Dear Craig Families,
Spring break is around the corner and hopefully, snow is behind us. Everyone welcomes the warmth and sunshine, especially with all of the COVID restrictions. Many Craig families have expressed the need to get away, which after a year of COVID is highly understandable. The days following vacation, when Craig is back in session but your children must quarantine can be a learning challenge. For those families that are new to using the hybrid learning platform, we would like to make a few suggestions. Let Craig School know your plans so we can be most prepared. There are many learning pieces we can offer you ahead of time. Please make sure you have a working printer, plenty of printer paper and ink. As much as you can print ahead of time you should. Our students become anxious when things are not at easy access. The Daily Agenda should become your best friend. All of the information on what your child needs in the class is posted right there. Check the Agendas for each class every morning or at least 10 minutes before class starts. The more prepared students are the better for everyone. Have copies of your child’s schedule near their workspace as well as near where you will be. The students should log in at least a few minutes before their class starts. We don’t want anyone missing meaningful instruction. Also, it’s important to be able to follow the daily schedule, especially for related service times and days.
During this week’s parent/teacher conferences, families commented that when their child did need to switch from in-person to virtual, the experience ran smoothly. I attribute that to a highly prepared and highly passionate staff who respect good instruction for all students. If we can partner and help our children come equipped, everyone’s instructional day will be more seamless. Online learning can never replace direct in-person instruction but let’s all challenge ourselves to make it the very best it can be.
Sincerely,
Janet Cozine
Friday, March 19 - 12:00 pm Dismissal (Parent Teacher Conferences)
Monday, March 22 - Trimester II Report Cards Emailed to Parents
Thursday, March 25 - 7:00 pm Virtual STEM Night
Friday, April 2 to Friday, April 9 - School Closed, Spring Break
ART
The mini food project was created with model magic clay. Combine Crayola's Model Magic with Crayola Markers. Paint, Mod Podge and lots of creative kids and you get a wonderful display of delicious looking foods.
See our amazing photos in our gallery.
ADMISSIONS
Registration is open for The Craig School Summer Academy in grades 2-12.
The Craig School Lower and Middle School program will be in person on our Mt Lakes Campus. The Craig High School Summer Academy will offer either in person or virtual learning on our Montville Campus.
The enrichment program for both divisions will located on the Mountain Lakes Campus. Please see the registration forms for times, dates and cost. Spaces are limited and we need you registration form ASAP to hold your child's spot. Please do not delay and come join us for a great summer program!
Registration forms at https://www.craigschool.org/academics/summer-academy/
Re enrollment contracts for the 2021-2022 school year were sent via email this week, please log in and sign your contract as soon as possible. If your child is sent by yout district, you still need to log in and re enroll for next year. If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to Nicole Moon, Director of Admission. nmoon@craigschool.org
It has certainly been a very busy time for marketing this year. We launched our new website and have had wonderful feedback. Along with that, we are doing a full campaign with NJ.com including ads, email blasts to expanded databases and special content driven articles. The results have been very successful with increased inquiries, tours and new students. The campaign highlights articles and information to help new families understand the school philosophy and mission.
Here is an example of two of our content articles.
How often have you listened to your child read and wondered, “Does my child understand what they are reading? Comprehension, or the “capability of understanding something” (Oxford) is in fact, the major goal of reading. Without comprehension reading is just words, both pointless and frustrating. In order for us to move our students on the continuum of readers to good readers, it is important to keep in mind strategies that can facilitate active learning and comprehension. The reading teachers at the Craig school have been trained, and continue developing and practicing strategies to develop enthusiastic readers. If you simply ask a student “ what did you read?” This can be confusing and make a student feel less confident about their own reading progress. Instead, working on systematic, explicit and direct comprehension strategies will help unlock comprehension and give the students tools for this important skill.
Comprehension can be exciting. The students at The Craig School continue to add to their comprehension toolbox through daily exercises. A few activities in my class include setting goals for reading, and engaging activities such as ABC books. To set a goal for reading, students first take a “picture walk” before reading,and note text features that give them a clue to what type of passage they are reading. They learn to ask themselves questions such as, “ Does the passage have graphs, pictures, subtitles, captions, or special print?” If the answer is yes, the text might be a non-fiction text. From this information, the student can infer what the author's purpose in writing the passage is, and that allows the student to set an individual goal for their own reading. This month, in celebration of Women’s history month, students in 5th-7th grade have read about some of the great women in history such as; Frida Kahlo, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony. They are making connections and digging deeper into comprehension through daily vocabulary, inferencing, goal setting and summarizing activities. Additionally, the students have used the ABC book to help deepen their comprehension. They are asked to try to associate at least 20 letters in the alphabet with a detail from the story they are reading. For example “F” could stand for “Frida Kahlo”, “D” could represent Kahlo’s determination. The students enjoy this activity and also enjoy sharing the activity with one another to help deepen the comprehension through recitation and discussion. Next time you are reading a story, article or passage as a family, ask your child to teach the family one of these fun comprehension activities.
Enjoy Reading!
Janelle Kenny-Johnson
I will share pictures of the ABC book in use and some of the highlighting for non-fiction text readers in another email 🙂
CO-ED Basketball Clinic Grades 2nd to 4th, Mondays, March 15th and 22nd 3:05pm-4:00pm
Boys Basketball Tuesday and Wednesday, March 16th and 17th 3:05pm - 4:30pm
Coming Soon! Cross Country will return for the Spring!
We will also look to do some lacrosse dates as well. More information to come.
Go Badgers!
Homework Help Dates Week of March 15th
Monday, March 15th
Wednesday, March 17th
No HWH on Thursday, March 18th
If your child is leaving early, not coming to Homework Help or will be virtual and wants to participate in Homework Help, please contact Mrs. Butter by email at bbutter@craigschool.org or via call/text message on the Homework Help hotline 1-862-207-9863. Thanks!
It has been an unprecedented year for everyone, but one of the things we miss the most is each other and feeling a part of The Craig School Community!
While your students have been able to meet, we know the parents have not. During the year we have had new students join us in almost every grade, and we would like to take this opportunity on
Tuesday, March 23rd at 9:00 AM to meet via Zoom to say "Hello".
Our plan is to gather as a full community and then break out into Zoom Rooms for grade level or division conversations with one another.
HALF DAY AND DELAYED OPENING SCHEDULES
Below are the schedules for your reference.
ATTENDANCE
Please send an email to Kimberly McGroarty kmcgroarty@craigschool.org OR call our Main Line (973-334-4375 X101) for student absences before 7:30 a.m. We need to know:
(a) If your child is absent and is unable to attend virtually. This student will be marked “Absent.” OR
(b) If your child is absent AND attending classes virtually. This student will be marked “Present.”
For more information on ways of giving to Craig, please contact Katie Burke, Director of Development, at 973-334-1295 or make a donation online by clicking here.
