Last Pup Press

It’s hard to believe that this is our last Pup Press issue for the year! If you are coming back to TM next year, you will receive an occasional email update over the summer, but nothing substantial until the welcome back letter in mid-August. 

If you have students joining us for kindergarten (or know others who do), please be sure to register your students as soon as possible. This ensures that we will have the necessary staffing to serve our students. You can learn everything you need to know here: https://www.seattleschools.org/enroll/.

Please check out the Summer Reading Resource compiled by our Family Literacy Connector, Trinia Washington. There is hopefully something for everyone on her list. Students should be reading at minimum 20–30 minutes per day throughout the summer to maintain the reading gains they have made this year.

Successmaker will continue to be available to your child for math practice over the summer. Setting a goal to have your child practice math skills 2–3 times per week will help them to keep their math skills fresh to be ready for the next grade level. If your child is ending the year below grade level in math or reading, it is critical that they continue to practice throughout the summer.

We are running a Summer Reading Challenge for all our students. Our Library will be open each Tuesday this summer from 4–7 pm beginning Tuesday, June 25th. Please see the TM Summer Literacy Challenge attached in this issue of the Pup Press.

In this last Pup Press of the year, I give you the current staffing configuration for our school. There are lots of conditions that could cause this configuration to change, including the addition of an extra teacher. Please know that teachers work hard on class placement decisions so that we have a balance of students in each class. There are many factors to consider in this work. As such, we do not take parent requests for specific teachers. You may choose to send an email with the type of learning environment that works best for your child to tpleybold@seattleschools.org. The deadline for this is June 28. You will learn your child’s class placement at our Ice Cream social the day before school starts on September 3 from 2:30–4 pm. If you are unable to attend, you may call our office at this time for your child’s assignment.

We have some staff members leaving at the end of this year, and I want to thank them for their service and their time at TM. We have an amazing staff dedicated to your children and they work hard! Thank you to teachers who are moving on to new adventures: Ms. Gallo, Ms. McIlhenny, Ms. Rackham, Ms. Woods, and Teacher Z. Thank you to SLP Linna Hunyh who is moving to a school closer to her home. Thank you to Ms. Melanie who will be rising to 6th grade with the student she supports. Thank you to Mr. Hawkins, our fearless Family Support Worker. He will be working with students and families at the High School level next year but promises to pop by when we need him! Thank you to Ian Morgan, who will be on leave next year. And finally, thank you and a BIG congratulations to Mr. Deron Bryant and Mr. PJ Taggart, who are leaving their positions as Instructional Assistants to take on teaching roles at new schools.

Finally, I just want to thank all of you for another great year of school. I really appreciate all the support from our parents—your encouraging words, the appreciation you showed our staff, and all the treats people sent in so that our staff felt your love! You consistently kept us inspired to make our school all it can be and to be sure we are serving the needs of our community. It is such a privilege to work with you and your children. Have a wonderful summer, and we will see you back at school on September 4th!