Grey Matters
A weekly blog by RJ Grey's principal Andrew Shen

Recent Posts
November 2018 - Posts

Hi Everyone,


I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving Break.  Our family had a pretty relaxing and enjoyable few days, even with the time that we spent in the Emergency Room on Saturday night.  The visit to the ER was, fortunately, purely a precautionary measure for my wife who, from this day forward, will never again wear a certain pair of slippery socks while walking down our basement steps.  Although our stay at the ER sadly didn’t involve any contact with Dr. Benton, Dr. Carter or anyone else from Cook County Hospital (see photo to right), we did spend a good bit of time with, no joke, Nurse Jackie.  Not the one made famous by actress Edie Falco, but ours had quite a bit of character nonetheless.  I admittedly didn’t make the greatest first impression with Nurse Jackie when she initially entered the room to find Melisa standing (the pain in her lower back made standing more preferable), and yours truly kind of, maybe, possibly, lying on the gurney.  In my defense, Melisa didn’t want to lie or sit down, and we’d been waiting for a good bit of time when Nurse Jackie first appeared. If you found that to be a feeble excuse, Nurse Jackie agrees with you. It’s been many years since I have visited an ER, and so I found myself digesting quite a bit about the physical setting and trying to better understand what was (and wasn’t happening) based primarily on the time I spent in the 1990s watching episodes of ER on Thursday nights.  


What ended up being a three hour stay with long stretches of waiting did give me an opportunity to think about our surroundings and make some connections between hospitals and public schools, which isn’t too much of a stretch given that both are at their core committed to serving and supporting all walks of life.  For example, I noticed that in our room there was a blue phone that was a direct line to a service that provided language interpreters for patients and ER staff who require translation of information. While the situations we encounter at schools are typically not as urgent, our District has definitely been working on identifying more readily available translation and interpreter services for our families when it comes to meetings at school, and making sure everyone has access to the same information.  I immediately felt a bit jealous and wondered if a similar service was available to schools (and if so, fearing that the price tag is prohibitive). There were also a few moments during our stay where I felt a bit more vulnerable and more at the mercy of someone else than I might usually feel. I don’t think this was because the staff was unwelcoming (they were very kind), but simply due to being unfamiliar with the norms, protocols, and rules that governs and regulate what happens, by whom, in what order, and for what reasons.  Thinking about this a bit more, I started to wonder if and when there might be times that any of our families have felt similarly in relation to their experiences at RJ Grey, not because of anything we might have said or done, but because in our world there also exists -- often with good reason -- layers of rules, best practices, policies, and obligations that might guide our approach to different situations. It’s been on my mind since our visit to the ER, and was at the very least a helpful reminder that not everyone enters RJ Grey with a shared body of knowledge or understanding, and the importance of continuing to find ways to help all of our families navigate and engage with our school more comfortably and confidently.  My hope is that more often than not each of you feels like you’re provided information and guidance that’s helpful and useful, and that there’s at least one person at the Junior High you can reach out to when there is a question or concern.


Here’s a few updates for everyone as we prepare for the next few weeks of school before the Winter Break.  


A friendly reminder that our first round of Parent-Teacher conferences are scheduled for Thursday, December 13.  Families who requested conferences have begun hearing back from Katy Frey or Anne Chandler with confirmation of their conference schedule.  Those who requested a January conference time may or may not have heard yet from our Office, thanks for your patience as we first finalize conference times for December 13 and December 18.  A reminder to all families that for the December 13 and December 18 conferences, all students will be dismissed early at 11:06am.  The normal bus routes will run at that time and available to students.  Please keep these dates in mind when considering after school plans for your student(s).  


The Fall Trimester closes this Wednesday and report cards will be distributed on or around December 10.  A reminder that starting last year, report cards are emailed to families as a PDF document, and any email address that is listed in a student’s Emergency Card will receive a copy of the student’s report card.    


Starting this week thru December 7, RJ Grey will be collecting toys this holiday season to donate to local families.  Our teachers and students have coordinated this Toy Drive as an annual holiday effort, and it’s always been a wonderful opportunity to offer some holiday cheer to children in and around our community.  Toys must be new, unused (and unopened) and may be dropped off in the collection box in the main lobby. All toys will be donated to families in the Acton, Boxborough, and surrounding towns.  If you have any questions, you can email Gabrielle Berberian at [email protected].  


The annual RJ Grey musical is just around the corner! The students are working hard on this year’s production of Annie and we’re looking forward to another performance that showcases our students’ talents.  Five performances are scheduled for Thursday, December 6 (7pm), Friday, December 7 (7pm), Saturday, December 8 (2pm and 7pm), and Sunday, December 9 (2pm).  Tickets are $15 and are now available in the Junior High Main Office, and will also be sold at the door prior to each performance.  ABSAF holders are entitled to two free tickets and must pick up their tickets from the Main Office prior to the performance date.  This is always a great family-friendly event and we hope to see many A-B families there.  

Tryouts for our Winter Sports get under way this week.  Please review the Athletics Website for information and to review the tryout schedule for each program.  Please remember that the process for requesting a waiver for the athletics fee should be submitted to the Athletic Director’s office.  Please contact Assistant Principal David Lawrence ([email protected]) with any questions.  


Before everyone went their separate ways last week, we held our traditional Thanksgiving assembly, which is always the first all-school gathering of the year.  As usual, this assembly featured and was led by our students, starting with our Student Council officers (Jefferson Wu, Grace Lee, Eli Jarsky, and Anish Mudide).  Along with great performances (as usual) by students in our Band, Chorus and Strings programs, our assembly also featured speeches by three students who submitted entries for this year’s speech competition.  Many thanks to Sarang Bajwa, Ava Hjorth, and Meghan Lawson for their heartfelt words and reflections.  


Finally, I want to re-share one final time a message about the District’s continued work around a proposal to build a new elementary school. Here’s the information about a series of community forums scheduled for later this week:


As you know, the Acton-Boxborough Regional School District (ABRSD) has been conducting a feasibility study to evaluate a potential new elementary school.  The preferred option is one building that would house two elementary schools and the district preschool.

The School Building Committee is looking for input on the siting of the new schools and would like to invite members of the community to a public forum.  Three potential sites have been identified:

Gates property - Douglas, Gates and PreK

Douglas property - Douglas, Gates and PreK

Conant property - Douglas, Conant and PreK


Two community forums will be held in the RJ Grey Junior High library:


Tuesday, November 27 at 7:00 pm

Thursday, November 29 at 7:00 pm


If you have questions, please email [email protected].  


Have a great week, everyone.  Welcome back.


Cheers,

201408111403_0001.tif




Posted by ashen  On Nov 25, 2018 at 6:55 PM
  

Hi Everyone,


With Thanksgiving on Thursday, we have a shortened week with an early release on Wednesday (dismissal is at 11:06 am).  On that day, we will have our annual Thanksgiving Assembly.  This assembly traditionally includes a few speeches by students, and performances by the school band, string ensemble and chorus.  When I prepared for this assembly in my first year as Principal (seven years ago), it brought back all sorts of memories of my own Thanksgiving experiences as a middle school-aged student and I shared some of those memories in that year’s pre-Thanksgiving edition of Grey Matters.  I have since re-posted it every year because Thanksgiving is, after all, a time for creating and maintaining certain traditions.  Given the continuing and ever-growing diversity that has evolved in our two communities, I hope some of what I share resonates with many of you in one way or another.  


When I was younger, Thanksgiving had very little to do with extended family, as most of our relatives were a few thousand miles away.  For my sister and I, Thanksgiving dinner was an event celebrated with just our parents, so it often felt like a lot of work for just another Thursday night dinner.  Having grown up in Taiwan, my parents didn’t experience Thanksgiving until they moved here for graduate school, and along with preparing the “traditional” turkey and sides, my parents wanted to include items more familiar to them [side note: check out this recent article in the Washington Post that addresses five myths about preparing turkey on Thanksgiving].  As a result, we had many a Thanksgiving where, next to the mashed potatoes, sat a plate full of pork dumplings; and next to the canned cranberry sauce, there was a bowl filled with a rice dish prepared by my dad. When I was thirteen, having soy sauce and turkey gravy on the same table really bothered me, mostly because it was different from what I understood and assumed to be the proper and traditional way to celebrate this holiday.  For me, it meant we weren’t fitting in and continued to make us different at a time when I wanted to be anything but. This narrow obsession of mine also probably contributed to an inexplicable lifelong craving for Stouffer’s Stove Top stuffing and a preference for canned cranberry sauce.  Once that adolescent desire to fit in faded, I began to appreciate those dinners through a different lens - one that focused on the reality that the food my parents made was really good, that we had much for which to be thankful, and that every family has different twists on how celebrate Thanksgiving- and it’s those unique variations that are at the heart of any tradition. This lifelong obsession with stuffing and the idea that there isn’t a single way to properly celebrate Thanksgiving is why this 2017 article, Thanksgiving Stuffing (or dressing) is the dish that best reflects America’s diversity”, caught my eye.  


As I got older, I also came to discover that our approach to Thanksgiving was definitely more manageable than some of the other family “traditions” I have now heard about from friends and colleagues, and have myself witnessed when spending time with my wife’s extended family (most of whom live near or around Rt. 128).  Little did I realize how fortunate the Shen family was to not have to wrestle with deciding which relative slept in what room during the holiday, who was in charge of making sure the loose cannon uncle didn’t upset guests with his boorish political commentary, and preparing for however much criticism advice one was to receive from his or her in-laws for the entire day.  Whatever twist you and your family have planned for your Thanksgiving Break, and whatever you plan to eat, I hope you all find some opportunity for a little rest and some good company.  


Here are some updates and reminder for this week, and to keep in mind when we return from the Thanksgiving Break:


Over these past several weeks, many students have also been victims of a sick bug and I am hoping that some time apart later this week will help with clearing out some of the germs that have been traveling back and forth within our community.   If your child does become ill, please keep in mind the District’s guidelines about returning to school: students should stay home if they have a temperature of 100 Fahrenheit or above, and should not return to school until their temperature has been normal for at least 24 hours (without assistance of Tylenol/Advil).  For stomach aches, vomiting, and diarrhea, students should stay home until symptoms have resolved for at least 12 hours.


On a related note - keep those tissue box donations coming!


Another reminder that the Fall Trimester closes on Wednesday, November 28th (right after Thanksgiving).  Report cards will likely be sent to families around December 10 -more on that when we get closer to that date.  


7 Red’s annual Coat Drive continues, so if you have any coats (for adults or children), they can be dropped off in our Lobby.  


The tryout schedule for Winter Sports (basketball and cheerleading) has been finalized and is available for viewing by clicking here. Students who plan to try out for our winter sports need to make sure their Family ID account is completed, and updated physical form has been submitted and reviewed by our school nurse.  Tryouts for many (Girls Basketball) start the Monday we return from Thanksgiving Break so please be sure to have all of your documentation (and pick up arrangements) set in advance.


The annual RJ Grey musical is just around the corner! The students are working hard on this year’s production of Annie and we’re looking forward to another performance that showcases our students’ talents.  Five performances are scheduled for Thursday, December 6 (7pm), Friday, December 7 (7pm), Saturday, December 8 (2pm and 7pm), and Sunday, December 9 (2pm).  Tickets are $15 and are now available in the Junior High Main Office, and will also be sold at the door prior to each performance.  ABSAF holders are entitled to two free tickets and must pick up their tickets from the Main Office prior to the performance date.  This is always a great family-friendly event and we hope to see many A-B families there.  


I want to re-share a message you all should have recently received from the Superintendent’s Office regarding the District’s continued work around a proposal to build a new elementary school.  This endeavor is, to use New England slang, “ a wicked big deal” and I would encourage residents to participate in the process.  Here’s the info again:


As you know, the Acton-Boxborough Regional School District (ABRSD) has been conducting a feasibility study to evaluate a potential new elementary school.  The preferred option is one building that would house two elementary schools and the district preschool.

The School Building Committee is looking for input on the siting of the new schools and would like to invite members of the community to a public forum.  Three potential sites have been identified:

Gates property - Douglas, Gates and PreK

Douglas property - Douglas, Gates and PreK

Conant property - Douglas, Conant and PreK


Two community forums will be held in the RJ Grey Junior High library:


Tuesday, November 27 at 7:00 pm

Thursday, November 29 at 7:00 pm


If you have questions, please email [email protected].  


Finally, for the Thanksgiving Break, I wanted to offer an important reminder to families that there will be no homework over the vacation period.  Instead, we hope students and families will use this upcoming holiday period as an additional opportunity to cultivate other parts of their family's life, be it in the form of leisure and social activities, or simply quality time with each other without the added stresses of school assignments.  We look forward to seeing everyone back next Monday.  


Have a great week, everyone.


Cheers,

201408111403_0001.tif


Posted by ashen  On Nov 18, 2018 at 2:26 PM
  

Hi Everyone,


Last December was the first time I shared with families information about vaping (also referred to as “Juuling” after the most popular brand) - which involves the use of electronic cigarettes. More on what that is in a moment.  By June, I felt compelled to revisit the topic because of the trends being reported in the news, as well as having had to address a handful of incidents that involved vaping at RJ Grey.  Since that time, we actually haven’t encountered the increase in vaping-at-school incidents that we were bracing for, and were a bit worried about. That’s certainly been a bit of a relief and we are well aware that the ease with which individuals can mask/hide use of e-cigarettes is a major feature of this growing problem and we don’t want to be naive to the possibility that there could indeed be students at RJ Grey who are exposed to and/or are using e-cigarettes and simply successful at not getting caught.  In the recent release by Emerson Hospital of the results from last year’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey which was taken last Spring by students in grades 6, 8, and 9-12 at A-B and other surrounding communities (11,000 students total), 28% of high school-age students reported having used e-cigarettes, along with 9% of middle school students in participating towns.  It is clear that our community isn’t immune to this national trend amongst young people, which the FDA recently declared an epidemic.  My motivation for returning to this topic via Grey Matters is not to incite panic amongst the parent population, but I also don’t think it would be an overreaction on my part to strongly encourage all of our families to more fully educate themselves on vaping/Juuling and to take that next step of having a conversation with their kids about this important health issue.


OK - so what are e-cigarettes and what is vaping/Juuling?  A really good 2017 Boston Globe article on this subject included the following: “Electronic cigarettes are devices that utilize stored electricity to heat a liquid into vapors, which are then inhaled by the user….the liquid can be anything from a flavored water-type mixture to liquid nicotine to THC, the principal active element of marijuana.”  As you can see in the above photo, most e-cigarettes look like a really long thumb drive, and are in fact often charged through a USB port. This new terrain is complicated by the fact that current technologies make them more readily available, usage is easier to mask, and marketing of the devices includes “fruit flavors” that offer the perception that vaping is a safe and risk-free endeavor.  That’s where a good bit of education and messaging to counter those beliefs can hopefully prove helpful amongst our students. To that end, our Health and Life Skills classes have updated their lessons on substance use and abuse to include information about e-cigarettes and vaping, and we devoted a portion of a recent staff meeting to providing our faculty and staff with a bit of a primer on this subject so they can also support our school’s efforts.  At home, the conversations you have with your children about your expectations can be influential, and at least your kids would then know that you’re aware of what’s going on despite your/our incredibly old age and surprise them given our tendency to be unfamiliar with all youth-oriented fads. And those conversations don’t have to be of the fire and brimstone variety. You might enter it by asking them what they’ve heard or know about it, and use what they share as entry points for including additional information and perspective about it.  Along with the above Boston Globe article, here are some resources that can help you with your conversations:


Teen Vaping: What You Need to Know by the ChildMind Institute

A Resource Page on Vaping by the Massachusetts Dept. of Public Health

A short piece on CNN (a YouTube video) about vaping and teen use

A Resource Page by the American Academy of Pediatrics


As we develop more familiarity with this topic, we’re thinking about additional opportunities to help families learn more about vaping and e-cigarettes.  Right now we’re considering a brief evening presentation in partnership with our School Resource Officer, or folding this topic into other conversations that might be planned around the release of the most recent Youth Risk Behavior Survey results.  We’ll keep you posted when those plans are more developed. In the meantime, I hope the above information is useful for all of you.


Here’s some updates and reminders for the next few weeks:


The Fall Trimester closes on Wednesday, November 28th (right after Thanksgiving).  There will likely be end-of-trimester assignments and assessments this week and next, so you might want to check in with your child(ren) about what is on their plates between now and the Thanksgiving Break.  


7 Red’s annual Coat Drive continues, so if you have any coats (for adults or children), they can be dropped off in our Lobby.  


For the Thanksgiving Break, we have a half-day of school on Wednesday, November 21 with dismissal at 11:06, and then we return to school the following Monday, November 26.  


Winter sports will begin shortly after the Thanksgiving Break. Our winter sports program includes Boys and Girls Basketball teams (with separate teams for 7th and 8th grade), and Cheerleading. The tryout schedule will be posted on the RJ Grey Athletics page next week with start dates planned for shortly after the Thanksgiving Break. Starting this summer, we have shifted to an online signup for our athletic teams using a site called FamilyID.  This process has taken the place of the paper “Green Forms” but still requires submission of an updated physical. You can view the tryout schedule (when it’s up) and review the FamilyID process on the Athletics page of our website.


Last week all families should have received an email with instructions on how to sign up for the annual parent-teacher conferences.  You can also access the sign-up form through our website by clicking here.  As I mentioned last week, one of the three conferences will be scheduled in the evening (January 3 from 5-8pm) and those slots will be filled on a first come-first served basis.  We know that this means that not all families who prefer the evening conference can be scheduled for those options, and we hope that you’ll still be able to identify times that are possible for you.  A friendly reminder that parents/guardians are not required to participate in these conferences, and many families who have attended team meetings elect not to sign up. We appreciate everyone’s patience as our Main Office staff begin processing the many requests that are being submitted over the next few weeks.  


The annual RJ Grey musical is just around the corner! The students are working hard on this year’s production of Annie and we’re looking forward to another performance that showcases our students’ talents.  Five performances are scheduled for the week of December 3rd, specifically on Thursday, December 6 (7pm), Friday, December 7 (7pm), Saturday, December 8 (2pm and 7pm), and Sunday, December 9 (2pm).  Tickets are $15 and are will be available in the Junior High Main Office starting Monday, November 19.  ABSAF holders are entitled to two free tickets and must pick up their tickets from the Main Office.  This is always a great family-friendly event and we hope to see many A-B families there.  As we begin to prepare for our annual school musical, I want to again share a link to one of my favorite episodes of the radio show This American Life.  Entitled, “Fiasco!” this episode highlights a small-town production of Peter Pan that involved the use of flying apparatuses. Unlike our High School’s production of Mary Poppins a few years ago, their efforts involving the flying apparatus didn’t exactly go as planned, along with a few other mishaps that turned the show into a full-fledged fiasco.  If you’ve got twenty minutes to spare, I encourage you to listen to this piece that apparently required Ira Glass to turn off his microphone during recording because of how hard he was laughing/snorting.


The Lost & Found bin at RJ Grey is now overflowing with a whole array of clothing.  We’ve lined it up on a few tables to make it easier to sift through and we encourage families and students to take a quick look and see if there are any items that can make its way back to your home (ideally with the washing machine as the first stop).  Any items not claimed before the Thanksgiving Break will be donated to charity.


Finally, I don’t want to finish this edition of Grey Matters without acknowledging Veteran’s Day which is this Monday.  So I end with a thank you and a note of gratitude to members of our community who have or are still serving in our military, as well as their families who support them.  


Have a great week, everyone.


Cheers,

201408111403_0001.tif



Posted by ashen  On Nov 11, 2018 at 4:44 PM
  

Hi Everyone,


Last Wednesday was a pretty festive day for the Boston area, given that Halloween and the parade in Boston celebrating the World Series victory by the Red Sox both fell on that day.  I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable time - both during the day, and later on that evening. We had many students who came in a variety of playful and clever costumes, and congratulations to 8th grade student Will Smith who won our friendly Halloween costume competition (photo to the right).  Having Halloween in the middle of the week tends to make for a long and tiring week, something I lamented last year in Grey Matters, where I also hinted at leading a future campaign to have Halloween always fall on the last Saturday of October. Well, this year the Halloween & Costume Association began a petition on Change.org to move Halloween to the last Saturday of the month, an effort on their part that was clearly inspired by someone sending them a copy of the edition of Grey Matters that suggested this switch.  It’s more likely that they were motivated by the idea of having a full day (Saturday) devoted to the holiday each year and the financial gains that might accompany that switch, but it’s more fun to pretend that I somehow inspired this campaign which has currently secured over 55,000 signatures.  Now that the effort to move Halloween to the weekend is in someone else’s hands, I can now turn my attention to another campaign that will hopefully lead to an important change - specifically, a petition to require all Major League Baseball playoff games to start no later than 7pm Eastern Standard Time.  I know a lot of this is about television market shares, and start times on the West Coast, so maybe the fact that ratings for this year’s World Series was down 23 percent from last year might lead to adjustments that offer relief for those of us who need to wake up at a reasonable hour the next day. On a related note, we have noticed a bit of an uptick in the number of students who are arriving to school right at, or shortly after, the 8:00am start to the day.  We appreciate that morning drop-offs still involve a good deal of maneuvering through traffic in and around the school campus, and I’d still like to offer some encouragement and a plea to help your students arrive to school before 8:00am so their day doesn’t start so rushed.  


For our families who observe Diwali, the festival of lights, I hope any plans you have for later this week proves to be full of joy and celebration with friends and family.  Two years ago I came across this article in the Washington Post, written by someone who uses her family’s celebration of Diwali to reflect on the dynamics that often accompany a bicultural upbringing and formation of identity.  I share it again knowing that the experience of straddling different worlds and cultures is familiar to many of you. Perhaps this piece also offers a voice and perspective that may resonate with those in the Indian community, as well as an opportunity for a bit learning by the rest of us. Please know that there will be no homework due Thursday, the day after Diwali, nor will there be any assessments scheduled for Thursday.  


Here’s some reminders that are important for families this week and beyond:


The Dr. Sharon Maxwell event is this Monday (tomorrow)!  She will be presenting “Who's Raising Our Kids? Nurturing Human Values in a Digital World”, focusing on the impact that “digital saturation” is having on how our children think about themselves, and how it’s changing the way children socialize and communicate. This districtwide event will be held in the RJ Grey Auditorium on Monday, November 5 from 7:00 to 9:00pm and is open to all members of the A-B community.

There is
no school for all students in the District this Tuesday, November 6.  Staff will be participating in professional learning during the day.  Tuesday is also Election Day and the RJ Grey gymnasium will continue to serve as a voting station for many Actonresidents.  


There is also no school for all students next Monday, November 12 as it’s Veteran’s Day.  Many thanks to those in our community who have served, and continue to serve, in our military.  


Last week I included some messaging for families of 8th grade students who may be applying to private schools.  If you haven’t already, please take a moment to review that message.  


Thanksgiving Break is coming up and I know that many are looking forward to that annual holiday and the opportunity to spend it with family and friends.  The end of the Fall Trimester is the Wednesday after we return from Thanksgiving Break.  I want families to be aware of this timing so they can keep that in mind as they continue to support their students in having a strong finish to this first marking period.   


For families with students who have attended our Open Gym basketball hours after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays, there are no more sessions this Fall.  With Winter Sports around the corner, we had already scheduled a pause on Open Gym in a few weeks, and we are stopping a bit earlier so we can revisit how we structure that activity. Prior to this year, Open Gym had on average only a handful of students in attendance.  So when 50 to 70 plus students began to consistently show up it admittedly caught us a bit flat-footed and without the supervision and set-up to ensure a safe and appropriate setting, and a format that would allow everyone a chance to play. Our hope is to use the time before the Spring season to design an option that meets this increased interest and ensures the right level of supervision given the physical activity involved with Open Gym.  

Thank you to the families who continue to drop off a box or ten boxes of Kleenex to the school so we can pass them along to classrooms and fight the good fight against the perpetual runny nose.  Keep them coming!


On Monday, I will be sending all families an email about the annual parent-teacher conference sessions that we offer during three dates in December and January.  That email will provide families with an overview of the conferences and some things to consider before signing up.  Starting last year, one of the three conferences will be scheduled in the evening (January 3 from 5-8pm). Our school recognizes that there are families within our community for whom mid-day conferences can present enough of a hardship and challenge that they would be unable to consider participating.  This may include parents/guardians who do not have as much flexibility with their respective work schedules, or have family responsibilities that are not easily adjusted. Our hope is that an evening conference will better accommodate and support the varied schedules that our families have to navigate. While there will not be an early release from school on the day of the evening conferences, there will be an early release for students and staff on the following day (January 4). This Wednesday, families will also receive an email from us that includes the link to the form that you should complete if you wish to schedule conferences with some (or all) of your child’s teachers.  


Here’s an initial and exciting Save the Date! announcement regarding our annual Junior High musical.  This year’s musical is Annie, and performances will be from December 6 through December 9.  Performances will be at 7pm each evening, with an additional 2pm show on Saturday, December 8. The RJ Grey musical is not only a great annual event for members of our school community, but is always a wonderful event from other members of our larger Acton-Boxborough community.  Next week I’ll be sharing additional information about purchasing tickets.



As we enter November we have another R.J. Grey Artist of the Month.  Congratulations to Calista Barnett (7 Blue) who has been selected as this month’s Artist of the Month. When Calista was asked about the first work of art that she made that she remembers being proud of, she replied: "The first artwork I remember making that I was really proud of was a collage I made out of leaves when I was in preschool. I decided to create a girl, and even though it wasn’t that good (It was very messy), I loved it!" Congratulations to Calista and you can click here to view her art work (also on display in our school lobby).  


Finally, the RJ Grey community's annual Coats For Families Drive will continue through the month of November. This is the 23rd year of the Coat Drive here and it is an annual fall RJ Grey tradition.  Thank you to 7 Red for serving this year as the stewards of this program. Good condition, wearable, winter coats and jackets for children and adults are dropped off in the box in the lobby. They will be taken to Anton's Cleaners by 7 Red where they will be cleaned free of charge. They are then delivered to agencies like the Salvation Army and Mass Coalition For The Homeless who get them to those who are in need of a good, warm winter coat. Please be a part of this very worthy cause. The box will be in the lobby during the month of November.


Have a great week, everyone.  


Cheers,

201408111403_0001.tif


Posted by ashen  On Nov 04, 2018 at 3:34 PM
  
 
Website by SchoolMessenger Presence. © 2024 SchoolMessenger Corporation. All rights reserved.