Dear Parents,

I know it shouldn't have, but the rain on Saturday caught me by surprise. But now that I think about it, maybe it was the early afternoon sunshine that was really the surprise. At any rate I was looking in the back of my pick-up and discovered that the canopy had developed a leak. With all the rain that we have been experiencing over the past week, nearly everything that I had left in the truck's bed had gotten wet. Since the sun was shining I decided I would set things out to dry on my picnic benches and open up the back of the truck. While I was doing this I thought to myself that I might as well also roll down the window of the cab and let it air out too. After getting everything arranged and letting the dogs out, I went back inside to do a few chores. About an hour later I noticed that the dogs were barking and seemed anxious to be let back into the house. As I opened the door to let them in I discovered the reason for the barking, it was raining cats and dogs! I madly ran around the back yard closing up the truck and bringing everything inside. I soon filled the shower with various items and took a piece of carpet to the garage, all in the hopes that everything would dry eventually.

Just after dark, Linda arrived home (she had been at a class all day) and I proceeded to tell her all about how I had tried to dry everything out after discovering the leak. Suddenly it occurred to me that I had opened up and left out a toolbox. It had been raining for hours now and I knew that everything was soaked. I quickly brought the toolbox inside and proceeded to dry everything off with a towel. As I removed each item, dried it off, and placed it in the bathtub, I was amazed at what I found. There was the blanket Linda and I kept in the car when our boys were little. We used to throw it over them on our winter trips to eastern Washington. Next was the hitch we used with our old tent trailer, boy did that bring back some memories! Each item from that toolbox was like a new discovery for me. Well, I guess they weren't new, but they were discoveries never the less.

Discovering things, whether new or old, is what education and learning is all about; and it is also what we do when we share what we have learned with one another. Next week we will all have a chance to sit down together and share some things during our parent-teacher conferences (I'm sure that all our discoveries will be good ones). The conferences will provide everyone with a wonderful opportunity to reflect and focus on their child's educational experience. In addition to sharing what has been happening at school and at home, it is also a time to develop some goals for the rest of the school year.

As has been done in the past at our parent-teacher conferences, each family will be given a short survey to fill out. We do this twice a year and use the feedback to fine tune what happens at Swan School. Please complete these forms and return them to the office as soon as you can. Also, don't forget to bring your child's emergency kit to the conference as outlined in the recent "Disaster Committee's" letter.

Looking into the near future, there will be a couple of things happening on November 30. During the school day students will have their vision and hearing checked. Although this is a quick and simple process, it is important as it can help detect problems in these areas. Also on the evening of the 30th will be our Harvest Concert. This is a true "can't miss" event with all the children singing, playing recorders, marimbas, and/or violins! Another "gotta be there" event will be our next parent meeting on the 28th (it's going to be a busy week). At that meeting we will be going over some essential emergency procedures that you will need to know (we are counting on a near 100% turn out for this one). And just to be sure that the calendar doesn't hold any surprises for you, don't forget to check out our school's online calendar at http://www.localendar.com/public/swanschool it is kept up to date and includes many more details than the yearly one-page calendar that was distributed earlier.

Well, I'd better put the things back in my truck's toolbox now that they've had a day to dry out. Who knows, there may be some more discoveries waiting there for me :-)

Russ