Welcome Back Picnic!

Tuesday, September 5th, 4:30-6:30

We look forward to seeing you all Tuesday the 5th from 4:30 - 6:30 for the All School Picnic. This is a chance for Families, Faculty and Board to re-connect and ease the transition back to school. We will light the fire for cooking and provide ice for drinks. Please plan to bring a picnic blanket and dinner for your family as well as a drink, appetizer or dessert for the potluck table.

At the Picnic we will also have you gather in small groups to meet your child’s Reflections Group and receive your updated Handbook. Your Reflections Leader will be a primary contact for you during the year for anything that comes up or needs to be communicated about your child’s wellbeing and program. Throughout the fall we will also offer a series of faculty lead parent nights to introduce you to the "Whys" of our curriculum and provide opportunities for families to connect.

Lend A Hand

A note on parent volunteer hours..

The line from our Founding principles - "we value community over self" resonates strongly. As you know, this year we are asking all families to contribute to the life of the school by committing to a minimum of 20 volunteer hours per school year. Not only will this requirement provide significant cost savings, we look forward to our growth in community and connections.

While our hope is that all families will be able to complete the required volunteer hours, we do recognize that some families may not be able to do so. For those families that are unable to meet the volunteer commitment, we have offered a volunteer commitment waiver for a fee of $600. If you intend to take advantage of the waiver, please send in your $600 or contact the office right away.

We will have lots of opportunities to help you meet your minimum 20 hours. Find your niche in the classroom, working on the grounds, fundraising, on board committees, and much, much more; wherever you see a need. The meetings at the Back to School picnic will be your first opportunity to log an hour- as will the parent night meetings.

Riley thrives with a strong parent community and we look forward to continuing to deepen our connections throughout this school year!

Nourishment & Learning

Go Hand in Hand

Your brilliant children with their ever-growing, hard-working brains and bodies need an amazing amount of fuel! Please plan to pack even more protein rich food than you’d ever expect. Your children are growing, learning, active, and hungry. Lots of small hearty individual foods - and specifically ones that have some protein and substance...

If your someone that loves a goal, aim for current RDA suggestions for optimum growth and nourishment at 19 grams a day of protein for ages 4-8 and 34 grams a day for ages 8-12.

Snack Ideas

apples & cheese ~ granola bars ~ trail mix ~ sushi ~ cheese sticks ~ pumpkin seeds ~ raisins~ sun nut butter with apple, banana, celery, or crackers ~ greek yogurt with seeds or fruit ~ veg with humus ~ hard boiled eggs ~ roasted chickpeas ~ bananas ~ edamame

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Dear community,

As I dust off the ol' keyboard for another school year of newsletters, I want to open the door for all in the Riley community to take advantage of these weekly communications. WHIMS aims to be a wellspring of information, not only for happenings on the Riley campus but also goings-on elsewhere within the wider Riley community. WHIMS is a place to celebrate your child's off-campus accomplishments, support your small business, advertise tickets to a local performance, share a good book/podcast/movie in line with the Riley ethos, and so much more!

Guidelines for Submissions

Please submit your material as you would like it to appear in WHIMS. While some light copy editing and formatting will be done as it's added to WHIMS, it can be quite time consuming to research for missing information and write something nice to read for every submission. Please include an image to accompany your submission when possible.

To be included in the upcoming Sunday WHIMS, submissions must be in by noon on the preceding Friday. Submissions that come in after that deadline will be included the following week. This is a NO EXCEPTIONS policy. Thank you for understanding and keeping this boundary as it allows for a more streamlined and efficient process while also respecting my time with my family during the weekend.

Looking forward to another year of showcasing this vibrant community through WHIMS! Thank you!

Julie Letowski