March 2025 - Posts
Good afternoon, RJ Grey Families:
We are closing in on the end of our March Madness Advisory Activities. Our final competition takes place tomorrow. You might have heard from your students about the 100 Missing Marcottes this week. A few of our teachers convinced me to share twenty pictures of myself over the years. I dug through a shoebox of photos (and some more recent digital pics) to locate some pictures that were then printed, duplicated, and have been strategically hidden throughout the school this week. Each student who finds a Missing Marcotte earns a point for their Advisory.
In my professional life as a principal, I need to be a bit of an extrovert. This can be hard for me because in my personal life, I am much more introverted. In fact, I share more with you as a family audience than I do with some of my own family! So trust me that seeing 100 pictures of myself and having a whole game centered around me doesn't feel super comfortable to me as a person. But as a principal, it has brought a level of joy and fun to the week, and has been the topic of conversation and connection that has made it all worthwhile!
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The activities in Advisory and the week-long search for the principal affect our community in positive ways. We know that when kids feel connected to their peers, their teachers, and their building, they are more likely to learn and grow. We do lots of things to promote this aspect of community in our school.
While we certainly experience many behaviors that positively impact our community, at times we experience negative ones, too. Before April vacation, we'll be speaking with each team of students to reset our expectations about community and behavior at RJ Grey. Things like running in the hallways, physical aggression, inappropriate language, and other issues have bubbled up in a way that the Admin team and many staff are uncomfortable with. To be the strongest community we can be for all students and staff, we are going to tighten up a few things. For example, we'll be more closely monitoring the length of time some students spend in the hallways, we'll prevent students from taking the "long way" back from lunch, and we'll be more strict with behaviors that push the bounds of being acceptable at school. I will share our entire message in the next few weeks. I thank you in advance for your support as we work to make the spring feel positive.
I sent a Parent Square message today to those 7th grade families who have yet to complete the course registration process for 8th grade. I also remind all 7th grade families that our Family Information Form is the only location to share any info about your child in advance of our team placement process this spring and summer. If you need to share something about your child that we should know prior to team placement, please be sure to complete the Family Information Form by tomorrow. All registration-related materials are found on our Transition Website.
Take care, and I hope you have a nice weekend,
Jim
jmarcotte
Good afternoon, RJ Grey Families:
Last Friday was 3/14, otherwise known as Pi Day. Pi (3.14159265) is the mathematical concept, with an infinite number of digits, that is the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. In some prior years on March 14th, we've had math teachers celebrate with actual pies (apple, chocolate, etc.). We've also had friendly student competitions to see which students could memorize and repeat as many digits of pi as possible. This year, Mr. Ryan's 7th grade math classes built a chain that stretched the length of our longest hallway to represent the ongoing, infinite nature of this number. Each color represented a number and students got to see how far pi would stretch. The length of the hallway and a fixed amount of paper are how much we committed to this endeavor! I'm sure students on 7 Red will remember this activity for quite a while! Thank you to Mr. Ryan for bringing some additional joy to math last week!
If you are a 7th grade parent/guardian, I remind you that I shared info yesterday about course selection. All course selection info can be found on our Transition website. The Parent Portal for 8th grade course selection is open through March 28th. If you are an 8th grade parent/guardian, the Parent Portal is also open for 9th grade course registration through Monday, March 24th. Please see the high school transition site for additional information.
Finally, as a reminder this week, several of our spring sports begin on Tuesday next week. The thought of pitchers, catchers, and the high jump excites me for spring! If your child is planning to try out for a sport or join the track team, please make sure you’ve reviewed our spring athletic information. All student-athletes must have registered with Family ID and have proof of a recent physical on file in our Health Office to try out. Having these items taken care of will allow your child to do their best at tryouts.
Take care and I hope you have a nice weekend,
Jim
jmarcotte
Good afternoon, RJ Grey Families:
I hope you're doing well. If you haven't already heard, ask your child about how their Advisory group did with Name That Tune yesterday! Mr. Zhang chose ten songs and played clips over the loudspeaker. Many advisories knew the song and artist, but calling the Main Office as the 5th or 7th caller ended up being the real obstacle to winning. My own advisory knew lots of the answers, but my fingers on the phone keypad weren't quick enough for our call to be answered. My students thought we were at a disadvantage since my office was so close to the neighboring office/DJ studio. Regardless of not winning any points, we had a good time. Our Advisory competitions will continue through the end of March with more opportunities to engage, compete, and focus on our community!
Tomorrow begins the final trimester of the year. For students, this is a chance to start fresh with new grades, assignments, and projects. If your child needs a pep talk about recommitting to homework and studying, now is the time! Please reach out to your child's teachers or counselor if you need us to reinforce a particular message.
Finally, this is a last call for placing an ad in our yearbook. Please see below for additional information:
Would you like to include a tribute to your graduating student in this year's yearbook? If so, here are the necessary details:
1. For $40, you will receive a 1/8th-page space in our yearbook, which is room for 1-2 photos and a message of pride and congratulations to your child.
2. You will design, pay, and submit everything online. We have to submit these pages for printing as they are completed, so please be sure to proof your file very carefully. Unfortunately, changes aren't possible after it is submitted.
3. When you're ready, go to this link to begin, and scroll down to find the button that says "Start Your Ad":
The DEADLINE is MONDAY, March 24, but the portal will close once we reach our maximum number of tributes.
If you have any questions, please contact our yearbook coordinator, Marc Lewis, at MLewis@abschools.org.
Take care and I hope you have a nice weekend,
Jim
jmarcotte
Good afternoon, RJ Grey Families:
I hope you're doing well and enjoying the recent warming temperatures. On the way out of our house this morning, my middle daughter Caroline said, "It smells like spring." She's right! There is a distinct smell in the air as we emerge from the dark and cold winter. The angle and intensity of the sun feel different. I have heard birds in the morning. At this morning's drop-off, I took a picture of our long-lost parking barrier that got pushed aside by the plows a few weeks ago. Its broken legs weren't visible yesterday - snow is melting, and spring is coming!
With spring comes spring athletics tryouts. If your child is interested in trying out for baseball, softball, volleyball, or joining our spring track team, please check out the information we provide on our website.
With spring also comes MCAS testing! You may remember a state ballot question in November regarding the MCAS. The outcome of that vote eliminated the requirement to pass the 10th grade MCAS in order to graduate from high school. It did not, however, remove the requirement that we administer the MCAS in 7th and 8th grades (and other years, too). No matter how you voted in November, the MCAS remains an assessment of the state frameworks. I find value in seeing how students perform because it tells me how well we've taught our content and grade-level skills! Our teaching gets better when we are able to see our students' responses to the MCAS. Below are this spring's dates for the MCAS administration at RJ Grey:
- April 8 and 9: 7th and 8th grade English Language Arts
- May 14 and 15: 7th and 8th grade Math
- May 19: 8th grade Science/Technology Engineering
- May 28 and 29: 8th grade Civics
The second trimester (on-team classes) will wrap up next Thursday, March 13th. If your child has any lingering work for trimester 2, now is the time to turn it in or follow up with a teacher. There are no class changes as a result of entering trimester 3. Trimester 2 report cards will be emailed home around March 24.
If you haven't already done so, please take a few minutes to complete the Chronic Absenteeism survey that was sent by the District (link here). Our students took a similar survey in Advisory on Tuesday. You know that we're regularly trying to improve our student attendance, and this data collection will help the Chronic Absenteeism Task Force understand the issues at play with student attendance.
I try to remain aware of our student attendance over time. My brain sometimes needs a visual, so I have been regularly updating a calendar with the percentage of students present in school on any given day. The varying shades of pink and red on the calendar below are a quick visual for me - any day below 95% gets marked with a color. We know that some early travel and some widespread illness kept more students out of school the week before February vacation. If you have any questions or concerns about attendance for your child, please be in touch!
Finally, tomorrow is Sports Jersey Day and our March Madness basketball tournament after school. We expect that lots of our students will stay to watch their classmates compete in a tournament of back-to-back games. A few things make this an ideal middle school event: it’s immediately after school, it’s wrapped up before dinner time, and it doesn’t have the social pressure of a dance or an evening event. If your child is joining us, I know they will have a great time! I also remind you to pick them up at 4:30. The pick-up can get pretty busy, so my advice is to park in our lot and let your child know where you are, rather than trying to drive through the front circle looking for them. Major thanks to everyone who has volunteered to donate snacks and drinks for the tournament!
Take care and I hope you have a nice weekend,
Jim
jmarcotte
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