News

A Message from the Principal – January 2021

Welcome Back!

I hope that this newsletter finds each of you refreshed and looking forward to the start of a new year. I have been eagerly anticipating the upcoming year and hoping that it contains many more happy times than were encountered in 2020. Although 2020 was not what any of us had anticipated (or hoped for) there still were positives taking place throughout the building and it was fantastic to have students back in the building this fall. As we get ready to start the second half of the school year I would like to highlight upcoming events and identify some key dates as they relate to students at Morningside.

Some of the unique learning opportunities upcoming for students include the continuation of the drone club, upcoming family math nights, and the building-wide reading challenge. The drone club has been established as an after school program to further foster a love for STEM learning in participating students. The club meets weekly on Wednesdays from 3:30-4:30 p.m. and is facilitated by the Iowa State Extension Office. The club specifically teaches the foundations of programming and provides students with an idea of how drones can positively impact our world. Although the club has had to start virtually, we are hopeful that in-person meetings will be able to occur soon.

In addition to the drone club, we will again be working to host two family math events during the second semester. We are hopeful that one of these events will occur in late January with another in the middle of April. The focus of these events is to provide families with materials and resources to further support the math development of their children. More information related to specific dates and times for these events will be shared in the near future with all families.

Finally, the school-wide reading challenge will be taking place during the month of March to encourage students to focus on reading. During this time students will be challenged to read a specific number of minutes to achieve a school-wide goal. The class that has the highest percentage of students who reach this goal will be recognized for their efforts.

We will be starting in the hybrid learning model from January 4 – January 15. Please refer to the emails shared by the district and your child’s classroom teacher for which days of the week to attend. Looking forward in January, there are also some dates to mark on your calendars. The second round of FAST testing to determine student literacy and math growth also takes place this month. Testing begins on Monday, January 11, and runs through Friday, February 5. In order to assist with testing, I ask that you please speak to your child and share with them the importance of providing their best effort and striving to always be successful. Making sure students are eating breakfast and getting plenty of rest are also ways to positively impact their achievement on these assessments. As always, if you have any questions related to information from this month’s newsletter, please do not hesitate to contact us at (712)274-4048.

Soar Eagles Soar,
Jarod Mozer
Principal, Morningside STEM Elementary