RES NEWS

Dear RES Community,

It is really starting to feel like fall. The leaves are changing color and falling from the trees. As the weather continues to change, please remember to have your children arrive to school dressed for the temperatures and with a coat.

Over the last week we honored our Veterans with a special assembly, celebrated World Kindness Day and introduced our No Place for Hate Promise. Our grade 5 student leaders served as readers and guides during the Veterans Day Assembly, our Student Council Committees introduced themselves and shared about their committee work and our No Place for Hate student leaders taught students about what it means to be an ally and how to live the No Place for Hate promise each day.

In this edition you will find curriculum updates, highlights from the Art Department, Library Media Center, PTA Enrichment, and photos from the last several weeks.

Enjoy!

Mary

Mary Scalise, Principal

Traci Mayette, Assistant Principal

Tuesday, November 19, 2024: PTA Enrichment: Grade 5 HRRA Trash Talks

Wednesday, November 20, 2024: Peter Pan Jr. Auditions 3:30 PM (by appointment)

Thursday, November 21, 2024: Peter Pan Jr. Auditions 3:30 PM (by appointment)

Friday, November 22, 2024: Early Dismissal 11:40 AM - Parent Teacher Conferences

Monday, November 25, 2024: Early Dismissal 11:40 AM - Parent Teacher Conferences

Tuesday, November 26, 2024: Early Dismissal 11:40 AM - Parent Teacher Conferences

Wednesday, November 27, 2024: Early Dismissal 11:40 AM

Thursday, November 28 and Friday, November 29, 2024: NO SCHOOL; Thanksgiving Recess

Wednesday, December 4, 2024: PTA Enrichment Grade 2 Safety in the Community

Grades are posted on the Parent Portal in PowerSchool three times a year for grades K-5.

Students’ academic performance in grades K-5 is evaluated based on a 3-point scale as indicated by numbers ranging from 1 to 3 on report cards each trimester.

Kindergarten - Grade 3 Academic Key

3 - Meets grade level expectations

2 - Progressing to grade level expectations

1 - Needs more time and help

Grade 4-5 Academic Key

3 - Exceeds grade level expectations

2 - Meets grade level expectations

1 - Needs more time and help

In addition to the 3-point scale score, in fourth and fifth grade, students receive an overall letter grade in the core academic areas.

The numerical ranges for letter grades are listed below:

A+ = 95 - 100

A = 90 - 94

B+ = 85 - 89

B = 80 - 84

C+ = 75 - 79

C = 70 - 74

D = 65 - 69

F = 0 - 64

The first trimester ends on November 25, 2024 and progress reports will be available on PowerSchool on December 16, 2024.

Our very own Ella Petzold, Sutton Bard, Charley O’Keeffe, Lucy Spence, Remi Bard, Emory Hogan, Chloe Wasserman, and Molly Flynn placed second in the state competition and headed to the Regionals on 11/16/24.

Way to go!

On November 13, 2024, RES students and faculty/staff came together for an all school meeting where our student leaders (pictured above) shared about what it means and looks like to be an ally. Our students shared The No Place for Hate Promise and started our bulletin board display which will include paw prints with each student and staff members name on it. RES is ALL IN to make Ridgebury No Place for Hate!

The Ridgefield Public Schools have established guidelines that ensure we have a welcoming and safe school community.

Dropping off an item: If you have something to drop off for your child during the school day such as a forgotten lunch or instrument, please place the item on the table and label it with the child’s name and teacher. We will provide the item to the student.

Visitors are admitted by appointment only. At Ridgebury, we use a daily visitor log, where faculty and staff list expected RES visitors each morning. Typical visit reasons include: meeting/conference, mystery reader, parent volunteer, etc.

Please be sure to have your driver’s license ready to be scanned once you are admitted into the building. All visitors must wear a visitor sticker when in the building.

All visitors must enter the school through the main doors - never enter from another area of the school.

Thank you for your attention to this process.

Mrs. Paradiso will be reviewing the acceptable use policy in all library classes over the month of September. All families have access to and agree to the district technology policies when they sign the student handbook in PowerSchool at the beginning of the school year.

• School Dismissal Manager (SDM) is an easy-to-use mobile and desktop interface that allows you to make these changes in advance or for the current day. You can also report student absences, late arrivals, early dismissals and even schedule recurring dismissal instructions for after-school activities.

• We are utilizing SDM's Late Arrival feature so that you can let the school know when your child will be arriving late. Select the day on the calendar that your child will be arriving late, then select Add Late Arrival, fill out the reason and click Submit. When reporting a late arrival for the current day, please note that the cutoff time is 8:45 am. Upon arrival, your child must still check in with the security guard at RES.

• Requests for pickup must be made through the School Dismissal Manager (SDM) system. We assume every student rides their bus to school and home. This is the default setting in SDM. An alternative plan, what SDM terms as “exceptions” must be entered before 11:15 am.

• In the event that you have an emergency and need an alternative plan after 11:15, please contact the main office at 203-894-5875. Emergency contacts, which you identify in the PowerSchool Portal, should be people you feel comfortable can pick up your child from school if there is ever the need. We do not release students to adults, even if we know them, without written permission from you, or if they are an emergency contact.

Questions related to RPS Transportation? Please use this transportation email address:

RPSTransportation@RidgefieldPS.net. The district has several staff members monitoring this email account and will be looking to acknowledge emails from parents within a 24 hour time period and solve most issues within that time frame as well.

We know how fun it is for our students to get together after school and enjoy time together! Due to safety and limited space on the buses, we are asking that students have no more than 2 guest riders with them at a time. Anytime there is a need for more than 2 additional students to ride, families will need to make arrangements for parent pick up that day. Thank you for understanding!

School lunch will be available from the first day of school. Aramark is the District-wide food service provider. The school lunch menu is available online on the RPS website; click Departments and click on Food Service. For students in grades 2-5, snacks and additional items will be available through MySchoolBucks system which allows students to purchase their lunch by entering a 5-digit code at the cash register. Questions in regard to MySchoolBucks can be directed to Andrea McCurry, RPS Food Service Director at 203-894-5550 x1127 or amccurry@ridgefieldps.net

Address: 112 Bennetts Farm Road

Website: https://res.ridgefield.org/
Phone: (203) 894-5875