The Run is tomorrow, Saturday, May 13th!  The 3 Mile Run will begin at 8:30am, followed by the Kids Fun Run at 9:30am.

BIB AND T-SHIRT PICK UP:
Location: Foyer by the Entrance to the Gym
Friday, May 12th at 2:30-4:00pm
Saturday, May 13th at 7:30-8:15am

**Cash, check, and credit cards will be accepted for in-person registration.

Please note that the Riverside Run will go on RAIN OR SHINE. No roller blades, bicycles, or dogs are allowed.

Questions? Email riversideruncommittee@gmail.com.

Field Day will take place on Monday, June 12th (with rain date of June 15th). Students will be divided into color groups and will compete against each other to see which color will be this year’s champion!  Your child(ren)’s color assignment was emailed to you on May 5th. You may either purchase the Field Day T-shirt or your child should wear a shirt in that color on Field Day.

Check out the fun design and order your child's T-Shirts ($9 each) online by scrolling down to Membership, Tickets & Donations on My Page. The deadline to order is Saturday, May 13th at 5pm. No late orders!

About 32 million Americans live with food allergies, including 5.6 million children. FARE (Food Allergy Research & Education) has a fun lineup of daily activities it is encouraging next week, beginning on May 14th, for Food Allergy Awareness Week 2023. Please visit FARE's website here to learn more about food allergies and the planned activities. Students are also encouraged to wear their Riverside Red next Friday, May 19th, as a way to be a Food Allergy Ally and raise awareness about the dangers of food allergies and anaphylaxis. 

Arts Field Day will be held on Tuesday, May 16th from 1-3pm for 3rd, 4th and 5th graders. This one-day, afternoon event allows students to pick from a variety of visual and performing arts workshops distinct from the regular school curriculum. This year, students can participate in: Hip Hop Dance, iPad Photography, Improv, Acrylic Paint Pouring, Mosaics, Magic and more!

On May 17th at pick-up time, Student Council members will be hosting a BAKE SALE for Lucky Dog Refuge, a safe haven for dogs from dire backgrounds, located in Stamford, CT. Please note: we ask that only parents or other adults purchase the baked goods. 

Along with the bake sale, Student Council will be accepting donations needed for the refuge. Please view the flyer for a list of needed materials. A donation bin will be outside the front of the school from May 10th to May 25th, and donations can be dropped off at any time. 

Please feel free to reach out to Cristina Fioravanti or Jessica Rosa, Student Council Co-Advisors, if you have any questions. Thank you for your support!

The PTA's Annual Volunteer Tea will be held on Wednesday, May, 31st at 9:15am in the cafe. Please join us as we celebrate the PTA's accomplishments and recognize all our wonderful volunteers from the 2022-2023 school year. We will also be presenting some special awards to outstanding volunteers and honoring our graduating parents. If your youngest child is graduating from Riverside School this year, please stay tuned for a paperless post invitation which you will receive next week. You won't want to miss this special event!

The PTA is once again sponsoring a school supply fundraiser for the upcoming school year. Order now and your child's box of supplies will be delivered directly to the classroom by the first day of school.

Please visit the SchoolKidz Teacher Tailored website and enter account number 83285. The site will close on June 6th. Once again earbuds and headphones will be available to purchase separately if new ones are required. It is strongly advised that Kindergarteners have headphones rather than earbuds. Please email Jenn Lacovara or Sharon Elkayam with any questions. 

We are excited to announce the Riverside School Art Show is scheduled for Thursday, June 8th! Please keep your eyes out for the official invitation! With hundreds of pieces to mount and hang, we will need many helping hands. Kindly reach out to Amiee Merrinsand Kate Jamieson if you would like to volunteer to help between May 22nd and June 8th.  

Thank you in advance for making this year's Art Show a success! 

Please join us on Monday, May 22nd from 9:15-10:30am in the Media Center for the Spring PTA Meeting. We will begin with a brief review of PTA business items before welcoming our featured speaker, Dr. Fabian Boie. Dr. Boie will lead a parent workshop on Fostering Executive Function Skills and Responsibility in Children. As space in the workshop portion of the meeting will be limited, an RSVP is required. Registration will be on a first-come, first-served basis, and we will keep a waitlist if necessary.  If the parent workshop is oversubscribed, Dr. Boie will work with us to schedule an additional workshop.  

PTA volunteer roles are now being filled for the 2023-2024 school year.  Whatever your interests or availability, we have many ways for you to contribute and make a positive impact. Our goal is to engage as many people as we can with the school.  Please review our open roles and complete the volunteer interest form to express interest in one (or more) volunteer opportunities!  If you have any questions or would like to learn more about PTA roles, please contact this year's nominating committee - Allison Maus, Hillary Harper and Betsy McIntrye.  We look forward to hearing from you!   

Flying Contraptions with Stepping Stones

On Monday, May 8th, educators from Stepping Stones Museum presented Flying Contraptions to our Kindergarteners! Designed to ignite students' creativity and curiosity, the program explored the principles of aerodynamics—lift, drag, weight, and thrust—through hands-on experiments with flying and gliding objects. Embracing their roles as budding aeronautical engineers, the students crafted imaginative contraptions using materials like tape, coffee filters, paper, tinfoil, and cups. These creations were then tested through three exciting challenges: staying airborne for three seconds, thrusting forward, and carrying a pom pom passenger. 

Animal Adaptations with Animal Embassy

On Wednesday, May 10th, our first grade classes got to see the softer side of nature with Animal Embassy's Amazing Adaptations program. Program director, Chris Evers, has been coming to the Riverside School for 15 years and did an incredible job allowing students to meet a diversity of animals from around the globe representing numerous habitats. During the sessions, the students explored how animals survive in their natural habitats and discovered how they have adapted to unending environmental challenges in their own unique ways with special physical and behavioral attributes. Live Animal Ambassadors included Judy Hops, a Dutch rabbit, Blue, a blue rabbit, a red foot tortoise, green tree frogs, and Solomon, a Solomon island skink.  

Upcoming Enrichment Programs

• May 16: Arts Field Day (Grades 3, 4 & 5)
• May 17: Reptiles and Amphibians with Animal Embassy (Grade 2)
• May 17: Riverside Rhythms presents “A Taste of Opera” featuring former Riverside School parent Brett Kroeger (All Grades)
• May 19: Program about the historic Revolutionary War period (Grade 5)
• May 23: Virtual Author Visit with Kelly Yang (Grades 3 & 4)
• May 24: Endangered Species with Animal Embassy (Grade 3)
• May 25: Town of Greenwich’s Watersheds (Grade 4)
• May 30 - June 2: Virtual Poetry Week with Ted Scheu (Grades K-4)

These programs are paid for by your generous donations to the PTA. Thank you!

Please note that the Riverside Reel will be moving to a new online platform. As a result, it will be temporarily unavailable until the migration is complete. We will provide an update once the new site has launched. All existing albums have been preserved and will be posted to the new platform, and we will continue to create new albums as we receive photos & videos from upcoming PTA events and programs! If you have any questions, please email riversidereel@gmail.com.

Safety Duty is an important part of keeping our children safe at Riverside School. Volunteers make the morning drop-off process more efficient and secure. Volunteers assist children as they exit their vehicles in the front driveway from 8:30am - 8:45am daily and help to enforce the “Rules of the Road.” Sign up online.

For more information, contact Sean Sullivan.