Greetings Kent Community,

This coming week at Kent we encourage all parents to join us for our fall Principal Chats, with fifth/sixth grade parents welcome on the mornings of Wednesday, October 24th and seventh/eighth grade parents on Thursday, October 25th. At our Principal Chats, we will discuss sustaining momentum and maintaining balance during this busy time of year for our middle schoolers. An experienced panel of presenters will speak at this interactive session, including Ms. Walsh, grade level teacher leaders, our school guidance counselors, our school librarian, and myself. We’re planning to discuss timely topics impacting your children at school, including self advocacy strategies, responding to teacher feedback, grading practices, fostering a reading life, and much more. We will conclude the morning’s presentation with an open question and answer session.

• Please join us from 8:45 to 10 a.m. on Wednesday (5th/6th) or Thursday (7th/8th) in the Kent Library. I hope to see you there!

Many students and staff are looking forward to our annual Halloween celebration at Kent the morning of October 31st. If your student is planning to come to school in costume, please make sure your child understands the following expectations for Halloween costumes at school.

• Costumes must not interfere with school participation, including P.E. and typical classroom activities,
• Students may not wear a mask that covers their face at school,
• Costumes may not feature any type of weapon (gun, sword, spear, etc.), silly string, or references to drugs/alcohol, and
• Costumes shall be culturally sensitive and not negatively represent any race, religion, or gender.

While excitement is sure to run high on Halloween night, please be sure that your child understands how to navigate your neighborhood in a safe and respectful way. We expect our Kent Falcons to positively represent our school as role models for younger students while celebrating in our communities. We also ask that students stay off of the Kent campus after hours on Halloween. Thank you for your attention to these expectations.

I hope to see many of you on Wednesday and Thursday for our Principal Chats! Have a wonderful weekend, and a productive week ahead.

Dear Families,

We are participating in a Good Eggs fundraiser to purchase the book Refugee for our "One Book School" read in December and to bring the author, Alan Gratz, to campus in the spring.

If five new Kent families sign up for Good Eggs by Sunday, October 21st, Kent teachers will be given a free brunch. If 20 new customers join before November 30th, using our code, Kent will receive a $500 fundraising bonus.

• Sign up here using the code: FALCONS2018. View Good Eggs information flyer.

As always, we remain extremely grateful for our community's support of our school.

The library has been busy this month with many classes coming in to work on projects and check out books. We have had visits from Sarah from the Corte Madera library to promote our public libraries and the hottest new books, speakers from College of Marin, and many clubs meeting during lunch. We have many new books purchased since the beginning of the year. Our language arts teachers have really infused a new enthusiasm for silent reading and the books have been flying off the shelves. Please remind your child that if they check out something they are not enjoying that they should come in and trade it for something else! I am always available for recommendations!

Here is some of what we have been up to this month.

Book Club: Join us this Friday, October 19th for our first book club of the year with Sarah from the Corte Madera library. We will be discussing the middle grade graphic novel Brave. Everyone is welcome!

Book-a-Ween Pumpkin Contest! This year, our library council will host our first ever book-themed pumpkin decorating contest! Students may bring their entries to the library anytime between now and October 31st. The winning pumpkin decorator will receive a gift card to the Book Passage! The rules are as follows:

1. Your pumpkin must be decorated like a character from a book or related to the plot of a book.

2. You may carve or decorate your pumpkin on the outside.

3. Bring all entries to the library and make a name card with your grade and first and last name.

Día de Los Muertos: Ms. Roubinian will be creating a ofirenda again this year in the library in honor of Day of the Dead. If you would like to bring a photo of a loved one who has passed away and/or an object that reminds you of them, we would love to have you add your items to our altar anytime between now and November 1st. We will celebrate the Day of the Dead during lunch on Thursday, November 1st. We will watch Coco and enjoy some pan de muerto together.

Refugee All-School Read: As I have mentioned before, we will be reading Alan Gratz's Refugee as a whole school this year. If you would like to purchase a book from the Book Passage for your child, you can do so by ordering online or printing out this form and bringing it to the library anytime before November 9th. Last week, Alan Gratz stopped by for a quick visit and interview (thank you, Clare Doornbos for making this happen!) in preparation for his visit on May 13th. He was so engaging and we are in for a huge treat when he spends the day with us. Alan has a new book, Grenade, which will be available at the book fair in December!

Mock Newbery Club: Jennifer Sterling and I will be hosting a Mock Newbery club starting next Thursday, October 25th in Room 7. In this club we will be passing around the hottest book for kids published this year for middle grade readers (ages 8-12), and predicting the book we think will win the coveted Newbery award. If your child is interested, we hope they will join us!

Got Audiobooks? Remember that listening books counts as reading! I encourage you to sign up for Audible, download Overdrive and Libby (available through the Marin County Free Library), or ask me for other audio suggestions. Audiobooks are a great way to enjoy a story as a whole family on a road trip, or for your child to listen to on the way to school or at home. For some children, this is a great "hook" into reading. If you have any questions about how to get this going in your home, stop by the library to ask me!

October Author Spotlight: Jacqueline Woodson

This month, we celebrate the incredible author and poet Jacqueline Woodson, who also happens to be the current national ambassador for young people's literature. Jacqueline has won many awards and has written incredible picture books for younger and older children, novels for middle grade students and young adult titles as well as poetry and an incredible memoir in verse called Brown Girl Dreaming. Her newest book, Harbor Me is geared toward middle grade students and is available for check out in the Kent Library! My favorite book by Ms. Woodson is If You Come Softly, a modern take on a Romeo and Juliet story. Check out one of her books from the library today!

Clubs and Library Activities at Lunch

• Monday: Crafts and more
• Tuesday: Library council and Dungeon and Dragons
• Thursday: Magic the Gathering
• Friday: Unplugged Fun and Games