Submitted by Mr. Stephen Waigand,

Principal, Rock Port Elementary

February is in full swing and the calendar is filling up with many rescheduled events from the last few weeks. Our character word for February is honesty. Honesty is being truthful in what you say and do. I can honestly say I am ready to put the snow shovel away and welcome in some warmer days. A special shout-out to our teachers on a very unusual January weather cycle. Their positivity, patience, and flexibility have been right on in meeting the needs of our students!

I had the opportunity to visit with community members last month on the latest and greatest from the elementary hallways. The talk centered around our building striving to #LoveServeCare – Love our students, Serve their academic needs, Care for the whole child. Here are a few glimpses of that vision in action throughout the elementary . . .

Love our students. This includes opening our doors to the love our community has for this school. A group of community volunteers have teamed up with our lower elementary teachers to read with students on a daily basis. Our students are thrilled to see them each week and we look forward to working together to promote reading at a young age. A special thanks to Kim Brake and the United Methodist Church for organizing this initiative!

Serve their academic needs. We are proud to announce our school district received a 100% on our Annual Performance Report (APR). In essence the APR is a school report card that factors in academic achievement, subgroup achievement, college and career readiness, attendance, and graduation rate. A big hand to all elementary and secondary staff members on all your hard work and dedication in serving the needs of our students.

Care for the whole child. Many of our classrooms recently participated in a Global School Play Day. Children had the opportunity to participate in free play with the goals of strengthening their ability to collaborate, work in a team, problem solve, think critically, and use positive communication skills. These are many of the same skills employers look for when hiring prospective employees. It was truly amazing to observe older and younger students positively play and interact together. After observing my own son during the day I found it is possible for him to play with his younger brother without arguing . . . we will see if this translates over to home. It was a special day indeed as we continue to emphasize the importance of social skills in the overall development of a child.

Upcoming events – Our third quarter S.T.E.M. Student Showcase will be on March 12. Just found out we have a special guest attending the evening event . . . Dr. Vince Bertram, CEO of Project Lead the Way! More to come on plans for that special evening. Stay connected with daily classroom and school updates on Twitter @RPBluejays. As always we strive to #LoveServeCare every day!

“Go Big Blue”