Elementary Update

Dear Parents/ Guardians,

            The 2011-2012 school year has brought a number of new faces into the school this year. On August 15^th, we had a total of 131 students enrolled in preschool through fifth grade. Since August 15^th, we have welcomed fourteen new students into our elementary. We have more students enrolled in our elementary right now than we did last year at this time. If you see some of these new faces in the stores or at school, please say “hello” and make them feel like a member of our community. Along with our new students, the elementary has a number of new programs for students.

Mrs. Burgod will be introducing our students to the Spanish language. The students will meet with her twice a month the first two quarters to learn the basic skills and knowledge of the Spanish language. Starting the second semester students will again meet with her twice a month to work on 21^st Century Skills. Students will learn skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, communication, leadership and technology literacy. We have also added kindergarten, first and second grade to our computer classes this year. They will learn the basic skills to operate a computer from Mrs. Heitz. We will also continue with a number of programs we established last year.

                Our students will continue with the character development programs of “Character Counts” and “Bucket Filling.” Both programs have been extremely successful and the students continue to enjoy and learn from the activities. The club programs we will be offering again this year include art, drama, basketball and flag football. Flag football will begin in September followed by art club starting in October then basketball around the winter vacation. Drama club will begin meeting at end February or early March. As you may see, we have numerous activities for our students to be involved in. If your child would like to be involved with all of them we would love to have them participate. If he/she only wants to be involved with one or two programs, that is great too. If you are interested in volunteering with any of our club programs please feel free to call me at 426-6832 or 695-3339 or email me at matt.pollock@k12.sd.us.

Respectfully,

Mathew Pollock

Elementary/Middle School Principal, Title Directory

Ipswich Public School 22-6

All State Chorus is chosen

Congratulations to the following people who will represent our school in Sioux Falls at the end of October.  Soprano – Taylor Loken; Alto – Haley Hansen; Tenor – Seth Tuscherer; Bass – Daniel Baer

Homecoming on the way!!

The theme of "Disney" was chosen for this year's Gala Day festivities.  We challenge you to be creative with your floats and banners again this year.  The Parade will start @ 1:00 p.m. and all are invited to enter.

The coronation program will be held Monday night, October 3rd @ 7:30 pm.  We hope that you can attend and help get our homecoming week started out on the right foot.  The burning of the "I" will follow the coronation program with the help of the Ipswich Commercial Club, who will be providing hot chocolate and cookies for the spectators.

Labor Day Weekend

We inadvertently published an incorrect date in our most recent Wednesday folder.  The correct date for no school should be September 5th rather than the 6th.  We hope that this doesn't cause any confusion and we regret the error.
We hope that everyone has a safe and enjoyable THREE-day weekend.

Parent Communication

Thanks to Valley Telecommunications, we have phones in almost every room in our building.  Each teacher and administrator has a voice mailbox that they should be checking frequently for messages.  So please feel free to contact the school as often as you need.  We will be very happy to serve you or answer any questions that you may have.