Greetings Kent Community,

The first trimester at Kent officially comes to a close at the end of school on Tuesday, November 23. The turn of the trimester is an important time for students, teachers, and families to celebrate the learning achieved thus far in the school year, and to reflect upon areas for growth and further focus in the second trimester.

First trimester grades will be an important reference point to consider when reflecting on the learning and progress achieved during the first part of this year. Teachers will work to finalize grades following the end of the trimester, and we will publish first trimester grades school-wide the afternoon of December 10. Today and tomorrow are the final opportunities that students have to review Aeries for any missing assignments to complete and turn in prior to the conclusion of the term.

As we enter into the season of gratitude, I would like to take a moment to appreciate our Kent school community for the multitude of ways that we support teaching, learning, and student well-being at our school. Our students bring curiosity and intrigue daily into their learning environments, elevating the discourse in the room with their creative insights. Teachers lead with intention and passion, infusing their instruction with meaning, relevance, and purpose. Our parents trust your children in our care, encouraging our teaching team through volunteerism, constructive feedback, and generous donations to our school foundation, KIK. I’m grateful to be a member of this school community, and feel great responsibility to employ the student-centered instructional leadership that our community of learners deserves in your principal.

I wish each of you and your families a positive, reflective, and gratitude-filled fall break from school. We will see you on Monday, November 29 for the start of the second trimester!

Gratitude for our Community!

Thank you to the amazing organizers of the KSPTA book fair and for all the incredible parents and kids who donated books to the Kent Library. There are so many incredible titles that were chosen representing mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors for our students. Stories of ability awareness, activism, the fight for racial justice, and also stories of kids just living in the world as their true selves. These books will be ready to check out after the Thanksgiving break. I feel so lucky to have so many new titles to share with students. THANK YOU!

Additionally, we have so many wonderful books to donate to the newly reopened Davidson library. Thanks to all of you who donated new or gently used books for them to refresh their collection. We also had a bake sale that raised over $250 thanks to the efforts of some hard working eighth graders. These students and I will be going to Book Passage to buy more books for the Davidson collection. I am inspired and incredibly grateful for these efforts!

Mock Newbery Club

Our Mock Newbery club meets Mondays at lunch outside the library. If you have a voracious reader at home, this is the club for them. We are reading from a list of books written in 2021 by American authors in the hope that we will choose a winner! Students can borrow the titles as long as they would like and we meet each week to talk about our opinions. A full list of these books can be found here.

Newspaper Club!

Have you seen the latest issue of the FalconSwoop our student newspaper? It was distributed last month thanks to a generous donation via a KIK grant and it is pretty awesome! The Kent Newspaper club is completely student run and meets on Tuesday during study session. If you child is interested, have them join our Google classroom using the code oxxskby.

Need Book Recommendations?

Email me at rjelen@kentfieldschools.org and follow us on Instagram @kentmiddleschoollibrary.