Happy Halloween

When I became the principal of Rice Lake Elementary four years ago I entered a community that had a well established Halloween tradition.  While not all schools celebrate Halloween, we do here at Rice Lake.  On Friday, October 30, at 1:30 you are invited to Rice Lake to observe the costume parade led by me.  Joining me are first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth graders and many staff members.  Kindergarteners have their own costume parade and parties on Wednesday, October 28.  We are sensitive that some families do not celebrate Halloween and work to provide other options to the costume parade and parties, the majority of our families enjoy our safe celebration.  We thank families for adhering to our practices of no violent costumes, no masks, no look-alike weapons, and no face paints worn to school.  We do welcome family members to come to school before the parade to help with any make-up or hair decorating.  Check with your child’s teacher for the best time to come and help.  We get a lot of visitors that afternoon and parking is at a premium but we do enjoy this Rice Lake tradition and invite you to join us.

Mexico Service Project

We are excited to participate for the 4th year in a service project titled, “Connecting Through International Service.”  Four years ago I was privileged to be the elementary principal who accompanied five district 5th graders and the parent volunteer organizer to deliver school supplies to our adopted school in Sasabe, Sonora, Mexico, right across the border from Sasabe, Arizona, about an hour southwest of Tucson.  This year six schools will participate in a school supply drive and each will select a 5th grade student who will represent their school on the trip, planned for next April.  Rice Lake will join Weaver Lake, Park Brook, Edinbrook, Oak View, and Elm Creek elementary schools in this project.  Our 5th grade students learned about the opportunity last week and are busily working on an essay to describe why they would be the best Rice Lake representative.  School teams will review the essays and principals will meet on October 30, 2009 to select the six-student team to represent our district.  Thanks to generous contributions and donations all expenses for the six students are covered.  I am thrilled that we have this opportunity to serve others and that one of our students will have the chance of a lifetime to be part of this exciting project.  I will update you in the future on the Rice Lake student representative and our school supply drive scheduled for February.

What’s New!

It’s been a busy but successful first three weeks of school.  Last night we held the first PTO meeting of the year and I highlighted ten new things at Rice Lake this year.  Some of these have been previously mentioned but here is what I shared with those at the PTO meeting:

• New faces on staff.  22 staff members are new, returning, or changed assignments this year.  This includes licensed and non-licensed staff members.
• New video projection units and document cameras for our learning spaces.  These were gifted to us by the PTO last year and at our October 9 staff development day teachers will be learning how to use this new equipment.
• New carpeting, door frames, doors, locks, windows, gymnasium lights, lounge painting, and parking lot painting.  One final section of our school will be recarpeted next summer.
• New achievement results.  Our school goal last year was ~ The percent of all students in grades 3-6 at Rice Lake School who earn achievement levels of Meets or Exceeds Standards on the Math MCA-II test will increase from 59% in 2008 to 64% in 2009. We are proud to share that the percentage increased from 59% (2008)to 84% (2009).
• New site improvement goal for 2009 – 2010.  We will improve reading achievement from 76% (2009) to 78% (2010).
• New level of students enrolled.  Last year we ended with about 640 students.  This year our enrollment is 714.
• New spaces for OT and Gifted Education services.  We moved both programs into their own classrooms for this year.
• New later start with our school district calendar.  Because we started later this year we will go longer into the month of June; June 11, 2010 will be the last day with students.
• New Gifted Education model.  We have implemented GE cluster classrooms at each grade level K-6. 
• New lunch schedule.  We changed from a staggered lunch schedule to a discreet one-hour time period.  This earned us back 462 hours of instructional time and the cafeteria is less rushed, less crowded, and the playground is safer with fewer students at one time.
• New families and new PTO members!  We welcome all returning and new families to Rice Lake and to the PTO.

First Week of School

The first week of school is almost finished and it has been a busy but successful first four days of school.  My main focus during the first week is make sure everyone arrives safely, gets placed into a classroom, receives lunch and recess, knows where they are going at the end of the day, and arrives home safely.  If your children were as tired as I was at the start of school, you should have had no trouble getting them to bed and having them sleep for an entire night.  With your help, and teachers’ support, every single one of our 700 students made it home safely on the first day of school with no students left in the office!  Thank you for all you do to assist us and your children in having successful days.  Remember to always call in and report absences, make sure lunch balances are updated as needed, send notes to school if there is a change in end of the day practices (ie. getting picked up verses riding the bus), keep us informed of any address or family changes, and in general maintain good communication between home and school.  You can visit our district and school websites for information, sign up for SchoolView, review Wednesday envelope information, read the monthly newsletter, and call us or send email messages.  We want you to be well informed about district and Rice Lake practices and want you and your children to have great weeks all year long, just like this first week.

Drill Week

All of our district schools practice safety drills as part of our emergency preparedness.  We are required to practice five types of safety drills; Evacuation (Fire), Severe Weather (Tornado), Reverse Evacuation, Shelter In Place, and Lockdown.  An Evacuation is used when we need to have everyone exit the building safely.  A Severe Weather situation is needed when we have to get to safe places in the building because of impending weather.  A Reverse Evacuation is implemented when we need everyone who is outside the building to quickly come in because of some danger outside.  A Shelter In Place situation in needed when we need people in the building to stay put; no immediate danger or threat is present inside, we just need to clear the hallways.  A Lockdown is implemented when we need everyone to get into a classroom so we can lock the doors, close the windows, and get everyone in a quiet and safe position.  At the beginning of the year we practice all of these drills during Drill Week which will be held September 15 – 18.  Planning and practicing these drills during Drill Week gives teachers the opportunity to educate and inform their students, notifies staff members to be prepared to assist as planned, and allows me to describe each drill and walk our entire school through the procedures and expectations.  We conduct two Drill Weeks a year; one in the fall and one in the spring along with practicing Evacuation and Lockdown drills at various other times during the school year.  If your children come home and talk about the upcoming Drill Week, you can reinforce the need to practice and be prepared for an emergency situation.

Thank You PTO

The Rice Lake PTO has had a couple successful years of fundraising with our entire community’s support.  We have had wonderful participation and great support with our fundraising events and activities here at Rice Lake.  All of these contribute to a PTO budget that raises nearly $50,000 a year for programs, personnel, and teacher support.  I want to highlight one particular exciting piece of news.  Last spring the PTO gifted $24,000 to allow us to equip all of our learning spaces with updated technology which includes a video projection unit and document camera.  These technology upgrades will enable all teachers to enhance their instruction and allow students to benefit from the use of technology in their lessons and classrooms.  Thank you Rice Lake PTO.

Rice Lake Achievement Data

We work very hard in the Osseo Area Schools to pay attention to student achievement data.  This data is important as we develop our yearly school improvement goals.  Our teachers use this data to determine their priorities and grade level focus for the coming year as well.  I have been reviewing the Rice Lake NWEA (Northwest Evaluation Association)  and MCA-II (Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment) test results along with a team of Rice Lake teachers.  We are looking to see where we have made gains and where we have some challenges.  Mr. French will be sharing this achievement data with the Rice Lake staff on August 31 and with Rice Lake families at the September 24 PTO meeting.  If you are interested in learning about the Rice Lake data, please plan to attend that meeting.

Changes for the 2009-2010 School Year

As I have been getting ready for the new school year I wanted to update families about some of the changes for the upcoming school year.  First, there are some changes that you should be able to notice right away.  We have had some improvements to our building.  The solariums that were on the external classrooms have been removed along with the concrete slab that supported them and have been replaced by new windows.  Inside the school we have added frames, doors and locks to our internal classrooms.  Now all of our classrooms have doors that can be closed and locked when needed to enhance the learning environment and safety needs of Rice Lake.  We have added new carpeting to more classrooms.  During the summer of 2008 the Media Center, hallways, and a few classrooms were recarpeted.  This summer the project was expanded to include most of the 6th, 5th, 4th, and 3rd grade rooms.  Next summer the project will be completed finishing off the rest of the rooms.  We have had some changes with teachers and programs requiring us to move some staff members around.  You can discover some of those changes during the Open House scheduled for September 1 from 5:00 – 6:30.  We are excited about these changes that improve the learning environment for all students.

Welcome to the 2009 – 2010 School Year

My goal this year is to update my blog at least once a week so I can share the great things happening here at Rice Lake.  I also welcome your suggestions and ideas for topics.  Think about things that you would like to know more about.  Maybe you want to learn about our special education programs, how Rice Lake students are achieving, the variety of students, cultures, and languages in our English Language Learners (ELL) Program, or the new Gifted Education clustering model, among other things.  Just reply with your thoughts to this blog or send me an email message to frenchm@district279.org.  I look forward to working with you, your children, Rice Lake staff members, and district staff to make this another successful school year.