RO Newsflash
Tuesday, January 5, 2021
Looking for the Positives in Our Classrooms
Our students, teachers and parents have certainly sacrificed a lot this year. As we welcome a new year at RO, I am noticing some real positives emerging within our students thanks to a whole lot of hard work by our school community. Sometimes you have to look for the good... and there is good still out there.
A few pictures below show some evidence of these positives.
Our students are learning to use technology to visualize mathematics. Remember cutting out fraction pieces out of paper when we were in elementary school? Our students now use apps to create whole numbers and fractions and can more efficiently and accurately build numbers and improve their number sense. Here you see fourth graders learning an area model of multiplication - using technology to learn multiplication, arrays, area, expanded form and place value within the same lesson.
These days we are putting as much emphasis on becoming better people and learning how to connect with others as we are on our math and reading skills. These fifth graders used an app called Pixton to create their own comics to show strategies on how to calm down. They used an app called Whiteboard.fi to create their own visuals on what compassion looks like. Love to see displays like this around our school.
December Newsletter from the Music Department
Please see the following link for the December Newsletter from the Music Department.
These students are building mixed numbers and finding the equivalent improper fraction with another visual math app. This is more powerful than learning about fractions by looking at paper pizzas!
These third graders are learning about how data can be represented in graphs. Students are using technology to visualize and receive information and writing their thinking on dry erase boards for the teacher to assess understanding.
Thank You Parents For Your Transparency
We very much appreciate the many transparent and honest emails and phone calls we have received about positive COVID exposure in families and/or travel out of state. The vast majority of RO parents have been proactive and honest communicators with our office staff and nurse about positive COVID cases in families and are keeping their children at home and following quarantine guidance from our superintendent and Board of Health. This level of transparency really helps to keep our school population more safe and prevent spread at RO. We work hard at documenting all cases and close contacts within our school community and that information is confidentially shared with the Easton Board of Health and used for contact tracing.
Mark Your Calendar!
Friday, 1/15 - No School - Staff Professional Development
Monday, 1/18 - No School - Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday
Wednesday, 1/20 @ 7:00pm - PTA Virtual Meeting
Tuesday, 2/2 - Picture Day for Cohort A/Remote Learners
Thursday, 2/4 - Picture Day for Cohort B/Remote Learners
Monday, 2/15-2/19 - President's Day Holiday & February Break
Final Tip
Please make sure your student has a charged Chromebook before coming to school for in-person learning days. We are seeing more students 'forget' their Chromebook or forget to charge it at night. That makes for a tough day at school these days. We do not have many spare Chromebooks to provide our students. Thank you.
Below are students taking a mask and snack break. Our hallways have become places to socialize as safely as possible with safe distancing between our students.