Dear Parents/Guardians,

Welcome to the beginning of the school year!  I am honored and proud to be the Primary School principal to work with our amazing students and staff.   At the Primary School we welcome our tiger cubs to the 2021-2022 year!  Every tiger cub has its own stripes and we want to help them discover their own stripes!

We have had a successful and positive start to the school year!  Yes, this school year may look differently but there is one thing that hasn’t changed - the love and care we have for students!  It is a true joy to see students in their classrooms learning and playing.

I would like to take a moment and thank those who participate in afternoon curbside.  We have worked hard to make this as efficient and effective as possible with student safety at our core.  We have dramatically decreased the amount of time afternoon curbside takes at the Intermediate and Primary School. At the Primary School, there is one line painted in front of the school dividing the sidewalk. This line serves 2 purposes:  1) For families, when you see the line, know you can drop or pick up your child anywhere on the line 2) Student safety:  we teach students to stay on the side of the line closest to the grass to help stay away from moving vehicles.  I truly enjoy morning and afternoon curbside as this is an opportunity for me to greet our students and families in the morning and say goodbye to our students in the afternoon.

Our fall conferences this year are between Oct. 6-25.  They will be scheduled individually with families through their classroom teacher.  They can be virtually or in-person.  Please note there will be no school for students on October 25. Your child’s classroom teacher will be sending out more information for conference sign up through Skyward. 

We are often asked what is the number one thing I can do to help my child in school?  This is a fantastic question and the answer is reading!  Research shows students who spend extra time reading can have deeper understanding of concepts and perform better in their academics.  We encourage 20 minutes of reading a day outside of the school day for each of our tiger cubs.  This can be a fun activity to do together; it can be done all at once or at different times of the day, it could include reading to your child or your child reading to you or to their pets and stuffed animals.   After reading, use these discussion questions  to encourage deep thinking and have fun hearing your child’s responses.  Many ways to promote reading!  We encourage students to find a topic they enjoy and read about it.  If needed, feel free to reach out to your child’s teacher about different book ideas!

Although there are some uncertainties and questions that come with this school year, we will get through them by teaming together.  I believe this to my core and I am so appreciative that I get to team with you and be part of your child’s experience at school. Go Tigers!

Sincerely,

Sarah A. Marxhausen

Primary School Principal