End of Year Letter
May 21, 2016
By Rachel Falk
Dear Parents,
As we come
to the end of the school year, I want to thank you all for sending us such
amazing students. Glenshire Elementary
School is fortunate to have hard working, fun, focused, safe, respectful,
responsible, and kind students walk in
our doors every morning. Much of the
credit for that goes to you and the care, love, and high expectations they get
from you at home. We all thank you for
your support throughout the year and willingness to work with us as a team to
get the most out of your child.
One thing
we know about our students is that if they do not stay engaged in a few
important things over these long breaks, they will slide backwards in terms of
their learning. Studies show that
students like ours can lose up to 2 weeks of progress for every month they are
away from school. This is a large reason
why we ask so many students to come to one of our summer programs. If your student was not invited or is not
able to attend one of the summer sessions, it is still very important that they
do a couple of things pretty regularly during the summer vacation. First, they need to continue to read. In addition to staying in practice, reading
regularly opens student’s minds up to new ideas. Students should read 20 minutes a day all
summer. Second, they need to continue to
be exposed to mathematical situations.
Simple things like playing board games, helping with dinner, organizing
and categorizing items around the house (sorting all those socks!!), and even
just counting things while you drive are good ways to keep student’s minds
sharp. Finally, students need time to
play with other kids. Children learn a
million little things about how to interact appropriately at school and in the
world simply by playing with other kids.
Plus, it is a whole lot more fun for them than sitting around the house
watching TV!!! If any of them give you
trouble this summer when you try to get them to do any of this, just pull out
this letter and tell them I am encouraging you do it!!! Here are a couple of links to check out
during the summer months: Our wonderful
social-emotional Second Step Program, http://www.secondstep.org/
and all things related to media and technology, and Common Sense Media, https://www.commonsensemedia.org/.
Finally, I
want to remind you quickly that we will be having construction at our school
all summer, thanks to you and Measure U.
It will look like a brand new
school inside when your children return.
Our office will closed during
this time. We will look forward to
seeing all of you for the first day of school on September 1st.
Thank you
again for helping us to have such a successful year at Glenshire
Elementary.
Have a great summer!
Rachel Falk
Glenshire Elementary School Guidance Counselor
