Friday, February 20, 2009

Principal Newsletter -- February 20, 2009

  • The sun is beginning to arrive a bit earlier and stick around a bit longer, meaning we will soon be heading out to the fields during recesses more and more often. One thing we've found is that, after a break, it is helpful to review playground rules and expectations with students. We'll be doing so here at school, and it would be great if families could talk about expectations at home as well. Somewhere in an English class I was surely told not to lead with dog poop, but here we are. A return to the fields also means that we are increasingly reliant on dog owners cleaning up after their pets. Thanks for your help with this!
  • Two events I'd like to share are on the immediate horizon. The Jefferson Dancers, an accomplished group of high school students, will be performing for our student body on Thursday at 1:05. On Thursday evening we will celebrate our 5th through 8th grade musicians at 7:00!
  • 7/8 boys basketball finished 3rd in league play; the first round playoff game is Tuesday at 4:00 in the gym!
  • The PTC online auction items are posted and the bidding has begun. I hope to see everybody at Oak's Park next Saturday where, I am told, I'll be riding the mechanical bull for a good cause.
  • We are just about finished with the OAKS (Oregon Assessment of Knowledge and Skills) testing, which we began a bit earlier than in the past. We started earlier for two reasons. First, as students have up to three opportunities to show their best work, it is advantageous to get data back earlier and therefore be more able to adjust instruction to meet their needs. We will be sharing testing results and opening a discussion about whether a second opportunity makes sense for individual students at or near conference time. Too, because we use the computer lab to participate in the testing, there is nearly always a crunch for lab time when we wait until the Spring; we hope to have alleviated this problem.
  • Many faculty attended a technology conference hosted in Portland this week, and they are bringing all kinds of new ideas to the table. What, for instance, is the role, or instructional potential, of mobile computing labs and hand-held devices? More and more, native software applications are less relevant as more computing is done "in the cloud." At the same time, we are trying to balance the idea of increasingly ubiquitous technology with human connections and an understanding of the outside world and our local ecology.
  • Obviously, this is a new format for my weekly communication. In the coming weeks I will try to ensure that families feel connected to the blog format, that they understand how best to access the information posted here, and also to be responsive to your feedback. The bottom line is that we rely so heavily here on effective communication that I want to be sure to meet your needs.
  • Today is the last day to order lunches for third trimester on the PTC website (link below).


Calendar

Monday
Site Council Meeting -- 3:40

Tuesday
7/8 boys basketball vs. Portland Christian (home) -- 4:00

Wednesday
2nd Grade to Tryon Creek
Early Release 2:30

Thursday
Jefferson Dancers Assembly -- 1:00
5-8 band Concert -- 7:00

Friday


District homepage: http://www.riverdale.k12.or.us/District/
Grade School homepage: http://www.riverdale.k12.or.us/GradeSchool/
High School homepage: http://www.riverdale.k12.or.us/HighSchool/
Athletics schedules & information: http://www.riverdale.k12.or.us/Athletics/
Foundation information: http://www.riverdale.k12.or.us/Foundation/
Grade School PTC webpage: http://www.riverdale.k12.or.us/rgs_ptc/
High School PTC webpage: http://www.riverdale.k12.or.us/rhs_ptc/