September 8, 2009

 Dear Parents and Guardians,

 Welcome Back! I am Mary Walters and I have been teaching special education for 19 years at Mitchell School. I hope everyone had a great summer. My summer was filled with home improvement projects, gardening and cheering for my sons’ baseball teams. There are new additions to our Mitchell community and I’m extremely excited for the school year to begin. I will work closely with your child’s classroom teacher to promote positive learning results.

Be sure to establish daily routines especially for completing homework assignments and reading time. Take some time to look through your child’s Mitchell School Student Planner. It is a great tool for teaching organization skills and responsibility. There’s even a book log section for your child to record his/her nightly reading. The expectation at Mitchell is for your child to read 40 books by the end of the school year. This year’s reading incentive is called “The Rhythm of Reading”.

 I am committed to your child’s academic, social, emotional and personal goals. When you have any questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to contact me by phone (773 534-7655), send me a note with your child in the morning, or send an e-mail, (mawalters@cps.edu), so we can set up a conference.

 Sincerely,

 Mary Walters