Happy New Year!

We are happy to see everyone back and ready to learn.

The month of January brings new beginnings, and the opportunity to start fresh. Riverside is looking forward to a wonderful 2025! 🎇🎆

Each morning, during our morning announcements, we will be highlighting various celebrations that occur during the month of January. Such as, the New Year, Three Kings Day, and Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Reminder- Please make sure that all your contact information is up to date with the school!

Delays/School Closings-

In the event there is a delay or a school closing, you will be notified via school messanger and it will be posted on our social media or your local news station.

As a reminder-

• If there is a late opening, there is NO AM Studio.
• If there is an early dismissal due to weather there is NO PM Studio.

Please check out our website for information on delays, bus transportation or closings due to inclement weather.

https://www.riversidemagnetschool.org/families/transportation-and-weather-delays

Drop off times- For safety reasons, if you arrive after 8:40 to drop off your scholars for school

you MUST:

• Walk them to the door
• Sign them in at the front desk

It is very important that we keep all scholars safe.

Pick up times-

ALL car pickup scholars MUST be picked up by the end of the school day, 3:15(M-Th) and 12:25 (Fri).

If you are struggling with picking your scholar up on time, please consider reaching out to our Studio Coordinator; Dianna Stewart to see if there are any open Studio spots.

Dstewart@goodwinmagnetsystem.org

January events:

• 1/10- Early Dismissal
• 1/14 Prospective Family Information Session 6-7PM
• 1/16 RCC hosts Family BINGO! 6-7PM (RSVP Required)
• 1/17 Early Dismissal
• 1/20- NO School / Martin Luther King Jr Day
• 1/22 Strings Winter Concert @ RMS
• 5th grade-10:00AM
• 4th Grade- 2:00PM

• 1/24 FULL DAY OF SCHOOL
• 1/31- Early Dismissal

Looking ahead to February:

Quick note: an earlier version of the calendar February 4th was noted as no school, but that the FINAL version of our calendar, February 7th is no school and full day of school on Feb 4th.*

• Black History Month
• 2/7- No School - Staff Development Day
• 2/14 Early Dismissal
• 2/117-2/18 Presidents Day Recess- NO SCHOOL
• 2/21- FULL DAY FRIDAY and JA Day!
• 2/28 Early Dismissal

Before winter break we had a school wide spirit week! Everyone had fun wearing flannels, ugly sweaters and funky socks!

The state of CT has launched a campaign to help schools with attendance. The School Is Better with You campaign highlights the following key benefits of attending school every day:

• Establishing daily routines to foster strong learning habits.
• Access to school health services and meals.
• Enjoying the social and emotional advantages of being with trusted adults and peers.
• Participation in clubs and extracurricular activities.
• Creating pathways to careers and postsecondary education.

For more information about the School Is Better with You campaign and CSDE's commitment to promoting the importance of attending school every day, please visit https://portal.ct.gov/betterwithyou.

We continue to celebrate our scholars who have perfect attendance and who improve their attendance.

If your family needs any assistance or resources to help with your child's attendance please reach out to Jamal Chambers JChambers@goodwinmagnetsystem.org

For more information and resources please go to https://www.attendanceworks.org/

The week leading up to the winter break, we challenged our scholars to be "Present" at school each day, and the two classes with the highest attendance would have the honor of wrapping our Admin team in wrapping paper!~

Boy did our scholars show up!!! We had many classes who had over 95% of their scholars in attendance each day. But two classes had 100% of their scholars in attendance this week.

Congratulations to Ms. DuBois 1st grade class and Ms. Gatzak's fifth grade class! They each got to "wrap up" the month of December by wrapping our principal's!

We hope you have gotten off to a great start this school year and that your child or children are enjoying all that Riverside Magnet School has to offer. As experienced families who have witnessed the excitement of the RSCO fairs, participated in the application and lottery process, and ultimately received that Riverside Magnet acceptance letter, you are an asset to us in helping our community grow.

As you know, many families are already starting to think about their children’s educational options for next year. One of the best ways for families to learn about our school and enlist new students is through word of mouth. Please consider sharing information about your child’s experience here at Riverside with your friends, neighbors, and other family members. Invite someone to attend any of the information sessions listed below.

Information Session– Riverside Magnet School – 29 Willowbrook Road, East Hartford
Tuesday, January 14th, 6-7 PM
Families can come to Riverside and hear from some of our educators and Administrators about what Riverside has to offer. Families will have all their questions answered and tour the building.

RSCO Fair - Academy of International Studies - 1551 Blue Hills Avenue, Bloomfield, CT 06002
Saturday, January 25th, 10:00 am – 1:00 pm. All magnet schools will be in attendance.

Information Session – Riverside Magnet School – 29 Willowbrook Road, East Hartford

Thursday, February 6th, 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm

Click here to Sign up for information session sign up

The lottery application period runs from December 4th– February 7th, 2025.

You can also share this great video via email or social media. Explore Riverside.

If you have questions, please call Casey Guiheen at 860-709-6822 or email at Cguiheen@goodwinmagnet system.org

Thank you for your help sharing information about Riverside!

The core value focus for the month of December was Leadership.

• Leadership: being a role model, someone who actively guides and encourages other students to work together, contribute ideas, and achieve a shared goal, by demonstrating positive behaviors, listening to others, and helping everyone feel included and valued
• Demonstrating our Riverside Motto.

Classrooms spent time during their SEL circles to talk about what Leadership means, what it looks like and sounds like within the classroom community. The scholars of the month were nominated by their teacher for demonstrating the core value Leadership, throughout the month of December.

The focus core value for January is Respect

Congratulations to all of our recipients!

When we came back after the winter break, our December Scholar of the Month recipients were able to celebrate their accomplishments by coming together, playing games and doing fun activities.

Fifth Grade Families,

This school year is flying by and before you know it, your 5th grade scholars will be ready to head to the 6th grade! If you don't already know, we have a direct pathway to our (6th-12th) program at Connecticut River Academy.

To learn more about the middle grades program, and the transition to 6th grade, there are information nights on January 14 and February 6 from 6:00 p.m. - 7 p.m. Click HERE to sign up for a session. Please also feel free to invite any of your friends and neighbors to these events as well!

In order to ensure your scholar has a spot with their peers, be sure to complete the RSCO application at www.chooseyourschool.org before February 7th.

• While RMS scholars are required to apply through the RSCO placement application for a seat at Connecticut River Academy, they are given a pathway school priority.

• You must select CTRA as your first choice in order to receive the priority. Please understand that this does not guarantee a seat.

• Please note that you will only be considered for a pathway priority seat if you choose Connecticut River Academy as your First Choice!

We are working to set up a tour of the middle and high school for 5th grade scholar soon. This will give scholars a chance to see how CTRA continues the lessons taught at Riverside and learn about the new opportunities offered at the middle and high school level.

If you have any questions, you can reach out to Kylie Heiner

This school year, Riverside began using I-Ready. I-Ready is an online program for reading and/or mathematics that will help your student’s teacher(s) determine your student’s opportunities for growth, personalize their learning, and monitor progress throughout the school year.

i-Ready allows your teacher(s) to meet your scholar exactly where they are and provides data to increase your scholar’s learning gains. i-Ready consists of two parts:

The i-Ready Diagnostic: An adaptive assessment that adjusts its questions to suit your scholar’s instructional priorities. Each item a scholar sees is individualized based on their answer to the previous question. For example, a series of correct answers will result in slightly harder questions, while a series of incorrect answers will yield slightly easier questions.

i-Ready Personalized Instruction Provides scholars with lessons based on their individual skill level and opportunities for improvement, so your student can learn at a pace that is just right for them. These lessons are fun and interactive to keep your scholars engaged as they learn.

Scholars use this program at school only to ensure accurate programming and data tracking.

Riverside Magnet School and Junior Achievement of Southwest New England are joining forces to empower youth! We are looking for volunteers to share their time, work experience and powerful JA concepts with students in grades K-5 at:

Riverside Magnet School on Friday, February 21, 2025

Besides inspiring students, this is a great team and skills building opportunity!

JA in a Day Overview

What is JA in a Day?

JA in a Day is a high impact way to deliver Junior Achievement’s (JA) lessons for a particular grade level all in the same day. It is a unique opportunity as it offers volunteers a way to get involved with Junior Achievement with minimal interference in a volunteer’s daily schedule or with long-term commitments. Refreshments and a catered lunch is provided for all participants.

Stay tuned for volunteer opportunities!~

With the start of a new year, we thought we would share some ideas on Family Self Care. Self-care at home is important for the well-being of both parents and children, and it can be a wonderful opportunity for families to bond while teaching valuable skills. Here is a video about self-care and an activity that families can do together, keeping both physical and emotional well-being in mind.

Wednesday January 22nd in the MPR at Riverside

10:00AM- 5th Grade Strings

2:00PM- 4th grade Strings

Snow Date- January 23

Join our monthly RCC Meetings!

RCC meetings will be held from 5:45PM-6:45PM in our MPR

Dates:

• February, 11
• March 18

• April, 28 (Hosted at Puerto Vallarta in Newington for a dine out fundraiser)
• May, 21

Please visit our page on the Riverside website for more information!

https://www.riversidemagnetschool.org/families/riverside-community-council-rcc

Email: rmsinfo@goodwinmagnetsystem.org
Website: riversidemagnetschool.org
Phone: 860-709-6800
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/riversidemagnetschool