Red Pride Weekly - Family Edition

I started last week's message with "Let's try this again", but with snow and extremely cold weather in the forecast, I would like to try something else... 70 degree days come to mind, but I'm afraid I have a long wait for that.

We did get a full week in last week and our Gladiators got the 2nd semester off to a great start by focusing on routines and expectations. I'm hopeful that we will get more days in this week so that our Gladiators can continue strong this semester.

There are a number of important dates this week. As a reminder, there is no school for students or staff tomorrow, Monday, January 20.

Important Dates

• Monday, January 20 - No School for Students or Staff
• Wednesday, January 22 - PTA Meeting; 5:30 pm, Library
• Friday, January 24 - Class Pictures
• Monday, February 3 - No School for PreK Students
• Monday, February 17 - No School for Students

Shout Out!

The County Spelling Bee was held last Thursday and our Riverheads Elementary champion finished in 2nd place after 30 rounds of spelling. We are proud of our her performance and excited that the top 3 finishers were all elementary school students. Hopefully this is just the start of great things for this young Gladiator.

Over the next several weeks, students will complete a number of state required assessments to help us gauge the current level of mastery possessed by our Gladiators. Students in Grades K-2 will be administered the VALLSS (Virginia Language & Literacy Screening System) assessments by their classroom teachers. VALLSS requires one-on-one testing, so we will be bringing in substitute teachers to help us continue with our regular instruction.

Schedule

• Kindergarten VALLSS: 1/22 & 1/23
• 2nd Grade VALLSS: 1/27 & 1/28
• 1st Grade VALLSS: 1/29 & 1/30

Please make sure your child is present for VALLSS testing during the window to minimize makeups.

We changed our school's master schedule starting in the 2nd semester in order to increase the time available for academic interventions and to provide additional time for English Language Arts and Mathematics instruction. For some grade levels this will result in minor tweaks, while other grade levels will see more significant changes. There has been some confusion about changes to lunch times, so here is some general guidance regarding times:

• 1st grade - 10:55 am
• 5th grade - 11:05 am
• 3rd grade - 11:35 am
• Kindergarten - 11:45 am
• Preschool - 12:00 pm
• 2nd grade - 12:20 pm
• 4th grade - 12:30 pm

You can access our 2nd semester Specials rotation schedules here:

• Grade 5
• Grade 4
• Grade 3
• Grade 2
• Grade 1
• Kindergarten
• PreK & EL

Class Pictures will be taken on Friday, January 24, 2025. Please make every effort to have your child here that morning to be included in their class photo. Information about ordering is in the graphic pictured above. A handout will come home this week.

Kaitlyn, one of our 5th graders, is currently in the hospital at UVA. We miss her dearly and want to show her that we are thinking of her with a special Spirit Week, January 27 - 31. We are also hosting a coin drive to support the family during this time for those who feel called to contribute.

Each morning our Gladiators are asked to live up to our Red Pride Pledge by being safe, respectful, responsible, caring learners. Students who live up to our Riverheads Expectations for Success have a chance to be nominated by their teacher or another staff member for the honor of being a Good News Gladiator. Students who earn this honor are given a shout out over the announcements and are allowed to choose a book from our book vending machine.

Please join me in celebrating these Gladiators for showing their Red Pride!

We have been busy recognizing students all year, so be on the lookout for more Good News Gladiators each week.

Despite the cold, some of our Kindergarten Gladiators braved the cold to get in some outdoor recess.

These 2nd grade students are working on mastering their math facts. Students in grades 2-5 are working each day to become fluent in the facts they are learning. Their teachers worked with our division math supervisor and instructional coach to implement the Mastering Math Facts program, which you may hear students refer to as rocket math since they map their progress with rockets.

Mrs. Coleman and our Kindergarten students began work on a new project this week.

Several of our classrooms are making time for Mystery Readers and Mrs. King was called into action for this 4th grade class.