Good afternoon, RJ Grey Families:
I hope you have been enjoying the beautiful weather that we've had recently. I'm only hoping that we don't have to pay for it this winter. On Monday, we opened up our cafeteria courtyard as an option for students to eat their lunches. Our Phys Ed classes have been able to be outside most days, and I haven't yet needed my umbrella during the morning drop-off routine. All is good with the world!
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On my best days as a principal, I get to wander in and out of classrooms to see what our kids are learning. During my travels this morning, I was able to see 8th graders working on creating shared gifs in their Dig Lit class. Students in 7th grade Health worked together on a word search to find the names of all of their classmates in an effort to build a classroom community. In 7th grade English, students analyzed the poem, Oranges, for use of color and other imagery. And in 7th grade Math, students were practicing and learning about positive and negative numbers. My 30-minute walkthrough showed me that our students are engaged in learning lots of important things throughout their day. I hope your students happily report that they've moved past learning classroom routines, and have now entered the part of the year where they are learning and thinking about new and exciting topics!
On Tuesday, we administered the iReady reading assessment to our students. Next Tuesday, we'll give the math assessment to all students. This particular tool is helpful as we get to know your students as learners. Our mantra as a school for the past three years has been, "Building a joyful, inclusive community of engaged learners." This year, we are focusing deeply on engaged learning and all that comes with it.
At the end of September, when we have iReady data, MCAS results from last spring, and a month or so of knowing your students, we will begin working with some students in small groups during Directed Study. Over the past six months, we've been working to bring to life a Math Workshop and ELA Workshop for our students. If your child is selected to be part of one of these workshop classes, you'll hear from me. As a general description, we are going to look at our data on student learning and determine which students would benefit from some additional time with a content teacher to fill in some gaps in learning. For example, we may realize that a small group of five students would benefit from a thorough review of adding fractions. Another group may need intense practice with working with decimals. We'll select those students and have them start attending a Math Workshop during our Directed Study period for a 6-week session. The goal is to build skills and make sure students are on the path to being proficient at their grade level over time. More to come on our Workshop classes!
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Take care,
Jim