April's Character Trait of the Month:  Responsibility

June

"In the sweetness of friendship; let there be laughter and the sharing of pleasures.

For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed."

               ~Khalil Gibran

May 28, 2013

Dear Bollinger Community,

It is time to gear up for goodbyes as some of our dearest friends move on to the next stage of their lives at Iron Horse Middle School, or wherever their paths may take them. 

I have a few special thank you’s as we wrap up this year. 

• To all of the families that are leaving us that have volunteered so graciously in donations of time, energy and financial support, you will be missed.  
• To the boy scouts and girl scouts who raised our flags at each monthly community flag salute, thank you for your heartfelt patriotism and support of Bulldog Pride. 
• To more of our scouts and their families who helped plant, clean up, and beautify our school. 
• To all members of PTA, Ed Fund, and Site Council, who have dedicated hours of time, sharing their passion and devotion towards making Bollinger the outstanding school it is and clearly saying that our children matter.   
• To the outstanding staff, certificated and classified, who have chosen this profession for the love of children.
• And, to our children – thank you for bringing a smile to my face every single day.

Many of you ask what you can do for your children during the summer.  Here are a few ideas.  Visit your library, join in their summer activities and read to your children and let them read to you.  Have them journal their summer adventures to practice their writing skills.  In particular have them focus on one small moment and what makes that moment special.  If you have iPads or iPods, have them read and record books or their own writing and have them read it again and again and practice “fluency” and “voice.”  These are all fun ways to stay active and busy and not realize that they are doing that dreadful “e” word which is something “educational.”

Be sure that you have registered on our Parent Portal.  If you need instructions or help, email Karen Bean at kbean@srvusd.net.  It is imperative that every family has logged onto this system.  On July 29, online District required registration begins.  You will be instructed to go onto Parent Portal and complete all of the district registration documents.  When that is completed you need to print out a document indicating that all district forms confirming this step is done.  This form will be necessary to complete Step TWO of the registration process.  Step TWO will be for you to print out all of our school registration forms and Ed Fund and PTA documents.  You need to complete these forms and bring them along with verification that you have completed the district registration process to our on site registration on August 21^st.  There will NOT be any packet pick up since all forms will be on line.  If for some reason you are unable to complete the online portions of registration, we will have computers available at the onsite registration. 

All class assignments will be uploaded and available for parents to view on Parent Portal at noon on August 26^th.  Class listings will NOT be posted on the back of the MPR as before.  Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns about this process.

With respect to next year, we wish a very fond farewell to Mary Agerter and Barbara Kehoe as they retire and enter into an exciting new stage of their lives. Please welcome our new 5^th grade teacher, Amy Smoller, who comes to us from Del Amigo High School with over 20 years teaching experience. Darren Day will be back from his journey as SRVEA president to teach second grade. As of today (numbers can change during the summer) we continue to have a K/1 combination class.  And, keep in mind that slip reading for 2^nd grade has been eliminated and that all 2^nd grade students will be on a full day schedule next year. 

Although this is the last formal Newsletter, there will be much more information coming out in the next few weeks through Constant Contact and School Messenger.  There will be many more thank yous and last minute reminders as we prepare for next year.  I look forward to seeing all of you in the next few weeks and will have the Kleenex handy as we say goodbye to another school year and some dear friends.

Yours truly,

Shawn Wells