Principal Moment
Over the years teachers get quite good at telling when a child will be sick. You see, germs are sequential. They tend to travel side to side. Seldom do they jump to the student behind or in front. And rarely do they skip rows.
If Ronny sits next to Emily, and Emily sits next to Anthony, and Ronny gets sick; teachers know that Emily will be sick in a day or two. And when Emily is out, they know that soon Anthony will be watching cartoons and eating popsicles at home.
It is the germ season. It usually hits this time every year, during the freezing cold temperatures.
We have had several very cold days last week with inside recess to share those germs with one another. Here is the basic run down, if the outside temperature is 20 degrees and below; everyone stays inside. If the temperature is above 20 degrees and the air quality is good ALL students will be outside for recess. My grandma used to say, “There is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing.” Please make sure your child is coming to school with outdoor clothing during the cold weather months.
As you are fully aware, poor air quality is common during Utah winters and affects health. Riverview monitors air quality from: http://air.utah.gov/. We follow the Utah recess guide: http://health.utah.gov/asthma/pdfs/airquality/recessguidance.pdf.
SEP Conferences
SEP Conferences will be held Thursday, January 10th from 3:15-8:45 PM. You should have received an email this week from SignUpGenius. Parents, if you find a need to change your appointment the day of conferences, please contact the teacher so he/she is aware of the change.
There will be no school for students on Friday, January 11th. Thank you.
Key Principles of the Riverview Learning Pit and Learner Powers
The picture book Your Fantastic Elastic Brain teaches students: “Your brain grows very fast during the first ten years of life. This is the magic decade when you can help your brain grow faster, and be more powerful...making mistakes really helps you learn, because your brain keeps trying new things and s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g until you figure out the answer to your problem.”
Make a mistake and brain synapses fire. The brain actually sparks and grows when we make a mistake, even if we are not aware of it, because it is a time of struggle; the brain is challenged and the challenge results in growth.
At Riverview, we are very intentional about helping students to know how to behave when they make a mistake, don’t know the answer or get ‘stuck’. The learning pit is about sticking with it and embracing challenge when students feel ‘stuck’. All learning is about feeling doubt. If you are doing something that you can already do, that isn’t learning; that is practicing.
Learning is different than practicing. Learning means you step out of your comfort zone and try things that are difficult and hard. If things are tough and you are being challenged and it is difficult, then you are in the learning pit. If you are in the learning pit, then you are succeeding. Getting into the pit and getting stuck is a part of the learning process. When we get stuck in our learning and we just don’t know what the answer is, we use the seven learner powers to help us get out of the pit. Finally we can break through and say, “Hooray! I get this now!” Moving in and out of the pit is fun and that is the way we learn here at Riverview.
Parents should be educated in the Riverview language of learning, so that the home and school can share in the same expectations. How can you help at home?
- Demonstrate/model sticking to things even if they are difficult.
- Talk about how you feel when you are faced with a challenge.
- Praise your child when they persevere.
- Talk with them about what helps them to concentrate and don’t be disturbed by distractions.
- Encourage questions.
- Don’t allow your child’s imagination to shrivel up...manage screen time.
- Ask them what they learned at school, not what they did at school.
- Make clear expectations for taking turns and cooperating.
- Encourage flexibility and the ability to change a plan if necessary.
Communication Options
Riverview School website http://riverview.nebo.edu/.
Riverview Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Riverview-Elementary-School-150164395051510/
Riverview Instagram https://www.instagram.com/riverviewelementary/
Upcoming Events
- January 10th – 5th grade Keyboarding course ends; SEP Conferences from 3:15-8:45 p.m.
- January 11th – No School for students
- January 14th – 4th grade keyboarding starts; 1st day of third term
- January 21st – No School; Martin Luther King Jr. Day
- January 22nd – Good Citizen Reward; Cosmo and BYU Dunk team from 10:30-11:30 a.m. SCC at 3:15 p.m.
- January 24th – Lockdown Drill
- January 28th – February 1st – White Ribbon Week
- January 31st – Riverview Science Day
Thank you,
Mrs. Angie Killian, Principal of Riverview