Thank you for meeting with us in the last several weeks at conferences; your partnership is essential in crafting the best educational experience we can provide for your child. Even as we have just concluded those meetings and sent out interims, please know your access to your daughter’s grade in MyBackPack will be restricted at the end of this week as teachers begin working on first term grades and comments. I will send an email notification to you in November when those grades are ready for viewing. As I told you last week, we began on October 15 providing girls with fruit selections, much like during advisory each morning, at the beginning of Flex Period if they are staying or attending a sports practice; all seems to be going well. Once again, I extend my thanks to Torie Reynolds, Director of Food Services, for working with me to supply this healthy, late-afternoon snack for the girls. Today all Middle School students began wearing their dress uniforms on each Day 3 until it gets too warm in the spring. The dress uniform includes the Hockaday blazer, an oxford shirt, our plaid skirt, and regulation shoes. If a child forgets her blazer or oxford shirt on a Day 3, we have extras that she may borrow; she will not be allowed to call home for those items. In addition, after the first “forget” of either item on dress uniform days, students will receive a uniform violation form each time a blazer or oxford shirt is not worn on Day 3.

Our extended Coat Drive concludes today. Thank you so much for the donations you have made; many area agencies will now be prepared when that first cold snap hits and some of our area neighbors are in need of warmth. The girls indeed are learning meaningful lessons from our community service program and will have another chance to make donations as we collect candy from November 1 - 6. Area groups will use those donations as treats during the upcoming holiday season. Our fall sports are coming to an end, and I extend my congratulations to the girls and their coaches for the growth, success, and sportsmanship demonstrated during this season. Eighth grade teams have completed their competitions; seventh grade teams conclude next week. So let’s move forward into our winter sports: basketball, soccer, and swimming. Tryouts for seventh and eighth graders who wish to compete in these sports will be held from 3:30 - 5:00 p.m. beginning on November 12.

The next few weeks are incredibly busy and exciting; I sound like that is “new” around here and it’s not as you well know. However, we’ll practice our first fire drill next week, have a Williamsburg chaperone meeting, and, of course, end the week with three performances of the eighth grade musical, Annie. Students will see a performance on Friday afternoon, October 26; family and friends are invited to enjoy the production on Saturday evening and/or Sunday afternoon. Admission is free, there are no reserved seats (but ample seating), and the doors will open thirty minutes in advance of curtain time. I’ll send out further details next week. And then…here comes Halloween. Middle School students and teachers may dress up for this holiday, and each grade level has a party put on by more of our hard-working parent volunteers. Teachers will go over the costume guidelines with the girls, and I’ve included a link in case you have any questions, Halloween Costume Guidelines. Add in a fifth grade parent brown bag lunch with me on October 30 and our first Bazaar work period on November 2, and the first term will close with a buzz of activity.

I’ll end this week sharing some of my thoughts about our wonderful teachers. As I sit here writing out the details of the week for Daisy Mail and preparing weekly calendars for the teachers, I am overwhelmed with gratitude to the Middle School faculty and am thinking about how lucky our girls are as their teachers implement so many valuable extras for them even beyond teaching -- fifth grade teachers (thank you, Linda Elliott, for your planning) accompanying students on their trip to Allaso Ranch and a field trip next week; sixth grade teachers for preparing the girls for upcoming Williamsburg adventures and an Arboretum field trip this week; seventh grade teachers also for accompanying their students to the Arboretum (bravo to Susan Sanders on the efforts that went into planning these Arboretum field trips) and chaperoning the Lock-In; and eighth grade classroom teachers and Fine Arts faculty who have journeyed through the musical with our eighth graders. Include their work with Cornerstones Studies, electives, athletics, advising, and the brilliant work they do each day in the classrooms, and I think you can fully understand why Hockaday is such a vibrant, caring community and how all four cornerstones are woven into each day in myriad ways ---lucky, lucky girls! It’s a bit early for this rather “thankful” mood I am in, but I think sharing appreciation is a year-round opportunity!

Enjoy your Fall Break,

Linda Kramer