Riverstone International School Newsletter
September 12, 2013
|
|
 Hi All,
During the 2012-2013 school year, the Board of Trustees identified several initiatives as their priorities for the year. Defining Riverstone's purpose (also referred to as "Why Riverstone?"), improving our financial modeling, and defining what it means to be an international school were three of the initiatives that we undertook and completed last year.
A fourth initiative was related to our school culture and determining if it was supporting our purpose. Late last spring, Jennifer Dye, one of our Trustees, led the efforts to gather feedback from staff, parents, and students on this topic. However, because Jen and her family are taking a year sabbatical in Florida, Kurt Liebich, Riverstone's Chairman of the Board of Trustees, and I have asked parents Suzanne Long and Adam Kaplan to help us as Co-Chairs of this committee. The committee will continue to identify what our school does well in terms of culture, and suggest ideas to enhance our culture going forward. It's important to note that culture is more than just our students' school-day culture, but our Riverstone community culture.
One of the highlights of our community culture that was identified had to do the positive results that came from gathering for a unified purpose. As an example, Kathy LeMay, author of Raising Change, spent a day with Riverstone students and parents last February, inspiring us to use our passions to make lasting change in our world. Parents asked that we look for more opportunities to learn and be inspired.
In that vein, we are planning three brown bag lunches for parents and friends on topics about which people have expressed an interest in learning more. Experts from either the Riverstone community or the community at large will lead these lunchtime presentations and discussions.
The timeframes for the brown bag lunches will be in October/November, January/February, and April/May. We will be sending a survey link next week to determine which times/days work for people who are interested in attending. We know that not everyone will be able to attend every presentation, but we hope that doing a quick survey will improve the chances that more of you can attend. Please watch for the survey link in your inboxes.
Our first brown bag lunch will be presented by Dr. Mindy Gaddis who will be leading a discussion about wellness, which has been of interest to many parents. We are excited to welcome Dr. Gaddis, a Riverstone parent, and look forward to sharing more details of our first brown bag lunch soon.
If you have ideas for future topics, please email me at bcarignan@riverstoneschool.org.
Call for anything,
Bob Carignan
Head of School
bcarignan@riverstoneschool.org
|
 One of Riverstone's favorite all school events is the Fall Carnival that is coming up next Friday, September 20. Download a flyer and see why this is the place to be!
There are many ways that you can help make this event a success! - Volunteer to work a shift during the carnival. Check out the many things that need to be done and sign up for a shift on our Communities Opportunities sheet.
- Sell tickets for our raffle that has great prizes like an iPod Touch!
- Skip the line and buy a wristband for unlimited rides in advance. These will be sold next week outside of the Elementary School.
To volunteer to be part of the fun or if you have questions, please contact our Carnival Co-Chairs: Riverstone Fall Carnival
**Fun for all ages** Friday, September 20
5:00 - 8:30 PM
Kennedy Gymnasium area |
|
OCTOBER-NOVEMEBER LUNCH ORDER
|
 Thank you to everyone for their feedback on our new lunch program. Overall, the responses have been very positive.
At this time, we will continue to offer lunch five days a week through our partnership with Create Common Good. We are working closely with them to ensure that we are providing nutritious, kid-friendly selections throughout the year.
Please return lunch order forms for the October-November time frame no later than Friday, September 20.
Forms may be dropped off in the Hot Lunch folder in the Elementary School atrium, with Lisa Armstong in the Elementary School, or Robyn Olnes in the Middle School.
Download an Elementary School lunch form here.
Download a Middle and High School lunch form here.
Please contact Kevin Richmond, Business Director, with questions. |
|
 Merci is our parents way to say "thank you" to our Riverstone staff. We say "merci" with the gift of nourishment throughout the school year.
This is a program that is sponsored by the Parents' Association and is always appreciated by our staff who can sit down and enjoy a healthy meal together in the midst of their busy day with our children! Here is how it works:
- We provide a big "merci" one to two times per month with classroom-hosted luncheons and a smaller "merci" with lighter snack events a few times during the school year.
- The Merci committee participants are responsible for coordinating 3-4 light snack events and two larger scale luncheons throughout the school year.
- The schedule of classroom-hosted luncheons will be sent to each respective room parent during the first month of school with a follow up reminder and sign up information as their class merci date approaches. Typically, our Merci lunches are a buffet-style feast with theme-inspired menus.
We will be hosting a Welcome Back Luncheon for Staff on Friday, September 27, 2013 and would like help from our parents! This is a school-wide shout out from the parents.
All parents are invited to volunteer to help with the logistics of serving lunch to 60-65 staff members. The Merci Committee has a budget in place for the bulk of this special event, but we could really use your help with the many task involved in organizing our first luncheon.
Please volunteer by signing up on the Merci Community sign up sheet. Look for the tab on the bottom marked Sept 27.
Let's nourish our Riverstone staff!
Please contact Monica Macha, Merci Program Chair, via email with any questions or to help!
|
|
GRADE 10 PERSONAL PROJECTS
|
 The Personal Project, the capstone project of the Middle Years Programme, is in full swing. This project is tackled by Grade 10 students at Riverstone. The IB states that the "personal project is a significant student-directed inquiry produced over an extended period, completed during year 5 of the MYP. It offers students many opportunities for differentiation of learning and expression according to their individual needs. The personal nature of the project is important; the project should be based around atopic that motivates and interests the student. The process of completing the personal project contributes to the development of students in different ways. It is a student-centered, age-appropriate project that helps students construct their own conceptual understandings."
On April 18, 2014 they will share with all of us what they have done. Please plan to join us and celebrate their accomplishments!
|
 Thank you to everyone who was able to join us for our Back to School Nights. Being involved in your child's education is the best way to support student success. We appreciate you taking the time to hear about the upcoming school year.
Also, thank you to our students who volunteered their time to provide childcare for our younger students! |
Congratulations to our Mr. Burton's Grade 2 class for bringing back every book they checked out last week! Wow! Great job! This a rarity for the first month of school!
We are still looking for help in the library with shelving books, cataloging new books, selling old books, and reading. Spend some time with our Elementary Kids as a VIP (Very Important Person/Grandperson)!
How many books did you read this summer? Don't forget to send in those reading logs! If you read a book this summer, paper or electronic, please send in the title of the book, author and reader and if you are an elementary student, the number of pages. All Riverstone Community members may participate. We have a bookworm with 300 links and to date, only 20 people have participated.
The students want to see if we can stretch the bookworm around the gym. Based on those numbers if everyone helps, we could have a bookworm with over 7,500 links. Please help out by joining in the fun.
Contact Librarian Susan Tabb if you'd like to help in the Library or have any questions.
Thanks to our Preschool class for displaying our bookworm!
|
 The Directory will be arriving before the weekend so current families should watch your inboxes!
Thank you for your patience! With so many new families, putting it together has take a little longer than usual.
Contact Kathleen Gilton with any questions.
|
 We have tweaked the pick up times slightly this past week. The Riverstone morning bus pick up locations and departure times are as follows: 7:35 AM Downtown YMCA 7:40 AM 15th & Dewey 7:45 AM 10th & Brumback 7:55 AM Dona Larsen Park The current fee for the month of September is $90. We will be running the route for the month of September. At the end of the month, we will re-evaluate the route, schedule. and cost.
If you would like your child to ride the Riverstone bus, please contact Kevin Richmond, Business Director. |
| Due to the IB Diploma Programme exam schedule, graduation for the Class of 2014 has been changed to Thursday, May 29. The ceremony will take place at 4:00 PM in the Kennedy Gymnasium. Please mark your calendars to join us! |
|
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL RAFT TRIPS
|
Lots of fun pictures from the Elementary School raft trips are on Riverstone's Facebook page. Check them out!
|
|
LISTEN TO KRISTIN'S CONVOCATION SPEECH
|
 If you missed senior Kristin C's speech at our first day of school Convocation, you may download it here and listen to it while you drive home or have a few extra minutes.
Kristin beautifully describes the impact of having attended Riverstone since first grade; please take a few minutes and check it out!
Listen to Kristin's speech here. |
 In their recent games against Notus High, the Junior Varsity and Varsity lost but continue to improve. They love when they have parents and friends cheering them on so come out to the games!
Please view the school calendar for game times.
Contact PE teacher and Coach, Demi Dlouhy, for more information about volleyball. |
The High School Soccer team won their first game with a 10-0 shutout! Pictures will be posted on the school blog and Facebook on Friday.
The next game is Saturday, September 14 at 9:00 AM at Simplot Field #20. The full game schedule is now on the school calendar.
Come to the game and cheer on the Otters!
Contact Athletic Director, Abby Grafft, with questions.
 |
 Israel Carr, Riverstone Class of 2005 and Middlebury College Class of 2009, just moved back to Boise from Chagrin Falls, OH to teach MYP Humanities. Israel and his wife and daughter are looking for temporary housing (i.e. rent month to month) until they buy a home in the valley.
Please contact Israel at icarr@riverstoneschool.org if you have any leads or know of a housing situation that might match his needs. Thank you! |
|
JOIN RIVERSTONE'S FitOne TEAM
|
|
 Join the Riverstone International School team and register for FitOne, formerly the Women's Fitness Celebration, that will be held on Saturday, September 21.
Sign up for whatever wave suits you (walking, running, strolling). You'll save money by joining our team! Look for "Riverstone International School" under the team names when you register.
Register early to save money!
Contact Riverstone parent and team captain, Lisa Hecht, if you have questions.
|
|
FACEBOOK PHOTO OF THE WEEK
|
|
 The facebook photo of the week was taken by James Hamilton-Vail during the Elementary School raft trip for Kindergarten through Grade 2 students . Thank you!!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Riverstone-International-School/585822794765761?ref=hl
Follow the great things happening (or about to happen) at Riverstone!
|
|
