Dear Parents,

I am so excited to get to work as part of a team with you this year in your child's educational success. At school, I will be there to facilitate their learning, but when they come home, you have many opportunities to extend their learning as well.

Some things you can do at home to ensure your child continues their success in school are:

~Read, read, read! Parents often ask me what they can do to help their child. Many times they will ask for worksheets, websites, or apps that their child can do. The BEST thing you can do to help your child is read with them nightly! Have your child read to you but also parents need to read to their child.

~Ask questions! Just so you know, we never do "nothing" in school... your child should always be able to tell you something we learned during the school day! Talking to your child greatly increases their vocabulary which helps them in school. Yes, talking to your child does help them!

~Check your child's BEACH nightly. This will keep you up to date on their homework assignments.

~Help your child get a good night's sleep so they are alert and ready to learn in the mornings. If they are eating breakfast at school, please me sure they arrive by 7:35 so that they may get breakfast. Breakfast is provided FREE to every child in the school each morning. It is very hard to be successful when your stomach is empty!

~Arrive on time. Missing a few minutes a few times a week really adds up to a lot of lost instructional time.

Are you wanting information about the new GCS Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) curriculum?

Click here for more information regarding this new curriclum.

Click here for the district page for Social and Emotional learning.

Wondering why nightly reading practice at home is so vital to your child's reading success?

Consider this...

Student A reads 20 minutes five nights of every week;

Student B reads only 4 minutes a night...or not at all!

Step 1: Multiply minutes a night x 5 times each week.

Student A reads 20 minutes x 5 times a week = 100 minutes/week

Student B reads 4 minutes x 5 times a week = 20 minutes

Step 2: Multiply minutes a week x 4 weeks each month.

Student A reads 400 minutes a month.

Student B reads 80 minutes a month.

Step 3: Multiply minutes a month x 9 months/school year

Student A reads 3600 min. in a school year.

Student B reads 720 min. in a school year.

Student A practices reading the equivalent of ten whole school days a year. Student B gets the equivalent of only two school days of reading practice.

By the end of 5th grade if Student A and Student B maintain these same reading habits, Student A will have read the equivalent of 60 whole school days. Student B will have read the equivalent of only 12 school days.

One would expect the gap of information retained will have widened considerably and so, undoubtedly, will school performance. How do you think Student B will feel about him/herself as a student?

Some questions to ponder:

Which student would you expect to read better?

Which student would you expect to know more?

Which student would you expect to write better?

Which student would you expect to have a better vocabulary?

Which student would you expect to be more successful in school....and in life?

Turn off the TV for 20 minutes a night and read....it's worth it!