MAE Jag Blast, January 2024

Message from Principal:

Happy New Year, MAE!

We are so excited to kick off the 3rd 9 weeks of instruction at MAE!

It is time to transition back into the routine of school. Please ensure your child arrives each day on time with a charged device. Please make sure you check folders each night and do your best to complete any assignments. If your child is absent, please send in a dated and signed excuse. Remember that once a student has missed a total of 15 days, we can only excuse days out with a doctor's note.

Please also continue to make reading a priority in your home. Research is clear. Children benefit greatly from multiple reading experiences throughout the day. Book-in-a-bag texts, books of choice from home, and books from our school library or the public library are all great options. You should spend time reading to and reading with your child. If the text is above their reading level, they will benefit from you sharing the text with them. If the text is near a level they can read, have them read it to you or independently.

Reading involves many skills such as using phonics to decode and vocabulary development to comprehend and extend learning. Spend time discussing the strategies your child is using to decode and the meaning of new words. Allow them to ask questions and converse about characters or information gained from nonfiction texts. If you are using Raz-Kids for reading opportunities, please ensure that your child is not skipping over the recording step. Once they have listened to the text, they should record themselves reading it independently. Our teachers have access to these recordings, and we enjoy hearing our students work through these texts as they gain experience as independent readers.

We know from both personal and professional experience that homework and reading at home can be a struggle at times. If your child becomes frustrated during reading, try taking turns with them. You can read a page or a line and then allow them to. When you can, let your child have a choice in what they read or what assignment they complete first.

We appreciate your continued support as we enter 2024. As always, if you have any ideas, questions, or concerns about homework, reading at home, your child's progress, or the school, please do not hesitate to contact us. It is our responsibility and privilege to partner with you to ensure your child has the best learning experience possible.

Sincerely,

Melissa Philley

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Hot Diggity Dog!

MAE's $5,000 Disney Vacation Raffle Fundraiser starts on January 19th and goes until February 2nd! All proceeds support MAE's very own STEAM Lab!! The students will attend a kickoff pep rally on January 16th. Packets with more information and ticket books will be sent home on January 19th!

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January 15th--no school--Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday
January 19th--Spring Fundraiser Kick-off (Keep an eye out for more information!)
January 20th--Yearbook deadline
January 23th--100th day of school
February 2nd--Market Day for Second Graders
February 5th--Kingdom Meeting
February 5th--School Counselor Appreciation Day
February 7th--World Read Aloud Day
February 14th--Valentine's Day Parties from 1:00-2:00 (A parent or guardian is invited to attend, but we do not have room in the classrooms for extra family members or siblings.)
February 22nd--Spirit Night at Chick-fil-a
February 29th--Kindergarten Program