Monday, October 16, 2023

Dear Elementary Parents,
I hope this note finds you and your family rested and recharged after a week away from school. We welcomed our dog to La Paz this past week, and our family has been overjoyed to see him adjusting to the altitude and attitude of this beautiful, vibrant city. Though the remainder of October is only a few weeks, it will be busy. Please see below for announcements on what's to come:

Help ACS Win $10,000: They say that money doesn't buy happiness, but it does help schools offer cutting-edge & responsive programming to its students. A group of passionate secondary students, known as The ACS Carbon Cutters are entering a contest to collect old/broken electronic devices to be recycled. The winning school wins a BIG money prize! Bring in your old/broken electronic devices, cables, charges, etc. during the week of Oct. 16 - Oct. 20. Thanks for your support!

Announced Fire Drill Tomorrow at 9:00 am: Tomorrow morning, ACS will have its first Fire/Evacuation Drill of the year. This is a normal procedure and the students, faculty and staff all take part to ensure that should the unimaginable happen, we are prepared to get everyone out of our buildings and away from fire quickly. All students have been told about the drill, what to expect, and have been shared our critical expectation - that the drill is conducted in silence. Should a real fire occur, adults may need to issue instructions to a class of students, so silence is practiced & expected. This drill will be followed by an unannounced drill later this year, per standard protocol. 

Parent Coffee: Understanding Your Child's MAP Scores, this Friday at 8:15 am: We are pleased to invite parents of students in Grades 1 through 8 to the elementary auditorium this Friday to help you understand what MAP tests are, how they are used, what they measure, and how ACS teachers use and parents can use the data to support your child's learning. Join us for some coffee, tea, fruit, and learning on this important topic! No registration is necessary for this event. 

ACS Halloween Fair next Friday, October 27th at ___: Creepy, spooky, and oh so much fun! ACS will be hosting a Halloween Fair on campus. Students and parents are welcome to attend. There will be trick or treating, a haunted house in the elementary auditorium, and enough witches and goblins to give even Harry Potter a scare.  

Upcoming Parent Coffee: CFG Edition - Developing Skills to Help Children Regulate their Emotions - On Tuesday, October 31st we are so happy to host our second Parent Coffee: CFG Edition.  We will be giving a presentation on ACS's approach to helping children label, understand, and regulate their emotions, and share some ideas on how you can support this learning at home. Following the presentation we will use a protocol or structured conversation to support parents in developing skills to help their children with their emotions with some especially challenging scenarios. Registration is requested, to register please scan the QR code in the poster below:

Thanks for reading, I wish you a week of friendship & laughter,

Eric Crabtree
Elementary Principal