The End of the First Marking Period Already!

It’s Friday afternoon and I realize that next week begins the new marking period. Where has time gone?

We opened our doors this year and welcomed 286 new families to our school, bringing our enrollment to a slightly higher point than has been typical. Because of the increased student population as well as the lengthened class time to 55 minutes per class, we anticipated our hallways might become more congested and louder, we were happily surprised when they were not. The faculty and administrative staff congratulates our students for making this first marking period the kind of transition back to school which any school would be proud!

Some other noteworthy news
Longer core academic classes are not the only change that faced our community. This is the first year that students will not have the opportunity to participate in every foreign language (seventh graders) or special (eighth graders) due to the tough economic times and budget reductions. What does this mean exactly? For seventh graders the unified arts rotation will offer two (of three) languages as well as art, music, health and phys. Ed. Eighth graders will continue with a full year of their selected foreign language and will be offered four (of five) special classes (art, theater, AE/PE, health, literacy club). We have been asked if it is possible for students to select the special and/or language they would like. Unfortunately this is not an option at this point given the number of staff available for each subject.

On a brighter note, the literacy club debuted this year and has been an overwhelming success. Each day for six weeks students go to the library and join me (on most days) in finding a comfortable spot to sit and read a book for 40 uninterrupted minutes. At the end of six weeks we share our books, our thoughts about reading and what we’ve discovered about ourselves as learners. This is done in a presentation format to a panel of people; teachers, parents and students. Despite their nerves about presenting to people they may not know (which we all feel), students have been prepared and they presented themselves quite capably. It is amazing to watch the students step outside of their comfort zones as they present their reports and then when we witness their sense of pride for their accomplishments.