Happy New Years!

With some much needed time off thanks to our brilliant staff, I am pleased to say I'm a happy camper. Just time enough between grandchildren to send out a message to our blog readers to say Happy New Years!

One of the resolutions that would be "fabulous" for the new years is for parents to read the material that comes home from school.

At Christmas time, we sent home a calendar in a folded heavy paper forum with all our activities. We posted our calendar here on the blog. We posted our activities on the Parent Board. We sent home notes, told parents about activities at the door and reminded children all day long. The upshot was that twenty-five percent of our parents did not have a clue as to what we were doing at Christmas Time.

We are going to pursue the folded calendar heavy paper forum this coming year, and we hope that parents will read what is sent home.

Reading what is sent home from the Garden School will help parents get in touch with big school. This is an "Every Day" job. Papers going home are important. Please take a minute to go through your child's folder and read his work, and all notes going home.

We will be starting a new reading and math program for the kindergarten starting January 3. We will be sending home a reading and math bag with your child's name on it. This is not a toy. It is a tool. This bag will go home with your kindergartner every day and come back to school every day. This is where you will find your child's homework, reading books, and flash cards. It is our way of saying we love you and hope you will enjoy working with your child at home. It is wonderful practice for big school, because you will be expected to work with your child all through grammar school.

We will be starting Geography January 3. We will be sending home some political maps that we hope you will encourage your child to study. The more places on the map your child can identify, the better!

If you have anything to share with the school regarding a culture or a foreign place, please see Miss Judy. We would love to have you as a guest.

If there is anything our school can do for your family, please let us know.

Happiest of New Years!