Riverview Elementary Weekly Newsletter

Submitted by angela.killian on

Principal Moment

My nightly routine is to wash my face, apply advanced wrinkle corrector, brush my teeth, and then pluck out a few gray hairs.  I don’t know who I am trying to kid, the wrinkles and gray keep coming.  I think of a line from the book Goodbye, Mr.Chips.  It is a book of an old teacher and school master who remembers his career and his personal life over the decades.  There is a line in the book that illuminates how I feel about my job…”It must be tremendously interesting to be a schoolmaster…I don’t see how you could ever get old in a world that’s always young.”  

Thank You

I would like to extend a huge thank you to the Riverview community on behalf of Riverview teachers!  Thank you for supporting the teachers, for supporting your child, for supporting education and thank you for attending SEP’s!  Thank you, also, to the fantastic PTA for supplying the wonderful meal that evening. 

Riverview Learning Pit/Learner Powers

It is our belief that we are capable of becoming better learners.  The Learning Pit and Learner Powers are about helping students help themselves.

Our Beliefs aligned with supporting evidence:

  • To be ready for college, workforce training, and life in a technological society, students need the ability to gather, comprehend, evaluate, synthesize, and report on information and ideas, to conduct original research in order to answer questions or solve problems. Utah Core State Standards
  • The brain is more like a muscle – it changes and gets stronger when you use it. When you learn new things, neurons in the brain actually multiply and get stronger. The more that you challenge your mind to learn, the more the brain cells grow. Carol Dweck
  • Learning how to learn is of importance in times when information doubles exponentially. Julia Atkin, Jane Gilbert, Unesco Four Pillars of Education Delors
  • The acquisition and application of learner dispositions better enables learners to know what too do when they don’t know what to do. Building this capacity is increasingly important in times of uncertainty and change. Guy Claxton, Art Costa, Sir Ken Robinson
  • Putting students in ‘I’m stuck situations’ is key to developing their learning capacity and use of the learner qualities (powers). James Nottingham
  • Being transparent (visible) about what progress looks like is engaging and motivating for learners. Learners who are empowered to know how they are going, where they are going, and where they will go next are assessment able and capable of promoting further learning. Shirley Clarke, John Hattie
  • Building individual goal setting capability has a positive effect of learning outcomes. John Hattie

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?

  1. The way we praise our children can have a profound impact on the learner powers. When we praise children for being smart, it sends a message that their accomplishments are something they were born with.  In contrast, praise kids for working hard.  It sends a message that the child’s effort is what led them to success.
  2. Tell your children that when they work hard, that’s the feeling of their neurons connecting. When children learn that their brains physically change with effort, it leads to increased motivation and achievement.
  3. Accept Mistakes as Learning Opportunities – Explain to your children that trying hard things is what helps us grow, and you can’t be perfect when you try something hard!

Together, we can help students realize that great effort leads to great progress!  

No School on Monday

There will be no school on Monday, January 21st; Martin Luther King, Jr. day.  Enjoy the three day weekend. 

Communication Options

Upcoming Events

  • 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