By now we hope you have either watched the GRO/Teachers Pavilion video, or read through the email that went out to the whole community, or both! This is the time for all who appreciate Riverside teachers and want to see us expand our capacity for outdoor education to join us in making this project happen. We are so grateful for any gift, no donation is too small. You can give online, or send a check (please put "GRO/Pavilion" in the memo line) to save us the cost of credit card fees. There will also be many opportunities for in-kind donations of time, expertise, and equipment during construction this summer. If you'd like to discuss that further, please talk to or email Roy.

Contracts for returning students were mailed home last week. If you would like a financial aid application for next year, you can email Krystal. Please return contracts, deposits, and financial aid applications promptly by Friday, April 9. This deadline is extremely important as we have a waitlist situation in many grades, and would like to offer those spaces as soon as possible to those applicants if they are not going to be filled by current families.

Students will begin computer-based standardized testing this week. Please help them understand that this should not be stressful and will not have direct results that affect them. It is simply one tool Riverside uses to understand what students know and can do, and the results can help us to be better teachers and to target needs and goals for some individual students. Encouraging them to focus and to do their best will help us get the most accurate results.

Don’t forget to order cool gifts for that special family member or hard-to-buy-for person. With over 40 unique and useful keepsakes ready to purchase during the Square 1 Art fundraiser, your child's artwork is the perfect gift for any occasion or celebration. Nothing says “you’re loved” like “I made this art keepsake just for you!” It’s the final days of the fundraiser, so don’t delay. Riverside benefits from every order! All orders are due this Wednesday, April 7th. Products will arrive by the end of April. All online and paper orders will ship to the school and will be sent home with your students. If you have any questions, please email Nicki Reimert.

As we watch the alarming rise of local cases, I want to continue to emphasize the importance of everyone following all of the COVID protocols, especially our requirement that you keep everybody home in the case of a potential exposure or a sick individual in the household. This includes even minor sniffles. 

Our goal is very much to remain open for in-person learning, but if there are too many cases in our community (even if they don’t reach our campus), we may have to go remote for a period of time. We prefer to be here with your children. For that reason, I’m imploring you all to be extra diligent over the next few weeks about masking, spacing, hand-washing, and avoiding gatherings.

Volunteers will be on campus on Sunday, April 11 from 2pm-4pm to help unload and sort your donations for the sale. You may also drop off donations at your leisure any time during the week of April 12th.

Volunteers, we need you!

Thank you to those who have signed up to help with the yard sale. We still have shifts over Spring Break and on Friday and Saturday that need to be filled. Family participation is critical for the success of this fun community-building event. Volunteers who help with presorting and set-up can take advantage of the pre-event sale, available only to volunteers. We thank you in advance for lending us a few of your hours. Sign up here. 

We also need the following items for the sale; please let Nelia know if you can donate or lend any of the following (please label items with your name if you would like your items returned to you):

If you have ANY questions about what to donate and when to drop off, you can contact Arcelie Reyes (preschooler Cassius, 3rd grader Phoenix, 6th grader Kingston) or Fiona Shackleton (8th grader Trixie).

Please review this COVID FAQ doc for a reminder of some of our health policies and a summary of some of the new guidance from the governor about multi-household gatherings and fully vaccinated individuals.

The Fairbanks Museum is offering Astronomy Camp-in-a-box for April Break. Get ready to blast off with games, puzzles, kits and more to spark excitement and discovery in young astronomers! Each Astronomy Camp-in-a-Box is put together by Fairbanks Museum educators with activities that will engage your child with crafts and ideas for more exploration.The box includes one hour of astronomy activities for one child age 7-12 for each weekday of April vacation. The cost is $25 for museum members and $30 for non-members. Sign up by Friday, April 2 by emailing parent Karina Weiss (1st grader Peregrine and 3rd grader Julian) to be sure to get your Camp-in-a-Box. Families can pick up their Camp-in-a-Box at the museum during the following timeframes, or Karina can drop it at Riverside.

Catamount Arts has opened registration for SOCAPA’s eagerly anticipated annual film slam. SOCAPA’s Tap Into Film 72-Hour Family Film Slam, scheduled for the weekend of April 22-25, invites both novice and experienced filmmakers alike to write, shoot, and edit a short movie, from initial concept to final cut, in a single weekend. Learn more here, and register your family as a team here.