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Welcome home to the Junior High who had a very successful camping and climbing trip to Mt. Chocorua at the beginning of the week. Parent chaperone Jen Carr commented to me how impressed she was by the many ways in which the kids supported each other during the challenging hike. They demonstrated compassion, empathy, and self awareness with such remarks as “Come on, I know you can do it!” and “When it feels hard for me, I picture myself at the top” and, as we all tell ourselves, “Take one step at a time”.

Thank you to parent volunteers Sara Coffey and Joanna Terry for helping out with Picture Day. They got classes to the photographer on time and took care of last minute neatening and hair combing. Both Sara and Joanna have children in the Primary class and they said this was a great way to get to know the school and the older students.

Here’s another great opportunity for parents. Wendy Webber and Richard Dror will offer a parenting course, described below, that parallels work Jodi is doing with her students. This class is open to all parents and will be of special interest to parents in Jodi’s class. In order for as many of you as possible to get a taste of this, we are combining the introductory session with a Parents & Friends meeting on Monday, October 8 at 6:30pm. We will have a brief P&F meeting to discuss upcoming activities and select officers. This will be followed by Wendy and Richard’s presentation. Please put this on our calendar!

All of the classes have created Behavior Expectations for their classrooms. Today I’ll meet with representatives from each room and we’ll begin work on Behavior Expectations for the places we share – such as halls, the library, the Outback.

Spelling Bee practices have started for interested students from 5th-6th and the Junior High. We meet during lunch and share strategies for spelling some of the tricky words on the list. The 5th-6th grade Spelling Bee will be on Tuesday, October 9th at Newfane Elementary. As last year’s winners, we will host the 7th-8th grade Spelling Bee at 9am on Wednesday, October 10th.

The annual state standardized testing starts next week for all students in 3rd-8th grades. Your child’s teacher will let you know which week they will be testing. Please see the attached letter and contact me with any questions you have.

I look forward to seeing any of you who are able to join me for informal conversation and tea and coffee after Sing on Fridays.