October 29, 2013
We began the month with the “Week of Respect”, which “officially” begins the first full week of October. Even though we treat every day as a day of respect, we had planned a number of different activities for this special week. Teachers all incorporated a character education lesson into their plans. Mr. Cutshaw dedicated every lesson in health to topics of making good choices and being kind. Mrs. Kooger covered the cyber bullying aspect, which is more common for young adults these days because of the ease of access and its subtle nature for the perpetrator. One of the lessons that our Califon middle school students learned about was the story of Megan Meier. Visit the following link to learn more:
http://www.meganmeierfoundation.org/
We signed a unity pledge to stomp out bullying in our school. Every student in the school added a link through a writing activity in which they wrote on a strip of paper how they follow positive character traits on a daily basis. The links together formed a chain of Califon hope. Each day the staff and students wore different attire symbolizing a different theme each day. The week ended with a pep rally where our mascot, Derek Breitkopf, was our cougar, student volunteers proudly stated why they loved Califon School, fifth grade students led the younger students in different dances, and our 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students played the staff in a culminating volleyball game. For me, it was awesome to see how much fun the student body had, and how events such as this bring a school together in a positive fashion.
Our partnership with Rutgers continues to be ongoing. Here is just a snapshot of what has been happening with this initiative: Teachers are working with coaches, Maureen Hall and Ken Kunz, on the best methods of teaching the critical skills of reading and writing. Teachers are working on integrating writing instruction into your child’s classroom on a daily basis. All English Language Arts teachers have been assessing your child’s reading levels using the Developmental Reading Assessment or DRA. This allows for more precise differentiation in reading instruction for all students. We are slowly building our classrooms’ reading libraries with a variety of books and genres.
Teachers have been working on developing Student Growth Objectives or SGOs. These are goals set by the teacher for his or her class of students. Teachers will use formative assessment throughout the year to see how on track they are with their goals, which are directly related to your child’s progress. We also are using the Danielson Model for teacher evaluations. This model encourages a learning process to occur between the teacher and Dr. Jim and I. It is important that we all continue to try and improve on a daily basis.
On October 14th, we held a professional development learning day for your child’s teachers. Here’s what we accomplished: teachers in the 5th through 8th grades as well as the related arts teachers worked with Maureen Hall on planning thematic units based on the New Jersey Model Curriculum. The advantage is that our middle school teachers can continue planning on these thematic units together during their common planning time that was integrated into their schedule for this school year. Teachers in the lower grades participated in a Writer’s Workshop whereby a lot of information was shared among our staff and Ken Kunz. Best practices in writing were the focal point as this year we promise your children will be doing lots of meaningful writing throughout their day.
The second half of the day featured all teachers in the library for some Dr. Jim words of wisdom. Dr. Jim covered formative assessments and the importance of using these assessments to drive instructional decisions. This will be an ongoing goal for us throughout this year and beyond. We will be researching different types of benchmark assessments so that we can continue to gauge your child’s progress on an ongoing basis, not just at one snapshot in time.
Dr. Jim also discussed how the Fast ForWord program will be introduced in our school. This is a program with a unique design that is grounded in principles from brain research. The Fast ForWord program develops and strengthens memory, attention, processing rate, and sequencing—the cognitive skills essential for reading intervention program success. We feel this program will have a direct, positive impact on our students’ ability to read fluently and comprehend. Visit the following link for more information:
http://www.scilearn.com/
We are pleased to introduce a vocabulary program that will reap benefits for your children that is based on prefixes, suffixes, and Greek and Latin roots. As Mrs. Medea states on her web page, “With explicit instruction for the most frequently-used Latin and Greek roots, prefixes, and suffixes, students acquire the skills to unlock meaning from more than 16,000 words! This approach to word study enables students to build vocabulary and reading comprehension. It is one that will arm the children with lifelong strategies to tackle new words in their future schooling and everyday life.”
Mrs. Wiesel will be facilitating the Science Bus from Rutgers on November 6th. It will be here during the day for our 6th through 8th grade students. We will have a scientist visit Califon on December 6th to speak with our 6th grade students on the topic of DNA and our 7th and 8th grade students on the topic of blood, and the various reasons why doctors might need to test it. We are hoping to participate in a skype session with a biologist and author from the west coast. Our plan is for him to discuss his non-fiction books on birds and feathers, as well as the mountain gorillas of Uganda. We are also hoping to bring a Siemen’s Science Day to Califon for all grades some time after the New Year.
Our volunteer program is off to a great start! We have invited a number of different volunteers into our school for a variety of educational reasons. Whether it be a parent taking on the “Mystery Reader” role in kindergarten, a parent sharing her experience in the financial world discussing the importance of saving money with our second grade class, or a couple of parents leading science experiments with our first and fourth grade classes, it has been a great experience for your children. I’ll mention a few more examples in my next “Principal’s Corner”.
We will soon be forming the Council of Instruction, which will be aimed at delivering the best possible curricular study your children can be exposed to while here at Califon School. We will all share a part in the curriculum process, as the council will consist of teachers, administration, a board member, and a parent. Depending upon our needs, ad hoc committees may be formed as well.
Again, I urge you to check out your child’s teachers’ websites. They have valuable information about all of the great activities happening in the classroom. If you have any questions or concerns about your child’s program, please feel free to contact his or her teacher.
As you can see from all of the great things happening at Califon School, I hope you can join with me in believing that you all belong here!
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