Greetings Fairmeadow Community,

One of the most important goals of our work as educators is to develop, nurture, and celebrate critical thinking by our students. We empower children to ask questions, to examine the world around them, and to articulate their ideas and their role in making those ideas a reality. In the wake of the 2016 presidential election, many children in our community are asking hard questions, and working to make meaning of this significant political change for our country. Teachers continue to work with care, caution, and purpose to create safe spaces for children to express their questions, their concerns, and their insights. Our classrooms are powerful places, growing opportunities for our children through each new learning, every day. Our young learners are preparing themselves to lead us into the future, and I have endless confidence and optimism for the change they will seek for our world. We have a unique responsibility, and a renewed sense of importance, to ensure that the education our children experience in our classrooms serves as a powerful tool building our future. Please join me in celebrating our students, in encouraging their thirst for knowledge, and in working toward their hopes and dreams for our world.

Last Thursday, November 10th marked the end of the first trimester of instruction at Fairmeadow, and students have made noteworthy social, emotional, and academic growth during this first one-third of the school year. This milestone presents a great opportunity to reflect with your child about the many ways he or she has grown and changed during the first months of school. One way that your child's teacher will be providing feedback to you about your child's growth is through the elementary school progress report. The purpose of this progress report is to communicate students' social-emotional learning and academic progress based on Palo Alto Unified School District expectations and informed by the California Common Core State Standards (CCSS). The progress report highlights current performance levels, student strengths, and areas of concern in all subjects, as well as in areas of social and emotional development. Teachers will be sending home your child's progress report on or before Tuesday, November 22nd. Please communicate with your child's teacher if you have questions about the contents of this report.

Parents, please let me know if you have the interest and availability to help our school develop our new and innovative Fairmeadow Design Studio! Last year, our School Site Council and our Fairmeadow Leadership team took on a deep analysis of the Next Generation Science Standards in order to plan for the important instructional shifts on the horizon in science education. Planned for full implementation in 2017/18, the Next Generation Science Standards emphasize the interconnected nature of science concepts, they focus on student application of content understanding, and they promote design thinking and engineering through instruction K-12. Groups of Fairmeadow teacher and community leaders reached consensus that in order for teachers to support students through the design and engineering process, we need a space for an abundance of materials and tools, that encourages creativity, modeling, and problem solving within science. Our Design Studio space is taking shape, and thanks to our generous PTA we have the funding to make this vision for science learning and education a reality. Please send me an email if you would like to volunteer on our Fairmeadow Design Studio Planning Committee to get this important learning environment ready for our students and teachers. I anticipate this will require participation in a monthly meeting as well as miscellaneous ordering, inventorying, and planning responsibilities. I look forward to hearing from you!

Thank you for encouraging our creative students, for contributing to our vibrant community, and for supporting our strong school.

Grant Althouse

Principal