I would like to warmly welcome new and returning teachers and students to Pelham Elementary School and Kindergarten. This year we are excited to be opening our new kindergarten program located in the modular building right behind Pelham Memorial School. In addition to our kindergarten students the modular building will also be the home to the Preschool program for 3 and 4 year old Pelham students with educational disabilities. It is sure to be an exciting year with so many new students and teachers. As you may have heard we have been designated by the New Hampshire Department of Education as a School in Need of Improvement in reading as a result of our edcuationally disabled students not making the target score set by the State. As a result at Pelham Elementary we will be offering teachers many professional development opportunities to help these students meet the state's target in reading. We are also joining in a collaboration with Tufts University, Reading Consortium, to bring reading consultants into the classroom to model and coach classroom teachers on researched-based reading strategies. In addition, we have adopted a new reading series that will replace our outdated series in grades Kindergarten through grade 2 for the upcoming school year, with grades 3-5 to follow over the next two years. This reading series is called Scott Foresman's Reading Streets. We are also looking at our current schedule to see if there is additional time during the day to offer reading support to struggling students. All parents will receive a letter inviting them to attend parent nights throughout the school year where we will offer strategies and suggestions in reading to parents that can be reinforce at home. Mathmatics remains at the forefront of instruction at PES. Math Investigations continues to be the program used for K-3 students and Scott Foresman in grades 4 and 5. A group of teachers from grades K-5 have been trained this summer on math curriculum alignment and how to write common assessments. They will be meeting during the school year to develop a comprehensive mathmatics curriculum for grades K-5. In grade 5 students will be ability grouped for their math instruction based on their 4th grade NECAP, NWEA and teachers' recommendation. These groupings are flexible and students will be frequently assessed to determine the best grouping placement. The teachers and I look forward to speaking with you at our September open house and again at your parent/teacher conference in November. Please don't hesitate to contact me should you have any questions or concerns throughout the year. Thank you for your continued support.