We are off to a great start this year. Our open house was extremely well attended. Students took the lead, showing parents the “ropes” and how school works for their grade level. It was a great time. Thank you to our PTO for a wonderful fall festival. It also was very well attended. Ross students and their families were able to enjoy games, food, and fun. Many won prizes through the raffles. We enjoyed our first program of the year with 4th graders performing Motown hits in Hitsville USA, written and directed by our very own Mrs. Tarver. It was a great evening. We are collecting applications for UIL right now. Second through 4th grade students can complete in academic areas such as writing, spelling, chess or math. The competition will be held in the spring.
We are also heavily invested in The Bryan Build. If you haven’t heard, as a district we are collecting money to donate to a home through Habitat for Humanity for a Bryan family. So far we have participated by collecting donations for dress up days, pictures with Rocky, and a hat day. There will be more opportunities to donate in the future. Look for information coming home throughout the year.
Accelerated Reader (AR) is a program that encourages students to read. Students read books, take a test over the book, and earn points. Points go towards a number of prizes. The most popular being a Sonic drink when students reach 10 points. Please ask your child about AR and how they are doing. Encourage them to read and offer to read with them. This is a great way to practice a skill that is essential for future success.
Parent conferences were held in October and should all be completed by November 11th. They can be held in person, on Zoom or via phone call. Teachers have important information to share with parents about student progress, grades, MAP testing, and behavior goals. Some parents have been difficult to get in touch with. If you have not had your conference please reach out to your child’s teacher so that you can meet soon. Parent support is a determining factor when it comes to a child’s academic success. A school and home partnership is the best situation for each student.
If you have not accepted the Class Dojo invite, please do so. This is our main form of communication with families. Teachers can communicate with the entire class or individual parents. It is easy and quick, and accessible.
A few things that are coming up are that we will invite parents to lunch for Thanksgiving on either the 10th or 11th. More information will be sent home soon. We will reboot our Watch DOGS (Dads of Great Students) program in January. This is for men only. Sorry moms. The Food for Families Food Drive will occur right when we return from the Thanksgiving break. If you are able, donations will be appreciated.
Our E8 trait for the month of November is Gratitude and December is Philanthropy. Please ask your children what we are learning at school about these traits. Give students the opportunity to explain them to you. They are really doing an amazing job learning and applying what they have learned about good character.
For 3rd and 4th grade parents, the format of STAAR testing has changed with students being required to submit some answers in a short answer or long answer format. This format is a change for both math and reading. We are working on practicing this format at school and would ask that any opportunity that your children have to write at home is appreciated. We also purchased a typing program so that students can practice their typing skills as well. More information will be shared about the new STAAR test format soon. TEA has not released all information as of yet. We will share more information as we get it.