Happy Friday! The first week of school is officially in the books and despite the bumps, I'll call it a success. I wanted to share a handful of things to round out this week:
PTO
A HUGE thank you to our PTO for welcoming our kids back with a Friday ice cream/popsicle treat. The kids loved it and were very appreciative. Pictures will be posted to our Facebook page. Thank you also for providing a first day of school Coffee Cart with pastries for our teachers. They also appreciated the thoughtfulness and boost of caffeine to get the day started.
Solar Eclipse
A couple of days ago, I shared some information about the solar eclipse. Just a reminder that parents are welcome to come and enjoy the viewing with their kids. If you are coming up, please keep the following in mind:
- Instead of coming to the school to sign in, please go directly to Moss Field and sign in at one of the 3 entry ways. We will have staff members there to greet you and sign you in.
- Please ask your child who their 5th hour teacher is. Students will be viewing the eclipse with their 5th hour class.
- Students will NOT have their cell phones with them as a safety measure so you will not be able to text/call. Please look at the map of the layout for your child's 5th hour teacher and you can meet him/her there.
- Staff members will be at the doors beginning at 12:40pm to sign folks in. There will most likely be a ton of folks who are not connected with our school near the rec center and in the parking lot to view the eclipse. The field will not be open to the public and will only be used for our students.
Also, we are SOLD OUT of glasses so will not have any extra available on Monday.
Open House
Open House will take place on Thursday, August 31th beginning at 6:00pm. This will be a great time to come and meet teachers and see what kids will be doing.
No School
Please note that there will not be school on Friday, September 1st. It is a district wide professional development day for teachers.
After School Activities
Our afterschool activities site has been updated and now available on our Hixson webpage. I've also included the link here as well. Thank you, Dr. Vogt, for organizing such an awesome page that outlines all of our afterschool activities. Students will be taught how to sign up for activities through Google and informed that they must sign up in order to stay after and participate. Students can sign up any time but will also have the opportunity to do so during lunches beginning August 28-30.
Please note that registration for our Girls on the Run Team, Heart & Sole, closes on August 30th at noon. Though there is a registration fee, know that there are scholarships and payment plans available. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to connect with me.
After school activities begins on Tuesday, September 5th and here is the link:
Looking Ahead
In the weeks to come, I'll be leading community building circles with kids through their discovery hour class. I'm curious about them and anxious to begin getting to know everyone. It will take a few weeks for me to get through all the grades and classes but wanted to let you know what's happening if they happen to talk about it.
I'll also send out more information about restorative practices-what it is, what it is not and what it will look like at Hixson. I'm fortunate that Hixson is a building where teachers are truly innovative and leading the way in doing what's best for kids. Teachers began their own restorative practices development last year so it makes it easy for me to jump in and move forward with them. This year, I hope you will begin to hear our kids talking about it at home and how they are leading the work.
Thank You
It has been quite a week of firsts and know that I will learn a lot in this first year as the principal of Hixson! Huge lessons were learned from the great pickup debacle of 2017. However, what I do know is that it is important for me to be transparent with our kids. I will make mistakes and know kids are watching and listening to see how I'll respond. As a parent, teacher, and school leader it's important to me that kids see a growth mindset. I want kids to know that really, there is no such thing as perfect. We make mistakes and what's important is how we handle it. One of my hopes for our kids is that they know that they can grow from failures and not think that the race is over when they meet an obstacle but instead figure out a way around it. This week, I've only been able to connect with kids in the halls and lunches. However, the brief conversations has given me a glimpse of the incredible kindness and positive energy that is filling the hallways. I can't wait to see what they do in our community when we begin to empower them to lead.
Thank you for an amazing first week...all the conversations, kind emails and warm welcomes! I truly am honored to be here and serve my WG community.
Have a wonderful weekend connecting with each other.
With Gratitude,
Grace
Grace