Dear Parents and Families,

February is a month that we celebrate diversity and embrace friendship. As a Dual Immersion Academy, one of our thee pillars is Cross-cultural Competency. At Winter Gardens we help students build an understanding of cultural background. Throughout this month you will see a variety of school activities and engaging events that will promote how we value diversity. For example, this month all classrooms will be receiving a literacy and library collection of multicultural books that celebrate diversity and inclusion.

In addition, this month we will be having a 100th Day parade for TK/Kinder and some first grade classes. Some of our fourth and fifth grade students will be participating in a school-wide Spelling Bee. The top three students will be invited to the District spelling Bee. Our fifth grade classes will be attending a field trip to the Music Center on February 29th. We will also be having a Friendship Spirit Week from February 13-16 for students to participate (information available in the flier below). As you can see, Winter Gardens is offering our students many amazing learning and educational opportunities.

The Local Control Accountability Plan is a 3 year plan that describes the goals, actions, services, and expenditures to support positive student outcomes that address state and local priorities. The LCAP provides districts with the opportunity to share our story of how, what, and why programs and services are selected to meet our needs. Early this month we will be requesting your input via email or through a paper document you can complete at the school. We value your input and hope to have high participation. The forms will be forthcoming (check back to this newsletter for the link).

Please be aware that we are having a Student Attendance Incentive Competition. There is a flier below that has all of the information. The winner of this competition will receive a free laptop and printer. We wish the best of luck to all students that participate. You will be notified of who wins the competition at the end of the month. The computer and printer will be distributed in April 2024.

Our whole school community came together this month to support our World's Finest Chocolate fundraiser. We thank you very much for participating and helping us raise funds that support all of our grade levels have field trips, student activities, and our student celebrations. Our PTA will be having elections in March for next year's board. If you would like to be a PTA board member you must be a PTA member by no later than February 26th. Please consider being a PTA board member as next year we will be celebrating Winter Garden's 100 Year Anniversary, and our PTA will be leading us in amazing celebrations and events to help celebrate this momentous occurrence.

You can learn of other events and activities, including parent meetings, in the calendar area below and on our school website. I hope you have a wonderful February and I hope to interact with you when you visit our school.

In partnership,

Dr. Cortez, Principal