What a fun start to the school year!  From our meet and greet night, to our principal/AP and parent meeting on the black top, to learning expectations, to being able to reconnect with one another, we had a blast!  It was wonderful to see all the smiling faces during our Back to School Meet and Greet night. 

We also had a great turn out for our principal/AP parent meeting on the blacktop Thursday morning. Together I believe we will have an extremely successful school year. During the meeting I went over expectations for parents and shared we do the same for our students. Please click the link below to review student and parent expectations. There is reference to attendance/absences, communication, the parking lot, the carline and devices.

Student and Parent Expectations

I also shared a bit about a book I read this summer, The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt, and the impact of social media and devices on the mental health of our children. I’m including a link of an interview the author had on the Daily Show as well as an article with an interview in the NY Times. Some of our biggest issues of mental health and discipline at Forest Road stem from social media. I encourage you to lessen the time on devices and at this age remove social media. 

Jonathan Haidt - "The Anxious Generation" | The Daily Show 

Why Jonathan Haidt Is ‘Wildly Optimistic’ About Gen Z 

It was so wonderful to have students back in the building filling the halls this week.  Thank you to those who were able to attend the parent meeting on the blacktop on Thursday morning after drop off.  During that meeting I spoke about how schools work best when parents and teachers work together to support the student.  I gave the analogy of the triangle.  A triangle is a shape with three sides and three points.  The points are representative of the parent, school and student.  It is my belief that if we work together as a school and parent team in supporting the student, that is when we will see the greatest amount of academic and social growth.  I gave a tip about increasing independence in students which helps students develop responsibility.  If a student is able to do something on their own, let them do it:  that can be tie their own shoes, pack their own backpack, charge their chromebook, or even make their lunch.   Yardsticks by Chip Wood is a wonderful resource for parents and teachers to help as a reference in looking at  the range of development ages and stages.  This link is to a brochure for grades K, 2, 4 and 6 which includes the age span of students at Forest Road.  

I am looking forward to doing my part to make this a great school year for Forest Road!