• Staff Development Day, NO
  SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS

1/6
• School Resumes
  1/19
NO SCHOOL (Martin Luther King,
  Jr. Holiday)

1/20
• FSD Open Enrollment Begins

1/23
• Variety Show, MPR, 6:00pm

1/26
• First Grade Field Trip to
  Heritage House
• School Site Council Meeting,
  2:45pm

1/27
• Parent Info Night for Seussical,
  MPR, 6:30pm

Dear Beechwood Friends and Families,
Welcome to 2015! As we begin a new year, we recommit ourselves to our school mission: "The Beechwood School community works together to ensure that each student receives a rigorous and balanced educational program in a caring environment where intercultural understanding and respect are valued. All children will develop critical skills that will allow them to effectively communicate, collaborate with peers, investigate & solve problems, and achieve their full academic and creative potential."

Standards and assessments may change, but what we value as a community remains the same. On a daily basis, our students are engaged in meaningful, hands-on learning experiences. Our classrooms are lively, active, often messy spaces where learning and creativity are the priority. This month, we will be offering tours of our elementary and middle school programs so that prospective parents can see first hand the quality of education that our students receive. Dates and times of these tours will be published on our website and in the weekly message. If you know of parents, who are interested in our school, please invite them to come see for themselves.

One of our goals at Beechwood is to begin instruction promptly each day. It is absolutely necessary to have all middle school students seated in class by 7:45am. Additionally, all kindergarten through 5th grade students should be in line promptly at 8:00am each day. This ensures that Beechwood teachers make the most of every minute of instruction. Being on time is also an important life skill necessary for future success. Please help us instill this important value in our students. We look forward to celebrating perfect attendance at the end of this trimester. Perfect attendance means that a student arrived at school on time, everyday. This is a very worthy New Year's resolution.

Let's make it a fantastic year!
Mrs. Julie Graham

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Middle School

Thirty-one of our middle school students participated in the District’s Young Writers Guild. These students met with Mrs. Leavitt and Mr. Reed during lunch meetings to learn about writing The Hero’s Journey. On their own time, they created amazing stories about real people they admire or fictional characters overcoming odds. Students were assigned mentors — published authors who volunteered to give feedback to the writers — and revised their stories for publication. We celebrated their accomplishments at the Young Writers Guild banquet where students were recognized and given the opportunity to read their stories to others. Students will participate in a book signing at Barnes & Noble in February. In the spring, students will re-create their stories into graphic novels/comic books with augmented reality, and Mr. Rovira will join us to help with the tech piece.

The 4th Grade student worked hard, yet had fun learning to play recorders. They put on a wonderful concert in December with a number of group and solo songs. We look forward to their second concert later in the year.

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