From the Principal's Pen
May 27, 2022
REMEMBER AND HONOR OUR HEROES
FIELD DAY 2022
Parent Engagement Goals at Julian Curtiss
Dear Parents,
We want to remind you of all the work we have done to help make you partners in learning the last few years.
Decades of research outline a clear need for parental engagement in a child’s education. When families are engaged in school, their children are more likely to succeed. Many studies support the importance of partnerships among families, schools, and the broader community. Educators play an important role in making family-school partnerships work. When schools elevate families as true partners and the experts that they are, our students benefit significantly.
The work of creating Families As Partners In Learning has been an ongoing effort at JC that includes continued practice and learning for existing families and teachers, as well as for those who come as new members of the Julian Curtiss school community. Our school community has anchored ourselves with the knowledge that family engagement begins with building trusting relationships and then nurturing those relationships with timely communication in various forms that includes information on the daily practices, guidance on current learning both in school and at home, and clear and accurate information on performance and achievement.
Practices and resources that were utilized during the 21-22 school year include:
- Welcome Calls
- Parent Pre-Conference Questionnaires
- Second Marking Period Parent-Teacher Conference
- Grade level S'mores
- Principal's Pen
- Big Ideas Math Family Letters prior to each unit explaining the learning targets and success criteria for each lesson as well as providing activities to do at home to support learning.
- Big Ideas Math Final assessments were sent home after each unit with a cover letter addressing individual students’ progress towards mastery with suggestions for continuing learning at home.
WELCOME CALLS
Teachers recognized the opportunity this outreach could provide, and they delivered a high level of commitment to the task. Calls are a highly effective tool to begin building trusting relationships between teachers and families, a cornerstone of family engagement. This will continue in the 2022-2023 school year.
Conferences
Second conferences were very well received by both faculty and families. We are one of the first schools to offer a second conference in the district and we believe this practice will be extended to all 11 elementary schools.
We are proud of the advances in family engagement that were made at Julian Curtiss. The work done - during highly unusual and difficult circumstances - empowered families and helped both teachers and families realize their ability to become partners in supporting learning. New practices are in place that will allow both faculty and families to continue using resources that were put in place over the last three years.
Thank you for partnering with us and please complete the district survey as explained below. You will receive an email next Wednesday with the subject line “Greenwich Public Schools Family Survey” from Dr. Toni Jones via k12insightllc.com.
Sincerely,
Trish McGuire and Matthew Hartigan
District Survey
On Wednesday, all families will be emailed an invitation to voluntarily fill out the annual Greenwich Public Schools Family Survey, with a deadline of Friday, June 17. We encourage participation from all families because we value your confidential feedback. The survey should take approximately 5-10 minutes to complete, and you can skip questions if you don’t have enough information to answer them.
Be on the lookout for an email with the subject line “Greenwich Public Schools Family Survey” from Dr. Toni Jones via k12insightllc.com.
Students in grades 3-12 will also be given a brief 14-question, confidential, in-school survey regarding their school experience. The survey prompts students to reflect on their individual profiles as learners as well as their general experience at their school. Through these questions, we hope to gain a better understanding of our district and individual school culture and progress on academic and social emotional learning goals. But, if you DO NOT wish your child/ren to participate in the student surveys, please complete the online form (English) (Spanish) no later than Wednesday, June 1.
Planning for the 2022-2023 School Year
Dear Parents: Would you kindly take a moment to help us more accurately plan for next school year 2022-2023. Please complete this response below no later than Wednesday, June 1, 2022. This is important for our class lists and staffing for the 2022-2023 school year. Your assistance is appreciated. https://forms.gle/zpwZD3tZkjB161sc7 Truly yours, Trish McGuire Principal
Tidbits from the Library Learning Commons
Friday, June 3: Last day for student book checkout
Monday, June 20: iPad collection begins (except for summer school attendees)
We would encourage you to please start looking for any books from the LLC in your classroom libraries as they have a tendency to sneak in there once in a while. We will be printing out weekly overdue notices in effort to collect books from our students and also, have an accurate inventory of our materials.
Many thanks for your continued support,
Esra, Arlene & Anna
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IMPORTANT DATES
JUNE 1- Parent Social 6 -8 pm
June 10 - First grade to Greenwich Public Library 9:30 -11:00 am
June 17 - Fifth grade Ringing Out 9 AM /Fifth grade party following the ceremony
June 20- Fifth grade Rain Date
Please follow Mrs. McGuire and Mr. Hartigan on Twitter
@JCSPrincipal and @JC_EagleAP
Mrs. Trish McGuire - Principal
Email: trish_mcguire@greenwich.k12.ct.us
Website: www.greenwichschools.org/jcs
Location: 180 East Elm Street, Greenwich, CT, USA
Phone: (203) 869-1896
Twitter: @jcsprincipal