Letter from the MC Principal
Hello MC families,
I hope that you are well. Thank you so much to those of you who have donated to our food drive and our supermarket gift card drive. I’m glad that we have come together as a school to come up with ways to support our school community and to support our broader community as families seek to navigate the disruption of SNAP funding. After Thanksgiving break we will continue with a Holiday Meal drive and our Holiday Helpers program, please keep an eye on the Courier for more details. If you have any needs personally you can reach out to us directly – feel free to send an email to our counselor Ms. Lee (klee@atlncs.org). The importance of school family and of community remain of the utmost importance, especially in times like this. As such we will continue to, “[c]hallenge each student to take an active role as an informed citizen in a global society.”
As the temperature drops, please encourage your students to dress appropriately for the weather. We’ve had cold temperatures the last couple of days and we will continue to see low temperatures as we proceed through the winter. We see some of our students in shorts and without coats in these low temperatures so please remind your students of the weather. Additionally, please also remind your students to check the lost and found for their belongings. Our lost and found is overflowing with hoodies, coats, and water bottles. If there’s an item that you haven’t seen at home in awhile it’s probably at school. Also FYI, as per APS guidelines, if the “feels like” temperature is below 35 degrees we will not have activities outdoors. That means we will have indoor recess and Physical and Health Education classes will remain inside if the temperature is below this threshold. Sometimes the temperature goes up over the course of the day so some days we will be indoor for morning recess, but outdoor activities may resume if the temperature increases enough.
This past Saturday I went to see our fall play, “The Rootin’ Tootin’ Tale of Little Red Riding Boots,” and it was truly a treat. Each of our young actors and actresses put on amazing performances. I truly enjoyed seeing some of our 8th graders perform – kids that I’ve seen grow and improve since they were in 6th grade. Once again Mr. Dewey directed an amazing show. Big shout out to the cast and crew. We wrapped up the fall sports season these past two weekends. Our flag football and volleyball teams made the playoffs and had top 4 finishes. Big shout out to the coaches for all the hard work and effort that they put into helping our student athletes grow. Our school does an amazing job of preparing our students for high school and for life and the work that we do from an extracurricular perspective is a big part of this.
Students will be MAP testing this week on Wednesday and Friday. Although assessments can certainly be a source of stress, as with all assessments our goal is for students to do their best and to seek to grow. If we are putting lots of pressure on students or they are putting lots of pressure on themselves that’s not good for their mental health and it does not produce quality results.
In addition to MAP testing, as we move into the last 5 weeks of the first semester, we have various assessments that students will be completing. This can be a source of stress, but our goal is students will be continuing to use formative data, from exit tickets (a couple questions that teachers collect to show them how well the students picked up what they learned that day) to more formal formative assessments and quizzes. This data provides information for both students and teachers about how students are progressing through a unit on their way to the summative assessment. If your students are feeling stress at this time please encourage them to split their work time up into smaller pieces and to take breaks from their work to do things that relax them. If your student feels like they need additional support please reach out – we want to push our students, not we also want to be mindful of their wellbeing.
As always if you have any questions 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.
