AUGUST 2024

This month our returning students and babies came back to school. The babies have grown so much over the summer! We also welcomed many new students and babies. This year has started with a positive and engaged energy from our students and families and we want to continue this throughout the year!

We had the pleasure of hosting our families at this year’s open house, in which students and their families got to eat yummy food donated from Olive Garden, hear about our school and district and meet student’s teachers. Thank you to Olive Garden on Broadway for the generous and delicious donation! Thank you to our parent volunteers who offered their time and support to participate in School Site Council (Ali!) and the Family Engagement Team (Sabrina!).

We want our students and families to remember, ATTENDANCE ADDS UP! When students consistently attend, they are more likely to complete classwork, pass their classes and gain credit toward GRADUATION! Attendance is not only important for students, but our babies benefit from consistent and predictable rhythms and routines that come from consistent attendance as well.

In our nurseries, babies are moving, learning, cuddling, eating, sleeping and growing! Students began the year by learning about the policies and procedures in the nurseries. They later shared photos of the people who are important to their babies to create family trees. During the final week of August, students and their older infants and toddlers attended Baby Buffet! Student-parents supported their little ones to try out new foods and enjoy familiar ones. Students learned about safe ways to offer/cut/prepare food to prevent choking and heard the basics of the Heimlich for infants. The babies had a lot of fun and were able to get messy with a rich sensory experience.

Each day we have an advisory period that supports students through social emotional learning, community building and academic mentoring. Tuesdays we have our whole student gathering called Kanga Crew. For the first several weeks of this year we focused on and wrote out our commitments. Like the roots of a tree, our commitment, our vision for our life, can keep us anchored when we face obstacles, feel intense feelings and struggle to find motivation and purpose. We hope to support our students keep this commitments in mind throughout the year.

On Thursdays, students choose a group that interests them for a month block. This month students had the option to play board games, create scrapbooks and learn about infant massage techniques.

Students are busy in their classes! TAP has a new certificate program for students who are interested to become a Home Health Aide! Students can get this certificate within one year! Students in our American Government class went around the school and polled staff and students anonymously about who they intended to vote for to have hands on experience of the polling process. Students in parenting were able to conduct interviews with staff about their perceptions of parenting.

Families can always reach out to staff at TAP with questions or concerns about academics, health and emotional wellness of their student.

To contact the front office, please call 520-225-3250

• September 2nd – No School, Labor Day
  
• September 19th – Parent Teacher Conferences, Time to be determined
• October 4th – No School, Grading Day
• October 7th-11th – No School, Fall Break
• Late October – Look for a save-the-date for our Fall Village Night!