November 2007
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November 11, 2007
Red Ribbon Week
October 29th began Red Ribbon Week at the Craig Lower School where each day was the focus of an anti-drug activity.
Monday was “Wear Red Day” and the door of each homeroom was decorated with the theme, “Slam the Door on Drugs.” On Tuesday, all kids wore sweats to school for “Being Drug Free is No Sweat.” On Halloween Wednesday, costumes were the dress code for “Say Boo to Drugs.” Thursday’s theme was “Lei off Drugs” with all the children and faculty sporting the colorful necklaces and on Friday mismatched clothes was the dress code for “Drugs and I Don’t Mix.”
In addition to the prizes and treats given out all week (for example, pretzels at lunch to emphasize “Don’t Let Drugs Twist Your Mind”), six adolescent residents of Daytop Village, a residential drug treatment program in Mendham, NJ., came to speak to seventh and eighth grade students about their lives and drug experimentation. In an “up close and personal” manner, each resident told a cautionary tale of drug use leading to addiction, in some cases incarceration, and eventual placement by the court in the drug treatment program.
As Craig students listened to each Daytop Village resident, they heard a message of how casual drug use can escalate to drug addiction and the unraveling of lives. Residents told the students how no one ever thinks they are heading toward trouble when beginning to use drugs, about the pain they inflicted on their families, friends, and themselves, and the difficulty of stopping once involved in drug use. They discussed how peer pressure is often subtle, and that ultimately it is up to the student to make a healthy or destructive choice. Advising the students that drug use is definitely “not cool,” they strongly urged all students never to start the journey. Craig students were advised to talk to caring adults in their lives about problems and concerns, rather than turn to drugs.
Back-To-School Night
Parents turned out in droves to learn what was going on in their children's classrooms.
The evening began with a presentation by Headmaster, David Blanchard, on how Craig's curriculum matches up with the public school. He began with a brief update on plans to relocate the high school because there is no room in the Lincoln Park facility to accommodate the growing program. David then went on to describe how Craig matches the core curriculum standards set by the state of New Jersey. He gave specific examples of course materials and reading lists and explained how special strategies enrich the curriculum without sacrificing fundamental content.
With schedules in hand and maps to guide them, the parents then followed an abbreviated version of their child's day for the remainder of the evening. Surprisingly, no parent got lost although a few might have been a tad tardy! Nonetheless, it was an enjoyable and eye-opening experience to see the Craig School teachers in action!
"Friends of Rachel" Comes to Craig Lower School
On Wednesday, October 10th, Middle School students heard about Rachel's Challenge, a messageof kindness and compassion that has grown out of the Columbine High School tragedy.
Rachel Joy Scott was the first student to be killed at Columbine. The program presented to Craig students was an outgrowth of the six journals her family found after her death along with the many anecdotal accounts of her kindness.
Britta Holtcamp, a friend of Dana Scott, Rachel’s sister, presented Rachel's Challenge to 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students. Her presentation interspersed film coverage of the Columbine shootings with excerpts from Rachel’s journals and photos of Rachel with family members and friends. She offered five challenges to the students: to eliminate prejudice by looking for the best in others; to dare to dream by setting goals; to choose positive influences; to offer kind words and small acts of kindness; and to start a chain reaction with family and friends.
After the presentation, Britta met with the 8th grade “peer leaders” of the school for a training session. Again, short film clips were shown along with information about the Friends of Rachel (F.O.R.), groups of adult and student leaders who form the “chain reaction” teams promoting kindness, compassion, respect in helping to make the school and the world a better place. The Craig peer leaders will receive CDs, posters and copies of “Teen Impact” magazine to help spread the message of kindness. They were also given suggestions such as holding “Clickety-Clack Day” on the first Tuesday of each month to encourage school cliques to reach out to other students.
Parent Information Luncheon at Lower School
Parents had a first hand view of selected learning strategies presented by lower school teachers during the first month of school.
For the second year, parents were invited to attend a buffet luncheon held in the Wilson cafeteria to learn about the special strategies that supplement the lower school curriculum. Parents circulated about the room listening to 10-minute presentations on Benchmark, Project Read: Report Form, Orton-Gillingham methods, Visualizing and Verbalizing, Read Naturally, Assistive Technology, the Social Communication Program and Behavior Management. Even though these sessions were brief, encapsulated snapshots of programs that are used throughout the year and are interwoven throughout the curriculum, the parents all came away with an appreciation of the multitude of approaches used by Craig teachers to capture the learning potential of each student.
