In the classrooms...
After a long and cold winter, it seems like spring has finally arrived! Students are excited to get out in the sun and enjoy our North Carolina climate. While in school it is important for students to keep their focus on learning and teaching. Remind your students that our work is not over. We will have a much deserved break at the end of the month and then we come back for the final run.

A few weeks ago in PLT's 3-5 Language Arts teachers shared practices and strategies in each grade level. Teams discussed steps to ensure a smooth transition from one grade to the next. For our Super Early Release last week staff participated in training from Central Office to give teachers additional planning and teaching strategies to meet the academic needs of ALL students. Specific strategies were shared to address the needs of English Language learners.

Over the next two weeks, volunteers from Vintage 21 Church will help transform our campus. Beginning next week, painting and landscape work will start. During the week of spring break, volunteers will re-paint the 4th-5th grade hallway and make several other improvements to the building. We are very fortunate to learn in a community that values students and respects the school as a vital part of the larger community.

Announcements
Carpool
Thanks to all of our parents who use carpool for remaining patient as we make changes to improve our processes and procedures. Associating a number with a student helps us dismiss students more efficiently and gives a degree of confidence that students are getting in an authorized car.
Art Award
Congratulations to Marwah Mahate in Mrs. Martin's 5th grade classroom. Her artwork won 1st place in Gifts of Gold Marwah's framed piece will be on display for one year at the offices of the United Arts Council! Marwah's work represents one of the many gifts and talents possessed by our talented student body.

Read-A-Thon
Congratulations to the following read-a-thon winners:

Grade Winners: - Kourtney Butler, K - Tessa Philips, 1 - Ryan Johnston, 2 - Dana Shulman (repeat winner), 3 - Isaac Fan, 4 - Asher Philips, 5 - Kayla Brown
Individual Class Winners - (K - Gavin McLamb, JulieAnn Morgan, Maxine Rosenfeld, Annabeth Wood, Tessa Phillips (1 - Kailah Joy, Arjun Sankaran, Morgan Parham, Elizabeth Datskevych, Alisha Kamath, Ryan Johnston (2 - Kathleen Trang, William Aarons, Dana Shulman, Grace DeNoia, Lauren Ames, Harper Jewel Morgan (3 - Spencer Rollins, Isaac Fan, Laura Seibert, Meghana Malyala, Elisa Ma, Abby Priebe, Catherine Phillips (4 - Danny Andrussier, Sahil Karuturi, Nathan Griffith, Salauni Shah, Asher Philips, Cameron Croom (5 - Henry Allen, Brianna Morris, Romie Williams, Nate Priebe, Kayla Brown, Silvia Knappe, Savarni Sanka

Tips to help your child!
Help your child become a better citizen by reviewing and discussing character traits. In North Carolina these traits include the following: courage,good judgement, integrity, kindness, perseverance, respect, responsibility, self-discipline. You can find more information about character traits on the wcpss website at the following address:http://www.wcpss.net/character-education/

Important Dates
March 15-29 No electives
March 15-19 ITBS testing
March 17 PE Jump-In
March 17 Healthy Heart Fair 6 - 8 PM
March 18 ALP
March 20 ALP
March 25 ALP
March 25 Theater Production 7 - 8:30 PM
March 29 Weather Make-Up day
* If you have a Yahoo email account Wake County email is currently blocked from sending you mail by Yahoo. This is out of the control of WCPSS.

Vocabulary is POWER!
K - differences; same
1st - axle; sphere
2nd - butterfly; life cycle
3rd - support; locomotion
4th - magnetism; streak
5th - producers; consumers