Beverly Cleary School

Ms. Dragich

Dear Families,

I hope each and every one of you has had the pleasure of enjoying this wonderful summer weather as we head in the month of October. As Teri stated in the last newsletter we have had a wonderfully smooth start to the school year and I am enjoying the opportunity to get to know those students new to the Fernwood building.

Some of you may have noticed that on Wednesday, Annie and I spent the day “trading places.” It was very fun for me to have time to get to know our youngest students and I had some great conversations with them as they realized that I was the “one from the other building.” Annie also reports that she enjoyed her day getting some time with our upper grade students and visiting with the second graders. The administrative team is planning to continue “trading places” each Wednesday, so don’t look surprised when you see us at the other site.

In classrooms this past month, I have seen some excellent teaching and learning taking place. I observed our 4th graders learn the concept of mean, median and mode and in an Algebra class, I watched as table teams learned to combine terms using Algebra pieces. Secretly I was wishing that I had learned Algebra that way as it makes so much more sense! Our 5th grade classes are learning the fine points of keeping an organized binder and have been diligent about writing their assignments in their planners. Be sure you are checking planners if your student is in the 5th, 6th, 7th or 8th grade.

I also want to welcome our 6th graders back today from Outdoor School and thank Carol Hewig and Tom Streckert who accompanied them. I am certain that both staff and students will require some extra sleep this weekend!

Finally, here are some important dates to mark on your calendar for the month of October. All second grade students will be taking the NNAT test on October 5th. This is a screening tool used to indicate TAG students. A letter was sent home to all second grade parents this week explaining the NNAT in more detail. Picture retake day is also on October 5th. On October 13th there will be a Grant Cluster TAG parent meeting at Grant High School. This meeting will begin at 6:30 pm. Lastly, for those of you that need childcare, October 8th is a statewide inservice day for teachers, so student do not have school on that day and October 13th is our second late opening.


Thanks to each of you for sending us such a great group of students. I enjoy working in this community and look forward to a wonderful school year.

Have a great weekend and enjoy the sun while it lasts,
Melissa