First Week of March "In Like a Lion?"

    We had a busy week here at Riverside.  On Monday, we were recognized by the Indiana Middle Level Education Association as a "School to Watch" for the second time since becoming a school.  We are the only Intermediate school out of 10 middle schools in the state that were given this re-designation honor this year.  We had several speakers and hopefully you saw the shirts the students wore home on Monday that we were all given as part of the celebration.  We also had an ISTEP pep rally after the ceremony.  We had a special visit from Captain ISTEP and his side kick Test Buster.  We had some fun with them and they passed on some good tips for the students about taking the ISTEP test.
    Tuesday was an unexpected icy day home and then we spent the rest of the week with a weird schedule completing the first round of ISTEP testing for this year.  We feel like most of the students really worked hard on these first few tests.  We have another round of ISTEP testing in May as well.  We just want to encourage the kids to always do their best!
    We are in the full swing of writing the scenes for the students play on the American Revolution.  This takes some work and some compromising and that is something that most people and fifth graders need work on.  As we get further in this process we will let you know the date of our production so you can all come and watch!
    Two weeks until Spring Break and it is finally starting to seem like Spring outside!  Have a great week!

March....In Like a Lion??

    Well, I sure hope today's snow counts as March coming "In Like a Lion"  I know I am ready for it to go "Out like a Lamb!"  What a winter!  Spring can't come soon enough.  We are so glad that the weather cooperated enough for us to walk to PHS on Wednesday.  We had a great time and the kids learned a lot.  The PHS students had a good time as well.  Our kids got to learn some acting skills and writing tips as well.  We hope that the PHS students inspired them to make this play the best it can be.  There are a bunch of photos attached today from our trip to PHS.
    This week we will be having our first round of the ISTEP.  Please encourage your student to do their best and to not stress about this test.  We just want them to do what they are capable of doing.  There will be questions that they may not know and it is ok.  We have tried to let them know this but any encouragement at home is appreciated.  Encourage them to get good sleep and to eat a good breakfast this week as well.  As stated in a previous email, there will be NO CELL PHONES allowed in the testing rooms.  We will be collecting these each morning before we begin testing.  So, if your child does not "need" the cell phone for the days of testing (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) have them leave them at home to help with the craziness of collecting and labeling them each morning.  We appreciate the help.
    February Reading calendars are due by this Friday!      Have a great week....Spring is almost here!