Dear Families,

Welcome to Shannon Ranch! We look forward to an exciting year of providing an outstanding educational experience for your child. We take pride in the academic program we provide our students, as well as the enrichment activities that are also available to your child. We will have intervention, acceleration and enrichment built into our day. This is very exciting as not only will we be able to meet the needs of every student at our school, we will be able to accelerate and extend learning as well. We want every student to feel connected to Shannon Ranch Elementary School.

Student achievement is always our main focus.  To that end, we have high academic content standards that we expect every student to meet or exceed.  We want our students well prepared for middle school when they leave Shannon Ranch.  We have the State assessment, Smarter Balance Assessment Test, District assessments in English/ Language Arts and Mathematics, and common assessments in all curricular areas to measure how well students are performing and how well we are teaching the state standards.  Our teachers collaborate, plan daily lessons and units of study based on the content standards.  

We also want our students to become independent learners and problem solvers who know how to access information. In the complex world we live in, where we are often faced with information overload, it is important that students know how to locate, retrieve and use information for a variety of purposes in a variety of ways. Our classrooms have the most current technology with projectors, document cameras and computers to stay current with our changing technology needs. A computer lab is also available to our students during the day in our Library/Media Center.

We believe that while school should be a happy experience, students should work hard.  To be successful, students must be able to read fluently and read for meaning.  To read well, students must practice.  We ask that you have your child read at home every night.  Research tells us that the more children read and can talk about what they have read; the higher they will perform in school.  The habits that students develop now will last them a lifetime.  
We are very active with student activities, school volunteers and our Parent Teacher Association (P.T.A). We welcome and invite your assistance and participation with school activities during the school year. Contact numbers of the P.T.A. Board/Committee Members are provided in this handbook.  Lists of the calendared events planned for the year are also included as well. The calendar pages contain important dates, holidays, and minimum days.  Please keep this handbook to refer to throughout the year.   
We look forward to getting acquainted with all of the families we serve.  If you are new to our school, be sure to stop by the office and say hello. If you have questions, please call and ask us.  We will work with you to make your child’s school experience an excellent one. Shannon Ranch is a school for students to learn at high levels and have fun too!

Sincerely,
Dori Bingaman