goes a long way!

Thanks!

We're BACK!!!

Wow! What a great start to the school year. Happy faces, eager learners and a boat load of enthusiasm described our first days back. Thank you everybody for all your visits during Open House and the first days of school. It helps our children, families and teachers begin to build great relationships right from the get go.

 Much of this year's focus will be around our four pillars of

Mustang Pride: Be Respectful

                                               Be Responsible

Be Kind

                      and Be-lieve in Yourself.

Classroom teachers, cafeteria staff, bus drivers, safety supervisors and administrators will share on-going conversations with all our Mustangs around these areas in order to set consistent expectations, inspire good choices and help grow good citizens.

Focusing on making good choices in all of these areas will help us maintain a safe, friendly and engaging learning environment for everyone.

Thank you for reinforcing these ideas outside of school!

Welcome to the 2011-2012 School Year!

With only a few weeks until school begins and we are all together once again, I am counting down the days until our halls are filled with the bright, smiling faces of eager learners! This summer has been busy (and a bit noisy) as I complete student schedules, prepare parent education and student programs for the coming year and watch the parking lot construction  go on around me. The rumble of the equipment, the daily changes and growth going on outside the building are visible signs of the work that also goes on inside our building as we continually strive to provide better and better opportunities for students to change and grow academically and as a citizen of the world.

Each year we welcome many new families to our school through our incoming Kindergarten class, and sometimes say goodbye to families with our 8th grade graduation. One of my roles as Principal of Students and Families is to make sure that everyone feels welcome and is therefore willing to come and chat, share celebrations and concerns and work together to solve issues. When a child knows that all the adults in their life are on the same page and want the same success for them, they have the greatest chance of achieving that success. I look forward to being part of your child's success team!

Recently I had the opportunity to share with two of our parent groups here at MOT, the School Stewards and the PTO Officers.

The School Stewards is an advisory panel made up of parents and staff members who focus on different schoolwide needs each year. This year, their focus is on parental involvement. As you may or may not know, one of the missions in our school charter is to have a high level of parental involvement and we have achieved much of this in our short 9 year history. The Stewards commitment this year is to increase that level of involvement specifically in our academic areas. We realized that we have many parents who are ready, willing and able to support student learning (especially in the areas of reading and math) if only they had the opportunity for training, support and materials. Our goal is to provide those items this year and to truly have parents as partners in helping all students meet their academic goals.

The PTO, while historically focused on offering our families school social events and providing enormous fund raising opportunities {Thank goodness! My conversation on charter schools being completely underfunded is better left for another web page!} they too will be supporting our parent involvement efforts through education and training opportunities via their meetings and social gatherings.

I have asked both of these groups to also lead the charge in spreading the good news about all the wonderful achievements of the school and, even more importantly, to redirect anybody who has concerns to come and see me or Mrs. Jennings in order to discuss those concerns. This approach is much more  effective in working towards our school's success than spreading gossip at the local gathering spot or posting angry or derogatory comments on Facebook. As we remind our students, Facebook is a public forum and doesn't necessarily get to the people who can initiate change or help remedy a concern. Thank you for joining us in those efforts to help make this happen!

In today's media blitz around bullying and the rights of victims, this year my goal is to share with students and parents a common understanding of the differences between bullying, poor social skills, annoying behaviors and the occasional bad day and how the school is expected to and does respond to each of those scenarios. In gaining this understanding, we can work in conjunction to respond to each concern appropriately in order to make every day at school the best it can be, for everybody!

Enjoy the last few weeks of Summer and try not to melt!

Elaine

Questions, concerns or comments? Please e-mail me elaine.elston@mot.k12.de.us or call 302-376-5125.