Happy Holidays!

 Wishing you and your family a Happy Holiday Season and all the best in 2013!!

  New York State is one of five states that are adding 300 hours of learning time to the calendar for some schools next year. The other states participating are Colorado, Connecticut , Massachusetts and Tennessee. The three year pilot program is intended to boost student achievement. The decision to add more time to the current school day or extend the school year will be made at the local levels of the schools participating.
  As I read through the information about this initiative I thought about a book that I read to children each year here at Hamagrael Elementary titled  " A Fine, Fine School "  by Sharon Creech. The elementary school principal in the book, Mr. Keene, loved his school and thought that since he loved school so much and had a wonderful staff and group of students that they should have school every day all year long, summers included. The students and staff didn't want to let down Mr. Keene so they went along with his plan until one day a girl named Tille went to see Mr. Keene and explained that learning just doesn't take place in school. You can learn while on a family walk, playing with siblings, playing games with neighborhood kids, or just reading under a tree. In the end, Mr. Keene realized that we all learn in many different ways and saw the importance of having breaks from  the regular school day and school was returned to normal once again and the children continued to learn.
  As a principal and father of three I see how hard the children work here and also the amount of time my own spend on assignments  outside of school. I think that maybe we are pushing kids too hard now . They should take time to be kids  and enjoy this time of their life as it truly goes by way too quickly.  It is my hope that the individuals who are placing this mandate on our schools take the time to read Sharon Creech's book, they may find it interesting.

  My favorite graduate class was one on school building leadership. The professor reminded us throughout the semester the importance of motivating students and staff to enjoy what they are doing each and every day that they come into the school building. He often shared with us some quotes from Zig Ziglar who passed away yesterday. I have  a book of his quotes that I look through from time to time to remind me the importance of having a positive attitude towards life and to treat others as you would like to be treated. When situations arise with kids at school my first thought is " how would I like my child treated in this situation".
  Yesterday Forbes magazine shared their top 10 quotes from Zig Ziglar- here they are:


10) Remember that failure is an event, not a person.

9) You will get all you want in life, if you help enough people get what they want.

8) People often say that motivation doesn't last. Neither does bathing, that is why it is recommended daily.

7 ) There has never been a statue erected to honor a critic.

6) People don't buy for logical reasons. They buy for emotional reasons.

5) Expect the best. Prepare for the worst. Capitalize on what comes.

4) If you go looking for a friend, you are going to find them scarce. If you go out to be a friend, you will find them everywhere.

3) A goal properly set is halfway reached.

2) Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude.

1)   If you can dream it, you can achieve it.

Parent-Teacher Conferences

 This is the time of the year where we hold our parent-teacher conferences for the first marking period.  I have been involved in parent -teacher conferences for 25 years as a teacher, administrator and parent.     It is important to know that everyone involved in the conferences wants the best for everyone involved and the number one priority is the student. The goal of the conference is to discuss how the year is going and the progress that has been made to date both academically and socially.  The best conference that I have been involved as  parent was  when my child's teacher sent home a list of questions to ask our son prior to the conference.  We discussed  how he felt the year was  going and if there were any questions for the teacher. He felt a part of the process and when it was over my wife and I talked with him about the conference , what was discussed , what he was doing very well in and what we could work on together.    This is the type of home/ school partnership that can lead to a productive, positive year for the child, parents and teacher.
  Have a wonderful weekend

American Education Week

 During the week of November 12-16 we will celebrate American Education Week. This is a time to celebrate the may wonderful things that go on in our public schools each and every day.  It has been a difficult time for public schools here in New York State as our teachers and administrators have had to implement a new evaluation system which emphasizes the  test scores of students to judge how we are performing as well as cutting funding to important programs like art, music and physical education .  As a building principal I see every week as "American Education Week" . When I visit classrooms I see children being challenged to reach their potential and teachers who really enjoy working with them.    This week alone our students participated in a "Mock Election", created a "Wall of Honor" to recognize our Veterans' for their service to our country and participated in a character education assembly dedicated to the theme, Thankfulness. It is too bad that things like this aren't given the same type of emphasis on teacher evaluations than one three hour test does in the spring.

 Here are some pictures of our wonderful week here at Hamagrael.

Hurricane Sandy

This week my home state of New Jersey and our own New York State has been devastated by Hurricane Sandy. It has been a rough week for many as they have lost so much and they have a long road of recovery ahead of them. At a concert on Wednesday night in Rochester New York Bruce Springsteen spoke passionately about his home state and adopted hometown of Asbury Park, I would like to share this with you.

October Happenings at Hamagrael

October is a month filled with a variety of fun activities for our students here at Hamagrael. I would like to share a few of these special moments with you.

Photo slideshow made with Smilebox

Dedication/Parent Support

  This year our school began an initiative titled "Response to Intervention" or RTI. This is a practice that provides high quality instruction and intervention matched to the needs of our students. The process seeks to close the achievement gap for all students. Our staff uses data to identify students who may be at risk, monitor progress and provide appropriate interventions to increase student learning. With this it is our goal to meet the individual needs of each student who enters our building.  I found a video which I would like to share with you about RTI:

Larry "K"

  My father is a former Superintendent of Schools  of the Oakland Public School System in New Jersey.  My dad was known around town as  Larry " K"  and he never seemed to waiver from the understanding that his constituency was the kids in his school system.  .  He is someone who I look to for advice frequently and always enjoy talking with him about my position and what is happening in the world of education.  Recently he shared with me  a letter that he wrote- " Life is a Journey, Not a Race". As I have been spending a lot of time with our staff working on our Student Learning Objectives, tests and more tests as usual my dad helped put everything back in perspective for me and what my focus should remain on in my role as a building principal.

 "  Children are consistently placed under undue stress and accountability . We have taken the joy out of learning and replaced it with rote instruction practices. The tyranny of testing has become so intense that teachers may find themselves spending more than half of the school year teaching specifically for test results. Teachers realize their performance evaluation and the status of the school are based on placing numerical numbers on the foreheads of students. Many excellent teachers have left the classroom rather than to conform to robot teaching styles. If you recall, the teachers that remember the most are those who instilled a love of learning and enriched your learning styles. They were inspirational ,  challenging and brought joy and excitement to their lessons.
   We need to remember that life is a journey not a race. In schools we have reduced the amount of recess time, cut back time for physical education and fitness, cut back on art and music and added excessive amount of homework. This is being done even when we see more obese children and lack of physical fitness. There was a time when recess was a time for communication skills to be enhanced by students. You learned to accept other children and to learn how to play a variety of games. Many friendships and social skills were forged at recess and lunch play period.
  Childhood should be a magical time for kids. It is a time to explore, dream, imagine, pretend, make new friends and enjoy learning"

   Thanks for the reminder dad! I will continue to fight the good fight and help make each and every day a positive one here in my school, Hamagrael Elementary, for children, staff and our school community.



   Here are some pictures from our first Character Education Assembly of the school year . The theme of the month is " Responsibility"

Welcome!

 Welcome to my blog. I will use this as a way to communicate with our school community about upcoming events here at Hamagrael Elementary School and educational news. Please look for my weekly updates throughout the 2012-13 school year each Friday.
  There has been a lot of discussion about the new Common Core and what it means for our students and staff. Here is a website that you might find useful about the Common Core.

EngageNY

Parent's Guide to the Common Core

  
Have a wonderful, long weekend.