The Rewards of Reading You know how important it is to read to your children. Like most families, you want to read with your children, but somehow days can go by without you sitting down with them and opening a book. The key is to make it a priority. Here are a few suggestions to help your children improve their reading skills.

• Be a patient listener. It can be difficult listening to your children struggle while reading. But think how terribly important it is that they succeed. Don’t jump in and finish the sentence for them, no matter how slowly they’re reading. Instead, encourage their effort and let them see that you’re proud they’re reading, and not annoyed that it’s taking so long.
• Get everyone involved. The more people who read with your children, the more they’ll see that reading is important. Talk with the other adults and older children in your household and let them know that reading with each child is going to be a daily activity, and that you need them to participate.

"The Horace Mann School PTA will be electing officers for the 2008-2009 school year at the upcoming April meeting.  Please consider running for President, Vice President, Secretary or Treasurer.  Have questions about an office or the PTA?  Contact Melissa Kestner at crawkestner@aol.com.  Want to run for an office?  E-mail Secretary Amy Kortuem at amy.eide@spps.org, no later than March 15th to let her know.  Don't miss this great volunteer opportunity!"

Last Call for Reassignment, Daycare Transfer, and Elementary Transfer Sibling If you live in the Horace Mann reassignment area, have a daycare transfer, or live outside the attendance area and have younger children who will attend kindergarten next year, please contact Judy Browne. We are working with District Administration and Student Placement to deal with our attendance area change. This information will be crucial in helping us to enroll siblings next year. Thank you.

The PTA meeting on Thursday, March 13 will be an opportunity to discuss enrollment for next year, ask questions, and share your viewpoint. Deputy Chief Academic Officer Nancy Stachel will be on hand. Nancy has been working throughout the district on school and programming changes including those affecting Homecroft and Horace Mann. The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m.

Silent Auction Tickets Running Out Don’t wait to buy tickets at the door for the Silent Auction. They may not be available. Tickets are going fast. The Silent Auction is next Friday, February 29th. It is not too late to RSVP.

Last Call for Raffle Tickets Stop by the office early next week if you are still planning to purchase a ticket for the Wall of Wine Raffle.  Tickets are $10 each and there will be five winners drawn at the Silent Auction on Friday, February 29th.  Also, REMINDER...if you have checked out tickets to sell to your friends and family they need to be turned in to the office on MONDAY, FEBRUARY 25TH.  Many thanks for your participation and support of this new fundraiser!

Shy, retiring Minnesotan?  NO WAY! Brag Minnesota up for her 150th birthday!  Show your pride at our upcoming concert "Minnesota's 150th Birthday", which is March 5 at 8:45 a.m. Hopefully you have your shirt by now. If not, get moving! Shirts must be at school by March 3. Students should all wear dark pants.  If Minnesota Pridewear can't be done, wear a bright solid-colored shirt. Let’s see which class will have the greatest variety to honor Minnesota!d

Proposed Change for End of Year Class Pictures Lifetouch has a new product similar to a yearbook at a similar price to our current class picture. The PTA and Site Council were in favor. The benefits are color pictures of all students in the school bound in a nice booklet. The cost of just the book is $10. An additional $1.45 adds a color insert of popular culture and news items from the year. If you would like to see the book, please stop by the office. If you have strong feelings about this change, please let me know before the end of March.

Thank You to Biztown Volunteers Our fifth and sixth graders are preparing to run a city for a day (look for an article coming in the News/Calendar section with more details). Many thanks to the following volunteers for conducting job interviews on Tuesday, February 19 and Wednesday, February 20.