August 21, 2017

Dear Families,

Welcome to the 2017-18 school year! The start of each year is an especially exciting time that brings opportunities for reuniting with familiar faces, building new relationships, establishing comforting routines and welcoming academic adventures. Concord Road School is a very special place; a learning family for our caring educators and professionals, dedicated parents and incredible students.  Our assistant principal, Jennifer Darling, and I are committed to leading the continued growth of our unique community of learners and achieving success for all students.  In partnership, we will continue to build upon our strong foundation and grow our school mission of “fostering a respectful environment that nurtures creativity, encourages perseverance and inspires motivation to learn.”  

Over the course of the school year, we look forward to deepening professional work around key areas of focus.  In the area of literacy, we will continue to strengthen our reading program and literacy support services. Thanks to a grant from the AEF, we have been able to enhance our guided reading libraries in kindergarten and 1st grade. This will support us greatly to engage our children in targeted small group instruction within classrooms.  Also thanks to the AEF, our 3rd grade classrooms will be equipped with Chromebooks for students to work with as they research, write and develop their technology literacy.  In mathematics, we will continue to strengthen our program by deepening expertise with the Investigations Realize platform and the implementation of articulated assessments that will inform instruction. To further invite creativity, innovation and passionate learners, we are delighted that our STEM offerings will evolve to include a STEM class for students in first through fourth grade where students will engage in the Project Lead the Way coding curriculum.  Our library will continue to grow as our library media center; a hub for inquiry, research and digital media integration.

Throughout the school year, we encourage you to remain closely connected to us.  Our “Tea and a Topic” events are designed for you as participatory workshops focused on areas of academic interest. Our “Coffee and a Conversation” forums are an avenue for informal conversation about school-based happenings and student learning. The many noteworthy PTA events over the course of the year invite the shared enjoyment of experiences that are distinctive to Concord Road and serve to strengthen appreciation for our wonderful community.  We welcome your feedback and questions and look forward to maintaining consistently open lines of communication.  

With placement letters scheduled to go out later this week and our first day of school just around the corner, it is officially time to finalize school supply shopping and ready student backpacks. Please remember that our morning arrival window is from 8:35 - 8:50.  Kindergarten and 1st grade students arriving by car should exit their vehicles and enter the building through the primary entrance. 2nd, 3rd and 4th graders arriving by car should enter through the clock entrance door.  Staff will be on hand to guide and assist students.  We look forward to welcoming students on September 5th. On behalf of the faculty at Concord Road Elementary School, I am delighted to welcome you to a wonderful year ahead!

In partnership,

Melissa Szymanski
Principal

Kindergarten Informal Visit and Phase In Schedule

On Thursday, August 31^st between 9am and 10am we will have an informal visit for all incoming kindergarten students and their parents.  During this time, the kindergarten teachers will be in their classrooms.  This would be a great opportunity for your child to come to Concord Road, see his/her new classroom, drop off his/her school supplies and walk around the school to become familiar with the building prior to the first day of school.

We will also have a school bus parked in the primary parking lot.  Please be sure to stop by so that your child will have the opportunity to board the school bus, learn where to sit and how to properly put on the seat belt.

As in previous years, class placement letters will be mailed out two weeks before the start of school.  Teacher-specific supply lists are posted on the Concord Road Elementary School website.

Please click here for the Kindergarten Phase In Schedule.

School Supply Lists

The school supply lists for all grades for the 2017-2018 school year can be found under the Parents tab. Happy Summer!!

Below are summer reading lists for grades k-2 and grades 3-4 to help you and your child select books for summer reading.  Research has shown a high correlation between a student’s academic success and the time devoted to reading.  We suggest you examine the books together to see which ones are appealing.  If you wonder whether a book is appropriate for independent reading, have your child read aloud from a page in the middle of the book. If he or she mispronounces a few words and/or misunderstands, then this book is more suited for the opportunity to read to your child.  There continues to be a strong relationship between being read to (K-4) and success in school.  Our lists contain many high quality illustrated books with interesting themes. Conversations about books help to build a love of reading in addition to strengthening independent reading abilities.   Summer is a wonderful time to take advantage of this opportunity. 

Best wishes for a summer full of sunshine, relaxation and great books.

Summer Reading List K-2

Summer Reading Listg 3-4

School Dismissal Manager

Please remember to sign up for School Dismissal Manager (www.schooldismissalmanager.com) by May 19th.

Starting on May 22nd, we will be solely using SDM to maintain students' dismissal plans. We will no longer be accepting written notes.

If you have problems logging into SDM please send an email to the following email address:  sdm@ardsleyschools.org.  Please do not email Mrs. DiSalvo.