Dear Rockwell Families, 

We are in October! Our first month of school was amazing, and I want to thank all of you who came out to celebrate with us at our Back to School Barbecue/Food Truck Night -- it was so nice seeing so many of you and having a chance to meet our new neighbors. Your kids have been hard at work learning new routines, igniting (or reigniting) a passion for literature, math, and discovery, and making new friends. So many of you have been asking if there are ways you can be part of your child's day here at Rockwell, and I want to encourage you to make sure that you have a volunteer application on file and cleared through the office so you can join us for classroom helper positions or field trips throughout the year. Kids love having their parents involved with school, and we love having you be a part of our team. 

October gives us many things to think about and celebrate: It marks Bullying Awareness Month, when we will talk with all of our kids about acceptance and kindness - we encourage you to do so too, as we lead up to Unity Day on  October 19. October is also Disability Awareness Month, when we will work with students to help them understand the impact of disabilities -- both those we can see and those we cannot -- on individuals, as well as the many ways in which these individuals can and will lead full and fulfilling lives. Finally, on October 31, we will celebrate Halloween with our annual parade ( 2:00 pm) and parties in our classrooms. All students are invited to participate and to dress up if they wish. Costumes must be school appropriate (no blood, gore, violent themes or weaponry, and nothing too scary, please -- little friends are often easily frightened) and normal school rules as to appropriate attire still apply. More details will come about the parade later in the month. 

Finally, please join us in our Schoolpool fundraising event this month -- simply by adding information about how your students gets to school -- walk, bike, carpool, or bus -- to the Schoolpool calendars and turning them in, we can raise money for our PTA through the city of Redmond... and we get to decrease our environmental footprint and cut down on traffic! Please join; it is a lot of fun and a great way to help our school. 

That's all for  tonight! Thank you again to all of you who have brought your patience and kindness with you every day; you are modeling wonderful traits for our kids and it is paying off. I am so proud of the kind kids we have at Rockwell, and that you are part of our family. Happy October!