Good afternoon,
If you’re a regular reader, you might have noticed that I didn’t post a note last Thursday. I had planned to but with Back to School Night that night, time got away from me. I hope you found something else to read last week.
I saw many of you last week at our first in-person Back to School Night in quite a while. I recognized many of you from your older children, from 6th grade parents' night or from your cars in the morning drop-off line. There are many students I know by sight and name, and then I make a natural connection to who their morning chauffeur is. And then there are those adults who I only know by the make and model of their vehicle. A dad called the school this past summer, and as we talked, he referenced seeing me in the parking lot every morning. I asked if he drove a certain car and his “yes” helped me picture the person on the other end of the line immediately. If you were able to join us last week, I hope you had a good experience. Our teachers work hard to put together succinct presentations to give you some info about themselves, a bit about their class and content area, and likely an emphasis on how to support your learner, or where you’ll find the homework doc for their team. I hope you could feel some of the excitement and care that our teachers bring to their work every day. While our staff was a bit tired on Friday morning, the general consensus is that BTSN went well. We all appreciated the large number of you who came out to see how your children experience their days at RJ Grey.
This week, our first trimester Interim Reports went out by email to families. At RJ Grey, we use interims at the halfway point of each of our trimesters. Not all students receive interim reports. We tend to send them specifically when a grade is below a C-, or other habits including homework completion or studying could use some improvement. The first trimester is always a challenging one to gauge who needs to receive an interim. At this early point in the year, there aren’t a ton of grades yet. But teachers tend to err on the side of caution and alert families when they see something that feels like it could be improved. If you have questions or are looking for additional feedback based on an interim, please be in direct contact with your child’s teacher(s).
Last year, in this column, on at least two occasions, I asked the readers to reach out to their child’s teachers if there was a good reason to thank them or relay that their child was excited about learning something in class. I told my wife about the times I wrote about that request. This year, she has emailed my own kids’ teachers to say thank you for teaching them. She got great responses from all of them. So while my kids are only in elementary school, I know our teachers appreciate it when they hear good things from you. If you’re able, and when the time is right, please don’t be shy about reaching out with a quick note to one or more of our staff members. Your support matters a lot!
Here are some upcoming dates that will be helpful for you to know:
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Monday, 10/24: No School, Diwali
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Monday, 10/31: Halloween Dress Up Day
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Monday, 11/7: School Picture Re-takes
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Monday, 11/7: School Council Meeting on Zoom
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Tuesday, 11/8: State Election Voting in the RJ Grey Gym
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Thursday, 11/10: No School for Students - Professional Learning Day
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Friday, 11/11: No School - Veterans Day
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Monday, 11/14: Early Release at 1 pm
Take care and have a great weekend,
Jim