Riverside Community Connection
Week of September 3rd
And...We're Back!
Back to School Staff Canoe Trip with Wilderness Inquiry!
By Sharon Faunce
Meet the Teacher Night!
We know that when kids have their basic needs met and have the supplies they need, they start the year happy, confident and ready to learn.
Upcoming Riverside Partnership Events
Riverside at the Farmers Market!
United Way's Big BOLD Block Party!
Riverside Family Orientation & Information Night
Get Involved!
Really Cool Stuff
Garden Thank YOU!!!
We thank the staff, students and families at Riverside, as well as our committed community partners who were deeply invested in making this a community garden a success.
A special thanks to the families who adopted our garden one week at a time this summer and the many others who supported it.
Thank you Olmsted Public Health and SHIP, Redeemer Lutheran Church in Rochester and SAAC for making this community garden a reality through generous financial support.
Riverside Educates the Whole Child with Strong Community Partnerships
At Riverside Community School, we will expose our students to rich learning opportunities that open doors to diverse learning experiences. As a result of the interest and wonder, persistence and self-driven learning will become the norm. This year we are THRILLED to work in partnership with organizations who have a similar mission and vision. Together we will build healthy and promising futures for our children that embrace all their passion, creativity, and love for learning.
While students, families and staff will have access to other strong partnerships, each grade will have one strong and regular focused partnership and theme. This will support our community school effort of Results Based Accountability by enabling us to monitor specific data points to ensure our indicators, strategies and performance measures are monitored and measurable.
We are excited! Below is a list of our grade level partnerships:
Kindergarten: SMART Training
Stimulating Maturity through Accelerated Readiness Training (SMART) Pre-K is a program that helps children’s brains and bodies get ready to learn. It provides the foundation for the required basic readiness skills critical for successful learners. The program consists of fun physical activities for developing and/or enhancing large and fine motor skills, balance and coordination, visual efficiency, eye-hand coordination, attention and much more. Once these readiness skills are in place, children have the necessary tools to be able to attend and learn, making them ready for school and to become life-long learners.
First Grade: Yoga and Mindfulness
We know there is powerful research to support mindfulness and yoga for kids and adults. As a result we plan to continue our yoga and mindfulness practice to support our first graders while they:
- Develop body awareness
- Learn how to use their bodies in a healthy way
- Manage stress through breathing, awareness, meditation and healthy movement
- Build concentration
- Increase their confidence and positive self-image
- Feel part of a healthy, non-competitive group
In Yoga, kids get to practice:
- Awareness of the breath
- Strengthening and energizing
- Balancing
- Stretching and lengthening
- Awareness and focus
- Flowing, connecting and integrating
- Meditation and relaxation
Second Grade: Dance without Barriers
The Cowles Center has been providing free dance residencies to schools throughout MN through its Dance Without Barriers program for the last 14 years. Over the years, we have grown to work with more than 60 communities and over 17,000 students.
Exploratory: Emphasis on learning a dance style and the cultural/historical significance of the dance form
Arts Integration: Makes connections between dance styles and core curriculum
Creation: 10-class residency focusing on student composition and a final performance
Third Grade: University of Minnesota Rochester
Third grade will focus on college, career and civic readiness through our growing partnership with University of Minnesota – Rochester. We believe this early exposure to possibilities builds confidence, understanding and determination in our students.
Fourth Grade: Department of Natural Resources (DNR)
DNR will partner with 4th graders to create rich, authentic learning opportunities to curriculum and standards. They want to emphasize our own backyard and the world around us (water, animals, geography). DNR has scientists and outreach people who will be available to visit school as well as communicate real-time.
Fifth Grade: Heart of Dance/Trout in the Classroom
Fifth grade students and their classroom teachers will receive a semester-long course of dance instruction provided by teaching artists at no cost to the students. Twenty, 50-minute lessons (twice-weekly for 10 weeks) are held at Riverside during the school day to ensure full student participation and facilitate curriculum integration. Students and teachers learn six social dances: the Merengue, Foxtrot, Rumba, Tango, Swing, and Waltz, as well as the historical and cultural origins of each dance.
Reading, Writing, and Rumba? Our teaching artists work with each fifth-grade teacher to integrate Dancing Classroom topics with a wide range of standard educational subjects including: reading, writing, math, social studies, geography, music, physical education, and visual arts.
The residency includes a visit from a professional ballroom dancer who performs with the teaching artist and answers questions. Upon completion of the residency, students perform for parents, teachers, administrative staff, and the student body at a special culminating event held at Riverside during the school day.
At the end of each semester, 12 students from each school take part in the Colors of the Rainbow inter-school team match. The students perform before a panel of experienced ballroom dance judges with each student receiving a medal and each school receiving a trophy.
The results? Enhanced academic achievement, improved physical fitness, with young lives enriched through social and emotional learning (SEL) by building self-esteem, confidence, and discipline. Students achieve personal growth with increased gender respect and awareness, improved conflict resolution skills, team-building experiences, and an understanding and practical application of social etiquette standards.
Trout in the Classroom (TIC) is an environmental education program in which students in grades k-12 . . .
- raise trout from eggs to fry.
- monitor tank water quality.
- engage in stream habitat study.
- learn to appreciate water resources.
- begin to foster a conservation ethic.
- grow to understand ecosystems.
Most programs end the year by releasing their trout in a state-approved stream near the school or within a nearby watershed.
During the year each teacher tailors the program to fit his or her curricular needs. Therefore, each program is unique. TIC has interdisciplinary applications in science, social studies, mathematics, language arts, fine arts, and physical education.
Riverside Community School (Riverside Central Elementary)
Email: licasper@rochester.k12.mn.us
Location: 506 5th Ave SE, Rochester, MN 55904, United States
Phone: 507-328-3690
Twitter: @lida_casper