Happy Friday everyone! I hope each of you have weathered the effects of the uncanny October snowstorm.   I know many people are still enduring the loss of electricity, phone and cable. If there is anything we can do to help you or your child as the repairs continue, please do not hesitate to contact us.

It was great to see so many parents, grandparents etc. come out last Friday for our annual Halloween Parade. Please visit our website to view photos of the event. It is always a point of pride to see the parent support for our school activities. On that note, please mark your calendars to attend our next PTA meeting, which will be held on November 16^th at 6 p.m. The focus of the discussion will be the new report card system that will roll out at the end of this marking period. The teachers have been extremely busy preparing work samples and making decisions on how best to share your child’s progress with you. As with anything new there is always a level of uncertainty, I encourage you to attend this meeting to ask questions with the hopes that you will feel better prepared going into your parent-teacher conference in early December.

On Wednesday, all staff participated in varied professional development opportunities after school. The vast majority of Glenville teachers continue to hone their “Feedback” skills as they worked in small, collaborative groups analyzing teacher videos and discussing the effects that strong, academically-focused feedback has on student outcomes.

On Thursday, we hosted Music on the Menu. If you have not been able to come in and enjoy one of these offerings yet, please keep an eye out for the next performance. The musicians are truly wonderful and the kids love to hear the different styles of music presented. Thanks again to the PTA for providing this opportunity to the youngsters. Also on Thursday, teachers continued their work on feedback. Our consultant, Dr. Todd White, was here and led small groups of teachers on visits to other teachers’ classrooms to watch and record opportunities of “effective” oral feedback. The day was extremely rewarding and Dr. White was highly complimentary of the work that our teachers are doing. As I have shared previously, the use of highly effective oral feedback throughout a lesson improves the level of student performance. We are excited about our work! If you would like to hear more about our action plan, please contact me so that we can find time to sit down and talk about this meaningful work.