Dorn's March Dispatch
Principal's Message- Dr. McCaffrey
I will forever be grateful for Shel Silverstein. He is an author of very clever, funny, poetry. I am also grateful for the Guinness World Book of Records books and for Kindles. Those seem such an odd few things to be grateful for. So why? Because those are the three things that caught my children's attention and caused them to WANT to learn how to read when they were young. You see, even though I read all the time, and my children always saw me reading (in the bleachers at the soccer games, at the red lights, while eating breakfast...), my children were NOT readers when they were young until they found something the actually WANTED to read. For my oldest, it was Shel Silverstein, for my middle child, it was non-fiction books such as the Guiness World Book of Records and my youngest would only read from a Kindle.
Some day, your children will also find the author, content or media device they love and will begin to have a passion for reading (or maybe they already do!). Expose them to lots of types of literature and authors, and they WILL find something they love to read, and then they will read and read and read and get better and better at it. I promise you. Until then, the information below may help.
A long time ago, I read an article in Woman's Day Magazine. It was titled "Growing a Reader". The teaser headline stated " Imagine you could teach your child something right now that would sharpen her listening and conversation skills, activate her imagination and even increase the salary she could earn as an adult. Guess what? You can! That something to teach your child is to LOVE TO READ". Of course I went ahead and read the article. To summarize the article, you need to:
- Be a reading role model yourself. Let your children see you enjoying books, magazines and newspapers.
- Make sure that there is plenty to read. Fill the bookshelves but also keep magazines and newspapers around the house. Keep reading material in the car.
- Limit screen time. This means television and the computer.
- Talk as you read. As you read aloud to your children, ask questions such "I can picture that, can you? or "What do you think will happen next?"
- Try not to be judgemental. Encourage any and all reading. Your goal is not that your child reads the most difficult books, but just that your child loves to read.
- On a different note, we are all getting tired of winter(even though our winter has been fairly mild). Below are some things you can do with your children to fight off those winter blues:
- Take a walk. This is a great way to connect with kids, especially older ones. Older children will open up and talk while younger ones will love to share what they discover (ananthill, a curled up leaf...). I know that it is cold out, but just go around the block.
- Watch a movie. Don't just pop in a DVD, make it an experience. Line up chairs in the family room and pass our popcorn and drinks. Talk about the movie while it is going on. Predict (guess) what is going to happen next. Each week, let a different person in the family pick the movie.
- Have a picnic. Kids love spreading out a blanket and pulling the food out of a basket. Just because it has been so cold lately does not mean that you can not do this on your family room floor.
- Camp out. If it is too cold outside, set up a tent in the family room (or you can use blankets and chairs). Start the fireplace (or burners on the stove) and make s'mores. Tell stories by flashlight. (The other day my husband make s'mores over a candle...no joke).
- Grow something. Plant a bean seed in a paper cup. Let them help you shop in the produce section of the grocery store.
- Be spontaneous. Do something that was not planned. Wake up in the morning and just decide to do something special spur of the moment. Planning every little detail of an activity sometimes gets to be too boring and too routine.
- Pull the car out of the garage and jump rope.
- Create a tradition, the key here is continuity. Maybe the tradition is going out to breakfast on Saturday mornings. It does not matter what the tradition is, so long as children can count on it.
Great Website for Parents:
Do you ever wonder how your child should be reading at the END of the year to be prepared for the next grade level? What about the math and writing skills they need to have to be prepared to move on? The website listed below shows you, through videos of children and teachers, exactly that. It is a very informative website for parents. I encourage you to check it out. https://www.greatschools.org/gk/milestones/
And I mentioned this a few months ago, but it is worth repeating because I love, love, love this App on my phone:
Math App for your Phone
Mommy? Daddy? Read me a word problem. That is probably not a request many parents hear. A new study shows that if a school child's parents replace a bedtime story with a math discussion even one night a week, the child's math skills may improve markedly compared with peers who listen to non-mathematical stories.
Bedtime Math (https://bedtimemath.org/) is a free Math App for your phone. It comes highly recommended! Each day they post a fun new math problem that the entire family will have fun solving/discussing. I suggest you download it and do one problem each night with your child. You even have your choice between Spanish or English (no Arabic or Polish- sorry).
Here is the description they give of it on their website:
Every day, we serve up a quick bite of wacky math just for fun. It's nothing like school. Parents can sign up by email, on our website, and on our free app. Whether it's flamingos, ninjas or pillow forts, kids can see the math in their favorite topics. No logins. No drilling. No scores. It takes only 5 minutes a day, and kid's clamor for it.
I think that you and your child will enjoy it. I had fun exploring the App on my phone, and I don't even have a young child at home anymore!
ARE YOU MOVING? THIS IS WHAT YOU NEED TO DO.
SPRING BREAK!!
HelpfulReminders
- Call the attendance line (708) 598-5743, when you child is absent from school.
- Make sure your child have a lunch or his/her lunch money everyday.
- Check our lost and found for any belongings you child may have lost.
Daylight Savings Time begins on Sunday March 8th at 3:00am,Don't forget to set your clocks to the right time.
End of 3rd Quarter
Pre Kindergarten Screening Registration for the 2020/2021 school year.
Children must have been born between 9/2/2015 and 9/1/17 to participate in this screening.
Pre kindergarten registration for the April screening will be held at Dorn School if you live within the Dorn boundaries. You will need to register at the Sorrick Office for the screening if you live within the Sorrick School boundaries.
Registration hours for Dorn will be 9:30am to 12:00pm and 1:00pm to 3:00pm. You will be registering your child for the SCREENING. This does not ensure that your child will be enrolled in our PreK Program next year. Your child must qualify and be accepted. For more information on our program please check the District 117 website at: www.npd117.net