December 4, 2020
Dear Burr Families,
I hope you had a great Thanksgiving break!
This past week, we celebrated diversity at Burr. While an awareness of diversity should never be relegated to just one week, this was still an opportunity for our school to bring diversity more to the forefront of our conversations. The more students are aware of diversity in the world, the more they are prepared (and comfortable) demonstrating qualities such as acceptance and respect. We wanted to make sure too that, conversely, students understand that there is much we have in common with each other - much that binds us together as human beings.
Our focus this past week was on four ways that people are diverse:
1) Diversity in where we come from and what we have. The Suitcase
2) Diversity in how we experience the world. A Friend Like Simon
3) Diversity in how we learn. Tom's Special Talent
4) Diversity in how we look. Lovely
We would encourage you to revisit these texts with your children and/or talk to them about each. Additionally, we watched a powerful short video called Ian. It was a great lead in to discussions about how to treat people that are different from you. You can watch it HERE . Individual classrooms also created a class promise about how to treat people.
We would encourage you to continue the conversation about diversity - to help your children understand and embrace the amazing diversity of the world and how this is something to be celebrated, not feared.
As always, if you have any feedback or questions, don't hesitate to contact me directly at jbluestein@fairfieldschools.org
Be well,
Jason
We are writing at Burr!
Supporting Reading
Reading text (like books, for example) is the practice work that students must do in order to improve as readers. Much like a golfer who practices by hitting golf ball after golf ball or a musician who practices by repeating scales over and over again, readers need to read. At school we teach students skills like sound/letter correspondence, how to break apart and put together words, and how to read in chunks (as opposed to word by word.) The goal, of course, is for them to then take all these skills and practice them with books. It's in books where they accelerate and sharpen their vocabulary knowledge, content knowledge, and ability to make meaning of characters, themes, multiple plot lines, and information. While most parents are not reading teachers, the great news is that you can help us. Here are five quick suggestions:
Make books important in your house. Talk about what you are reading, give books as gifts, read to your children consistently, talk about books at the dinner table, and bring books into your house. A child reading voluntarily on vacation can often give you greater insights into their reading proficiency then a standardized test score.
Support the right book match. If the ultimate goal with reading is to make meaning - to understand , to be entertained, to learn - then students need to read a book within their reach. A second grader reading a book intended for fifth graders (Harry Potter, for example) might be able to decode the words and understand some basic plotlines, but ask yourself (which we do at school), how much are they really getting from the experience? If the answer is not much, I would argue that it's not much of a reading experience. Conversely, students do not read at one book level. If you have gotten information from school that your child is a level L reader, that doesn't mean they can't read a level M or N book. Students typically read within a band of texts, and their ability to comprehend a text can be based on a variety of factors including their background knowledge of the subject matter. So, for example, if they have been to New York City a number of times, they are more likely to be able to read a book with vocabulary like skyscraper, subway, and boulevard.
Embrace books with visuals. Students at the primary level are pretty used to reading picture books and books with strong visual supports. As students get to second grade and older, graphic novels become part of their menu of choices. Like comic books, graphic novels integrate text and visuals to tell a story. They are pretty sophisticated to understand and tell complicated stories. Even seemingly simple books like Diary of a Wimpy Kid have complex characters, problems, and themes. I read my first graphic novel this year and was surprised at how much I enjoyed it (and how challenging it was to read.) Additionally, well written nonfiction texts integrate high level content with maps, diagrams, sidebars, and charts.
Share your own reading life (and/or develop one.) I am constantly walking around with a book in my hand. I believe that many kids need to see the adults in their lives reading in order to adopt reading into their own lives. We send a lot of subliminal messages and assign value as adults by what we do - not what we say. We can talk about the importance of reading all we want. If students don't see us doing it, they are less likely to follow along. So, talk about what you are reading, take a book with you to the dentist's office, visit bookstores (once you feel safe to do so) with your children, and talk about your habits - what is challenging about reading for you, why you read, how you became a reader, etc.
Expose your child to nonfiction text and real world knowledge and experiences. Students with either a strong background knowledge in a specific subject or more general knowledge about the world have stronger vocabularies and more reference points for comprehension when they are exposed to new texts. So, for example a student who has never been on a train or bus will have a more difficult time comprehending a nonfiction piece of text about transportation than someone who has. A student whose parents read them a book or newspaper article about habitats is much more likely to recognize the vocabulary and comprehend a book about deserts or rainforests or a particular country.
Some small tips about helping your child sound out words can be found HERE .
Progress Reports
Progress reports will be released through Infinite Campus on December 18th. As you review your child's grades, I would encourage you to pay close attention to the comments provided by the teacher and the connection between these comments and their grades. If you see an N on your child's progress report, please do not panic. It's an opportunity to learn, and I guarantee you that their teacher will be working hard to support them. There has been a lot written recently about the role of the global pandemic and its influence on student learning at school. While teachers have done an amazing job working with students, things are fundamentally different in many ways (online learning, students in school for a half day, mask wearing), and I think it would be disingenuous to suggest that this hasn't effected student learning in some ways. The good news is this, however. Teachers are working hard to make sure students are learning grade level skills and content. Students are resilient, smart, and driven and are adapting to the way school works during Covid19. Real, deep learning, the kind that sticks and propels students forward is incremental, often non-linear and ultimately process driven. In other words, it happens slowly, day by day. With strong teaching and high expectations, students will be ok over time. One score, one test, one benchmark, one worksheet, or one grade does not (and should not) tell the whole story or define who a student fundamentally is - both as a learner or as a person.
Upcoming Dates
Friday, December 18th - Progress Reports Available in Infinite Campus backpack
Wednesday, December 23 - Early dismissal schedule , students learn remotely for full day
Thursday, December 24- Sunday, January 3 - Winter Break