Letter from MC Principal
Hello MC families,
Week number two is in full swing. We had parents back in the building for Morning Meeting for the first time since spring of 2020! This week during Advisory students are breaking into groups to discuss their summer reading with other students and teachers who read the same book. They are discussing their opinions of the books, characters they could identify with, themes, examples of open-mindedness (IB Learner Profile Attribute), and areas of conflict – bullying, equity issues, etc. If your student has not finished their summer reading book they can still continue reading in the evening.
On Thursday the 10th all students will have additional time to read during the school day. We are dedicating 10 minutes a day on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays to Sustained Silent Reading (SSR), giving our students 40 minutes of dedicated reading time each week. Increased time on task is a way to improve as a reader, and this initiative is a means of us supporting all students. We are spending time helping students find books, short stories, periodicals, etc. that they enjoy. This time doesn’t only have to be spent reading books. While we want to make sure that students are reading for pleasure, they can also catch up on class reading if they need to catch up at this time. On Thursday we will also begin Power30. Power30 is a 30-minute math class that students take on M, T, Th, and F that focuses on computational fluency, growth mindset, and developing skills that will bolster their class performance.
As a reminder, for students who are interested in trying out for sports they will need to have a physical on file before they try out. If you have a 6th-8th grader who is interested in playing sports this year, please register here. A physical exam dated after May 18, 2023 is required before a student can participate in any athletic activities, including try-outs and practice. Please email physical paperwork to teamsnap@atlncs.org.
The Little Clinic at the Glenwood Kroger offers same-day and next-day sports physicals for $45. This is a link to the physical form. You can also access Minute Clinics at CVS locations that have them. You don’t have to schedule an appointment with your doctor to get your physical paperwork completed.
Remaining upcoming tryout dates for fall sports are as follows:
- Day 2 of Flag Football tryouts will be Thursday the 10th from 3:20 – 4:45pm at the Boys and Girls Club.
- Day 2 of Girl’s Volleyball tryouts will be on Thursday the 10th from 3:15 – 5:15pm.
- Day 2 of Cheer tryouts will be on Friday the 11th after school until 5:00pm.
- Ultimate Frisbee will have an interest meeting on Tuesday the 15th and a practice/tryout on Thursday the 17th.
In addition to sports, we also have some clubs getting started next week.
- Drama Club will begin on Monday the 14th.
- Model UN will begin on Thursday the 17th.
Look for information about the start of Pickleball, Farm Club, Gavel Club, and the Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA) in the coming weeks.
Back to the classroom – FYI, next week we will have MAP testing on Monday (Math) and Wednesday (Reading).
Finally, IB MYP Family Information Series Session #1 will be the week of August 21st. Our IB family info sessions are designed to help our families better understand what IB looks like at ANCS. These sessions are geared towards 6th grade and new families, but anyone can attend. The topics covered next week include Intro to IB, School/Home Communication, and ManageBac. (Note: ManageBac is a website that we use to report information about units of study, what’s going on in class, and student performance.) There is an evening session (Monday, August 21st from 6:30-8:00pm) OR a morning session (Wednesday, August 23rd from 8:30-10am) that you can attend. Both sessions will be virtual and will contain the same information; we are offering two different times to make this convenient for your schedules. If you are interested in attending, please RSVP here and we will send you the link closer to the date of the session.
As always if you have any questions please feel free to reach out.
Kind regards,
Mark
Mark Sanders
Mark Sanders began teaching at ANCS in 2011. Before coming to the school, Mr. Sanders worked in New York City. He spent three years teaching 7th and 8th grade mathematics at Middle School 50 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and two years at Harlem Village Academies teaching Geometry and Algebra 2/Trigonometry. He taught 8th grade Math/Science/Technology at ANCS for five years.
