Another Loved Lesson!

Just before we left for Winter Break, I had the opportunity to stop by Amy Effland’s sixth grade science class.  Amy’s class was about to begin a project in which they would be planning out an ideal city.  While the city they were to create would be a fictional place, the way in which they learned about it was anything but.  For this lesson, Amy had recruited a planner from Albemarle County to come speak with her students.  The planner brought a huge printout of all of the plans for developing Old Trail.  It had everything from the street layout, to the drainage plan, to the number and types of houses that would be on each lot and every other aspect of developing a community you could think of.  Every student in the class knows Old Trail—whether it’s a place they live or golf or shop or just drive through on the way home.  Bringing in this local connection immediately launched the level of relevance through the roof on this lesson.  Kids could look at streets they knew and picture what they may soon look like, some were even finding their houses and looking at them in totally different ways.  Amy’s lesson took something that could be a very difficult topic for students to envision and gave it meaning and relevance.  It was great to see that she tapped into some of the many community resources we have in the area.  Great work, Amy!

Welcome to the second semester!

Happy New Year, everyone!  I trust that all of you enjoyed a wonderful winter break and got to spend some time relaxing with your friends and family.  It has been an outstanding first semester here at Henley this year.  Our sixth grade students are now “old hats” at this whole middle school thing, our seventh graders are half way done with middle school and our eighth grade students can see the light at the end of the tunnel of their middle school careers.  An exciting time for everyone indeed!

All of our students have started the scheduling process for next year, and I’m excited to remind everyone that we are now completing our course selection process entirely online through ParentPortal.  There are several sets of instructions and worksheets to help you with this process and you can find them on the Henley website.  From the homepage, click on the “Parents” tab and then click on the “2013-2014 Registration” link.  All of the documents you need to guide you through the process can be found there.  The registration window is open until January 31 and you are welcome to call the school counseling office if you have any questions about this process.

First semester report cards should be arriving in your mailbox soon.  Please be sure to take some time to have a conversation with your child about his or her progress so far this year.  What are the goals they set for themselves at the beginning of the year?  Are they on track to meet them?  If so, to what to they attribute their success?  If not, how can we work together as a team to help them get back on track?  A key to second semester success is staying focused and keeping academics as a top priority.  When we work together as a team, we can surely accomplish this mission.

I’m excited to start the second half of the school year.  Each day that I come to work, I ‘m thankful for the amazing students you send to us each day.  They make my job easy and enjoyable and it thrills me to see how successful they are.  I hope that all of you can appreciate what a wonderful place Henley Middle School is thanks to our students and our staff.  Here’s to a great 2013!  Go Hornets!