October
22, 2007
Dear Eakin families,
Report cards are being sent home today. I am extremely impressed with the efforts of each
of our students. I am sure that you will
feel proud of your child’s achievement. Remember
to follow the teacher’s advice where noted on the report card and given during
the recent conference to assist the teacher with your child’s achievement of
personal goals. In addition to reviewing
and learning new academic skills and concepts, your child has been learning to
work cooperatively and think critically.
These first nine weeks have also focused on learning classroom routines,
school wide expectations, and getting to know classmates. Reading
daily, doing homework and getting proper rest are some of the daily things that
your child can do to ensure success at school
Good
attendance and being on time are also
important factors for a child’s educational success. We understand that children do get sick and
there are occasions when students are tardy.
For any absence, we need you to send a note when your child returns to
school. Remember that our automated call out system will also call you when
your child is absent. Whenever your
child is tardy, you will need to sign in at the office before sending your
child to class. Keep in mind that
excessive absences and tardies impact the entire class. Please let your teacher
know if there are unusual circumstances or long term illness.
We appreciate everyone’s effort in trying to get to school everyday and
on time. Each quarter, I will review the
attendance data for each child. If there
are absences, early dismissals, late pick ups or tardies of 4 or more, you will
receive a letter from me
If you have should have questions or concerns,
please contact the teacher. However, if
you are not satisfied or have concerns to share with me, I am available via
email Roxanne.ross@mnps.org or call
the office 298-8076. Additionally, I
encourage you to keep posted to school events by visiting our school’s website
at www.eakinschool.org and subscribe
to our emails.
Parent
Teacher Organization (PTO)
Our
recent fund raising campaign, Invest in
Your Child, IIYC, has been very
successful. However, our goal is to have
100% participation. So, if you have not made your pledge, I encourage doing so.
PTO funds allow us to provide classroom support, technology, and curriculum
materials. Money raised this year will
help purchase student computers, classroom writing programs, inquiry-based math
programs, and an online license for TCAP practice, overhead projectors, and
professional conferences for teachers.
PTO
volunteers make the difference at our school. Eakin School
would not be the awesome school that it is without our many volunteers. Thank you so much for all you do! If you have not signed up to volunteer yet, please
send a note to your child’s teacher or contact Mrs. Hannon at lloydhannon@earthlink.net to volunteer.
We need everyone’s help!
Landscaping
day is coming up in November. Led by Mr. Lyons and Mr. Scowden, we will be
planting flowers and bulbs, weeding, adding mulch, and cleaning up the exterior
of the building. Volunteers are also needed to supervise the parking lot in November
during Vandy’s home football games. And lastly, be sure to purchase your ticket
for our upcoming adult dinner and silent auction, “Falling for Eakin”. It will
be an evening for parents, staff, and community to get to know and visit with
each other in a lovely setting.
Recipes for Success
Each month you will receive an edition of this wonderful
parent publication courtesy of our PTO. It is filled with fun educational
activities which extend the learning to home.
School Safety and security
Be
sure to always follow all arrival, dismissal and visitor procedures at all
times. Breaking policy even once puts
the school in jeopardy. We seek to ensure the safety of each child and ensure
efficiency of school procedures. On the
occasions that your child’s dismissal mode is changed or an early dismissal is
needed, please send a note to the
teacher in advance. Phone calls made
to the office to make dismissal changes are only allowed for dire
emergencies.
NEW OFFICE POLICY:
From
8:00-8:05am, the office will be closed in respect of the students and teachers
making morning announcements. If you
need to sign your child in late, please wait in the outer lobby, until the
office staff can assist you.
Dismissal is a very
critical time.
Therefore from 2:45 – 3:05, the office will be closed during afternoon announcements
and to allow teachers to move all 474 students safely to our many dismissal
sites each day.
Eakin Café
Our
café offers a healthy and delicious meal everyday. I enjoy eating there with a
different class each week. Students may
also purchase snack items such as baked chips, granola bars, bottled water, ice
cream and sherbet. Parents are invited
to eat lunch with their child’s class and purchase lunch from our cafeteria.
Daily or monthly blocks of lunch tickets may be purchased for students. Ms. Donegan,
the mgr, keeps track of this for the students. You may send in a check or find
her in the cafeteria at 7:30am. She is assisted by cooks, Ms. Pillow and Ms.
Johnson. Please support!
Lottery Applications Update
Lottery
Applications for Magnet/Optional Schools will not be available until January,
2008. However, please keep in mind the following information:
Rising
Kindergarteners have sibling preference - If your child attends Eakin via the
lottery application process, your rising Kindergarten child will receive
sibling preference to attend Eakin next year, but you’ll need to complete the
application and check the sibling box.
Students
currently here via the lottery will need to complete a continuation
form in January. 4th graders here via the lottery will have the option to
attend West End middle school, if
desired. A form will be made available
to you in January, as well.
Fire Safety
Metro
schools has partnered with the Fire Dept to ensure that every K-2 teacher has
learned and is teacher fire safety at school. The following tips can be used to
prepare for the unexpected by reviewing the information and taking action based
on it to plan for a fire.
·
Install working
smoke alarms on every level; and inside and outside of each sleeping area.
·
Develop a fire
escape plan that identifies two ways out of each room and a family meeting
place outside.
·
Make sure your
plan allows for any specific needs in your household. If everyone knows
what to do, everyone can get out quickly.
·
Practice using the
plan, at least twice a year.
·
If the smoke alarm
sounds: Go to your closest exit, and if you run into smoke, turn and use
another way out. If you must exit through smoke, get low and go under the smoke
to your exit. Don’t take time to pick up belongings; just get out and help
others get out. Move fast but stay calm.
Emergency procedures for all situations are carefully
developed and practiced at school according to state and local requirements.
Community Supporters
WNSL welcomes Eakin students to join the winter
basketball season. Contact Info 376-4600.
You
may have heard your child talk about Vanderbuddies. Vanderbilt students volunteer on a regular
basis in many classrooms at our school each week. We appreciate their support
of our students.
In
collaboration with Metro Schools, The
Pencil Foundation has established business partners for each school. Last week, the foundation held its annual “Principal
for A Day” program to bring the business community into our schools. Our principal for the day, Tom Lee, is not
only a lawyer and community leader, but is also an Eakin parent. He spent two
hours experiencing a typical Eakin day, visiting classes and meeting students
and teachers.
Pencil Partners
Please be aware of and thank
the following businesses who provide us with monetary and in-kind
donations. Find out more about these
companies via a link on our website:
Kinko’s, Green Hills
Kroger, Green Hills
Starbucks, Borders
Building on West End Ave
First Tennessee Bank
Village Real Estate
Boult, Cummings, Conners & Berry, PLC Services
Harris Teeter
Construction Update
The architect and contractor have completed the final
punch list for our building. As you can see, grass and trees have been planted and
replaced as needed. The fences around the detention pond and HVAC cooling have
also been built. The floor globe in front of the library was replaced and now
accurately reflects the world. The
commemorative bricks will be installed soon and a new marquee will be built on
the corner of 24th and Fairfax
ave.
ONLINE MATH SUPPORT
The publishers of our math
series provides many online activities for your child to extend and reinforce
what they are learning in the classroom.
Go to www.eduplace.com and select
the kids place or parents place link to learn more about this great resource.
Your child’s math text book can also be accessed via the internet. Please see the username and password for your
child’s grade level below.
www.eduplace.com/epe/mw
username password
K nashvillek math2005
1st nashville1 math2005
2nd nashville2 math2005
3rd nashville3 math2005
4th nashville4 math2005
Roxie
Ross
Principal
*Remember to
check out our school web site for any new and upcoming events at www.eakinschool.org
1.
To Request for alternate format
Call 298-8076 or
Roxanne.ross@mnps.org
