message tuesday

We have such lovely colors outside today to celebrate the fall!  Several classes are having end-of-day festivities today and there is plenty of joy in the air!

As you may have noticed, we have several half days this month.  Tomorrow is the first early release of the month, then next Thursday (9th) is a half day for preparing first quarter report cards followed by a full day off on Friday the 10th to observe Veterans Day.  The following week, October 18th,19th and 20th are also half days set aside for conferences between parents and teachers, and between parents, teachers AND students in the secondary grades.

I hope you will make this fall parent teacher conference a priority in your schedule.   Sometimes there is a feeling that if I your child is doing well in school there is no need for a conference.  Nothing makes me happier than students who are doing well except students who are doing “good” but reaching for “great”.  Parent teacher conferences are about making sure your student is having the best educational experience that student’s family supporters in partnership with our staff can possibly provide.  There is always room to grow. 

Our hope is that both parents will be able to attend if at all possible as dads and moms often see things differently and both have valuable input.  We will be handing out report cards as well as the results of last year’s CTP testing at the conferences.

Secondary: Conferences are required for both students and parents of secondary students this year.  The students themselves will be leading their conference from start to finish.  They will be identifying their own academic strengths and weaknesses as well as setting yearly goals along with their teachers and parents as a part of the meeting.   Our objective is to move students from seeing education as something being done to them to something they themselves are accomplishing for their own purposes.   We want them to “own” it.  Hopefully this is a helpful step in creating that perspective.

Please call or email the office to sign up for your conferences as soon as you can!

If you are out and about this evening I would invite you to stop by the Harvest Carnival at Island Church.  I’ll be there along with some other staff from ICA helping create the fun.  The carnival is open from 5-8 pm this evening.  

​Brenda