Good afternoon, RJ Grey Families:
Happy New Year! Whether you traveled far or stayed close to home, I hope you enjoyed some time with your families and friends over the past eleven days. My family enjoyed hanging out at home, reading some books, watching some movies, and sleeping through when our alarms typically sound in the mornings. While today certainly feels like a Monday, it has been a great reintroduction to the routine of school, and tomorrow is a Friday! However you spent time last week, I hope it was enjoyable and you are getting back into the swing of things.
Families of 8th graders should reserve Wednesday, February 12 at 7 pm for the chance to visit ABRHS and hear from administrators about life at the high school. This evening is reserved for parents and guardians. More info will be sent from the high school in the next week or so. Minuteman High School has asked us to remind you about their Virtual Family Night on January 15th from 6:30 - 8:00. And they also remind you that applications for the Class of 2029 are being accepted through Feburary 15. Please click on the links above for more information.
A short update for a short week! Happy New Year!
Take care,
Jim
jmarcotte
Good afternoon, RJ Grey Families:
As we head into our first extended vacation of the year, I want to thank you for your ongoing support of our students, our teachers, and our school. While no day is ever perfect, by and large, our students are responsible, caring, and kind young adults who come to school eager to learn. Our teachers and staff model on a daily basis what it means to work hard for a greater purpose, particularly, to meet the needs of our students. And to our family community, you support our work by sending happy, healthy kids to school every day. You respond when we need to talk about your child and when we have needs in the community - including through our recent coat drive and toy drive.
Last year at this time, I shared a poem that I had come across through some of my own professional learning. I think it still fits this year as a helpful image of what a school vacation means to many of us. As is the case with most poems, the reader can interpret parts of it how they wish. In light of the vacation and a hopeful respite on the horizon, the idea of creating space for our flames to grow stronger resonates with me. Personally, some time away from RJ Grey will help create the breathing space that will lead to a stronger fire in 2025.
FIRE
What makes a fire burn
is space between the logs,
a breathing space.
Too much of a good thing,
too many logs
packed in too tight
can douse the flames
almost as surely
as a pail of water would.
So building fires
requires attention
to the spaces in between,
as much as to the wood.
When we are able to build
open spaces
in the same way
we have learned
to pile on the logs,
then we can come to see how
it is fuel, and absence of the fuel
together, that make fire possible.
We only need to lay a log
lightly from time to time.
A fire
grows
simply because the space is there,
with openings
in which the flame
that knows just how it wants to burn
can find its way.
-Judy Brown
I hope you are able to relax with friends and family over the coming days. I look forward to the New Year and the new things that will come our way.
Take care,
Jim
jmarcotte
Good afternoon, RJ Grey Families:
I hope that some of you were able to enjoy Frozen, Jr. last weekend. I joined a packed house on Friday night and really enjoyed seeing our students perform in a wide variety of roles. The singing, dancing, acting, and work of the crew were all awesome! Congratulations to all of you who had children as part of the production. We know it's really a family commitment, so thank you!
Our Trimester 1 Report Cards were emailed on Tuesday. I hope you use the document as it is intended - a report on the work from the first trimester of the year. If you have questions about a grade or comment, I ask you to start by talking with your child and certainly follow up with the teacher if a question remains. We will issue report cards again in March and late June.
If you are interested in ordering a Yearbook for your child, now is the time! The yearbook includes all students - not just 8th graders. Purchase this limited edition time capsule of your child's year and help them remember it all! Click here (https://www.yearbookordercenter.com/index.cfm/job/13545) to order. If at any point you need to input a school code, please use "13545" (but clicking this link above renders that unnecessary!)
With the upcoming vacation and holiday season, I know some of you have considered or have already made plans for giving gifts to teachers. My own wife has planned all the small tokens of appreciation for my kids' teachers, dance teachers, bus drivers, etc. However, I want to be clear that no RJ Grey teacher expects gifts, and no family should ever feel obligated to provide one! I would recommend, if you have a few moments, that a kind email or word of thanks to a teacher goes quite a long way, whether around the holidays or at any time of the year! If you are committed to giving a gift, please know that there are state ethics laws that limit gifts that teachers, coaches, and staff are permitted to receive. School staff cannot accept gifts from a single family that amount to $50 or more in value for the entire school year.
We have a full week next week, with an early dismissal at 11:10 on Friday, December 20th. If your travel plans include heading out of town before next Friday at 11:10, and your child will miss school at some point, please be sure to be in touch with our Main Office. While your child may tell their teachers that they’ll be out, it is important to let the Main Office know too, so that we know who to expect each day. You can write to us at [email protected].
Take care, and have a great weekend,
Jim
jmarcotte
Good morning, RJ Grey Families:
I hope you are doing well and that you enjoyed a nice Thanksgiving weekend. We have returned to a busy schedule with two weeks until our December vacation.
We are in the process of collecting items to support our community. Our annual coat drive is open through next Friday - we are collecting coats, mittens, hats, and scarves in good condition to donate to the AB Resource Center. We also run a toy drive each December. New, unused, unwrapped toys may be dropped off in the front lobby through next Friday. Thank you for any support you offer in these two drives.
I look forward to seeing some of you at tonight's Frozen, Jr show. And if not tonight, please join us on Saturday or Sunday if you are able. Here is a brief glimpse into some behind-the-scenes of the show. This weekend's shows are tonight and tomorrow (Fri and Sat) at 7 pm, and Sunday at 2 pm. Tickets will be sold at the door for $15 (adults) and $10 (students). We accept cash or checks.
Next Wednesday, we'll be completing two student surveys during Advisory. One is a District-based survey about school climate. Over recent years, we've been using our own survey tool to ask specific questions about our ongoing work, so we'll have students provide us with some important feedback then. I'll be happy to share some highlights of the responses later this year.
The District is working on developing a Vision of a Graduate. Please click here to contribute your thoughts to the question: What skills and experiences prepare our students for success? Families are encouraged to give feedback on this survey several times before December 12. Thank you for your help with this important work.
If you'd like to dive deeper into this work, sign up for an opportunity to participate in a workshop that will help us finalize our Vision of an Acton Boxborough Regional School District Graduate!
On Wednesday, January 8, 2025 from 4:00-7:00 p.m., we will be hosting a Vision of a Graduate workshop where we will examine the results of the ThoughtExchange, and talk more about the opportunities that await our students after their time in ABRSD.
The result of this workshop will be the development of an ABRSD Vision of a Graduate that delineates the skills and knowledge that our community most values which will then be explicitly mapped onto our continuously evolving curricular experiences for our students. For the workshop, we are seeking participants in our community with many perspectives who represent:
-
8 current high school students
-
8 alumni who graduated between 2017 and 2023
-
12 family members or caregivers
-
15 educators
-
12 community members
-
12 people from businesses or trades
-
12 people from higher education
If you are interested in being a part of the workshop on January 8, please share your interest using this FORM. We are seeking a representative group of participants and will use a random selection process if there is more interest than we can support.
Take care, and have a great weekend,
Jim
jmarcotte
Good afternoon, RJ Grey Families:
I hope you are doing well. As I am writing, it is Thursday morning and I am sitting in an ELA class, covering for a teacher who needs to be somewhere else for a bit. The students are quietly working on their "quick write" assignment, where they must describe a tradition that they follow and its purpose. A few students were stuck on what to write, so we did a quick brainstorm where students talked about annual travel plans, who cooks what for Thanksgiving, and their favorite ways to watch a sports event. I know that these students all have important and memorable traditions that matter to them - getting them to write about these traditions is the work of the day. The tradition I mentioned during the brainstorming is that my family always gets our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. Given how late Thanksgiving is this year, we may break our tradition and get it this weekend! Our usual go-to spot for picking out a tree has permanently closed, so why not break two traditions this year?
A tradition at RJ Grey is that we host grade-level assemblies in the gym on the day before Thanksgiving. This student-only assembly features our band, chorus, and orchestra students as they each perform a piece or two. Along with a few student speakers, a turkey drawing contest, and an all-out relay race with a frozen turkey, pie, cans of cranberry sauce, and potatoes on spoons, the assembly is a great time! We ask students to wear colors representing their team (7 Red, 8 Blue, etc). We then dismiss at 11:10 before we head off to hopefully enjoy some time with family and friends over the long weekend.
Our annual school musical will be coming up right after Thanksgiving, with shows at 7 pm on December 5, 6, 7, and at 2 pm on Sunday, December 8. Frozen, Jr is sure to be a great show. I hope you can join us to see our student actors, singers, dancers, and crew. Tickets will be sold at the door or after school on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 2:45 - 3:30 pm. Tickets for adults cost $15 each and $10 for students. We accept cash or checks.
If your student takes part in any of our after-school clubs or activities, please remember that we are collecting a $50 activity fee for participation in an after-school program. If you've already paid this fee, thank you. If you haven't paid yet, you'll start hearing from us next week about the fee. You are welcome to send in cash or check with your student to their club advisor, or you can pay online. Thank you in advance for your help.
Finally, if your student is applying to a private school for next year, we want to make sure you are aware of the procedures for doing so. Please find the procedure for doing so HERE on the Counseling website. The first step is completing the counseling department's form at least 20 days before the school application is due. When completing the private school's application, be sure to list our Registrar's name and contact info (Kerry Lewis, [email protected]) for transcript requests.
Take care and have a Happy Thanksgiving,
Jim
jmarcotte
Good afternoon, RJ Grey Families:
I hope you are doing well. This will be a brief message this week.
We have several different cycles of grading and changing classes here at RJ Grey. At the end of October, we moved from Quarter 1 to Quarter 2 for our PE and Health classes and many of our Grey Block electives. Hopefully, your children have talked positively about their new classes. In late January, we'll wrap up our Exploratory classes, which are classes like Art, Digital Literacy, and Engineering, for example. We are flexible in scheduling our off-team classes to make sure that students are exposed to a wide variety of options in their classes and try to keep the classes long enough to lead to significant learning. Coming up before Thanksgiving (Nov 26), we will end Trimester 1, which is for our on-team classes. These on-team classes (think Math, English, etc.) will lead to students earning a letter grade on a report card, issued in December.
Over the past few weeks in Advisory, we have been talking about gratitude. Last week, we watched a brief video that highlighted the importance of gratitude. We've challenged students to keep track of things they are grateful for. Things like family, friends, and pets at home were common among our student responses. I continue to be grateful for a very hard-working set of teachers, a really kind set of students, and a supportive set of families. Thank you for your continued support of our work at RJ Grey.
Take care and have a good weekend,
Jim
jmarcotte
Good afternoon, RJ Grey Families:
Judging by the volume of cars in our parking lots on Tuesday, I'm sure many of you came to RJ Grey to vote this week. While you were voting, our staff was in our school working collaboratively and learning together. The professional learning day is a great opportunity for us to work together on our collective teaching practices. Teachers worked with their departments on developing common assessments, analyzing data about student learning, continuing to develop our workshop groups, and more. This professional day was one well spent.
Today and yesterday, our 8th graders participated in team assemblies where they met the principal and other staff members from Acton-Boxborough Regional High School. The high school presentation highlighted course offerings, extracurricular activities, and the general school experience at AB. While the start of ninth grade is still far off, we use the fall to expose students to their options for high school. We will talk more about high school courses and registration in the spring, but in the meantime, check in with your 8th grader to see what they learned about ABRHS this week.
This week, I have reminded students about our expectations for after school at RJ Grey. As your child makes plans for their afternoons, it is helpful for you to be aware of what we expect, as well. Here is the text of our morning announcement: A reminder to all students about staying in the building after 2:36 each day. Only students who stay for extra help with a teacher, or for a club or activity, are allowed to stay at school after 2:36. Any other student without a school obligation must leave school at dismissal. Any student whose extra help or club has ended will remain in the Library to be picked up. Additionally, students are not allowed to return to school after leaving to be picked up or take the late bus. With limited supervision after school, we need to be mindful of the number of students in the building at that time. Thank you for your help with this.
Over 100 of our students and staff have already given hours of their time to put together our fall musical, Frozen, Jr. Our shows will run December 5 - 8. I hope you'll mark your calendars for that weekend and purchase tickets when we release info about them in the coming weeks. I am regularly amazed by what our students are able to do in our theater productions - I hope you'll spread the word about our upcoming show - it will be a great one!
We have published our winter athletic season tryouts on our school webpage. If your child is interested in basketball or cheer, please make sure to review the tryout procedures and pay attention to two important things: Sign up on Family ID, and have a recent physical exam on file with our Health Office. Our winter sports tend to bring out a lot of interested players and we usually need to make cuts in order to create appropriately-sized teams. Thank you for helping to set expectations if your child is planning to try out for a team. We are still in the process of finding an interested and qualified coach for our Cheer Team. If you, or someone you know, would be interested in talking about this opportunity, please reach out directly to Jon Duclos, our athletic director, at [email protected].
There is an interesting webinar from Cartwheel Care next Wednesday evening. I invite you to learn more about it and possibly attend:
Title: Can We Talk? How to have conversations with kids & teens about mental health
Date: 11/13/2024
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: Zoom webinar
Registration: LINK
Description: Join Cartwheel and The NAN Project for a free live webinar that will cover mental health questions that kids & teens have but are often afraid to ask, and suggestions for how caregivers can safely and appropriately respond when mental health topics come up in their homes.
Happy Veteran's Day to all, especially those who have served our country. I appreciate your service.
Take care and have a good weekend,
Jim
jmarcotte
Good afternoon, RJ Grey Families:
I hope we all collectively remember what a beautiful night this will be for Trick or Treating. If you are spending any time outside with your children, I hope you enjoy it, because not too many years ago, we did this in the rain and the snow! Several years ago, after I was allegedly a bit too rushed on the sidewalks, and not very patient, I was assigned the task of handing out candy at home. I do think my rushing and organizing on the sidewalks of our town was directly related to the amount of time spent making sure the RJ Grey hallways are safe and orderly. Tonight, my vampire, witch, and Descendants character will go through our neighborhood with my wife and neighbors. I'm just as happy to hand out candy at home. I hope everyone has a safe night tonight and a Happy Diwali for those who celebrate this weekend.
As you know, we have no school on Tuesday, November 5th, to allow for voting in our Gym. I hope you all take the chance to vote on Tuesday. Our students will vote in our RJ Grey Mock Election on Monday. They will have the chance to vote for the presidential ticket of their choice and they'll be able to vote on the five ballot questions, as well. Every four years, our Social Studies department organizes this mock election where students enter their precinct (the library), check in by giving their name, and are given a ballot to vote privately. If our tallying goes quickly enough, we'll announce the winners before the end of Monday. We study civics in seventh grade Social Studies, so when we get the chance to make those studies feel a bit more real, we do!
Over the next few days, we are going to be a bit more firm with students about the use of our building after 2:36. We have found that some students have been leaving school, heading to Starbucks or other locations, and coming back inside to wait for the late bus or a ride home. The intention of having our building open after school is to support those students who stay for a club, extra help, or for some other school-related reason. Any student who does not have something to do immediately after school needs to go home after school. In this period between sports seasons, we will work with students (and you) to reset expectations on necessary reasons for staying at school. Socializing, unfortunately, is not one of those reasons. Thank you for your help with this.
We had a very successful season of fall athletics. Our soccer, field hockey, and cross country teams had great seasons! We have published our winter season tryouts on our school webpage. If your child is interested in basketball or cheer, please make sure to review the tryout procedures and pay attention to two important things: Sign up on Family ID, and have a recent physical exam on file with our Health Office. Our winter sports tend to bring out a lot of interested players and we usually need to make cuts in order to create appropriately-sized teams. Thank you for helping to set expectations if your child is planning to try out for a team.
Finally, some of our families will receive a request for information from the RJ Grey school nurse in order to update their child’s school health records. This may include proof of vaccination or a copy of a physical exam signed by a doctor. Please send the requested documentation to the school nurse (Amanda Frank, [email protected]) as soon as possible. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to our Health office.
Take care and have a good weekend,
Jim
jmarcotte
Good afternoon, RJ Grey Families:
It was a real pleasure to see so many of you at last week's Back to School Night. One teacher told me that she felt like a Broadway actor who performed both a matinee and an evening performance! I hope you got a sense of how much our teachers care about our students in the short time you were able to spend in their classrooms. At RJ Grey, we do not have "parent conferences" in the traditional understanding. In order to preserve class time without additional early releases, we rely on team meetings during the day for individual families to connect with a team of teachers in place of traditional parent conferences. If you wish to make an appointment with your child's team, please be in touch with your child's counselor. If you ever need to connect with a specific teacher, please reach out to that teacher directly.
In the past 24 hours, I have received two very thoughtful messages from families about some of our staff members. I thanked each sender, validated their positive feedback, and sent the message to the noted staff members. A few times this year, I will likely remind you that this type of thanks goes way further than any Starbucks or Dunkin' card would. As a staff, we are intentional about sending positive messages about your students when we can. It is so appreciated when families do the same. Your thanks do not have to be elaborate or flowery - a simple thank you to a teacher who gets talked about at the dinner table or on the ride home from a sports practice is always well received. I feel lucky to be able to work at RJ Grey with incredible colleagues who bring their best every day. Thank you for your ongoing support as we work to build a joyful, inclusive community of engaged learners.
Some of our families will receive a request for information from the RJ Grey school nurse in order to update their child’s school health records. This may include proof of vaccination or a copy of a physical exam signed by a doctor. Please send the requested documentation to the school nurse (Amanda Frank, [email protected]) as soon as possible. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to our Health office.
No child in Massachusetts should be denied access to immunizations due to an inability to pay. We have compiled a list of Healthcare providers in our area, many of whom provide access to free or reduced-cost care. You can locate that list here. Thank you in advance for your help and cooperation as we all work together to keep our students healthy and in the classroom.
Take care and have a good weekend,
Jim
jmarcotte
Good afternoon, RJ Grey Families:
I look forward to seeing many of you tonight at Back to School Night. As a reminder, schedules were sent via Parent Square last Friday. If you didn't see that message with an attached student schedule, no worries. We will have printed copies of schedules in the lobby tonight. First period starts at 7 pm and you'll spend 10 minutes in each of your child's classes. There will be plenty of printed maps and adults to direct you to room locations. We hope to see you tonight!
Several times this fall, we have had parents or guardians arrive to dismiss their child after receiving a text message from their child stating they did not feel well. If you ever receive a text message like this, please don't get in the car. Instead, please call the RJ Grey Main Office. We train our students to seek out helpful adults in our building, including going to our Health Office when they're not feeling well. Our nurses will try and offer support and will give you a call if a child needs to be dismissed. Please know that your child should not have their cell phone on them during the day, so if you are getting texts from your child, please (1) do not respond and (2) later, mention that they should be checking in with their adults here at school with any issue. You can always call us and if you need to speak with your child, our Main Office can help facilitate that! Students are always welcome to use the phones in the Main Office to call their families. Thank you for your help with this.
I mentioned last week that Minuteman High School visited our 8th graders. Soon, ABRHS will visit as well. Some of you may be considering a private school for the 8th or 9th grade. If that is the case, please visit this link to learn more about how our Counseling Office helps with private school applications. There are deadlines and expectations for what we share on your child's behalf. Please check out our site or reach out to your child's counselor with specific questions.
As we approach the end of the month, I wanted to remind you or make you aware that we do not dress in Halloween costumes during the school day at RJ Grey. If you hear any excited talk about your child’s costume, please make sure they are referring to wearing it to family or community events, where I hope they have some fun!
Take care and have a good weekend,
Jim
jmarcotte
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