Riverside School PTA Newsletter


Friday, December 18, 2015

CALENDAR


WEEK OF 12/21 - 12/25

Monday, December 21
10:00a Chinese Brush Painting - Gr 5
1:00p Holiday Celebration - 4CR
2:00p Holiday Craft - 1M
2:00p Writing Celebration - 4R
2:00p Holiday Culture Celebration - 1H
2:00p Holiday Culture Celebration - 1S
2:15p Culture Celebration - 1D

Tuesday, December 22
9:00a Seasons & Science - 2C
10:00a Holiday Craft - 3H
12:00p Holiday Celebration - Gr 5
1:00p Winter Craft - 3MO
2:15p Winter Craft & Book Swap - 4M

Wednesday, December 23
EARLY RELEASE
12:00p Holiday Craft - 3MA
12:00p Holiday Celebration - 3G

Thursday, December 24
No School - Holiday Recess

Friday, December 25
No School - Holiday Recess


WEEK OF 12/28 - 1/1
No School - Holiday Recess


WEEK OF 1/4 - 1/8

Monday, January 4
School Resumes
3:30p Play Rehearsals

Tuesday, January 5
3:30p Play Rehearsals

Wednesday, January 6
8:30a  Fluoride Rinse
10:15a HT/HT - Gr 5
3:30p Play Rehearsals

Thursday, January 7
3:00p Odyssey of the Mind
3:30p Play Rehearsals

Friday, January 8
7:45a Advance Band
10:15a HT/HT - Gr 5
3;30p Play Rehearsals
QUICK LINKS

Sign up for lunch duty here

Sign up for safety duty here

Join the PTA here

View the Safety First memo here
PEEK AT THE WEEK

MISSED AN ISSUE?
Access our Peek Archive for past issues

SUBMISSIONS
Have something to add? Email us at: [email protected]

Deadline for submissions is 3pm
on Wednesday of the school week
COMMUNITY EVENTS

Click here to view the community calendar
 From the Office
Dear Parents, 

We will not be publishing a Peek next week so at this time I would like to wish our families a very special holiday season. Have a wonderful break as you spend time together with family and friends. Next week we will have school Monday-Wednesday, with Wednesday being a 1:15 Early Release Day. We will see everyone back on Monday, January 4, 2016. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Thanks to all of the students from the band, orchestra and chorus who shared their talents with us at the winter concert. A thank you as well to Ms. Punchatz, Mr. Arezzini, Mr. Hoffman, and Mrs. Miserocchi for their work leading up to and at the concert.  We are so thankful for our talented teachers and staff who help to make the many programs at Riverside of such high quality.

The Riverside School SIP (School Improvement Plan) is now available. We are focusing on further strengthening our teachers' skills in the key area of feedback provided to students (notably on their work in English-Language Arts). This leveraged strategy is in line with a key goal of the district's Digital Learning Environment (DLE) and will translate into improved academic success for our students in each subject area. The details of the plan are available for your review at a link on the school's main webpage.

As a reminder regarding allergies, if your child has snack in class and you received a note (at the beginning of the year) stating that there is a student with a food allergy, we ask that as much as possible you not send in a snack containing that item. For lunch there is an "allergy" free table, which is the area in the school that is peanut and tree nut free. Thank you for your assistance. 

Again, have a wonderful break and Happy New Year to All! 

Sincerely,
Christopher Weiss
Principal
 School News
DIGITAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT TIPS AND INFORMATION
On Dec. 11, You should have received an email update from the district on Internet Safety and Digital Citizenship.  Click here to review the letter.

A great resource to use at home is Commonsense Media, which provides information on appropriate content and usage of apps, movies, books, music, and more, plus a wealth of parenting tips and information. The district has created a single page to 
maintain all parent resources for the Digital Learning Environment. Bookmark this page for handy reference:  www.greenwichschools.org/DLEParentResources

Click here to view the Flyer for the January/February 2016 DLE Parent Workshops is going out to all parents this evening via Parentlink.
RIVERSIDE CHORUS
penguin holiday sing
The Riverside chorus had a tremendous winter concert season! On December 7th, 50 members of the choir sang for the residents of Nathaniel Witherell. The residents were extremely appreciative to have the Riverside chorus perform some winter carols with them! This is Riverside's 4th year singing for Nathaniel Witherell.
 
Additionally, on December 9th, 35 chorus members had a dress rehearsal in New York City with the New York City Master Choral. They joined other students from New York City to create a Reaching for the Arts Choir of 75 strong. Audience members raved about how well the students sang, including one patron who said "the students were the highlight of the whole concert!" 

On Monday, the 98 member chorus had their winter concert at Riverside for the school and for the parents. It was a 
wonderful
 show! Congratulations to all of the Riverside chorus members for all their hard work and for a successful winter season!
STUDENT COUNCIL HOLIDAY TOY DRIVE
The Student Council would like to thank the Riverside Community for their generous donations to support the Holiday Toy Drive for Kids in Crisis.  We collected 4 large bags of items for the kids and families in need. Thank you to the Jansenn family for generously offering to drop the gifts at Kids in Crisis. 
NEXT 2E (TWICE EXCEPTIONAL) MEETING
The next 2E meeting will be on January 14th, 2016 from 9:30-11:30am at Town Hall in the Cone Room. The topic is 
"Considerations for Post High School Planning for All Students, Especially for Those with Learning Needs or Whom are 2E."

Judith Nedell will present regarding planning for high school and beyond with the needs of the 2E student population in mind.  All students are unique, so this will be a general overview.  She plans to include helpful information about things students and parents can consider and will distribute a post high school planning guide.  This will include the application process/time lines for accommodations on the ACT and SAT.  She is very comfortable with a discussion and then a Q&A format.  Please feel free to send questions to the 2E committee in advance, which will be forwarded to Judith Nedell.  Hosted by Lydia Rouzeau and Elana Gershon, 2E Commitee Co-Chairs.
 PTA News
SCIENCE IN EDUCATION fossil_dino.jpg
This week, Science in Education brought in Dinosaur's Rock for the second grade classes.  They learned about fossils and where they come from.  They saw a variety of dinosaur fossils from the biggest dinosaur nail to a T Rex's head.  The program was well received by the students.

5TH GRADE COMMUNITY SERVICE PROGRAM
Our 5th graders have a wonderful opportunity to volunteer at Neighbors Link in Stamford, helping K-2 graders with homework and English conversational skills. Information was sent to all 5th grade parents through email. Sign-ups are available here.

Please contact Carla Tabossi ([email protected]) or Lois Kelly ([email protected]) for more information.
THE LITTLE MERMAID
Thanks to everyone who came out to audition. Everyone had a great time trying out, and all roles have now been assigned. We are looking forward to working with everyone to put on a fantastic production with our cast and crew!
Please contact Amy Adorney or Sarah O'Connor if you have any questions or concerns ([email protected] or [email protected]).
SAFETY DUTY
Thank you to all of the volunteers who have been helping out this fall making sure our children get into school safely.  As it gets colder more families are driving to school.  We are really in need of volunteers. Please consider volunteering for safety duty.  It's a quick 15 minutes and a nice way to start your day. You can sign up for a shift here. Thank you for helping to keep Riverside safe!
AFTERS young_girl_gymnastics.jpg
It's not too late to sign up! There's still space available for our annual co-ed Gymnastics (grades K-5) winter session.

Registration is on a first come, first served basis and opened Monday, December 14 at 7am and closes Thursday January 7th at 10pm. Click here to be taken to the online registration site

Online registration can be found here.  Questions? Please contact Amy Phillips at [email protected]
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email us at [email protected].

Sincerely,
Sarah Fugelsang and Dina Murphy
Co-Presidents Riverside School PTA

 Office: 203-637-1440   -   www.greenwichschools.org/rs