September Family Newsletter

A Message from...

Mrs. Kuruzar

Dear Families,

We're delighted to share that our first month of the school year has been a positive experience for everyone. A big thank you to all the parents and guardians for your support in helping the students settle into their new routines.

Smooth Start to the School Year

Your efforts—whether it's punctuality, participation in school events, or uniform purchases—have been invaluable. It's your support that makes a difference in your child's educational journey.

Back to School Night Recap

We're pleased to report that our Back to School Night was a success, attended by approximately 85 families. If you missed the event, please contact your child's teacher for any updates or information you might need.

What's Happening in September at Emma Donnan

Family events, start-of-year assessments, Scholastic Book Fair, Introduction of fall clubs, Picture Day

After-School Clubs

We're excited to announce that over 100 students have enrolled in after-school clubs for the fall. Confirmations will be sent out the week of September 4th. Limited spots are still available, so if your child is interested, please contact me for availability.

We're looking forward to a wonderful September and hope to see you at our upcoming events.

Best regards,

Leah Kuruzar
Director of Engagement

Important Links

August in Pictures

Book Fair

September 11 - September 14

The Scholastic Book Fair is back! The fair will run from September 11th to September 14th. Scholars will tour the fair with their class and be able to make a wish list. All funds raised from this event come right back to support our school. Families can also donate spare change in the Main Office to help scholars purchase books.

Family Literacy Night

September 14 - 5:30 - 6:30

Enter at Door 10

Mark your calendars to join us for our Family Literacy Night! This event will provide families insight into our DIBLES Assessment. You will gain an understanding of where your scholar is performing with different literacy skills and how you can best support them. We will also have our Scholastic Book Fair Open for shopping!

Adelante La Fiesta

September 30th 10 AM - 12 PM

Enter at Door 10

We invite you to participate in our Latinx/Latine/Hispanic Heritage Month celebration! We will celebrate the Hispanic culture with food from different Latin countries and live music. Bring the whole family to join in on the celebration. Please complete the registration form if you bring a dish representing your country. We ask that you bring enough food for approximately 25 people.

K-8 Homework Expectations

Homework can be a valuable tool to develop the following in scholars:

• A sense of personal responsibility
• Building the culture of scholars taking their education seriously both inside & outside the classroom
• Allow families to see what students are working on in school
• An opportunity to practice important academic skills
• Develop the habit that will be essential for them to master to be college-ready.

Scholars will receive homework on Mondays of every week and homework will be due on the Friday of that week. Scholars are expected to complete homework each week, which counts as a completion grade in our grade books.

School Uniforms

All scholars are required to wear the school uniform. Scholars will begin to receive incentives and consequences for uniform compliance.

Tops must be a BRANDED Emma Donnan or Adelante School t-shirt, long sleeve shirt, polo, sweatshirt, 1/2 zip.

All scholars must wear the appropriate uniform bottoms. This includes: blue, black, blue jean, khaki shorts or pants. Bottoms MUST not have holes and be appropriate length.

The following items are not acceptable: sweatpants, joggers, leggings worn as pants, crocs, sandals, slides, biker shorts or athletic shorts.

Attendance Reminders

Being on time and present 100% of the time is key!

Our academic school day starts at 7:30 AM. When scholars are late or absent they are missing important learning. Please ensure that your scholar is on time and present every day!

Scholars that have strong attendance are eligible to participate in athletics and incentives throughout the school year.

We know there are times when scholars have appointments or are just ill. If you are able schedule appointments around non-academic times (lunch/recess) or after-school hours, it will ensure that students are not missing instructional time.

Family Advisory Council

Thank you to all that attended our Family Advisory Council Meeting in August! It was great to see new faces and get insight from families. Here are the next steps from the meeting:

• Increase Academic Support at Home: We will be launching an Academic Page on our school website this month that will provide a one-stop shop for families.
• Increase Opportunities for Families to be Involved in the School: Each quarter, we will share a sign up for volunteers. See below for the sign-up for quarter 1!
• Increase student field experiences (field trips): Planning field experiences for all grades so that we're out and about!

We hope to see more new and familiar faces at our next meeting on October 17th at 5:30PM!

The Commons

A part of being one of the only schools in the area to provide fresh, from scratch breakfast and lunch each day is to capture feedback from scholars throughout the year. To learn about this, we are working with researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine to evaluate student and family satisfaction with the school food program. Scholars will take their first survey of the year soon.

We will NOT share any information that would identify individual students. Click the buttons to read the study information sheet for more details. Info in Spanish and English.