Welcome to the 2012-2013 school year at Seguin Elementary! I hope you enjoyed your summer vacation and are ready to begin the new school year. I am very excited to be named principal at Seguin Elementary and I look forward to our continued success!

At Seguin, we feel that focusing on instruction, getting students engaged in the learning process, and maximizing our learning time can continue to accomplish this success. We will teach the TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills), our state-mandated curriculum, and make sure that our students are prepared for state and district assessments.

As parents, you are our partners in your child’s education. We ask you to join us in making learning a priority. These are some ways you can help:

• Get your child to school on time. Our day begins at 8:10 a.m. Your child must be in the classroom at that time to not be counted tardy. Traffic is always heavy in the morning. Please leave home in time to allow for this.
• Make sure that your child does his or her homework. Homework is given for a variety of reasons, primarily to reinforce skills already taught in the classroom. It is not busy work, but a valuable learning tool.
• Check your child’s folder or agenda when it comes home. These are the tools that teachers use to keep you informed and that you can use to communicate with teachers.
• Read with or to your child every night. Reading is a skill critical to the mastery of all other subjects. As with any other skill, the more it is practiced, the better it gets.
• Practice those math facts! Although we work a lot on problem-solving in math, students must know the facts in order to get the problem correct.
• Encourage your child to practice the character traits we will be practicing each week. We will work on becoming boys and girls of character by following the six pillars of character: respect, responsibility, trustworthiness, fairness, caring, and citizenship. Each week we will be emphasizing a pillar of character. It will be listed on the monthly calendars sent home, so you will know what we are working on each week.

We are looking forward to a great year at Seguin Elementary. The staff here at Seguin is all excited about the challenges and rewards we know this year will bring. We look forward to working with our students, parents, and community members this year!

Sincerely,

Catherine Bridges, Principal