Good afternoon,
I hope you are all doing well. Today was a fun day at RJ Grey - we hope most days feel somewhat fun! Today was our second Team Community Building Day for three of the four 8th grade teams. 8 Red chose to postpone until next week based on some outdoor activities they had planned. Our teachers planned fun and different activities that allowed students to work together in groups, laugh, engage, and enjoy some community and joy - both of which are central to our work this year. I saw many fun activities: build the tallest structure possible with 30 toothpicks and small marshmallows; play a full-class trivia game with wagers for particular categories; get pairs of marbles from one end of a room to another by transporting them only through PVC pipes! We also had lower key activities that included coloring, board games, and creating paper sunflowers. I have huge appreciation for our teachers who planned these activities with the goal of some community building and some joy. The 7th graders have their Team Community Building Days tomorrow. I’m equally excited to check out what’s on tap for them.
We are deep into planning for next year, both here and at the high school. Seventh grade families heard from me by email today regarding course registration for next year. Our deadline for completion is Friday, April 1. The 8th grade families heard from me earlier this week, and your deadline for course registration is this coming Monday, March 28. Our counseling staff is a great resource for any questions related to course registration. Please feel free to reach out.
And finally, we begin our MCAS testing next week. The full schedule for ELA testing is listed below. While we hope it’s always the case, a good night’s sleep before MCAS, along with breakfast at home (or in our cafe) are a good way to start the day. While we are not a school that overuses the results of our MCAS assessments, we recognize that the test is supposed to test the standards and skills we are teaching, and we’d like to see our students perform well on it. We always find ways to learn something about our instruction and where we can improve based on the assessments. And my biggest request - please make sure your child charges their Chromebook the night before each test. You’ll help save us all a bit of panic!
Here are some upcoming dates to be aware of:
-Friday, March 25: 7th grade team community building day
-Monday, March 28: 8th grade ELA MCAS
-Tuesday, March 29: 8th grade ELA MCAS
-Thursday, March 31: 7th grade ELA MCAS
-Thursday, March 31: Student trivia event after school
-Friday, April 1: 7th grade ELA MCAS
Take care,
Jim Marcotte