As the calendar turns to October, students are working hard to complete classes! Please check in with your student to make sure they are on track to complete all five of their scheduled classes!
As always, please reach out to the office with questions, or if there is anything you need!
Fall Count Day is October 7!
All Michigan students are required to be counted twice a year, once in October and once in February. To meet this state requirement, RVA students must complete one or more assignments in EACH CLASS on count day. PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR STUDENT IS PRESENT ON OCTOBER 7 ALL DAY!! Thank you in advance!!
Picture Day is coming!
All students will be photographed for their RPS ID card and parents will have the option to purchase photos. Photos will also be used throughout the year for student recognition. Photographers will be at RVA on October 16.
G.R.O.W.
Over the past few months, RVA and RPS staff have been working to define a vision and mission for River Valley Academy. Students liked these tag words: Belong, Grow, Graduate, Succeed. In September, we spent time thinking about what it means to grow.
G. Grit: Pushing through when motivation fades.
R. Resilience (reframe negatives): A mistake is just feedback telling you to change your strategy.
O. Own your path: Blaming takes away your power; deciding what to do now takes your power back!
W. Work together: Use your resources to succeed!
Following this work, students drafted working agreements to answer the following questions:
1. How do we want to be treated?
2. How should we handle conflict?
3. How can we support each others' academic goals?
In October, students will be meeting with an advisor to create a graduation plan and to consider post-secondary options.
B.E.L.O.N.G.
To start the year, we began some learning around belonging. We knew that in order to learn, we need to have our physical needs of food, water, rest, and safety met. We learned that we also need our psychological needs of love, belonging, security, and self-esteem to be met to be in the right headspace to learn.
To address this need, we spent time learning about what it means to belong.
B. Be yourself
E. Embrace differences
L. Listen without Judgment
O. Open up
N. No masks needed
G. Grow together
We used our work to begin drafting agreements around how we will treat each other.
River Valley Academy Vision and Mission Work
Staff have been working to establish a unifying vision and mission. Our goal is to align our student achievement and school improvement goals to our vision and mission; we want to make sure our resources are also so aligned. :) In the first weeks of school, students provided input. (For clarity, we are considering vision to be what we aspire to and mission to be our means to get there.) Would you please take a couple of minutes to add your feedback to the Parent/guardian Survey? We would love to include your thoughts and ideas as well! Thank you!!
Goals: Weekly and Daily
River Valley Academy is the RPS credit recovery option for the students of Rockford. As such, we allow students to work at their own pace. While this provides students the opportunity to catch up or accelerate, it can also allow them to drag classes out longer than they should. Students have been reminded of our purpose - we are here to complete our work and to graduate!
To teach valuable time management skills we are requiring students to set goals, both weekly and daily. On Mondays, students will set a weekly goal with each teacher. Daily, they will set goals in each class to help them meet their weekly goals. On Friday morning, students will check in with teachers regarding completion of their weekly goal in each class. Students who meet 4 out of 5 weekly goals and have completed their daily goals for the week, will have choice RAM (intervention) time on Friday!
School Breakfast and Lunch
There is no cost to families for school breakfast or lunch this year! It is still very important, however, for families to complete the Education Benefits form. This form benefits students in other ways, as it is used for various state and college benefits.
Breakfast packs of cold cereal, a snack, and juice will be available for students. RVA receives a hot lunch entrée daily from RHS. The menu is located on the RPS website. Of course, students may bring their own food and drinks as well. We have a refrigerator and microwaves in the kitchenette.
It is important to fuel bodies and minds for productive work at school! :)
Let's make this year successful!
With Rockford's trimester high school system, students are expected to complete 2.5 credits (5 classes) each trimester, for a total of 7.5 credits each year. Students will begin the year with 5 classes, which should be completed by November 13. While November 13 seems like a long way off, trimesters are about 12 weeks long, so each week, students should be completing about 10% of each class, to finish on time. Completing this work will require students to make progress on assignments and activities in every class, every day!
Setting goals and making action plans is a key part of earning credit and graduating on time! During the first weeks of school, students will meet with their assigned teacher/advisor to set long-term and short-term goals for completing classes by November 13!
Student Progress Updates
RVA courses are run through either Schoology or Edgenuity. Schoology courses are RPS teacher created and directed. If you want to know how your student is doing in these classes, log in to Schoology. Using a parent log in, parents can see messages and course information. However, if you want to see what your student has completed and what grades they have earned so far in classes, the best way to do that is to log in as your student. Students have access to the course gradebook which includes a list of assignments that need to be completed, showing scores earned on work that has been turned in.
If you want specific information on how your student is doing in Edgenuity, ask your student for their login information. If you log in as the student, you can see a more detailed report.
Good questions to ask your student include:
1. Are you attending all class sessions?
2. Are you completing at least one assignment in each class session?
3. About how far in each course are you?
4. What are you doing well?
5. What can you do better?
Parents and schools are partners in educating students!
How are you doing? People care and want to help!
Hand 2 Hand can help with food and toiletry needs.
RVA has an amazing staff, social worker, and mental health liaison who can listen and connect you to resources!
Ele's Place is a community based organization with the mission to create awareness of and support for grieving children and their families.
Area Resources
North Kent CONNECT :nkconnect.org
Mobile Food Pantries: https://www.feedwm.org/findfood/
Assistance with housing, food, utilities:contact 211 by phone or text (800-877-1107), text your zip code to 898211
Youth in need of shelter: The Bridge 616-451-3001 or 877-275-7792 the bridge - Arbor Circle
Please reach out with any questions you may have, or if there is anything you need!
RVA Team - A caring group of educators dedicated to meeting students where they are and helping students grow and succeed!
Email: jdeur@rockfordschools.org
Website: http://www.rockfordschools.org
Location: 350 North Main Street, Rockford, MI, USA
Phone: 616-863-6324
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rivervalleyacademy
