• August 22nd- First Day of School! Yahoo/Boohoo Coffee @ Avery Arrival
  
• August 26th - Back to School Picnic 11am-1pm at Deer Creek Park (more information below)
• September 4th - No School | Labor Day
• September 8th - Outdoor Movie Night @ Avery (volunteer to help below!)
• September 9th - WGSD Family BBQ 11am-12:30pm at Ivory Crockett Park
• September 11th - Late Start
• September 19th - Picture Day!
• September 22nd - Fall Party @ 1:45pm (more information soon)
• September 23rd - Progressive Dinner (PTO Event - more information soon)
• September 25th - Late Start

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https://www.webster.k12.mo.us/site/Default.aspx?PageID=4130&PageType=20&DomainID=89&ModuleInstanceID=6914

Good Morning!

The First Day of School is almost here! For the past six-seven days, the staff at Avery have been engaged in Professional Learning to ensure the best supports for our students. While these learning experiences have been rich and meaningful, absolutely nothing compares to the feeling we all have on the first day of school as our students walk into our building again after the summer. The students are the center of our work and truly bring us joy and happiness! We cannot wait to see you all!

A few reminders as we head into this first week of school:

• Staff will assist in directing students into the front entrance. Parents may walk their student up to the entrance, but will not be allowed into the building.
• We encourage families to drop off students using our carpool system, rather than parking and walking up to reduce the amount of adults congregating at entrances.
• Parents who need to speak with the office, counselor, teachers will need to do so by phone or email.
• Upon entering the building, staff will direct students to class using the marked signage. Students who need to eat breakfast will be directed to the Cafeteria for breakfast and then will be sent to class. Students arriving late will be given a take and go breakfast

• Classrooms will have an assigned location on the grounds for dismissal. A map of locations will be coming soon.

• Adventure Club, and Art Care will dismiss at 2:43, K-2 will dismiss at 2:46, and 3-5 will dismiss at 2:50.

• Teachers will be expected to walk their students out each day and wait with them until all are dismissed.

• Parents may walk up to their student’s assigned class location, but will not be allowed into the building. Walkies will be used to communicate parent arrival.

• Kdg and 5th will dismiss out front

• Parents will drive South on Bompart in front of school

• 1st and 4th grade will dismiss from Atalanta

• Parents will drive West on Atalanta on the side of school

• 2nd and 3rd grade will dismiss on the Blacktop

• Parents will pick up from the blacktop

• Breakfast is available for all students from 7:40-7:50 in the cafeteria. The cost for breakfast this year is $1.85 full price.

• Lunch is available to purchase on a daily basis. Students have the option of two or three different meals each lunch period. The cost for lunch this year is $2.90 full price.
• Breakfast/lunch menus can be found here: Menus
• To add money to your child's account - please click here.

• Directions and Free and Reduced applications can be found here: Free/Reduced Application

Recess

• It is our goal to get students outside for recess as much as possible. Please view this chart. We typically use this as a guide when we are determining outdoor/indoor recess. We advise you to please send your child to school dressed for the weather.

We are all SO excited for a great 2023-2024 school year!

Please reach out if you have any questions,

Hannah Peterson, Ed.D.

Building Principal

Introducing ParentSquare

We are excited to announce that we adopted a new form of school-to-home communication at Webster Groves School District called ParentSquare.

This unified communications platform is designed to keep parents and guardians informed and encourage greater engagement and connection with us. It provides a safe way for parents, teachers, school leaders and the district to:

• Send and receive school and class information

• Share pictures and files

• See calendar items

• Sign up to volunteer

• Schedule parent-teacher conferences

• and much more, all in one centralized place!
  
  

Signup is not required to receive communication from the district, school or teachers.

Learn more about ParentSquare here

Thank you to those who have already donated to the Fund-a-Teacher campaign! Our teachers are hard at work getting their classrooms ready for the first day of school and we'd love to help them out!

Donate Today:

Our Parent-Teacher-Organization (PTO) has so many fun ways to get involved and meet other families! Click here to see some that are happening soon!

This year our Avery special schedule has shifted to an ABCD day format. This shift will evenly distribute the specials across the year so they are not missing one special over another. Each classroom teacher will communicate with families about their ABCD schedule. Please see the link below for the letter day which will correspond to your child's special for the entire year.

Enrollment is open for all third grade students in Webster Groves, regardless of what plan they chose for their child. Our class sizes are limited to the first 18 to enroll for each session. If we have a significant number over 18 to enroll in a school, two teachers will be assigned to the school and we will take the first 36 students.

SIGN UP LINK HERE

It is important that we have the most updated contact information for each family. K-12 families can update their family profile online here.

Beginning last school year, the Webster Groves School District added late start days to the school calendar.

Late start days will allow additional time for our teachers to use data and collaboratively plan to continue to address the needs of all of our students.

The schedule for late starts is below:

Late Start Supervision Program - 7:40am-8:50am

School Day Arrival Begins - 8:50am

School Begins - 9:05am

Families who need help with student supervision on late start days can participate in a program available at each building. On Friday, July 28th the district sent out information for families to sign up for the late start supervision program. Registration will remain open until August 7th. Please see this email for additional details.

Members of the Avery staff will manage the Late Start Supervision Program, including instructional aides and substitute teachers. Families who participate in the morning Adventure Club Program will automatically be enrolled in the Late Start Supervision Program.

Late Start Dates for the 23-24 School Year:

• September 11th
• September 25th
• October 9th
• October 23rd
• November 13th
• November 27th
• December 11th
• January 8th
• January 22nd
• February 12th
• February 26th
• March 11th
• March 25th
• April 8th
• April 22nd
• May 13th

For additional information on the late start program, please check out our district website: https://www.webster.k12.mo.us/domain/4244

Come get to know incoming Kindergarten students at Avery! Popsicles will be provided. Please note, students and families will only have access to the Avery playground and not the building.

• Sunday, August 20th, 3:30pm @ Margaret Park

Starting this year, we are shifting our classroom parties to better reflect our curriculum. Instead of hosting parties on holidays that some may/may not celebrate, we have decided to shift classroom parties to recognize seasonal changes. This aligns nicely with science units on seasons and/or seasonal changes. Please note, other elementary schools in our district have or will be making this change as well.

This upcoming school year we will host classroom parties on:

• Friday, September 22nd - Fall Party 1:45pm - 2:30pm (first day of fall is on Saturday, September 23rd)

• Thursday, December 21st - Winter Party 1:45pm - 2:30pm

• Thursday, March 14th - Spring Party 1:45pm - 2:30pm (first day of spring is on Tuesday, March 19th)

We will continue to maintain our standard that was established this school year that any food item brought in for the classroom party will be sent home with students for parents to determine if it is something their child can consume.

In addition, we are going to be requiring adults to RSVP for our classroom parties so that we can ensure the safety of our students and staff during parties. This will allow us to pre-sign in adults using our Raptor system. In order to sign into Raptor, we will need your license. Once you are signed into the system, we can pre-print your badge and send it home prior to parties. If you have not signed in previously, you will need to add extra time prior to the party so that we can get you signed in. We will send the RSVP form for the fall party out closer to the date.

We thank you so much for your partnership and understanding in this switch.

Hannah Peterson, Ed.D | Principal

Aaron Winkler, PhD | Assistant Principal

Arrival from 7:40-7:50 AM

• Bompart Avenue

• Carpool drop-off only in front of school – parents to remain in vehicles with staff members assisting students

• Families walking students to school will say goodbye at the external doors

• No parking during arrival

• Staff members will supervise at the curb

• Marshall Avenue

• This entrance will be utilized for bus arrival

• Atalanta Avenue

• We strongly encourage families to travel only from Bompart towards Glen to alleviate congestion and increase safety

• No parking on sidewalks

• Staff members will supervise at the curb

Dismissal 2:50pm-3:00pm

• Bompart Avenue

• Kindergarten and Fifth grades will dismiss out front

• Atalanta Avenue

• First and Fourth grades will dismiss along the side

• Blacktop

• Second and Third grades will dismiss on the back blacktop

• Back Parking Lot

• Staff parking only

• No entrance or exit from 2:20-2:50

To qualify for direct distribution to students and families, the
information must be:

• district-sponsored information
• something from a group affiliated* with the district.
• curriculum-related, as determined by the principal, including programs, events, contests and other activities.

*Affiliated is defined as a group recognized by the Board of Education and working

If you are a non-profit organization that doesn't qualify for direct distribution to students and families, you can contact Derek Duncan (duncan.derek@wgmail.org) who is our Director of Communication and he will ensure that your flyer is posted on the community electronic bulletin.

If your information fits the above criteria, you can make a submission to theaverypulse@gmail.com

Submissions are due on Thursdays at 5pm

Location: 909 North Bompart Avenue, Webster Groves, MO, USA
Twitter: @avery_allstars