Students, parents get ready for school year
More than 200 people filled the cafeteria Thursday night for Pine Island Elementary School’s Open House.
“The purpose of tonight is to introduce the students and parents to their teachers and to stress the importance of reading and homework in creating life-long learners,” Principal Rob Mazzoli said. “We are also stressing ‘Eagle Values’ of being respectful, being responsible and being safe.
“I’d like to welcome everyone to the 2015-2016 school year,” Mazzoli said. “We are doing things a little different this year – we have a new format. We will have parents sit with us first so we can present ideas about homework and learning while your children wait in their classrooms.”
Each family was given a packet of information containing 14 reasons homework is important, general homework tips, reading homework tips and math homework tips for parents.
“Before I turn this over to the teachers, I want to stress that we couldn’t do this without you the parents,” Mazzoli said. “Research shows a very strong association between parent involvement and your child’s educational success. It’s related to student behavior and when students have support at home they have more self confidence and do better in school.”
The hand-out gave 14 reasons homework is important. Among the reasons: homework improves your child’s thinking and memory, helps develop positive study skills, how to use time wisely, taking responsibility, learn to use resources and sparking your child’s enthusiasm.
Mazzoli stressed the importance of communication between parent and teachers.
“If we don’t know about a problem we can’t address it,” Mazzoli said. “The most efficient way to communicate with us is with email.’
Grades 1st through 5th utilize “Plans.” This “Plan” is a yearly calendar tracking the child’s daily homework. The teacher initials the progress the student is making and it is taken home every night for the parent to initial.
Students require a routine to do homework. Students will need a quiet, well-lit space to do homework. Televisions, computers, radios, should be off. Your child will need the necessary supplies, learn time management and may need some help.
Lee County Schools has a reading program called Accelerated Reader “AR.” The district also provides an online site entitled “AR Home Connect” where every time a student takes an AR test, the results are posted. Parents can log into Home Connect to check on their child’s progress in AR and Math Facts.
“Another valuable tool for parents is ‘Parent-Link,'” Mazzoli said. “Teachers and principals can use ParentLink to communicate important information directly to parents. ParentLink is also used by the district to communicate with parents in the event of a school-wide or district-wide emergency or urgent event. The ParentLink system uses parents contact information at the school. Therefore, please take a few minutes this year to check to make sure your contact information, such as your telephone number and email, is up-to-date.
“This year we have adopted a school-wide value program,” Mazzoli said. “Be respectful, be responsible and be safe. Thank you all for coming.”