Saddle Up for Success 2024-2025

Mustang Families,

It was a great first week! I was able to get to know so many students by name already in just the four days we were in school. I can't wait to be able to greet each child by name in the upcoming weeks. It has been such a pleasure getting to meet families, as well.

The first days of school are structured in ways that our staff can begin to build their classroom communities and our school can become more cohesive as a group. Structures, routines, and expectations are taught, practiced, and reinforced to establish a safe learning environment. In addition, we are facilitating the STAR Assessments and other curricular screeners to determine student and instructional needs. This structure allows for students to transition into their full time school schedule and allows those first steps for students to feel connected to their peers and the staff at MacArthur. We are out of the gates and saddled up for a successful year at MacArthur Elementary!

With the implementation of the new traffic patterns within our parking lot, we have had some revisions that needed to be made in other aspects of our day. Please see the above picture for reminders about our new procedures (they were also included in last week's newsletter) and please see the additional updates below:

• Those getting dropped off for breakfast should arrive no sooner than 7:30am and should be dropped off using the NEW car rider procedures. Walkers who are having breakfast can use the car rider door to enter or the main door.
• Students who are NOT eating breakfast should arrive no sooner than 7:45am as supervision is not in place until then. At 7:45am, students will be let in at that time to wait until the 7:55am bell to dismiss from class.
• If families or visitors need to access the building during arrival time or any other time throughout the day, please use the regular procedures by buzzing in for access into the building and office.
• Kindergarten families have received separate information to use for the rest of next week as we work through our half day schedules for arrivals and dismissal. Once kindergarten starts full days, all traffic patterns mentioned above will be used for K-5 students.
• The doors for arrival close at 8:00am. If you arrive after this time, please park and walk your child to the main entrance door and buzz for access to the office.

August 16: Skyward Conference Sign Up

• See below for a helpful tool that will help you sign up if you are unfamiliar with accessing Skyward to schedule conferences.

August 23: Parent Teacher Conferences from 8:00am-3:30pm

• Please see below for details!

August 26: Kindergarten begins full days

August 30: No School-Professional Development for Teachers

September 2: No School-Labor Day

August 19th: A Day August 26th: A Day

August 20th: B Day August 27th: B Day

August 21st: C Day August 28th: C Day

August 22nd: D Day August 29th: D Day

August 23rd: NO SCHOOL August 30th: No School

Parent Teacher Conferences are coming up fast! In USD 207, we provide time for parents to meet with their child's teacher early in the school year to allow for open communication that will allow us to best serve students from the very start. On August 23rd, each family is asked to attend a scheduled conference between 8:00am-3:30pm. Classroom teachers will have their available times shared through Skyward and families are asked to sign up for a time. Although children can attend this conference, this first conference session is really for parents and guardians to relay pertinent and helpful information to their child's teacher to set their child up for success.

Our goal is to have 100% of our families attend. Please see below if you need help signing up for a conference in Skyward.

Below you will find the presentation that was shared with our new families last week, but it's a great resource for ALL families as it shows an overview of our school and the day! This presentation can be accessed by clicking the PDF document below. This presentation provides great information about arrival, dismissal, lunches, school spirit wear, volunteering, and more!

As week 1 wraps up, families should have receive a reminder letter about the USD 207 Preschool Program. If you did not see this come home in your child's backpack, please click below.