2024-2025
Riverside Elementary Family Handbook
Mission & Vision
Together we fly.
Vision:
Riverside Elementary School builds confident and compassionate leaders who are equipped with the knowledge, values, and abilities to make positive, meaningful contributions to our world.
Mission:
We, the faculty, staff, and community of Riverside Elementary School work together to continuously improve student achievement while nurturing the personal gifts and talents of each child and developing their independence as individual citizens
Riverside Pledge:
RES is the BEST!
We are students unlike the rest!
We are respectful; we are safe.
These are things we appreciate!
We are responsible, most of all.
We help others when they fall.
My heart is big and full of pride.
I love being at Riverside!
GO DUCKS!
Riverside's Goals
Goal 1: Maintain Safe and Healthy Students
Goal 2: Increase Math Academic Achievement
Goal 3: Increase Reading Academic Achievement
Goal 4: Increase Career Readiness
Goal 5: Maintain Teacher Retention
Arrival & Dismissal
8:15 a.m.-3:15 p.m.
Students may be dropped off as early as 7:30 a.m. Dismissal begins promptly at 3:15.
Transportation Changes
For safety reasons we do not accept transportation changes via Remind or email. Parents must either send a note with the child in the morning, come to the office before 2:45, or call the office themselves.
If a student needs to ride a bus other than their zoned bus that must be approved by the transportation garage. All requests must be turned in to them before 10:00 Am. The student is not allowed to ride the bus without approval.
Attendance
Attendance (whole day or part of the day) is a key factor in student achievement, and therefore, students are expected to be present each day school is in session.
Absences and tardies shall be classified as either excused or unexcused as determined by the principal/designee. Excused absences with proper documentation shall include:
1. Personal illness/injury;
2. Illness of immediate family member;
3. Death in the family;
4. Religious observances;
All attendance notes must be turned in within 5 days upon a student’s return to school. Only 5 parent notes are allowed each semester.
A student who is absent five (5) days without adequate excuse shall be reported and then provide written notice to the parent(s)/guardian(s) of the student's absence. If a parent does not provide documentation within adequate time excusing those absences, or request an attendance hearing, then the progressive truancy plan will be implemented.
Tardies
A student will be marked tardy if they are not in class and seated ready to learn prior to the school bell. Early dismissal will also be classified as tardy. Tardies will require the same documentation as absences to be excused. Four (4) unexcused tardies will be equivalent to one daily UNEXCUSED absence and will be applied accordingly under the Progressive Truancy Plan.
Please contact Melissa Stanley, our attendance clerk, at mstanley@mauryk12.org with any additional questions.
Muletown Riverside Cafe' Lunch Sign-Ups
There are certain days and 3 slots per day for families to register to eat with their child.
We ask that families limit visits to one per month, so that many families may participate.
Different grade levels occur on different days, so that we can accommodate for transitions
between lunches. Any family who is eating lunch with their child must sign up ahead of
time to participate. Separate tables on the stage are for families only, and parents must
sit with students at those tables. Family lunches are only for immediate family members.
Thank you for helping us support all families well by abiding by these procedures.
Sign up here: Riverside Family Lunch Sign-ups
Use this code to access the sign-ups:
RiversidePride23-24
We enjoy seeing our families in the Muletown Riverside Cafe'!
Student Behavior
Riverside is a restorative practices environment, which means we strive to understand the root of a student’s behavior and remediate it at all costs with patience, application, and steadfast, trusting relationships. It is the expectation that teachers will follow-through with the school wide RTIAB plan with fidelity, while consistently applying the positive reinforcements, appropriate redirection and counsel strategies for students, parent communications, and referrals, as needed.
Academics
At Riverside, we use state and district selected curriculum. Below you will find a brief overview of each subject. In weekly newsletters, specific skills and standards will be highlighted.
Reading
Wonders: Allows students to expand their world through literacy. Literacy is the key to understanding -- across time, borders, and cultures-- and will help students recognize and embrace the role they play in the world they are creating. During this time, Social Studies and Science will be integrated through their reading. It empowers students to take an active role in learning and exploration.
95% Foundational Skills: This is a structured literacy solution that supports meaningful and effective literacy progress linked across grades, grounded in the science of reading, and supporting the critical K-5 years.
iReady Reading: This is a computer program that tracks students growth and has students work on an individualized lesson plan that fits their needs based on their progress in the lessons. Students will utilize this program for 15 minutes per day.
Math
Ready Math: Through teacher-led instruction, students develop mathematical reasoning, engage in discourse, and build strong mathematical habits. It builds on students' prior knowledge with lessons that make connections within and across grade levels and directly addresses the major focus of the grade.
iReady Math: This is a computer program that tracks students growth and has students work on an individualized lesson plan that fits their needs based on their progress in the lessons. Students will utilize this program for 15 minutes per day.
Science
Discovery Ed: A compelling high-quality content curriculum with ready-to-use activities to facilitate instruction and create a lasting educational impact in the learning environment.
Social Studies
Gallopade: A comprehensive and flexible program designed to engage students in a robust and interactive learning experience that is aligned to the Tennessee State Standards.
Family Engagement Events
Title I Federal Programs
Riverside Elementary is identified as a Title I school as part of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The funding supports state and local school efforts in order to improve teaching and learning for all students. At Riverside, we try to support school and home in partnership to best fit the needs of our students and community.
Each month, The River Cascade, the Monthly Title I Newsletter, will be shared with highlights from school events, how to support academics at home, upcoming events, and a little "something" for the student.
Parent and Family Engagement Policy: https://secure.smore.com/n/fxd9c
Riverside SHIP
S.H.I.P
School and Home In Partnership
Riverside SHIP Meetings-4th Wednesday each month in the Library at 3:30 pm
Riverside School Wide Wish List & Project Needs
We really need your help and that of our community in continuing these efforts and have
made an Amazon wish list that we will continually add to over the course of the year as
needs arise. These items are for all spaces in our school to provide educational and
workplace value for our students and staff. Please feel free to share this link on Facebook
publicly for anyone to access and purchase items. Thank you!
RIVERSIDE AMAZON WISHLIST: https://a.co/gcgdQla
COMMUNITY PROJECTS
We have several projects that we would like to invite community members to lead and/or
participate in. Please contact Breckon Pennell, school principal, at
bpennell@mauryk12.org, if you or your business can help in any way.
Landscaping for the Giving Tree Garden – This summer, we lost a beautiful oak tree at
the front of our school, where you now see a stump. You may know of the sweet book,
The Giving Tree, where a tree offers love and kindness to a little boy over the course of
his life, including all of the branches at the end and becomes a little stump for the boy to
rest in his old age. We would like to create a garden around this stump at the front of our
school and need help from our community to make it happen.
We need the following:
Tilling Dirt/Grass
Mulch
Plants:
Crepe Myrtles-6
LimeLights-4
Butterfly Bushes-4
Hydrangeas-4
Various Perennials and Shareable Blooms-Black-eyed Susans, Irises, Phlox, Dahlias,
Daylilies, Hostas, Yarrow, Herbs, Etc.
We would like to tackle this project by Spring 2025. Please contact us, if you are
interested.
Contact Us
Riverside Elementary
Website: https://www.mauryk12.org/res
Location: Riverside Elementary School, Carter Street, Columbia, TN, USA
Phone: 931-840-4422
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/columbiariverside