March 28, 2008

Principal’s Note,
Dear Families,

Spring has officially arrived!! Celebrating the arrival of spring reminds me of my favorite quote, “Bloom where you are planted!” Students are certainly “blooming” at Laura Richards School! Not only have they “bloomed” in size over the winter, but they have also grown and “bloomed” as learners. It is so exciting to visit rooms and see how well students are reading, writing, and engaged in math problem solving! We look forward to sharing your child’s progress at Parent-Teacher conferences on Wednesday, April 16th. Your child’s teacher will be contacting you to set up conference appointments.

The following “Reading Moments” comes from the BoxTop website which can be accessed from the Laura E. Richards website by clicking on “Support Our Schools”. I encourage you to continue to motivate and support your child as they “grow as readers”!

As always, if you ever have any questions, concerns, or suggestions, please give me a call at 582-3612 or stop by for a visit!

Yours in the service of children,
Karen Moody

Reading Moments

Finding time for kids to read is important. Even if they don’t sit down with a book, kids still have daily reading opportunities.

Car trips, errands, and waits in checkout lines all provide reading opportunities. Keep books or magazines in your car, diaper bag, or backpack for lulls in the action, even if you only have time to read a few pages. Encourage older kids to bring their favorite reads along.

Other reading moments:
• in the morning, before breakfast or getting dressed
• after dinner, when kids are relaxed
• bath time (with plastic, waterproof books)
• bedtime

Read signs aloud while you're driving. Ask your preschooler to "read" pictures on boxes at the store and tell you about them. Older kids can tell you what's on the shopping list. Around the house, kids can read recipes aloud or peruse a catalog while you read the mail. Ask relatives to send letters or e-mail and read them together. Make sure kids get some time to spend quietly with books, even if it means curtailing time in front of the TV or video games.

Most important, be a reader yourself. Kids who see their parents reading are likely become readers, too!

Upcoming Events

March
28th: Family Fun Beach Party at RVCS, 6:00 - 7:30

April
1st: GEPTA meeting, 6:00 @ LER
3rd: End of 3rd quarter
16th: Parent-Teacher conferences, 3:30 - 7:00
19th: Gardiner Music Boosters Craft Fair at LER
21st - 25th: Spring vacation

May
2nd: No kindergarten classes due to k-screening for next year
6th: K-2 Spring concert, 2:00
16th: District Art Show at GAHS, 3:30 - 7:30
21st: Early release - students dismissed at 12:30
26th: Memorial Day - no school

School Store
The school store is open in the office on Monday and Wednesday mornings before school.

2008 - 2009 Kindergarten
It’s kindergarten registration time! If you have a child who will be five years of age on or before October 15, 2008, please contact the school.

LER Lions T-Shirts
We have LER T-shirts in youth sizes and a variety of great colors for sale in the office for $12.00 each.

GEPTA News
Our next meeting will be Tuesday, April 1st at 6:00 in the LER library. Childcare is available.

Lexia is here! Are you wondering what the Lexia program is that your children have been working on? We will have some computers available to check it out!

Family Fun Beach Party! Join us for a beach party at River View Community School on March 28th from 6:00 - 7:30. Come for fun, food, and activities. Please send in RSVP's or email geptanews@gmail.com. If you would like to help while there, please let us know. The more the merrier!

The River View Playground Committee met on March 18th. Eric from Miracle gave a presentation on some of the systems available, and fundraising was discussed. Unfortunately, there was not a big turn out of volunteers. We need families to get involved so we can make sure RVCS has an appropriate playground for our children! There will be drawings available to look at and discuss at the April 1st meeting. We will announce the next playground meeting soon!

Save Your Shaw's Receipts! Do you or your friends and family shop at Shaw's? Help raise funds for a new playground at River View School by bringing in your original Shaw's receipts. Through the Shaw's Receipt Rewards Program, Shaw's will donate 1% of the amount of the receipts. There's no limit to how many receipts you can bring in!

Save your Yogurt Containers! We have started a fund raising/recycling program through Terracycle (www.terracycle.net). Send in your CLEAN 6 oz and 32 oz containers. Look for more information on this great program, coming soon.

Parent-Teacher Conferences are coming up and the GEPTA will provide dinner for the teachers on April 8th at River View, and April 16th at LER. If you would like to help out with this, please call Helen at 582-6492 or email geptanews@gmail.com.

Ongoing Fundraiser News
We continue to collect printer and toner cartridges which are redeemed for cash, BoxTops for Education which are worth 10 cents each to our school, and Campbell’s Labels for Education logos which we can redeem for supplies. Keep on saving!