KINDERGARTEN: Happy New Year!!! The third six weeks was very exciting. We enjoyed the Christmas Carols sang by the Second Grade classes and the Educational Assistants. We would like to thank the parent volunteers for their involvement in the classroom with the following: Christmas cards and ornaments, parties, and hands-on activities. The second round of the Reading Program has begun. New groups have been assigned. Each child will begin to bring home a book to read nightly. On January 18 th the entire Kindergarten gang will celebrate the 100 th day of school. This will include activities that will reinforce numbers and counting to 100. On February 3rd, the Kindergarten classes will come together to teach activities that will incorporate several subject areas based on a winter theme.

FIRST GRADE: Can you believe that half of the year is already gone?! The first graders have been very busy this past six weeks. We are all becoming better readers every day. After Christmas break we will look forward to our benchmark testing to see how far we've come. New reading groups will begin shortly after the holidays. Martin Primary students enjoyed a musical performance by the group “The Standards” on December 14 th . Everyone was just amazed at the talent of these five young gentlemen. They incorporated a wonderful lesson for all children to follow. It takes cooperation and teamwork to be successful in life. Everyone is happy to have Ms. Lynn Gibson back with us this year. She is filling in for Mrs. Emily Perry while she is out on maternity leave. We hope everyone has a wonderful holiday and Happy New Year!

SECOND GRADE has had a great six weeks.  We had two wonderful student teachers:  Miss Rickesha Watkins in Ms. Kim Castleman's class and Miss Elizabeth Peterson in Mrs. Maggie Byars room.  We wish them luck in the future.  They will be great teachers.  We had lots of food and fun celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas.  What would we do without our parents!   Happy Holidays from Mrs. Maggie Byars, Mrs. Margie Brooks, Mrs. Kim Alexander, Mrs. Athalia Donaldson, Ms. Kim Castleman, Ms. Lori Fischer, Miss Olivia Brown, Miss Kristy Henry  and Mrs. Mary Ashlock. CONGRATULATIONS to Mrs. Mary Ashlock on the birth of the newest member of her family.  Welcome baby Tanner!

PRESCHOOL : The students in the Martin Primary Preschool class are excited about learning!   We have many new games and learning tools provided by a grant from the Weakley County Education Foundation .  We are counting sets from 1 to 10 with the number games purchased with monies from the grant, as well as learning our letters and sounds with other class resources purchased.  The students are learning to problem-solve and work together as they construct buildings and put puzzles together with the blocks and puzzles provided through the grant.  The students join me in saying thank you to the Weakley County Education Foundation for helping us learn and grow.

	Read with your child on a regular basis. Remember to help your child learn responsibility by returning her/her library book on time each week. Make sure the book is in a safe place. Your child's backpack is a great place for hix/her book.

				SPEECH NEWS
				Speech therapy is provided in our school by Speech-Language Pathologist Mrs. Bobbie Steinke. Students in her class work on practicing how to say a new sound correctly (or improving their articulation skills). Some students also work on language skills such as improving their vocabulary or using correct word combinations when speaking. We are glad to have speech therapy services available to our students.
	January 16	Martin Luther King Day (No School)
	January 24	Parent/Teacher Conferences (3-6 p.m.)
	February 17	Professional Development (No School for Students)
	February 20	All Presidents' Day (No School)
	March 27-31	Spring Break

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