Hello Carnelian Cardinal Families!

Happiest of new years to everyone and welcome to 2026! As we return from winter break, our Cardinals will get back to doing things "The Cardinal Way" and we will hit the ground running with our monthly Flag Assembly the first Friday back to celebrate our Cardinals of the Month. The flag assemblies will be indoors due to the cold temperatures in the morning. Academic Needs Notices will be sent out this week or next as well. Believe it or not, we will be celebrating the 100th day of school on January 15th and there will be no school on Monday, January 19th due to MLK Jr. Day. Our students will also be taking the I-Ready Diagnostic this month so that we have an opportunity to see their growth in ELA and Math from August until now.   Principal Williams has been doing her best to have one on one chats with students to talk about their One Word Goal for the year, as well as their I-Ready Diagnostic Growth.

January also brings cold and flu season, so please check your email with Cardinal Updates for information on when to send your Cardinal to school and when to keep them home due to illness. Remember - students can take advantage of short term independent study if they are unable to come to school. This allows them to complete work and not receive an absence on their attendance record.

Our new character trait focus for the month is Perseverance. Perseverance is pushing yourself to work through challenges and obstacles. Students will be participating in weekly Character Strong Lessons that explicitly teach students what it means to show perseverance and we give reminders in morning announcements as well. Please help us support our Cardinals by continuing to build on their character education.  Each character trait has a color and the color for Perseverance is Pink!  Cardinals can wear pink to school on Wednesdays and our Student Senate will keep track of the classrooms with the highest participation! 

Keep your eye on social media, emails and the District app for more specific information about the upcoming events as the year goes on. If you have not downloaded the Alta Loma School District app for your phone, please download it as soon as possible. You can select Carnelian Elementary as your school and view anything that is posted to the app. We want to communicate information out to our community as efficiently as we can, so please check us out on Instagram too! You can follow our school @carnelian_cardinals and Carnelian PTA @carnelian_pta. Don't forget to check your email for the monthly Cardinal Updates.  Embedded in the newsletter is a google form so that the community can give shout outs to our Carnelian staff.  Thank you for working together to create a positive environment for our Cardinal students.  Have a GREAT Cardinal Day!"

Autumn Williams,
Proud Principal
Carnelian Elementary