One of the most essential aspects of Craig High School is our focus on making your teen more academically and socially independent. We identify various aspects of their Executive Functions and explicitly teach strategies that promote independence. Executive Function is a term that relates to mental skills like memory, regulating emotion, time management, etc. All of these develop with age in the pre-frontal lobe of the brain. It is the last part of the brain to develop, and everyone’s brain develops at a different pace. This is why teens are often a mess regarding their Executive Functions! Their brains are still developing. We also know that the brains of teens with any sort of Learning Disability develop at a more varied pace than those of traditional students.
At Craig High, we recognize that all teens struggle with these skills. We identify problem areas and provide specific strategies to improve those. For instance, a big problem for most teens in the classroom is being what we call a “passive learner.” This means they are much more comfortable with a teacher just telling them the answer rather than looking for it themselves (sound familiar?). As parents, we see the same sort of thing at home! One technique we teach at Craig High is the “Three Before Me” strategy. We ask students to do the following three things BEFORE asking the teacher: think for themselves, use a resource like notes or the Internet, or ask a friend. If none of those work, of course, they should ask the teacher. When working with your teen at home, you may want to use the same system. At first, it may seem easier just to tell them (again) what to do, but employing this strategy will help them become independent at home (just like we are training them to do at school!).
Craig High Info Letter: Week of October 2nd
This Thursday, October 5th is our first Craig Community Food Drive teaming up with “Rise Against Hunger” Organization, an international hunger relief non-profit (https://www.riseagainsthunger.org/).
Thank you to our students and parents who have already committed to join us but we are still looking for a few more student/parent teams to help make our community event complete. It is this THURSDAY from 5:30-8 PM on our Mountain Lakes campus. Please email me and I will fill you in on the specifics. For any of our Cross Country runners, I can take them from Thursday practice to Mt. Lakes and parents are welcome to meet us there.
As we tell our students often (and ourselves), “the right tool for the right job”! So in the same vein, we would like to share with you, our parents, “the right person for the right question”! In this week's CHIL, you will find our Craig High Communication Ladder. Have a great week,
Dr. Cap
CHS October Calendar
Tuesday, October 3rd
XC Practice (3-4:30PM)
Thursday, October 5th
XC Practice (3-4:30PM)
Thursday, October 5th
RISE Community Event (Mt. Lakes Campus, 5:30-8PM)
Tuesday, October 10th
XC Practice (3-4:30PM)
Thursday, October 12th
XC Practice (3-4:30PM)
Saturday, October 14th
CHS XC Team: Beavertown 5K (Lincoln Park, 9 AM, Race Link)
Saturday, October 14th
3rd Annual Craig School Drive-In (Lot Opens at 6 PM, Movie starts at Dusk)
Tuesday, October 24th
CHS XC Meet at Winston Prep (4PM Race Time, Whippany)
Thursday, October 26th
1st Trimester Progress Reports Coming Home
Sunday, October 29th
CHS XC Team 5K: Running with the Devils (West Orange, 9AM, Race Link)
*pending
Monday, October 30th
Annual CHS “Great Pumpkin” Entries Due
Tuesday, October 31st
Annual High School Halloween Bash: “Great Pumpkin” Winners Announced and Halloween Costume Contest
OCTOBER Craig Community Events
THIS THURSDAY Evening OCTOBER 5th-Rise Against Hunger Event at The Craig School: This Thursday, October 5th, from 5:30-8PM, we will bring together student and parent volunteers from both our campuses with the goal of sharing some community time together and building 10,000 meals for others! We are still looking for a few more Craig High Student/Parent teams to help with the event. Arrival and a pizza dinner will start at 5:30 PM at our Mt. Lakes campus with our assembly line of meal builders starting up at 6 PM. The evening will wrap up a little after 8:00 PM. All CHS students who participate will earn Community Service Hours towards their annual requirement. Interested students should see Dr. Cap. Parents who would like to join us or have any questions can email Dr. Cap at ECaparulo@craigschool.org
SAVE THE DATE- Craig School Annual Drive-In: If you haven’t already, mark your calendars for Saturday, Oct. 14th as we will building our own Drive In in Montville and hosting a snack-filled viewing of the computer-animated adventure comedy of the year, THE SUPER MARIO BROTHERS (Movie Trailer)! Snacks are free courtesy of PACS, drive-in is free! Arrival will be between 6-7 PM. More info in the next week. For now, SAVE THE DATE!
Craig High School Communication Ladder
Administrative Assistant, Mrs. Deb Mershimer (DMershimer@craigschool.org)
School Psychologist, Mrs. Tiffany Brown (TBrown@craigschool.org)
Director of College Counseling and Placement, Ms. Lindsey Skerker (LSkerker@craigschool.org)
Director of Craig High School, Dr. Eric Caparulo (ECaparulo@craigschool.org)
School Nurse, Mrs. Deborah Mershimer (DMershimer@craigschool.org)
Badger Cross Country October 5K Schedule: Badger X-Country will be holding practices on the following TUES and THURS in October from 3-4:30 PM
We have finalized our 5K race schedule and in addition to a tri-meet with a couple of area HS, we have two potential live 5K races coming up in October. Feel free to sign up and join us!
For any race or practice questions, you can contact CHS Cross Country coach Ms. Crum at JCrum@craigschool.org
Back to School Coffee Rescheduled
Due to Back to School Night being held on October 12th, the Coffee with PACS will now take place on October 17th 8:30-9:30am in the Lower/Middle School Cafeteria. We look forward to connecting with you and sharing all the ways to get involved with PACS.
All School Annual Drive-IN-Movie
Saturday, October 14TH @ HS Parking Lot
This is an event that is fun for the whole family. We are looking for snack donations. If you can help out, Click here to sign up.
Halloween Bash
Tuesday, October 31st
A sign-up link will be sent in October for parents to donate candy and goodies for the day's activities.
CHS Program Spotlight
Craig High Celebrates National Coloring Day: This past week, our students celebrated National Coloring Day in the CHS Art Room with the creation of some colorful mini-masterpieces! Our artists were able to choose from several small coloring templates which allowed them to design their own color combinations. Once finished, these completed masterpieces can be used as bookmarks, gift tags, or simply artwork to hang on a very small wall. Three student works were chosen as this year’s coloring masterpieces and along with winning a fabulous coloring book and colored pencil set- their designs will be formatted as limited-edition stickers that will be displayed prominently in the art room.
For more information on ways of giving or to make a donation online you can clicking here.
Lower/Middle School
15 Tower Hill Rd
Mountain Lakes, NJ 07046
Phone 973-334-1234
Fax 973.334.2861
Craig High School
24 Changebridge Road
Montville, NJ 07045
Phone 973.334.1234
Fax 973.334.1288
Administration
10 Tower Hill Road
Mountain Lakes, NJ 07046
Phone 973-334-1234
Fax 973 334 1299
