It’s hard to believe 2008 is already here! Before we get too far into the new calendar year, let’s revisit some of the recent events from the last few months of 2007. We have some great highlights to share. First of all, back in early September, we had a “Welcome Back Night” rather than our traditional open house. From the feedback I received, it sounded like our parents, students and teachers really enjoyed this event and would like to see it happen again in the future. With that being the case, we plan to do it again next September.

Other successful events from October and November of 2007 include the Great American Opportunities and Scholastic Book Fair fundraisers, fall conferences, and the “opening” of our new library. The Great American Opportunities fund raiser surpassed $10,000 in profits for Kittitas Elementary this year. This is the first time we’ve crossed the $10,000 threshold.

It was also a record year for sales in our Scholastic Book Fair. We sold over $5753, and earned over $3200 in books for our classrooms and library from Scholastics Books. This has already allowed several teachers to stock up their classroom libraries with new books. This was the first year the book fair was offered in the MPR, allowing us to set up the full display of merchandise. Thank you, Leta Davis, for coordinating our biggest selling book fair to date.

I would also like to thank all the parents for participating in our fall conferences this year. We had over 98 percent of our students represented at conferences this fall. Your time and commitment to your child’s education is deeply appreciated. This is just another reason Kittitas Elementary is such a special place for our students, staff, and community.

Finally, Kittitas Elementary was given an extra reason to give thanks during the recent Thanksgiving Holiday season. Our new library was completed on Tuesday, November 20th - just two days before Thanksgiving. Fortunately, we received help from volunteers Leta Davis, Wayne and Bea Fairburn, and Mike Lowe who assisted Mrs. Boast and Mrs. Shelton with preparing our library. In a matter of one day, we went from having library books in boxes and on table tops to having them nicely displayed and organized on brand new shelves.

During the past several weeks, we’ve been able to give the Kittitas School Board, elementary staff, and the Site Council a tour of our new library. It looks super! If you would like to visit the new elementary library, please give us a call or stop in and visit us anytime.

Have a wonderful 2008!