Roderick Review Week 28 (3/21/16-3/25/16)

Upcoming Spirit Day!

Our Student Council (right) was hard at work this week creating the signs for their next spirit day.  During the week of April 11th through April 15th, students are invited to donate items for Cradles To Crayons.  Acceptable items include:
*New children's clothes (sizes 0-20)
*Arts and Crafts supplies
*School Supplies
*New batteries.
Then on Friday, April 15th, it will be "Backwards Day!"  Everyone is invited to wear clothes backwards or inside out.  Maybe the hood of your hooded sweatshirt is in the front.  Maybe you wear a "frontpack" instead of a "backpack" - Be creative!

Parent Information Night Recap:

 Earlier this week, there was a "cybersafety" parent information night in the Vogel Auditorium featuring our Director of Technology, Sean Ahern, our school psychologist, Kim Kost, and our Technology Teacher, Heather Fox.

Ms. Fox began by sharing the information about what the students are learning in their technology classes about safer searching online.  In addition, she also shared examples of how to keep students safe if they use social media such as Facebook or Instagram.  Not talking to strangers online, keeping their accounts on private, and having parents "follow" them will help to keep students safe.





Ms. Kost  spoke about how the adolescent brain is different than the adult brain and that the students' pre-frontal cortex is still developing until their mid-20's.  Since the pre-frontal cortex functions include personality expression, moderating social behavior, and decision making, students may not yet have the ability to completely think through how they are portraying themselves to others.  Ms. Kost shared some great advice:  when students are experiencing strong emotions, stay away from technology and social media and resist using "Facebook" like a diary.

 Continuous Growth and Learning!

 On Thursday, March 24, 2016, all of our teachers were modeling the core value of Continuous Growth and Learning during the professional development day.  Below you see Roderick Teachers working with their grade level colleagues as they develop their next writing unit!