Dear Craig School Families,

Grandfriends’ Day finally arrived after a two year and too long a hiatus, but what a magical day it was! There were over 200 very exuberant participants. The students beamed as they were able to show off the Craig campus as well as introduce the Craig staff.

The day began with a book swap. Anyone bringing books received vouchers to select that many in return. The entire Orton Wing was filled with book selections. It warmed my heart to see the enthusiasm, knowing that before coming to Craig these same students wouldn't pick up a book, let alone select many to enjoy. 

There were five stations that everyone rotated through. If you hadn’t eaten breakfast, you were certainly in for a treat as you strolled through The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party. There were scones, tea cakes, tea sandwiches and so much more, but the biggest treat was that the Mad Hatter himself attended! The Alice in Wonderland / Mad Hatter photo booth certainly took on a life of its own. I can’t wait for you to see the shots. The mood was infectious as we moved from one event to the next.

How engaging our songwriter was as he pulled everyone into the art of creating lyrics for their own songs. His unique style of drawing out words combined with notes and harmony made each group’s creations personal. I was unclear at first how hope, harp, and habitat could come together in a song - but it did and the results were pretty fantastic.

Art through the Looking Glass was a charming montage of The Craig students’ art, drama, and music set to a lively video. Friends enjoyed seeing how talented all of the students were in all areas of the arts. The video, set to music was brilliantly created by Mrs. Kutcher our very gifted art teacher. Through the collaboration of Mrs. Kutcher, Mrs. Tlack, and Mr. Snowdon all were able to view 2021-2022 Art through the Looking Glass. 

As you journeyed through the Alice in Wonderland corridors, you had a chance to build the Queen’s Tower. The Queen of Hearts had been very bored by her castle. She wanted all of you to use your deck of cards to build her new tower. She is not usually kind, but Alice convinced her to play fair, since we had special guests at the Craig School. The Queen was especially looking for height and creativity - and she got both. Although there were no winners or losers, I’ve been told that there was a very interesting lattice structure. There was quite a bit of height and creativity could clearly be seen.

With all of those books the students acquired in the swap, everyone needed to head Down the Rabbit Hole to draw some Alice in Wonderland characters on their totes. Such detail went into their creations which would hold all of their acquired books. With spare time everyone was also able to make book markers matching our Alice in Wonderland theme.

The day was everything we anticipated and more thanks to all of the time, energy, and creativity donned by the Craig staff. A special thank you goes out to Amanda Jahn, our PACS treasurer who designed the Mad Hatter tea party down to the centerpieces that she created herself. Alice would have been so proud.

View our photos in our gallery.

Sincerely,

Janet Cozine

TUESDAY, June 21 at Ballyowen Golf Club!

 Our Annual Golf Outing is looking for support!  You can join us for golf, sponsor a faculty member, join us for dinner or even become a tee box sponsor!  Registration at  Craig School Golf Outing Registration and learn more about the event at https://www.craigschool.org/giving/annual-events/.   Please reach out to Katie Burke, Director of Development, at kburke@craigschool.org if you have any questions. I hope you'll join us for this fun day on the links!

HOW TO ORDER FROM THE CRAIG SCHOOL AMAZON WISH LIST:

Please use this link to purchase items from the Amazon wish list - 

https://www.amazon.com/registries/custom/QAOTOZYIDNPK/guest-view

Items may be shipped directly to The Craig School at:

10 Tower Hill Road

Mountain Lakes, NJ  07046

If you have any questions or are having problems accessing the Amazon Wish List 

please email Amanda Jahn at amandajahn77@gmail.com or Katie Burke at kburke@craigschool.org

JANET M. COZINE AUDITORIUM

Thank you for all of your support for the Janet M. Cozine Auditorium renovation. We are grateful to everyone who has contributed to this project, and for those who have gotten involved and shared their experiences at The Craig School.

Our campaign continues and as of today we have raised $165,000 with gifts from every constituency of the school: students, parents, faculty, staff, former faculty, alumni, alumni parents, and grandparents. A testament to Janet's 42 year career and the impact made on the lives of so many families that are a part of Badger Nation.

Our goal is to raise $265,000 for the completion of the project.  If you have not given to the campaign, please consider a gift today to celebrate our esteemed Director of the Lower and Middle School, Janet M. Cozine.

You can pledge here:

Donate to the Janet M. Cozine Auditorium,

pay via Text2Fund by texting Badgers to 71760,

pay via Paypal at https://www.craigschool.org/giving/ 

or send a check made payable to The Craig School. 

Laptop Dropoff

Student drop-off for laptops is June 14th. Students should drop their charger and laptop off in room 13, next to the school store, before or during lunch. If a student is attending the summer school program, they can hold on to their laptop until the program is over on July 28th. If you have any questions or concerns, don't hesitate to contact me. Jonathan Piere- jpieri@craigschool.org

Summer Program Packets

If you are enrolled in our Summer program, you should have received your packet this week. If you did not receive it, please email Mary Calvano at mcalvano@craigschool.org.

The Importance of Summer Reading

Reading is an important skill and a strong indicator of future success.   Research shows that reading 20 minutes per day improves scores on standardized tests and improves vocabulary. Reading shouldn’t stop just because school is out for summer!  Research shows that a typical student scores lower on standardized tests at the end of summer than at the beginning of summer.  This is called the Summer Slide.  Students typically lose about 3 months of learning during the summer.  To prevent this from happening, The Craig School assigns Summer Homework in Reading, Math and Language Arts.  Even those who attend summer school, still have to read in the month of August. Click the link for resources for parents from Reading Rockets. https://www.readingrockets.org/calendar/summer

Please encourage your child to read everyday. Take a trip to the library!  Read to your child!  Help make reading an enjoyable experience! 

 To help your child choose a book on their level. Use the 5 Finger Rule. Your child should do this test 3 times, trying a page from the beginning, middle and end of the book. 

The Five Finger Rule

Open the book and read. Count the how many times you get stuck.

0-1 Too easy

2-3 Perfect Choice!

3-4 Give it a Try

5+ Too difficult.

BADGER HOMEWORK SUPPORT

Homework Support is over. Even though the program is completed for this year, your child might still receive homework. Please continue to check Google Classroom for assignments. 

Summer Homework packets will be going home on Wednesday, June 7th. Please be on the lookout. 

Thank you again, for another successful year!   - Mrs. Butter

Craig School Emergency Contact System:  The Craig School uses a multi-tiered communication system that provides to our families, the highest level of certainty that you are made aware of any change in the opening or closing status of Craig Lower Middle School and Craig High.  Our various communication tiers include:  

• Craig Notification Call System:  The Craig Notification call is a voice activated system so you need to say HELLO once and allow the system to activate.  If you say HELLO followed by another HELLO in rapid succession, the system will not activate and not start the recorded message.  If you are unable to take the call, it will leave a message. 

• School Email Blast:  We will send out an email blast to all of our families and students.  Keep in mind that emails are dependent on the internet so if that’s down, so are emails.

• News12:  We also post any change in our status on News12 on Cablevision.  It scrolls along the bottom of the screen and updates regularly (https://newjersey.news12.com/new-jersey-school-closings)      

• Twitter and Facebook: Follow us at THE CRAIG SCHOOL on twitter and facebook
  • https://twitter.com/thecraigschool
  • https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Craig-School/179053514357?ref=br_tf

DROP IN OPEN OFFICE HOURS with Dr. Loftin, Head of School

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday- LS/MS  2:00pm -3:00pm

Thursday - High School Campus - 2:00pm- 3:00pm

These hours are open for parents to schedule a meeting, drop in and discuss any issues or concerns or to just say hello.

kloftin@craigschool.org

973-334-1234

Birthdays: Please note:

We understand that some children want to share a “birthday treat” with their classmates on their special day.  If you are planning to have your child bring food items into school for sharing please abide by the following:

• Notify your child’s homeroom teacher prior to the day so that we are aware
• Remember we are a “nut-free’ facility and food items containing nuts,nut oils,nut butters and/or peanuts are not allowed in the school
• Each item is to be individually wrapped/packaged and can not be distributed from a communal box or container
• Please provide the ingredient list with the foods as several of our students have food sensitivities

Treats will be shared at snack time or homeroom (at the teacher’s discretion) and not during lunchtime or recess.  We have more than one group-and sometimes grade- together at those times and it is difficult to single out only certain children for the treat while others are present.

If you have any questions, please email Mrs. Ellen Meisenbacher at emeisenbacher@craigschool.org

Thank you for understanding. 

NO FUSS LUNCH WEBSITE

• Lunch orders are placed weekly, not monthly, and can be canceled up until 6:00 am on the day of service in the event your child is out sick. (See the Frequently Asked Question tab for detailed information and instructions)  
• Orders for the upcoming week open each Wednesday and closes on Sunday at 6:00 pm  
• No Fuss Lunch offers a variety of nut-free and allergy-friendly options for your children

If you have any questions regarding the program, please contact Mary Calvano at mcalvano@craigschool.org.

CALENDARS

ATTENDANCE  

Drop Off

Please schedule student arrival no earlier than 8:00 am. Classes begin at 8:20 am.

All absences and late arrivals should be reported to our main office.  Please send an email to Kimberly McGroarty kmcgroarty@craigschool.org OR call our Main Line (973-334-1234 x 101) before 7:30 a.m.