Curriculum Night into Day
Dear Families,
Thank you so much for your active participation in this past Tuesday’s Curriculum Night. We hope that you left with a clear sense of how the curriculum that your child will experience this year is structured. We also hope that you will use the evening as a springboard to help you to be an active participant in the curriculum with your child. When questions about the curriculum emerge, seek out your child’s teachers. Take advantage of the blogs, which you can access through the “Digital Classroom” link on the sidebar, and use them as jumping off points for conversations. I have written elsewhere about the way in which we approach curriculum at LREI and those ideas were much on my mind as I left the building on Tuesday evening. As I imagine you were, I was truly impressed by our Middle School teachers and their ability to develop curriculum that is experiential, relational and oriented to action.
While Curriculum Night is an opportunity to look at the big picture, it is also an opportunity to get clarifications about specific procedures and practices. In the fifth grade, there were a number of questions about homework. I include below a letter that I sent to the fifth grade families as I think it’s points are relevant for all grade levels.
Homework:
First and foremost, homework is practice; it is not a quiz or a test. Homework is not generally graded for correctness, but rather for effort and completion. That does not mean it should be done haphazardly or carelessly. It should be done in relation to the expectations established by the teacher. For example, spelling does not need to be perfect, but work should be proofread and errors that are caught corrected. In math, a problem may be done incorrectly, but students are expected to show how they arrived at their answer.
For us, the measure of a successful homework session is not one where everything is done correctly, but one where the work reflects a focused and committed effort on the part of the student. Practice is also a time for risk-taking and a natural consequence of risk-taking is error making; we learn from these mistakes. So errors that are the result of risk-taking are useful for teachers and are an important part of the learning process. Errors that are the result of carelessness or lack of effort point to areas where students may need more support in terms of their study skills.
Homework will often be assigned as part of an on-going project. When this is the case, students are not expected to bring in a completed project when only a component of it is due. In most cases, the assigned homework will be used in class to teach students the next step in the project. So if your child is asked to write an introductory paragraph, she and you should not worry about the body and concluding paragraphs. Her teacher will take her through the rest of the process and the homework completed in the evening will often become the foundation for the class work for the next day.
It is also crucial for us to know where your child is encountering challenges. Without this information, we cannot provide the best support. Your child should know that at some point during the year, he will encounter this kind of challenge; it is a normal part of the learning process; it is perhaps the most important part of the process.
So what can you do to best support your child? Here are a few ideas:
- Make sure that you have read the homework section in the Student and Family Handbook.
- If you are unclear about the particular expectations for homework in a class, first check on the teacher’s blog as this information is often posted there. If it is not on the blog, contact the teacher.
- Each family will need to consider what level of intervention makes sense with regard to student errors and confusions. Some families will leave the identification and correction of any problems to the teacher. Some families will intervene more directly. As a guideline, it is helpful to address these issues by asking questions of your child rather than by telling or doing the work for her.
- Help your child to understand the parameters of the assignment. Help him to budget his time so that assignments that are assigned over multiple days are worked on over multiple days. Extra effort is generally fine if it falls within the assignment parameters; doing more when it falls outside these parameters may not be helpful.
- Your child should work independently on her work, but she should feel comfortable asking you for clarification and you should feel comfortable monitoring her progress.
- Students should be able to complete most nightly assignments in 15-30 minutes. If it is taking substantially longer than this or if the 30 minutes is filled with tears and frustrations, you should intervene and stop the homework session. You can send an email or a note to the teacher or better yet you can help your child to feel comfortable seeking out his teacher first thing the next morning. This will help him to develop important self-advocacy skills that will be important for his on-going development as a learner.
- In those cases where the level of anxiety or frustration is happening with some regularity or if you have specific questions, it is important that you bring your child’s teacher into the conversation. If you feel that this is happening in more than one class, it would make sense to touch base with your child’s advisor who can help you navigate through the problem.
One of our main goals in the middle school is to help students understand who they are as learners. As a result, it is important for students to come to terms with and own their areas of challenge and strength. This will allow them to better identify and use strategies that lead to success. In this way, students will come to see their challenges not as judgments of their worth, but as obstacles that can be overcome. Over time, these strategies will be internalized as habits and students will come to know what they have to do to produce their best work. Again, this is a process and students will work through it at different rates. We acknowledge that this can be frustrating for some students and for some families.
Homework is one medium we use to nurture excellent learning habits in our middle school students; students will over time grow into these habits. While we acknowledge that challenges can emerge because students develop these habits at different rates, students will master these habits as they move through the middle school. In those cases where a student really struggles with a particular learning skill, we will work with the student to develop alternative strategies that will help her to better manage the challenge so that she can produce her best work. It is our job to make this happen and we are most effective in this work when we are able to do it in collaboration with you.
Regards,
Mark
This Week’s Attachments
General:
PA Welcome Fair Flyer
Eighth Grade:
Permission form to leave and reenter the building
DC Trip Registration Form
Seventh Grade:
Permission form to leave and reenter the building
Williamsburg Trip Registration Form
Fifth and Sixth Grade:
Ashokan Trip Registration Form
Of General Interest . . .
1) From Director of Advancement Pippa Gerard: Please see attached invitation to our Building for Action announcement, an essential moment in the future of the school, on September 24th at 6:00PM. We hope you will be able to attend.
2) We hope that you will attend one of the PA Welcome Fairs, which are scheduled for Monday, September 22nd at 6PM at Charlton Street and Wednesday, September 24th at 8AM in the Sixth Avenue Cafeteria.
3) For updates on faculty performances, openings, presentations, and publications visit the Faculty in the News page on the school web site.
4) LREI is a member of NYC-Parents in Action (NYC-PIA). NYC-PIA provides parenting education, information and a communications network to help parents prepare their children and teenagers to cope with social pressures and to make sound choices towards a future free of alcohol and drug abuse. Please read the attached flyer to view their 2008-2009 calendar. You can also access their website at http://www.parentsinaction.org/.
For all grades . . .
1) School Picture Day is coming up! Coffee Pond Photography will be taking individual portraits of each student and each class. Students in grades 7-8 will have pictures their taken on 10/6/08 (in case of inclement weather, pictures will be taken on 10/27). Students in grades 5-6 will have their pictures taken on 10/27. Retakes for students in grades 7-8 will also be taken on 10/27. You will receive proofs in the mail directly from Coffee Pond and can choose which photograph you like best. All orders will be placed online using the Coffee Pond website. To get the best photo of your child, please make sure they are dressed appropriately that day. If you have any questions about ordering, you can email Coffee Pond at lifeguards@coffeepond.com or call 800.635.2323 between 9AM and 5PM on weekdays.
2) Judo Team: A reminder that practices are on Fridays at the Thompson Street Athletic Center and will run from 3:30-5:30PM. There are no try-outs and all MS and HS students are welcome to join. Talk to head coach Larry Kaplan or assistant coaches Frank Portella and Victor Diggs if you need more information.
3) Middle School Chorus and Band—The Little Red Singers (grades 5-8) meets once a week on Tuesdays, 11:30AM-12:30PM. Lower School music teacher Ledell Mulvaney directs the chorus. The Middle school band (sixth-eighth grades) meets on Fridays from 2:15-3:15PM. The fifth grade band will begin practices at the start of the second quarter. Practices will take place during the school day. Additional information will be forthcoming. Middle School music teacher Matt McLean directs the band.
For Seventh and Eighth Grade Families . . .
1) As outlined in the handbook, seventh and eighth graders who want to leave the building after dismissal and then return to use the library or lab must have a signed permission form. Click here to download the form.
For Eighth Grade Families . . .
1) While the trip to DC is not until the spring, please use the attached form to register your child for the trip. If you have questions about payment, please do not hesitate to contact me.
2) For students in math section X, please read the new math unit letter from math teacher Michelle Boehm.
For Seventh Grade Families . . .
1) If you have not done so already, please use the attached form to register your child for the upcoming Williamsburg trip. If you have questions about payment, please do not hesitate to contact me.
2) Please read the new math unit letter from math teacher Michelle Boehm.
For Fifth and Sixth Grade Families . . .
1) Please note that the upcoming trip to Ashokan is scheduled for October 6-8 (not the September dates that appear in the Art Calendar). If you have not done so already, please complete and submit the trip registration and payment form. If you have questions about payment, please do not hesitate to contact me. Given that on the evening of the 8th some of you will be celebrating Yom Kippur, the trip is structured so that students will be back by 3:30PM.
2) Practice for the Middle School Intramural Soccer Program for fifth and sixth graders is on Monday and Wednesday mornings at 7:00AM at J.J. Walker Field on Carmine Street just west of Hudson. Students are walked back to the school building after the practice. Click here for the permission form (you do not need to complete the travel page), which should be brought to the first practice. I also encourage you to read the Sports Information Packet; it contains useful information about the philosophy and expectations of our athletic program.
For Sixth Grade Families . . .
1) On Thursday, October 2nd, sixth graders will participate in our annual Downtown Independent Schools Committee (DISC) Field Day at Pier 40. Sixth graders from LREI will participate in a variety of games and athletic events with students from Village Community School, Grace Church School, Friends, City and Country, and St. Luke’s School. The students will leave at 10:30AM and have a picnic lunch at Pier 40 at 11:00AM. The field day activities will begin at 11:30PM and will finish around 1:30PM. We should return to the Sixth Avenue building by about 2:00PM. We expect all sixth graders to participate in this event. In preparation for this event, students should dress appropriately for the weather. A jacket or sweatshirt will be important. Sneakers, hats, water bottles, sunglasses, etc. are recommended. Students will need to bring a lunch on this day (no nuts, seeds, and glass bottles). This is an exciting day for sixth graders. Please do not hesitate to call me if you have any questions.
2) On Tuesday, October14th, the sixth grade will visit the Cloisters to view their Medieval collection. Students will need to bring a lunch on this day (no nuts, seeds, and glass bottles).
For Fifth Grade Families . . .
1) On Thursday, November 13th, the fifth grade will visit the Met to view their Ancient Near East collection. Students will need to bring a lunch on this day (no nuts, seeds, and glass bottles).
===============For additional information, follow these links: ===============
- View important middle school dates here.
- View all events with the LREI On-line Calendar
- LREI Athletics. For general LREI Athletics news go to this link . This page will provide general announcements, game summaries, league standings and season recaps.
- Click here to view the Middle School Photo Gallery.
A reminder that the individual homework blog and the “feeds” for every class can be accessed from the Digital Classroom link on the sidebar (you may want to bookmark this page for easy access). These feeds provide an easy “one-click” solution to find out what has been assigned for homework. Keep in mind that a feed will only show what has been posted as of the time you check it.
Don’t forget to check the LREI website for updates and other interesting school-related information.
Be well,
Mark