Dear Ludlow-Taylor Families,
Summer is moving along quickly and I hope that each of your families continues to have a relaxing, enjoyable season. I would like to welcome all returning and new families to Ludlow-Taylor - I am thrilled to be heading into my second year as principal with this special community.
As we begin next school-year, we have exciting changes to announce. First, the playground and basketball court is finally finished and absolutely beautiful! Combined with the field and garden, our outdoor space is world-class, and we cannot wait to have students enjoy it. Secondly, based on our work from last year, along with community feedback, we have decided to focus our work this year around three key focus areas: family engagement, writing and inquiry-based learning.
With family engagement, we feel that strides were made last year around communication and school-wide community events; we want to continue improving on both. Families can continue to expect an email/online communication every Wednesday rotating between your child’s classroom teacher and me. These weekly emails will be our primary source of information along with our website, http://www.ludlowtaylor.org/. As an area of growth, we hope to improve clarity of our school event calendar by already setting major event dates for next year. Our hope is that few, if any of these dates are changed, so mark your calendars now (dates available at the bottom).
With writing, we are thrilled to be bringing Writing Workshop, a research-based, creative writing program from Columbia University, to LTES. With this program, every child in Grades K-5 will have at least 35 minutes of writing-specific instruction and practice a day. Our teachers will be receiving intensive professional development around the curriculum and teaching strategies to further push student engagement and achievement across all content areas. Special thank you to our PTO, and those that have supported, for sponsoring this curriculum and professional development.
With inquiry-based learning, we aim to create a school of problem-solvers, where students are the active investigators and teachers are the facilitators. At the early childhood level, that will mean an expanded Reggio focus based on discovery and critical thinking skills. In K-5, more of our learning will become project-based, with students solving and articulating content-related solutions that have real-world applications.
As continued from last year, our “enrichment block” will focus on social-studies, science, and now writing, with student-chosen clubs once a week. We will have a similar specials structure to last year with weekly visits to Spanish, Art, Music, Physical Education, Library and the Computer Lab, but have also excitedly added a Science Lab, where students in PK3 – 2 will be going monthly, and Grades 3-5, biweekly. Lastly, Foodprints will be returning, along with our partnership with Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
For class lists, please visit, https://goo.gl/gvJBda. Our enrollment has increased by about 40 students since the end of last school year, so we have petitioned DCPS for an additional teacher to ensure small class sizes in 1st and 3rd grade. With that being said, we are waiting to release those specific class lists until the decision is finalized. Over the next few weeks, we are going to add supply lists to the same spreadsheet. We have plenty of supplies to begin the school-year, so please do not worry if a list is not uploaded immediately.
We are incredibly excited to begin next school year with the aforementioned refinements. To kick off the year, we will be hosting a New Family Welcome at our playground on Sunday, August 13th beginning at 10:00 a.m. For families new to LT, please take this time to meet school administration and other families. For everyone else, this same date and time will be our Beautification Day, so please come out and join either way!
Enjoy the rest of your summer; We cannot wait to see everyone soon!
Sincerely,
Andrew Smith
Principal
School Communication Information:
- Website: www.ludlowtaylor.org
- List Serv: Email ltes_dc-subscribe@yahoogroups.com with your name/email/grade of student or search Yahoo groups for, "LTES_DC" to request an invite
- Principal Email: Andrew.Smith2@dc.gov
- Assistant Principal Email: Kristen.Addison@dc.gov - Principal Twitter: @LTPincipSmith
- Main Office Phone Number: (202) 698-3244
Key 2017-2018 Dates:
- Aug. 13th - New Family Welcome Day/Beautification Day
- Sept 6 (ECE – K), 7 (1-5) - Back to School Nights
- Oct 13 - Hispanic Heritage Celebration
- October 31 - Costume Parade
- November 17 - LT Thanksgiving
- December 19, 20 - Winter Concerts
- February 23rd - Black History Month Celebration
- March 8th - Pancakes and Literacy
- April 7th – LT Taste of the Arts Auction
- May 11th - Mother¹s Day Dance
- May 30, 31 - Spring Concerts
- June 1st - Father¹s Day Dance
- June 4th - PK4 and Grade 2 Step Up Day
- June 5th – Field Day
- June 7th – 5th Grade Promotion
- June 8th – Kindergarten Promotion
- June 12th - Spring BBQ/International Night
Summer is moving along quickly and I hope that each of your families continues to have a relaxing, enjoyable season. I would like to welcome all returning and new families to Ludlow-Taylor - I am thrilled to be heading into my second year as principal with this special community.
As we begin next school-year, we have exciting changes to announce. First, the playground and basketball court is finally finished and absolutely beautiful! Combined with the field and garden, our outdoor space is world-class, and we cannot wait to have students enjoy it. Secondly, based on our work from last year, along with community feedback, we have decided to focus our work this year around three key focus areas: family engagement, writing and inquiry-based learning.
With family engagement, we feel that strides were made last year around communication and school-wide community events; we want to continue improving on both. Families can continue to expect an email/online communication every Wednesday rotating between your child’s classroom teacher and me. These weekly emails will be our primary source of information along with our website, http://www.ludlowtaylor.org/. As an area of growth, we hope to improve clarity of our school event calendar by already setting major event dates for next year. Our hope is that few, if any of these dates are changed, so mark your calendars now (dates available at the bottom).
With writing, we are thrilled to be bringing Writing Workshop, a research-based, creative writing program from Columbia University, to LTES. With this program, every child in Grades K-5 will have at least 35 minutes of writing-specific instruction and practice a day. Our teachers will be receiving intensive professional development around the curriculum and teaching strategies to further push student engagement and achievement across all content areas. Special thank you to our PTO, and those that have supported, for sponsoring this curriculum and professional development.
With inquiry-based learning, we aim to create a school of problem-solvers, where students are the active investigators and teachers are the facilitators. At the early childhood level, that will mean an expanded Reggio focus based on discovery and critical thinking skills. In K-5, more of our learning will become project-based, with students solving and articulating content-related solutions that have real-world applications.
As continued from last year, our “enrichment block” will focus on social-studies, science, and now writing, with student-chosen clubs once a week. We will have a similar specials structure to last year with weekly visits to Spanish, Art, Music, Physical Education, Library and the Computer Lab, but have also excitedly added a Science Lab, where students in PK3 – 2 will be going monthly, and Grades 3-5, biweekly. Lastly, Foodprints will be returning, along with our partnership with Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
For class lists, please visit, https://goo.gl/gvJBda. Our enrollment has increased by about 40 students since the end of last school year, so we have petitioned DCPS for an additional teacher to ensure small class sizes in 1st and 3rd grade. With that being said, we are waiting to release those specific class lists until the decision is finalized. Over the next few weeks, we are going to add supply lists to the same spreadsheet. We have plenty of supplies to begin the school-year, so please do not worry if a list is not uploaded immediately.
We are incredibly excited to begin next school year with the aforementioned refinements. To kick off the year, we will be hosting a New Family Welcome at our playground on Sunday, August 13th beginning at 10:00 a.m. For families new to LT, please take this time to meet school administration and other families. For everyone else, this same date and time will be our Beautification Day, so please come out and join either way!
Enjoy the rest of your summer; We cannot wait to see everyone soon!
Sincerely,
Andrew Smith
Principal
School Communication Information:
- Website: www.ludlowtaylor.org
- List Serv: Email ltes_dc-subscribe@yahoogroups.com with your name/email/grade of student or search Yahoo groups for, "LTES_DC" to request an invite
- Principal Email: Andrew.Smith2@dc.gov
- Assistant Principal Email: Kristen.Addison@dc.gov - Principal Twitter: @LTPincipSmith
- Main Office Phone Number: (202) 698-3244
Key 2017-2018 Dates:
- Aug. 13th - New Family Welcome Day/Beautification Day
- Sept 6 (ECE – K), 7 (1-5) - Back to School Nights
- Oct 13 - Hispanic Heritage Celebration
- October 31 - Costume Parade
- November 17 - LT Thanksgiving
- December 19, 20 - Winter Concerts
- February 23rd - Black History Month Celebration
- March 8th - Pancakes and Literacy
- April 7th – LT Taste of the Arts Auction
- May 11th - Mother¹s Day Dance
- May 30, 31 - Spring Concerts
- June 1st - Father¹s Day Dance
- June 4th - PK4 and Grade 2 Step Up Day
- June 5th – Field Day
- June 7th – 5th Grade Promotion
- June 8th – Kindergarten Promotion
- June 12th - Spring BBQ/International Night
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