Hello, I cannot believe that we are back into the swing of things here at Whitehall Elementary.  As with other years, I find myself asking where has the summer gone.  I hope all of you were able to find time to spend some quality time with your little ones during our time out of school.  I was able to find some time to camp and enjoy my family throughout the summer.  The furthest away I traveled from Whitehall was Champaign Illinois, and if you have ever been in that part of the country you know that it is hot and flat.   During the time I spent down there, I realized that I had never seen so many soybean and cornfields in my life.  It was neat to experience, but I was happy to get back to the mountains and the smell of pine.

This year we have some changes in the elementary.  It will be the first year we are implementing the Reading Mastery program in our 3^rd through 5^th grades.  I am excited to see it in action throughout our elementary and with our high quality teaching staff, it should truly benefit all students in our building.  We also have a brand new mathematics series throughout our k-5.  It is called MyMath and it like Reading Mastery is also a researched based program that puts focus on fundamentals that will build a solid learning base for our students. 

The summer janitorial crew has been working efficiently on our grounds and they look great!   We were able to get our parking lots refinished and painted as well.  Another change to the security of our campus is the addition of automatic door locks.  These door locks were added to our main doors on district buildings and will lock and unlock between passing periods.  In order to enter the building during class time you will need to come to the doors by the main office and Mrs. Sullivan will buzz you into the school.  This mechanism will help us monitor visitors and hopefully curve HS/MS tardiness as well.

August 31^st is right around the corner, so if you have not done so stop by and see what supplies your students may need and the teacher they are assigned.  Thank you for raising the best students in the elementary!  I look forward to seeing all of them shortly.