Dear Pleasantville Families,

Happy New Year!!!! I hope you enjoyed a fun and relaxing break with the kids. I’m sure they are ready to be back at Pleasantville for the second half of the school year. The first half was a huge success with so much progress made by the children. I’m certain that the second half of the year will be just as productive. We continue to need your support each and every night by reading with your child and ensuring that they are doing their homework every night. Homework is an important part of reinforcing the skills learned at school, which helps your child to be more successful each day.

It is also important that children arrive to school by 8:35 each morning, so that they can unpack their belongings and get ready for the day. I start announcements at 8:45 each day and when children are late to school they may miss important information and learning. This is also true at the end of the day. I strongly discourage early dismissals, unless it is an emergency, as those students miss out on information and it interrupts learning in the classroom for all students.  Additionally, calling for students to leave early close to dismissal is interruptive to the classroom and detrimental to the child. As such, we will not call for early dismissals after 2:55 beginning Monday, January 10, 2011. It may seem like only a couple of minutes each day, but they are important times for the children both educationally and emotionally. We appreciate your support in protecting these ‘priceless’ hours that we have with the children each day. If you have any questions about this, please contact me.