Jennifer Tomalty Principal Sue Gillette Literacy Coach More Info Rob Hathaway Math/Science Coach

June 2010

Dear Leary Community,

As our school year draws to a close, I want to take this opportunity to thank each of you for all the support you have given the teachers, staff, and me throughout the school year.  When school and home work well together, learning is enhanced for children.  We appreciate and value the time you spend participating in your child’s education. Whether your child is continuing at Leary Elementary or beginning their middle school experience, I urge you to remain involved in your child’s learning and school.

Let’s also take a moment to celebrate the achievements of our Leary Elementary students and staff.  As of the writing of this newsletter in mid-May, we have not received official scores from New York State for the performance of our students on the English Language Arts (ELA) and Math exams.  However, our preliminary review of the work our students have done encourage us to believe that our Leary students have once again performed at high levels.  We do know that 96.8% of our fifth grade students received scores of 3 or 4 on their New York State Social Studies exam, with 50.5% of the class scoring at the mastery level!

Test scores certainly don’t tell the whole story with regard to student achievement and learning.  We have a high number of students meeting or exceeding our benchmarks with regard to their reading level.  Our building based assessments demonstrate increased proficiency with regard to expository writing.  The school-wide focus on visual literacy is also translating into improved performance in the district on map skills.  We will continue this work in the coming years because of the many ways we all use visual information in our daily lives.

We continue to have amazing success with our Math Fun Night, Art Fun Night, Science/Social Studies Fair, and Parents as Reading Partners (PARP).  These events would not be possible without the leadership of our Leary PTA and the volunteer time of staff and parents alike.  These opportunities encourage our students to excel in many different areas, nurture interests, and provide opportunities for parents to join in the learning.  Thank you for providing our children with these enriching opportunities, and I encourage you to consider getting involved.  We are still in need of a parent co-chair to work with our staff co-chairs to prepare for the Science and Social Studies Fair.  Please contact the Leary Main Office if you are able to lend your support in this capacity!

Once again, we have had a successful March Nutrition Madness event!  For the second year in a row, we crowned baby carrots as our favorite vegetable and grapes as our favorite fruit!  We promoted student wellness through this fruit and vegetable challenge, and look forward to continuing the fun next year!

I am quite proud of the success of our Leary Pride efforts this year!  Over 530 students had been formally recognized at least once this year for showing that they are respectful, responsible, ready to learn, caring, and trustworthy.  Thank you for your support of this initiative, and the encouragement you have provided your youngsters to show these qualities not only at school, but in all aspects of their lives.  I frequently hear from guests to our school how well-mannered, caring, and responsible our students are.  These “soft skills” will carry our kids far, and we are quite proud of the efforts of our entire school community to directly teach, reinforce, and recognize the great behavior of our kids!

The teachers in all grade levels and in all departments of the school, as well as all of our students, have worked hard to achieve these high standards.  I hope you will join me in applauding the hard work and dedication required to reach this level of achievement.  Our staff is already hard at work planning for how we will continue to support our students in learning at the highest levels possible.  We are proud of our efforts, but won’t rest on our laurels!

Celebrating the school year wouldn’t be complete without sharing our excitement about the progress on the construction of our new wing!  The classrooms are all-but-finished, and the locker room conversions are already complete!  We are so excited to be able to have all of our K-5 students back together at Leary next year, and are so thankful for the wonderful work of our Kindergarten staff in carrying the culture of Leary Elementary to the Leary Annex these past two years.

While it is exciting to look forward to summer vacation, we still have a busy month of school left, and we know we can count on you to continue to reinforce the importance of learning at home.  Even with summer right around the corner, there is important learning that continues to take place at school, and we need your help to keep your youngsters focused and motivated until the very last day!

We will be having a number of special events this month!  There are numerous field trips and Author’s Teas, as well as other classroom celebrations, planned.  I hope you will be able to join some of the fun!

We also will be celebrating the next step in our fifth graders’ academic journeys as they head to the middle school.  Please be looking for information about Moving Up Night, scheduled for June 21.  This is always a bittersweet night for our school.  We are proud of our fifth graders and all they have accomplished.  We have confidence they are well-prepared for middle school, and my conversations with Mrs. Zeh have convinced me they will have a wonderful experience at Roth Middle School.  We will miss these young ladies and gentlemen, and all they have contributed to our community, even while we wish them the best of luck in their futures. 

This year we are also celebrating the retirement of a teacher near and dear to our hearts.  After many years of dedicated service, Mrs. Patten is retiring.  We wish her a very happy retirement, and know that she leaves big shoes to be filled here at Leary.

Wishing you a wonderful, relaxing, and book-filled summer,

Warmly,

Jennifer Tomalty, Principal