Superintendent's Office
Urgent Action Items
ACS Calendar
Elementary School
Happy Monday! I hope you and your families enjoyed a nice weekend. I feel like my skin, clothes, plants and life are drying out a bit with the end of the rainy season. I also feel grateful for all of the support and energy you and your children bring each day. We have a lot of events happening at school, as you know, and your help is greatly appreciated in making these events special for our kids. Below, see a few reminders on upcoming events:
A Note from Our Food Service Provider: Many families are overdue in paying for their children's food service. Please note that if debts are outstanding on May 1st, your child will not be able to purchase lunch until the bill has been paid.
No School on Wednesday: Labor Day
End Of Year Calendar: For the final 8 weeks of school, you can track all school events here. Access it by copying this link into your browser:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UNM_GmzwQltTOGtEcbQambeD0SHmuzIlIwxfpDB8q4U/edit?usp=sharing
Please note that this calendar is "living" and changing all the time with new events being added, so please bookmark the calendar and revisit it over the next few weeks for the most up-to-date information!STEAM Family Fun Afternoon: This Friday, from 3:30 to 5:30 pm, join us in the Elementary quad for a host of wonderful STEAM challenges, activities, food and fun. See your students creative problem solving and enjoy time with our community.
International Day: I am getting close to begging parents for their help with this event. We have only a few parents who have signed up to represent a country on this special day. Please read more here:
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1j0dUkYNSK_QsoJLFmKXCdIVBMB1LZpImPnzWh5e2_hg/edit?usp=sharing>
This will be fun! Please consider getting involved - our parents need you!
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Teacher Appreciation Week: The week after next, May 6-10 is Teacher Appreciation Week; a time to give thanks and show appreciation to all of our teachers for their hard work during the year. We are asking for parent help with 2 events:
Monday, May 6: Send your child in with a flower (just one!) for each of their teachers!
Wednesday, May 8: Send in a dish and/or come to help out with a Teacher Luncheon from 12:30 - 1:30 pm in the ES Auditorium!
As always, thank you for reading! Have a great week!
Sincerely,
Eric Crabtree
Elementary Principal
Secondary School
Learning & Teaching
Monday, April 29
Curriculum Review: The ES Team continues to work diligently to redevelop our Social Studies and Science Units of Investigation for the year 2024-2025. This work exemplifies collaboration and the positive results it yields. Teachers are putting great thought into developing Enduring Understandings and Essential Questions that drive the development of the learning experiences. The curriculum review for our Secondary School is offering opportunities to change existing offerings and/or provide new offerings. This is an important process during which we must meticulously consider all options, including the addition of AP courses, as well as new iterations of existing courses.
Policies and Practices: The Instructional Leadership Team (ILT) met on Tuesday to review the draft of the school’s first Language Policy, which we expect to release within the next two weeks. The ILT also began a thorough review of our Assessment Handbook, which will continue through to the end of the year. A Course Adoption Procedures document has been produced and will be reviewed by the Senior Academic Leadership Team on April 30. Additional procedures in the works include Course Review Procedures, Hiring an Educational Consultant Procedures, and Resource Adoption Procedures.
Professional Development: On Monday evening we had special guests, Jared McGrath, Daniela Baldivieso, and Carolina Blanco, present to our Board of Trustees. Those who attended the AMISA Educators’ Conference in March (including Tim Warren and Eric Crabtree) shared their key takeaways from this experience and how their learning has already had a positive impact on our students and/or faculty. Carolina shared highlights of our university acceptances, including those of our current senior class as well as some trend data. Class visits continued which included secondary students guided in water color technique, Spanish students responding to highly-relatable reading material, English students identifying thesis statements and learning how to provide meaningful peer feedback, math students delving into a highly-engaging new resource to understand parabola through sport, music students thoroughly enjoying the creative process with vocal exploration, elementary students learning techniques to provide accompanying details to facts in their writing, engaging in a multitude of hands-on experiences to understand volume, and responding to thought-provoking questions during read-aloud.
State of the School: On Wednesday afternoon, the State of the School was presented to the entire faculty, highlighting the progress we have made this year as well as the areas of focus for 2024-2025. Our faculty were also greeted by Howard Thiery, our NEASC Lead Visitor who will be joining us on campus May 6, 7, and 8.