Cambridge Communicator
October 2, 2020
There's always a silver lining...find yours...
Parent Assistance During Classroom Instruction
When your child is engaged in a classroom lesson, it can be difficult to know how to help, or if you should help at all. To gauge whether your assistance is necessary, remember that on a typical school day, parents would not be attending class with their child. Therefore, many of the tasks that may seem like they would require your assistance, are most likely tasks that your child would work through independently if s/he were in school.
Classroom Tasks: No matter the grade level, every teacher, every day, is focused on helping students to grow their independence. Know that the tasks are intentionally planned and developmentally appropriate for students' age and grade level, and should be completed independently. If a child doesn't master the skill perfectly the first time, they will get better with practice. Teachers will reach out if they feel there is a skill that you need to practice with your child, either during or beyond the school day.
Classroom Assessments: We greatly value assessments, as they give us a window into our students academic profile and help us to target instruction to meet individual needs. Once an adult has helped with these tasks, we no longer have a clear picture of what the student knows and what they still need to practice. Please allow your child to work through any assessment independently with no help from you.
Help When:
- Your child is having difficulty logging in or working with the Chromebook
- Your child is having difficulty with transitioning from one link to another
- You notice that your child has walked away from the computer, but you think instruction is still taking place
- Your child is not able to find a learning material that they'll need to use
Do Not Help When:
- Your child is interacting with their teacher or classmates
- Your child is working on an independent task
- Your child is working on an assessment
While Tempting, Resist the Urge to:
- Request that your child be called on if they know the answer or look frustrated
- Sit directly next to your child while they are learning
- Help your child on any academic task or assessment
We are all in this together, and want the best for all of Cambridge's children. If you have concerns, rather than assisting during the school day, please reach out to your child's teacher to ask questions and come up with a plan to jointly support your student(s).
EXACT Path Asessment Results
As you are aware, we are using Exact Path as an assessment tool to address the unfinished learning due to Covid closures. While this tool provides detailed information for classroom teachers, we are not providing individual student score reports. However, during upcoming parent conferences in November, once your child’s teacher has a more accurate academic profile of your child, you will hear more about his/her academic strengths and weaknesses from Exact Path and our district assessments.
Attendance
District Provided Chromebooks
MCFOODS - Donations Needed
Thank you for your continued interest in supporting our work to end hunger in Middlesex County!
Upcoming Drive By Food Drives:
Please consider donating at one of our upcoming food drive events to help us feed our neighbors struggling to make ends meet during these most difficult times. Residents interested in donating can safely contribute by bringing their donation to the event, drive up, pop your trunk and volunteers will remove the donation with no contact. Food insecurity in our community remains at a high level due to the pandemic and we are quickly approaching the holiday season and want to ensure everyone has access to healthy, nutritious foods.
Saturday, October 3rd From 9:00 – 12:00
J&J Food Drive at the MCFOODS Distribution Center
28 Kennedy Boulevard, East Brunswick
around the back of the building under the tent
Saturday, October 17th From 10:00 to 2:00
Monroe Fall Harvest Food Drive
Monroe Township Park & Ride
337 Applegarth Road, Monroe
If you can’t make it to one of these food drive events, donations are always welcome at our Distribution Center Monday through Friday from 6 am to 12 noon (28 Kennedy Boulevard in East Brunswick around the back of the building). The Woodbridge, East Brunswick and Monroe Township public libraries have all resumed accepting donations on our behalf as well. Any time one of these libraries is open you are welcome to stop by and drop off nonperishable foods.
Monetary donations are also gratefully accepted online at https://www.feedingmiddlesexcounty.org/ or by mailing a check to Feeding Middlesex County at PO Box 781, Edison, NJ 08818.
Thank you Cambridge PTO!
100 Mile Summer Challenge
Congratulations to the Students and Staff who participated in the
5th Annual Cambridge School 100 Mile Summer Challenge.
Please help us celebrate their accomplishments by watching the following short Video