I hope all of our Clough families had a relaxing, enjoyable holiday vacation. The Garden family maxed out our vacation time and spent the whole time traveling and making family memories. And now it's 2025! It's hard to believe that we are in the year 2025. I am looking forward to watching our amazing Clough students thrive in '25! I know many students have talked about reflecting on what they have accomplished so far this year and setting some goals for the second half of the year. I have had conversations with my own kids at home about what kind of goals or resolutions they might set for this year. I always like to pick one word as my guide instead of resolutions. This year I selected the word "cultivate." I know my last name is Garden, but I definitely not a gardener. I don't do a very good job when I have to tend to and care for plants. In fact, many students know that I have some plants in my office, but they are all fake so that I don't have to worry about them not growing! But I do love helping students and teachers to grow and learn so that's why I selected cultivate as my word for 2025.
We have our next PTO Meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 14 at 6:30 in the library. I will be speaking about literacy instruction and sharing some resources for families. Hope to see many of you next week!
At the end of this month, report cards for term 1 will be available in PowerSchool. You may remember from the beginning of the year, I shared that we have updated our report card template and we have made adjustments to the performance indicators. I am including a graphic with those new indicators down below, as well as some frequently asked questions and answers. The report card is meant to be one way to communicate with parents/guardians how students are progressing towards the end of the year standards. Because we are in the middle of the year, we expect that many students will be Beginning to Progress Towards the Standards or Progressing Towards the Standards. The week before report cards are available, I will be sending home some grade level specific documents that will hopefully help you understand all the different math standards that your child is working on throughout the year. I will be using the next few Caregiver Updates as well to share information about report cards and reporting on students' progress.
It has definitely been a chilly return to school this week. Hopefully we will see the temperatures go up a little bit so we can do more outdoor recess time. The kids were excited to go back outside today for recess. Please make sure you are sending your child to school with the appropriate gear (coats, hats, gloves, etc) so that they can enjoy outdoor play in the fresh air.
Sincerely,
Liz Garden
Clough Principal
P.S. We saw some of this happening more before vacation, but I wanted to remind parents/guardians about our wellness policy in regards to food being sent in or brought into classrooms. Due to allergies and other health conditions, we ask that celebrations in classrooms do not involve food. Please do not send your child in with food or snacks to give to other students in their class, for class parties or for birthdays.
