Greetings
CMS Families,
Each morning I look at the calendar to
confirm my suspicion that the month of September is almost over! We have had a
terrific start to the school year! We are looking forward to seeing all of you
at our Curriculum Night this Thursday, September 25th. The evening will begin in
Homeroom/1st period at 6:30 pm. Your child will bring home their
schedule today for you to follow. If for some reason you don’t have it just
stop in the main office when you arrive and we can give you a copy. This year
we will have our Scholastic Book Fair, sponsored by our terrific PTO, open
during Curriculum Night. Please stop by the café to browse or buy and sample
one of our cookies from our cafeteria. You can also order a book online by
clicking here.
Speaking of books, the entire faculty and
staff at CMS read a great book this summer called Focus by Mike
Schmoker. An entire section of the book examines the importance of what the
author calls “authentic literacy.” Schmoker quotes two researchers who
succinctly describe the value of reading; “Think of literacy as a spine; it
holds everything together.” Further, he makes a clear recommendation that every
student should read 20 books per school year. If we look at the demands of the
middle level schedule, it is probably not possible for all 20 books to be read
exclusively here at school. As a point of reference, ask your child how many
books they read last school year. The start of the school year presents a
perfect opportunity to establish new habits. A consistent but short burst of
independent reading time each night, perhaps a minimum of 15 minutes, will go a
long way in getting every child to the 20 book mark. In the blogs to follow
I’ll give other suggestions for how we can strengthen the literacy spine in all
our students. Looking for a good book to start the nightly habit? Click here for the list of the 2014 Newberry Award
Winners.
Your child’s first interim progress
report will be available for viewing in Schooltool on October 8th. I
will send a ParentLink notification that day to remind you. We will only be
printing the 10 week report cards this year. If you would like a paper copy of
the interim progress report please email Nancy Boise at nboise@westgenesee.org and she will be happy to mail you one.
As always, please don’t hesitate to
contact me should you have any questions at 672-3159 or by email at blozier@westgenesee.org.
We Celebrate Learning!
Beth
