The Buzz
Hello Florida Ruffin Ridley School Families and Friends,
Can you believe that it is April already?
It's that time of year, where we start to focus on class placements for the next school year.
Class Placement Family Feedback Form
Each year, beginning in April, we devote a great deal of time, care and thought to creating the following year’s classes. The following describes our class placement process. The goal of the placement process is to create balanced and equitable classes that provide the optimal learning environment for both the individual child and the group of children as a whole. We strive to create groupings that provide academic peers for each student and make it possible to provide high quality instruction and the most effective student services. As we balance classes, we create clusters as follows:
Each class will have students who can spark each other, have common interests or will work well together.
Each class will have students with varied learning strengths, and students with special needs will be clustered to facilitate service delivery.
Given sufficient numbers, students will not be isolated in terms of gender, race or ethnicity
Friendships are considered, but our primary focus is to provide appropriate learning peers for each student, understanding that each year brings new opportunities for friendships. The Brookline School Committee’s “Student Grouping, Inclusion and Placement Practices” policy states:
“When determining class placement of students at any grade level in elementary school and in the creation of middle school class lists, consideration shall be given to various student learning needs. In order to create effective learning environments and maintain valued diversity within each classroom, efforts will be made to place students with some peers who share similar profiles so that teachers can more effectively address the strengths and needs of all students.”
Class building is a team effort to which we devote a great deal of time and thought. Grade-level teachers, literacy and math specialists, special education teachers and related service providers, EL teachers, guidance counselors, and principals all work together on our placement process.
Family Role in the Placement Process
Our placement process includes an opportunity for families to provide information or share unique circumstances that you feel are important. We respect your right to advocate for your child and understand that you know your child best over time. Especially in this unique year, you have valuable information from all the time your child(ren) spent at home learning. If you feel that you have additional information that the placement team is not aware of, you are invited to fill out our Class Placement Feedback form. We will NOT be accepting letters via email this year and encourage all families who wish to submit additional information to use this form so we can keep all the information organized.
All information must be submitted via the form no later than Friday, April 19th.
Completing the form is optional. The same care and consideration will be given to every child during the placement process whether a parent/guardian submits input. If you do complete the form, your information will be shared with the placement team. Please remember that our primary objective is to ensure that each student will be assigned to a class that he/she can learn and grow academically and socially, and to build classes that function as lively heterogeneous cohorts. Requests for specific teachers in writing or in person will not be considered as part of this process. We take our responsibility seriously and, therefore, allocate ample time and care as we engage in reflection while looking forward to planning for next year’s classes.
If you are planning on moving and/or sending your child(ren) to another school for the 2024 - 2025 School Year please fill out this online form to help us gather information regarding next year’s students. You will need to fill out multiple forms if you have more than one child at the Florida Ruffin Ridley School.
Please see the continued schedule below for MCAS Testing at the Ruffin Ridley School:
Grades 6,7,8
April 2nd- Session 1
April 4th- Session 2
Make-up date: April 5th
Math Testing:
Grades 3,4,5
May 7th- Session 1
May 8th- Session 2
Make-up date: May 9th
Grades 6,7,8
May 14th- Session 1
May 15TH- Session 2
Make-up date May 16th
Science:
FRR- Grades 5 and 8
May 22nd Session 1
May 23rd- Session 2
Make-up date May 24th
Grade 8 Civics Field Test:
June 4th- Session 1
June 5th Session 2
Make-up date June 6th
Thanks for all that you do,
Principal Whitmore
Spirit Week: April 8th-12th
Get Ready!!!!!!! Count Down to April Break!
Next Week: Spirit Week
Monday: Storybook Character Day
Tuesday: Twin Day!
Wednesday: Favorite Hat Day (K-5), Anything but a backpack (Middle School Only)
Thursday: Throwback Thursday: 80's and 90's Decade
Friday: Colors Day: (Day of Silence)
- 8th grade- RED
- 7th grade- Orange
- 6th grade- Black
- 5th grade-Green
- 4th grade- Purple
- 3rd grade-Pink
- 2nd grade-Blue
- 1st grade -Yellow
- Kindergarten- Rainbow Colors (All colors)
Ruffin Ridley Amateur Kickball Association
Its RRAKA Season!! Season Schedule is below. Games 1 begins at 2:30pm and Game 2 begins at 3:20pm. Lets cheer on these teams:
High-Kicking Donkeys, Dancing Alpacas, Pirouetting Magpies and Buzzing Unicorns
Week 1 (Opening Day) - Thursday March 28th
Week 2 - April 5th
Week 3 - April 12th
Week 4 - April 26th
Week 5 - May 3rd
Week 6 - May 10th
Week 7 - May 17th
Week 8 - May 24th
Week 9 - May 31st
Week 10 *RRAKA Cup* (#1 vs #2 seed) - Wednesday June 5th
Girls on The Run
Our Girls on the Run Spring Season is beginning this week!
-Our first practice is Monday 4/1. This season we have 27 4th and 5th grade girls on our team - our biggest team EVER!
-Girls will meet in KC (Room 266) at 3:00. We will be practicing on and around the field from 3:15-4:15 every Monday and Wednesday.
-Because of the early release day, there is NO GOTR practice this Wednesday 4/3.
-If you have any questions, please reach out to Nicole Chasse.
Many thanks for helping to make this season a success!
2024 GOTR Coaches,
Nicole Chasse, Abi Robichaud, Alicia Poulin, Emily Manning-Mingle, Adrienne Pascucci, Melanie Hyashida, Amanda Plaza, and Paige Cooper
Coming Soon: International Night
Friday, May 3 at 6:00 PM
This is a fun school community potluck to share our cultures and small tastes from around the world.
Stay tuned for more details to come and signup to help lead a country and help us celebrate our rich and diverse community.
The Florida Ruffin Ridley School
Email: candice_whitmore@psbma.org
Website: https://www.brookline.k12.ma.us/ruffinridley
Location: 345 Harvard Street, Brookline, MA, USA
Phone: 617-879-4400
Twitter: @TheHiveInCC