Curriculum Night, January 23rd at 7:30pm

Please join us for a conversation about the Curriculum Plans for the second half of the school year on Tuesday, January 23rd! It will be your opportunity to ask questions of the teaching staff, experience aspects of your child’s day, and enjoy refreshments in the company of other parents and Acera staff.

Take Care of Yourself, Take Care of Others, Take Care of your Classroom and World.

On Friday of last week, when children were feeling the effects of the first full week of school in the new year, we had our first “Emergency Meeting”.  The classroom has been rising to the new expectations geared at giving them more freedom of choice within certain limits, but it was clearly time for the “new rules” to be discussed.

Students were given the gift of three rules… Take care of yourself, Take care of others, and Take care of the classroom. R-E-S-P-E-C-T! Since then we have been pointing out when children are taking care of the classroom by putting things back where they belong. By noticing when children are taking care of others such as finding a classmate’s mitten, and more and more classmates are helping others. Taking care of yourself means focusing on your “work” whether it is painting, reading, block building, writing, or all of the other opportunities that are available to each individual.

We have been addressing every positive interaction and situation, and sometimes mistakes, with these expectations in mind. This has led to more learning and growth opportunities for the entire class! Even though this was another short week, the Lower Elementary students are expanding attention span, endurance while writing and reading, as well as organizing their materials.

Strength, Rigor, and Endurance

During every part of the day the teaching staff have been providing opportunities to develop strength, rigor, and endurance. This might mean that your child might be more tired than normal as they are working really hard during the school day! The Lower Elementary students are dramatically increasing in their ability to tell and write stories, read longer and longer text, and to attend to details of painting, drawing, and construction.

The most important thing that you can do as parents besides reading to your child(ren) each night, is to get them to bed at the most reasonable time. As a rule, if you need to wake-up your Kindergartener, First Grader, or Second Grader in the morning, they are going to bed too late. Children of this age need to have 10-12 hours of sleep each night as minimum. By Thursday night, your child will be exceptionally tired from the week. Please be aware that the amount of your child’s sleep effects their ability to focus, concentrate, and do their best work.

Informal Conferences

After reading all of the December conference reports and getting to know each student, I am offering meeting times for all families in January so we can get to know each other and talk about the goals for the winter and spring. The schedule of times will be available at Curriculum Night, but in general will be before school 8:00-8:30am, and after pick-up 3:15-4:00pm, and at the end of the day 5:00-5:30pm. It is my desire to work on IAP or Individual Action Plans for each child in collaboration with your hopes and wishes!

Weekly Blog Feedback

Whether you read the entire bog, briefly scan the photographs and captions, or have comments or suggestions, I would appreciate a brief response. This will help as I craft the blog to your needs as Acera parents in the months and years to come.

Many thanks,

Ms. Jen