RESPECT FOR OTHERS (Tuesday, October 4)

"We have a choice about how we behave, and that means we have the choice to opt for civility and grace"
- David Currie

We often hear about the importance of respecting others.  It is an easy phrase to say.  But what exactly does it mean to respect others?  Today we shared a list of things we can do to show respect for others:

• speak kindly
• take responsibility
• accept and give praise
• pay attention
• accept and give constructive criticism
• assume the best
• listen
• be inclusive
• acknowledge others
• be mindful of others' time and space
• apologize
• don't complain
• acknowledge the opinions of others

Students saw a short video that focused on civility.  The video featured Charles, a homeless man in New York City who explained his philosophy of respect for others.  He explained that "it doesn't cost a penny to be polite," and "there are more ways to be be good than bad."  Two important lessons that we can all learn from. 

The video was about civility and we talked about what that meant.  Unfortunately, today, our students see far less civility throughout their days.  Watch television, listen to politicians, even drive in a car and you will see some of the least civil behaviors you can imagine.

All students completed a writing assignment based on treating others with respect.  They were asked to explain both respectful and disrespectful behaviors here at school.  In addition to this, fifth graders did a role playing activity that focused on showing respect for others in a problem solving situation.  Eighth graders looked at George Washington's transcription of Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation.  These rules, written over 200 years ago, still apply today.  Some were humorous, "# 7, Put not off your clothes in the presence of others, nor go out of your chamber half dressed."  Some were very clear cut, "#1, Every action done in company, ought to be with some sign of respect, to those that are present."  The complete list of 110 rules can be found at:  http://www.history.org/Almanack/life/manners/rules.cfm

As we go forth today let us all show a little more respect for others and remember, in the words of Charles, a very wise man in a very unfortunate situation, respect "comes from inside your heart, not from your pocketbook."

RESPECT FOR YOURSELF (Monday, October 3)

"The worst loneliness is to not be comfortable with yourself."  - Mark Twain

We often talk about self-respect, but have you ever tried to define it?  It isn't easy for adults to do, and even more difficult for adolescents.  Today's focus is "Respect for Yourself."  We hope that our students will gain a greater understanding of what it means to have self-respect.

Our fifth graders will be reading "The Story of Self-Esteem," an article from the Nemours Foundation found on KidsHealth.org.  The article encourages students to focus on their strengths and to be positive about themselves.  Our goal is to help students develop a healthy self-esteem based on true strengths.  Students will also be completing a worksheet about respecting themselves.

Our eighth graders will be reading "How to Develop Respect for Yourself," an article by Tejvan Pettinger. 
The article lists 10 important tenets of developing self-respect:
1.  Be true to yourself
2.  Learn to handle criticism
3.  Look after your appearance, without being a slave to fashion
4.  Avoid Jealousy
5.  Remember your motivation, not results
6.  Respect others
7.  Never hate yourself
8.  Forgive
9.  Be selfless
10.  Don't try to "keep up with the Jones's"
After reading the article, students will be asked to self evaluate and look at their own strengths and weaknesses. 

Week of Respect

This week, the first week of October, has been designated by the NJ State Legislature as the "Week of Respect."  While we pride ourselves on promoting respect all year long, this week provides us with an opportunity to focus on this sometimes elusive character trait. 

Each day this week, we will focus on a different theme of respect:
Monday -          RESPECT FOR YOURSELF
Tuesday -          RESPECT FOR OTHERS
Wednesday -     RESPECT FOR DIFFERENCES
Thursday -         RESPECT FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
Friday -             RESPECT FOR YOUR FUTURE

During the week, students will be participating in activities aligned with the daily theme.  In addition, our school counselor, Danielle Curcio, will be visiting classrooms to deliver lessons on anti-bullying.

The blog will be updated each day to let you know what is happening at Woodglen during the Week of Respect. 

Celebrate Reading

March is focus on reading month at Woodglen School.  March 2nd marked the nation-wide celebration of Dr. Seuss's birthday.  What a great way to kick off a focus on reading.  While middle schoolers often think they are too cool to celebrate reading, we have two big opportunities for our students to get involved with a focus on reading.

First, the Lebanon Township PTA is sponsoring a Read A Thon with the theme, "Books are Treasures."  Students can get pledges for the amount of time and pages they read for a two week period from February 25 through March 11.  Money raised will go toward cultural arts and literacy-based programs at Woodglen and Valley View Schools.  In order to get Woodglen students excited about reading, the PTA is sponsoring several events including an Ice Cream Social, a Locker Lottery, and Hat and Pajama days.  In addition, they are encouraging students to share their favorite books which may find their way into the school's library.  Information about the Read A Thon was sent home with students and is available on the PTA website.

The other opportunity for Woodglen Readers is sponsored by the Somerset Patriots and runs through the month of March.  Students who complete six books during the month will received one ticket to a Patriots game, while students who read 12 books receive two tickets.  Information about this opportunity is available at Woodglen School.  Completed paperwork for the Patriots reading challenge must be submitted to Ms. Spann by Friday, April 8.

In addition to providing incentives for reading, we also take time during March to recognize those students who demonstrate a true passion for reading throughout the year.  92 Woodglen students were nominated by their teachers as "Enthusiastic Readers."  These students, nominated as part of a county-wide program met the following criteria:

• exhibit an enthusiasm for reading and sharing books
• use books for a variety of purposes
• read independently on a volunteer basis
• use school and/or public libraries
• select books at an appropriate interest level

Those students who were nominated were eligible for recognition at the county level.  Sixth grader, Nicolas Wittkop was Woodglen's representative on the county level.  Locally, these students will be recognized at an in-school celebration.  Ms. Spann does an excellent job of coordinating the "Enthusiastic Readers" program for our school as well as promoting a true love of reading.

So, now you know what is available to provide some motivation for reading and what is happening to recognize those who already read.  What, though, can you do if your child has no interest in reading?  First of all, that is not an uncommon predicament, particularly at the middle school level.  I can totally understand that because I was one of those kids who did not want to read.  While some students don't want to read because they struggle with it, that wasn't the case with me.  I just had no desire.  I'd rather be out playing ball, or cops and robbers (yes, I know I just dated myself), or riding my bike or watching a ball game than read anything.  More importantly, I really didn't like what people wanted me to read.  There was so much focus put on reading the books that you had to read for school.  I usually did that, although, in high school I tried hard to avoid even the required reading.  What was missing form me, though, was the encouragement to find something that I liked to read, regardless of what it was.  From my own experience as a young person who hated to read, an educator and a parent I have found a couple of things that can make reading a positive experience, one that will spur enthusiasm in even the most reluctant reader.  First, pleasure reading does not have to be at a particular reading level.  Teaching reading should be done in school and REINFORCED at home.  Save the difficult reading for school.  If your 8th grader wants to read a book geared more toward a fifth grader let him.  Reading fluency is kind of cyclical, students who don't read fluently usually don't like to read but the way to improve fluency is by reading more frequently.  Letting your child read something "easy" is a good thing, if that is what he chooses.  Second, let your child read something that matches her interests.  If she wants to read a magazine, let her.  It doesn't matter whether it is Sports Illustrated, Cat Fancy, or Girls Life - if they want to read it, let them.  One of the allures of magazines is the fact that most articles are relatively short, which allows them to be finished relatively quickly.  Your child will gain confidence as she finishes what she starts.  I know from my own experience there is nothing more frustrating than having a book drag on for months because I don't have the time to sit down and read two, three or four hundred pages at one time.  Somewhat related to "finishing what you started," if you want to encourage your child to read for pleasure, allow him to stop reading something when he doesn't like it.  If, after a chapter or so, your child doesn't enjoy the book for any reason, don't force him to finish it - that will only foster an attitude of reading as a burden.  Finally, model the behavior you would like to see in your child.  If you are reading and your child sees that, she will likely read as well.  If possible, read what they are reading and discuss it, this is far better than "quizzing" them on the book they are reading, which will likely turn them off.

There are so many more strategies for ways to develop a love of reading in your child.  If you would like some help in this area, please don't hesitate to talk to your child's language arts teacher or our librarian, Kate Spann.  You can also check out the following links:

The American Library Association - Tips to Encourage Reading

Woodglen School Library Reading Lists

While we continue to see technology changing the way we live, reading (and writing) still remain vital.  We may have Kindles instead of books, we may do research online instead of in the library and we may consult blogs instead of newsletters, but, we still need to read - a screen instead of a page - but reading nonetheless.

As I close, I will leave you with a few statistics I found on reading and the importance of reading:

• In 1999, only 53 percent of children age 3 to 5 were read to by a family member.  (National Center for Education Statistics, Family Reading)
• 85% of juvenile offenders have problems reading.  (National Center for Adult Literacy)
• 50% of American Adults are unable to read an eighth grade level book. (Jonathan Kozol, Illiterate America)

Help us celebrate reading this month.  You and your child will be glad you did.

The Bees

So, it's that time of year, again, when we recognize some of Woodglen's best and brightest.  Each year, our school participates in two national academic competitions - The National Geographic Geography Bee and the Scripps National Spelling Bee.  You probably haven't seen the geography bee on television, but I'm sure you've seen the Scripps Bee either on television or in the movies.  What you may not have known, however, is that both of these competitions begin at the local level in school-wide "bees" throughout the United States.

This year, we are proud to announce that eighth grader, Brett Dufford was the winner of the Woodglen Geography Bee.  The runner-up was sixth grader, Carsten Janes.  Winning the local bee is not easy.  The questions deal with both United States and world geography.  Students are expected to know about landforms, boundary lines, natural resources, goods produced and culture. 

We are also proud to announce that seventh grader, Josh Myers was the winner of the Woodglen Spelling Bee.  The runner-up was eighth grader, Eric Pecina.  While most of us don't remember what we did before "spell check,"  these young people demonstrated the ability to spell some common and many not-so-common words.

Want to win the geography bee?  You'd better know the European country where regional dialects Catalan, Valencian and Galician are spoken (Spain).  You should know which east African country was subject to water rationing due to the rapid growth of Nairobi (Kenya).  You might want to know the state where you would find Davenport, a railroad and commercial center across the Mississippi River from Rock Island, Illinois (Iowa).

Have hopes of being the next Akeelah, of Akeelah and the Bee fame?  You should brush up on your words of Latin origin like obsequious (exhibiting fawning attentiveness) and triumvirate (a group or association of three), your words of German origin like kuchen (a variety of coffee cakes made of sweet yeast dough) and inselberg (an isolated mountain) and your words of Italian origin like adagio (a slow tempo) and fantoccini (a puppet show using puppets operated by strings or mechanical devices). 

Both of our champions will be moving on the the next level.  Brett will take the New Jersey state qualifying exam in hopes of earning a spot in the finals of the state-wide bee, where the winner moves on to Washington, DC.  Josh will be competing in the regional bee, held in Pennsylvania, where he could earn a trip to the national competition in Washington, DC with a victory.

Special thanks goes out to Mrs. Jessica Miller, our sixth grade social studies teacher, for all of her hard work in orgainizing the geography bee and to Mr. James Peralta, enrichment specialist, for his efforts in implementing the spelling bee.
We wish both of these young men the best of luck.  They are already winners and we are already very proud of their accomplishments.

Thanksgiving

I recently spent some time listening to a good friend of mine as he recounted the Thanksgiving and holiday seasons.  His words rang way too true.  I'm paraphrasing, so there are no quotes!

Tomorrow, Thanksgiving day, something truly amazing is going to happen.  There are about 300 million Americans.  Tomorrow, nearly everyone of us, regardless of race, creed or color won't be going to work.  At about 2:00 pm, nearly everyone will spend time giving thanks for the blessings they have.  Most people will eat a good meal.  Most people will be with friends and family.  For about an hour tomorrow, the entire country will pause to give thanks. 

Then, we'll sit on the couch and turn on the television.  We will complain about how long it takes to clean up after such a large meal.  As we watch the traditional Thanksgiving day football game, some, like my friend, will complain about how bad the Cowboys are.  Somewhere around 8 pm, those of us who traveled to a relative's house will embark on the journey home.  We will complain because we had to travel so far to spend time with our in-laws that we don't much like anyway and now have to drive home in the dark when we are already tired.

Friday morning comes quickly because, of course, it is Black Friday and we must be up and out early to take advantage of all the great deals.  Once we get there we will complain because of all the lunatics that got up early enough to be in front of us on the line.  We get into the store and realize that there was only one $25 laptop and only one $50 flat screen television and we complain.  As we continue to search the store, we complain about the fact that you can't buy a decent present for under $100.  Throughout the month of December we complain about the commercialization, the traffic and the stress of the holidays.

The New Year arrives.  We are reminded that we are still too fat, still didn't paint the living room and still haven't read any books.  We complain that we can't follow through on resolutions, probably because we are too busy.

Then, comes maybe the worst day of the entire year, January 22.  An ominous day, indeed.  That is when the MasterCard bill arrives.  As we stare in disbelief at the amount of money we spent, we complain because we can't pay the bill because we don't make enough money at our lousy jobs.  Oh, yeah, and because of that job that doesn't pay enough, we don't have a big enough house, or a nice enough car, or a long enough vacation - complain, complain, complain.  Don't even get us started on putting our kids through college or paying for retirement!

But, alas, there is some hope!  There is only 298 days until Thanksgiving when we will all pause to be thankful for what we have.

This was my friend's story, but I think we can all relate to it.  We live in arguably the most consumeristic  society in the history of humanity.  We have more stuff than any people who have every walked the earth.  The problem is, though, that we are more aware of what we don't have than we we do.  If we have a cell phone, we want a smart phone.  If we have a 40" flat screen TV, we want a 50".  If we drive a Ford, we want a Lexus.  You get the idea.  We spend 364 days a year complaining about what we don't have and forget to focus on what we do have.

I have been privileged to have had the opportunity to travel to Guatemala City for the past three years to work with people who live and work in and on a garbage dump.  These people have nothing.  When you ask them what they want, they say food, water, a roof over their heads.  Those who do well scavenging through the garbage dump earn about $2 per day.  Those who have food often eat once a day and sometimes eat what they find in the trash.  Those who have water at all get it only for a couple of hours a day and cannot drink it safely.  Those who have shelter live in "houses" that aren't as nice as many of our tool sheds.   Ask me what I want.  I want an iPad, I want a new kitchen, I want a shed to put my lawnmower and snow blower in.  I have so much stuff that I can't even fit it into my house and I still want more.  But, what do I do, complain about what I don't have.

This week on the school sign I have been posting facts dealing with the struggles of people around the world, which includes people of the United States. 

1.4 billion people do not have clean drinking water.
6 million children under the age of five die each year because of malnutrition.
3 billion people live on $2 a day or less. 
80% of the world, nearly 5 1/2 billion people, live on $10 a day or less.

There's more:
2.6 billion people do not have sanitary waste facilities - flushing toilets
1 billion people do not have enough to eat

In America:
45 million Americans live below the poverty line ($16,000 a year for a family of four )
1 out of every 5 children in America lives in poverty
40 million Americans live in households that did not have an adequate supply of food

And I complain because my Internet service isn't fast enough, or that I have to wait in line at the grocery store. 

When things are bad, we complain.  When things are good, we complain because they're never good enough.  As we all prepare for a nice four day weekend - of course, it would be better if it were longer - I would urge everyone to give thanks for everything.  Times are certainly tough.  Economically and personally, we are all battling to deal with great challenges.  We've had to deal with the loss of "things".  We've had to deal with the loss of jobs.  We've had to deal with the loss of loved ones.  In all things, though, there is an opportunity to be thankful. 

When the turkey is finished, the pumpkin pie has been eaten, the dishes have been cleaned and the button on your pants has been undone, take some time to continue to be thankful.  If you have a job, be thankful - there are many people without one right now.  If you are sitting in your warm house watching television, be thankful - there are many people living on the streets.  If you eat a good meal, be thankful - many people go hungry every day.  If you get a glass of water from the tap, be thankful - a good portion of people in the world could only dream of doing that.  If you lose someone close to you, be thankful - thankful that you got to spend time with them at all.

If we as adults can do all of this, we can teach our children more than they can every learn in a book or a classroom.  Our kids live in a world where all they seem to notice is what everyone else has and does.  They focus so much on what they don't have that they fail to appreciate what they do have.  By being good role models each and every day, we can teach them to be optimistic, hopeful, thankful for everything they have, and thankful that they live in a country and community that is filled with opportunities.

Happy Thanksgiving - tomorrow and for the next 364 days!

Thank You, Veterans

Today the students at Woodglen School joined all Americans as we celebrate Veteran's Day.  First known as Armistice Day, a day to commemorate the end of World War I and honored those who served in that war, the day was changed in 1954 to Veteran's Day to honor all American Veterans.

Today, we honor veterans, past and present, celebrating and honoring them for their patriotism, love of country, and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good.

Woodglen School's own Mr. George Perasso, a United States Marine, is among the many who have served our nation with honor and valor.  We thank him and all the other brave men and women who served and continue to serve.  They serve for you and me.

Take a moment to watch this video:   "I Fought For You"