Wow!  We had a super busy, fun packed week at Forest Road!  We started the week off with our Veterans’ Day Assembly on Monday. We had 14 Veterans’ visit us and were honored for their service at an afternoon assembly. They attended the assembly with their student and there were readings, calling of the colors, taps and the students singing. Thank you to all veterans for your service. 

On Tuesday we had Friendsgiving in Connections. Our connections students came together with their families, friends and teachers to share their gratitude and appreciation. They had a Thanksgiving dinner together and did some crafts. We were so grateful for this time together and seeing their smiling faces. 

On Wednesday Jim Basketball Jones came to Forest Road and we had an AWESOME assembly. He talked to the kids about kindness, patient listening, caring for others, perseverance, including all and having fun!  We danced our way out of the assembly on our way to sharing kindness and having fun. Thank you to the PTO for the fantastic experience!  We appreciate all you do!

On Friday we had our November buddies meeting. Students met with their buddies to play charades, and some made a craft. This month our theme and focus was on friendship. It is so great to see the students building relationships and friendships across the grade-levels. 

Also, thank you to our school families that donated the snacks for Friendsgiving! The students really enjoyed their Pirate's Booty and String Cheese.

Reminder about Smart Watches and Phones

Reminder: Beginning last May, D102 moved to having students leave their smartwatches in their lockers or backpacks. We recognize that many families have made a significant investment in purchasing one of these devices to help provide connectivity and access between the family and their child. However, we started to see how this level of connectivity began to cause harm and became distracting to students during the school day. While D102 schools first tried to work with students to put all watches into "School Mode", various incidents persisted and required teachers to divert their time away from instruction to address these types of issues. 

We are asking for support in helping our students and teachers minimize distractions and potential incidents of bullying for the safety of all students. D102 and Forest Road also has students keep their cell phones in lockers and backpacks during the school day and we extended that practice to smartwatches as well. Connectivity is here to stay and provides many benefits to us all. However, in the interest of keeping students safe and our primary focus on learning, we are putting this practice of keeping phones and smartwatches in lockers and backpacks in place. 

Should a student wear a smartwatch to school they will be asked to remove the watch and put it in their locker or backpack. Should a student have out their phone during the day, they will be asked to put it in their locker or backpack. They can put their watch back on at the end of the day for dismissal. After one warning, the teacher will hold the watch or phone on their desk for the day and return it at the end of the day. The next time it will be sent to the office for a parent/guardian to pick up. Thank you for your cooperation.