Chalk Art Festival
The Fall Chalk Art Festival will be taking place this Friday after school. Students had to submit an application on this year’s theme well in advance, and you will be able to check out the work of our finalists when you pick up your students on Friday. Don’t miss it!
8th Grade Job Shadow – Tuesday, November 9th, 2021
As part of our career exploration program, 8th grade students will have the opportunity to participate in a Job Shadow experience on Tuesday, November 9th. This is a chance to take your student to work with you or send them to work with someone you know. It is our hope that you will share your excitement for your profession with your child or that they will have the opportunity to study a career of interest. If your student pre-arranges a job shadow experience, and they complete the required forms, they will be excused from school on this day. Encourage your student to think about a career area they are interested in. Students that don’t arrange a job shadow are expected to be in school on this day. Parents are responsible to provide transportation to the job shadow. More information will be provided but please start thinking about options that your student might be interested in.
MESA-STEM After-School Activities
We will continue to have a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) related activity each month. All Elk Ridge Students are welcome and encouraged to attend. Each month’s activity will begin immediately after school and will probably last about an hour (approx, 3:00 – 4:00 pm). Flyers are available in the counseling center. For more information or details, contact Mr. Bennett or Ms. Hardy.
Wally Time Update
After much discussion as a faculty about what we love and want to adjust about Wally Time, we’re making a small change to the structure of the lessons. Instead of one lesson we don’t have enough time to really digest and apply each week, we’re moving to one lesson/activity every other week so that teachers can spend more time during all of their classes over the week with no lesson or activity.
To illustrate what this looks like, this week’s lesson is on identifying what makes you feel welcome at school. We’ll spend half an hour having a discussion with our students about the things adults in the school have done so far this year to make them feel welcome. We’ll then use those things over the next week in all classes to make a concerted effort to make all students feel like there are adults who care about them and want them to feel like they belong. If you as parents can have the same conversation with your child, we would love to get input from you as well. Just reply to this email if you have something you want us to keep doing.
Our end goal is that no student can go through their day without interacting with an adult in a positive and individual way. If your child is having an off day, we also want to make sure there is someone who notices, and that your child knows the people here care about making them feel welcome.