Thank you to all of you who were able to attend our Open House last week. There was a wonderful turnout and I hope the evening was both enjoyable and informative for all of you. The teachers enjoyed the opportunity to meet you and share information about their instructional program, as well as other information, important for a successful school year.

If you attended my presentation of the Open House program, you know that I shared information regarding our School Improvement Goal and some of the work the teachers and I want to accomplish this year. Our goal centers around elevating the thinking required of students in all instructional settings and we have chosen "questioning" as the tool to infuse more rigor into our students' learning. To provide more guidance in this quest, the teachers will read the book, Making Thinking Visible by Ron Ritchhart, Mark Church and Karin Morrison and share their reactions and ideas through Schoology. (Schoology is the district's computer program for teacher to teacher interaction, as well as for connections for other groups of stakeholders.) Our work related to this book will begin on our next early release afternoon, which is Wednesday, Oct. 22nd. The School Improvement Plan is finalized and will soon be posted on our website.

The installation of our new playground equipment is completed and our eager students have been given the green light to use it. It is very exciting for all of us as it has been a project dear to everyone's heart but a long time coming. Thank you to the PTA for their monetary donation that allowed for the purchase and to all the individuals who contributed time and energy from the onset to fruition. Speaking on behalf of the school community, it is very much appreciated.

Our third graders have been working diligently in their physical education classes, since the beginning of this school year, learning new dances and putting them together in group presentations. They will be ready to showcase their learning for all of us next week, 10/16 at 6:30pm, and we are all looking forward to it. The grade three "ballet" is the culmination of partnership with CT Ballet. Each grade level has a partnership with an institution that reinforces an aspect of the grade level curriculum, including IB units. The partnerships are supported by the PTA.

A reminder that Wed., 10/15, is Math Night. It will run from 6:15 to 7:15 and will include the opportunity for students and parents to engage in some math activities. The focus is on how manipulating numbers is not only useful and necessary in our world, but can also be quite engaging. I hope to see you there.

Sincerely, 

Terry Ricci