September 19, 2013

Dear AEMS Family,

SMILE! School Pictures were taken this week. If your child was absent on Wednesday retakes are scheduled for November 1st. If anyone needs their picture redone this also an opportunity for that to happen.

I am very proud of our new cross country running team. They have been practicing this fall with Coach Brian Reynolds and participated in their first-ever meet this week. They did exceptionally well running against experienced teams with older students. Way to Go Eagles!!! Congratulations to our fast four – David, Matt, Chase, and Maddy!!! Noah Newton, a strong runner, is also a team member but unfortunately was not able to attend the first meet. And welcome to our new runners who joined the team this week. The next opportunity to see the team run will be on October 4th at Kearsarge Middle School.

AEMS has an Emergency Notification System in place to communicate with parents and guardians in case of school cancellation, delayed opening, or any type of emergency. The contact information that you have already supplies on your emergency card will be used for notifying you. We will do a test of the system next week Wednesday. Communication will be through phone call and email. I am also working on a text message option. More information is attached about One Call Now.

Open House for K-4th grade families is Thursday, September 26th, beginning at 6:30pm. Your little tour guide(s) will lead you throughout the building and share with you what is important in their school day. All classrooms will be open and there will be new staff members to meet. It is always an exciting evening with students proudly and enthusiastically leading families throughout the school. We start in the gym at 6:30 and begin touring by 6:45. The evening ends with cookies and milk served in the gym at 7:30.

Please monitor your School Bucks Lunch Payment System. We want to be sure we are not making any mistakes. This has been a learning process for us too. Please let us know if you notice anything that doesn’t match up with what you think your child is taking for lunches or milk/juice.

There has been excitement in the middle school this week as students logged into their Khan Academy math accounts. The sky is the limit now! Students can start with 1+1 and work their way through calculus or jump into any topic that needs practice. Every single problem can be broken down step by step and there is always a related video to watch. Our focus is math but students will have access to a massive library of content including; biology, chemistry, physics, finance, history, etc.  Students will work within their Khan Academy account at school but the option is also there for home use if internet is available. Students have their own accounts and can log in from wherever. Teachers will be monitoring progress and assigning skills to be worked on through the program. This will supplement our 4th-8th grade math programming.

It isn’t too soon to be thinking about “Walk to School” Day coming up on October 2nd. Once again after students arrive at school we will have them go to classrooms where attendance will be taken and students and staff will then re-board the buses in their grade-level groups. The buses will then drop off students and staff members at three locations on Rail Trail to walk back to school. Upon arrival there will be fresh fruit and music in the gym. If the weather is bad we will try again the following Wednesday. Parents are more than welcome to join us but unfortunately we don’t have room on the buses but please feel free to meet us on the trail.

If you have any questions or concerns, do not hesitate to contact me.

Thanks!

Jane Slayton