Colder days are here! Let's break out the blankets and hot chocolate and enjoy these brisk days of fall. We have had a very successful start to this school year, in large part to our amazing Mariner community. Please read on to learn about upcoming school events and what your little Mariners have been up to these last 9 weeks.

November 23rd-25th- Thanksgiving Break-No School

December 8th- Winter Chorus Concert & PTA meeting

December 19th-January 2nd- Winter Break

January 16th-MLK Holiday-No School

Hi! I'm Diana Bowling and I truly enjoy teaching PE at our school, where the value of including physical activity and nutrition in a child's education is fully appreciated by our families and teachers!

I grew up in Alaska, so I love every time it snows here! Sledding and skiing are two of favorite outdoor activities! I have 3 children that attend Perry Harrison, and my husband is a school administrator in wake county. I'm in my 8th year at PHS, but in my 20th year of teaching PE in North Carolina. My teaching goal is to expose our students to as many physical activity and sport options as possible throughout the year. My hope is that they'll discover a few that they truly enjoy and want to experience outside of class as well...and that's where a lifetime of physical activity begins!

Using the QR code below, please take a moment to view the Perry W. Harrison Elementary School counseling program vision statement, mission statement and annual calendar for the 2022-2023 school year. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact Leann Muñoz, school counselor, via email at lmunoz@chatham.k12.nc.us.

Chatham County Schools is continually seeking to partner with stakeholders across the county to ensure educational success for all students. One part of this effort was the creation of a Parent Advisory Council, where representatives from schools across the district could come together to learn about district initiatives, ask questions, and offer feedback. School representatives are tasked with sharing information from these sessions with the wider parent bodies at their schools, seeking input from those parents, and then returning the feedback to district leadership.

Each Parent Advisory Council meeting focuses on a different priority from the One Chatham strategic plan (which you can learn about through this video), and the topic of the first session was Student Health & Safety. Slides from the first session and additional resources regarding student health and safety are attached. The topic of the next meeting will be Facilities and Infrastructure. You are invited to share your input and questions on these topics for PHS Parent Advisory Council Representative, Julie Ricker, to take back to the next meeting. The form on which to share your feedback can be found here. Please submit your responses by the end of January so they can be compiled ahead of the next scheduled meeting in February.

Parent partnership is valued within Chatham County Schools, and staying well-informed and taking advantage of opportunities to share questions and ideas are great ways to be involved in your child's education. Thank you for your participation!

During the April 2021 legislative session, North Carolina legislators passed an act to modify the implementation of the Read to Achieve legislation to attain statewide reading proficiency by the third grade. This legislation prioritizes the need for systemic and explicit reading instruction in the early grades (PreK-5) and reinforcement of these practices in the higher grades. It also reiterates the need to provide additional support and offer intervention techniques for struggling students. This student-centered legislation will ensure children develop the skills and techniques needed to become successful readers, through proven, evidence-based practices.

How will this be accomplished? The state is requiring all PreK-5th grade teachers to complete LETRS training. Developed by Dr. Louisa Moats and leaders in the field of literacy, LETRS teaches the skills needed to master the foundation and fundamentals of reading and writing instruction—phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and written language. It is an intensive two-year professional development plan that requires teachers to both understand the theoretical side of reading and apply their learning to daily classroom instruction (bridge to practice).

Our teachers have been hard at work learning and practicing the new skills they learn in LETRS. It is now very common for teachers to make connections in what they are currently doing in the classroom to what they learned the day before in their training. While this requirement is lofty, I do believe our teachers will have a deeper knowledge of the science behind reading when all is said and done.