Dear
Parents and the Burr District Family,
I’d like to take a moment to thank all of our parent and community
volunteers who help out our school. Burr District Elementary would
not be the same place without your support. Whether you come into
the classroom, help cut out projects at home, or pass around the fundraising
forms to family, friends and coworkers, you are a vital part of the work
we do here to help raise the future citizens of our country. I begin
each assembly by thanking you through your children for the money that you
have raised to allow us to bring enriching cultural arts programs to our
students. Some of you mentor, some come in and run math and reading
centers, and some of you read to our classes. Many help out with our
PTO. It is not always easy. Volunteers often need to miss work
or time with your family. We appreciate your efforts. This month
we honor three volunteers at the Connecticut Association of Schools’ Parent
Volunteer Recognition Banquet as representatives of all of you. I
wish I could bring you all, but we are limited to three: Annette Danaher,
tireless president of our PTO, will be representing the work that the Organization
does for our children, and Kristen Powers and Paula Drake will also be honored
as representatives for the classroom volunteers that help out daily in our
classes and allow our teachers to spend more time working individually and
in small groups with our students. Mrs. Powers also painted our mural
in our cafeteria which honors all of our volunteers at our school. Please
stop by and look at all of the names up on the wall.

In March we will be continuing our reading initiative, “Pig out on
Reading.” As I am writing this, Farmer Minor and his pig, Daisy,
have not yet visited us. I imagine I will be kissing the little hog. I’m
not exactly sure why, but that is just what principals do when there is
a pig around. I’m happy to pucker up after the amazing effort
your children have done in just the first few weeks of our reading challenge. In
case you have not heard, our students have already read more than 2000 books! Check
our progress on the windows of our school library.
The second “event” will be the Connecticut Mastery Test, taken
by our third through eighth graders. It began with at practice test
on Thursday, which your child brought home that night. Then our testing
will continue Tuesdays through Thursdays for the next three weeks, generally
for about 1 hour in the morning each day. We ask that you help your
children get a good night of sleep, eat a good breakfast, and make an extra
effort to come to school on time. If they do not arrive before the
testing begins, they will have to wait in the office until the class has
finished the exam for that day. If you are interested in learning
more about the CMT, please refer to my CMT primer here on our website.
Have a wonderful March,
Eric Larson, Principal
2007-2008 - Start time: 8:30 a.m. End time: 3:15 p.m.