Blog Posts

January 30, 2022

Gaga Ball Pit at Aberdeen

We installed a new Gaga Ball pit at Aberdeen! The students all wanted to play at recess and lunch so we put in a rotation of divisions so that 2 divisions can use the pit each day. At recess and lunch, the pit is full of exercise, cheering, laughter and fun!

January 23, 2022

Kindergarten Registration/Out of Catchment

Kindergarten Registration:

Kindergarten Registration begins on January 31st. Please contact the office to set up an appointment to bring your documents in for verification.

Grade 1-5 Registrations for 2022-23

Grade 1-5 registrations for the 2022-23 school year begin on February 7th. Please contact the office to bring in your documentation.

Out of Catchment/Out of District Registrations for 2022-23

January 23, 2022

Critical Thinking Debate

In Mrs. vonDoehren's Grade 4 class, the students had the task of deciding whether video games were good for kids or not. Mrs. Spring and Ms. LeClair supported the different groups as they read articles, created opinions, and had a debate in the classroom.

Some of the reasons why they thought video games were good for kids were:
- improves reaction time
- focuses on teamwork
- some games are educational
- they are fun

January 23, 2022

Spreading Happiness

On Thursday, a student told multiple staff members that his dream when he becomes a teenager is to work at Starbucks so that he could give all the teachers and staff at Aberdeen "free coffee". Friday morning, his dream came true! Mr. Byron, Mrs. Menghera, and Gabe walked around the school and handed out coffee, tea, or hot chocolate to the staff!

Thank you for spreading happiness at Aberdeen, Gabe!

December 9, 2021

School is Where the Heart Is

When I was recently asked to share with some of my colleagues how our school district was handling the challenges related to the recent rainstorms and flooding, I could not help but reflect on the numerous calamities we have experienced as a community over the last decade. In addition to the pandemic and disastrous flooding of the last three weeks, our community has endured more than its fair share of tragedies. We have lost more students from a range of misfortune too difficult to recount here.

November 25, 2021

An Open Letter to Ethan (and his Classmates)

On the heels of our decision to open some of our schools last week, several high school students wrote a version of this letter below to me:

Dear Dr. Godden,

On behalf of several students in the Abby school district, we would like to request that you close the school district completely for the remainder of the week as well as thank you for your prompt decision making in this unfortunate situation. 

October 26, 2021

Distinguishing the Weather from the Work

As a way of keeping our focus on the teaching and learning in our schools, I have drawn a distinction between the “work”, our primary focus on providing for the educational needs of our students, and the “weather”, the conditions under which we do this work. In uncertain times if we are not careful, we sometimes confuse the two. While it is clearly important to ensure that we are following all the public health protocols, caution must be extended to ensure that this does not become the primary focus of our discourse and practice.

October 15, 2021

Outside & Online

As we navigate the fourth wave of the pandemic, with an eye to post-pandemic teaching and learning, it has dawned on me that two of the lessons learned from the pandemic might be at odds with each other. With physical distancing being one of the best ways to keep ourselves and kids safe from COVID-19, we saw many classrooms migrate outdoors, at least for part of their instructional experience. This was sage advice given to us by public health, and many classroom teachers were all over it.

September 7, 2021

Welcome to the 2021-22 school year!

This will be a year to remember. I think all of us are happy to put 2020-21 in the rearview mirror. While we did a truly heroic job of navigating the pandemic last year, I think it’s fair to say that none of us wants to do it again. But let’s take a minute to reflect on our efforts. Not only did we live through a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic, but we were also able to keep our schools open, take care of each other and – most importantly – fulfill our mission to provide the best possible education to our students.