DUE TO THE WEATHER SCHOOL HAS BEEN CLOSED FOR TODAY,
FRIDAY, JANUARY 27TH
DATES TO REMEMBER
1/27 – Community Dialogue Night, GMUHS, 6 to 8 p.m., Potluck
2/2 – Winter Sports Day, Early Dismissal
2/2 – Winter Sports Day, Early Dismissal
2/20 – 2/24 – Winter Break, No School
ONGOING ACTIVITIES @ CAES
Mondays: Wilderness Club, 3-4 p.m.
Tuesdays: Tae-Kwon-Do, 3 -4 p.m.
Homework Club, 3-4 p.m.
Wednesdays: Respect Club, 3-4 p.m.
Thursdays: Homework Club, 3-4 p.m.
Everyday: Aspire
PRINCIPAL’S CORNER
As I sit down to write this letter Thursday evening I am not sure of several things. First I am not sure if Friday will be a snow day. I’m not sure if we will see more rain, ice or snow. Finally I am not sure if “The Beating Drum” will even be published this week due to the weather! I do know that with the ice in my driveway, I have perfected my Florida shuffle! I also know that I wish we had more snow; at least it would fill in some of the potholes I steer around on my way to and from work every day.
At the moment we are deep into business as usual at CAES. Winter Sports are well underway and I am still doing my best to understand the nuances. This week while the students were away the faculty spent their day reviewing the Scope and Sequence of Math, Reading, and Writing for grades K-8 for clarity. The Scope and Sequence will then go back to the Supervisory Union so that we can begin to look at how to implement them into the Common Core for States Standards. This effort represents a lot of work on everyone’s part with the intended outcome of higher achievement for our students.
I would like to remind everyone once again that students are not to leave classes early for Winter Sports. Their day is already shortened and to have them lose sometimes as much as one half an hour on Thursdays cuts deeply into their learning. I am asking everyone to respect the teacher’s need to have the students for the full half day.
There are three weeks to go before February break. I’m sure many of you have plans for vacation. At this point I see myself staying close to home and heading into the office some of the time to get caught up on all the details that get pushed aside during the day when everyone is in the building. It’s a constant challenge to balance each day with “must do, should do, and want to do.” My focus each day is to assure positive outcomes for the students. I’m just never quite sure how that will look from day to day.
Thursday night’s storm will have an impact on my plans for the weekend, just as I am sure it will for you too. Snow mean you might find me out clearing the driveway and barn roof, then heading into the woods for a hike. Ice means I will be at the Town garage shoveling sand into my truck for the driveway. Rain will mean developing a plan to divert the water flowing through the hen house. Aunty Helen would always tell me, “There’s no rest for the wicked.” Then she’d ask me, “Now don’t you wish you were good?” I’ll take the “Fifth” on that one, Your Honor! I guess maybe a little rest might not be a bad idea either, now that I think about it. What ever your plans may be, include the kids, stay warm and dry, and I will see you in the halls
next week.
Scott
TECHNOLOGY AND OUR CHILDREN
From time to time it is good to remind parents about some of the problems that can arise between technology and children. Nicole Detore, our school counselor teaches classroom guidance that deals with internet safety and other problems that can arise with electronic media. Luckily, I have not had to deal with some of the issues that make the news regarding online bullying or harassment, which is a testament to parents being ever vigilant with computer use. Nonetheless it bears mentioning from time-to-time. Monitoring your child's computer usage is NOT an invasion of their privacy, even though they may insist that it is. There is a lot of brain research available that tell us that the ability to recognize cause and effect relationships is not formed in young peoples frontal lobes until age 21. The adults have to
act as the frontal lobes for them. There are a lot of websites that carry questionable content that can be far to easy for children to access. Instant messaging is also a place where it is so easy to type something that on the surface can seem pretty innocuous or funny when in reality it can be downright hurtful to the reader. Being a parent is hard work and monitoring these additional things can be a challenge, but talking to your child about safe computer usage should reduce the number of things you have to worry about rather add one more thing to an already busy world. If you have questions about the internet, feel free to contact myself or Ms. DeTore. We're happy to help.
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