This year's crew of 6th grade students that went to camp at the Sierra Outdoor School may have been our best group ever. The kids were attentive, caring, helpful, and really demonstrated the Golden Bear heart that we want to see from our students. They explored a cave, dug through owl pellets, learned how to use a compass and build a survival shelter, danced, sang, and acted a little, developed an understanding of ecosystems, and worked through team challenges designed to build their perseverance and problem solving capacity.

This camp experience is truly the highlight of the year for our 6th graders, and we're thankful to our teachers and the parent chaperones who took time away from their jobs and homes to help make this something our kids will never forget. Even simple things like the time spent playing volleyball on the blacktop between activities or enjoying our meals together contained moments where our kids really shined. We're proud of how the kids presented themselves at camp, and we know they will hold onto the memories created at the SOS for many years to come.

The task was to get the hoop all the way to the ground with each member of the team touching it with only two fingers the whole time. Seems simple, but that's the trick...without communication and cooperation, even something that straightforward can be tough. The kids mastered it, though, along with a bunch of other mind-bending, demanding activities!

Our first progress reports of the year came home on Friday, and you may be asking yourself, "OK, now what?" Whether your student came home with all A's and B's or maybe something indicating they are having a more difficult time, this early check is an opportunity to examine the direction your student is headed at this point in the year. Here are some tips for where you can go from here, especially if you're seeing them struggle with some new academic challenges:

Communicate and Collaborate with Your Child

1. Listen, Don't Judge: Create a safe, open space for your child to express their feelings and concerns about the report without judgement - if your student is afraid of letting you down, they will have a hard time talking about their areas of concern. 

2. Acknowledge Strengths First: Start the conversation by highlighting what your child did well, showed improvement, or worked diligently on to build a positive foundation. 

3. Address Weaknesses Constructively: Focus on the areas where they struggled, framing it as an opportunity for learning and growth rather than a failure.

4. Set Goals Together: Work with your child to set specific, achievable goals for improvement and develop a plan to reach them.

Partner with the Teacher 

1. Contact the Teacher: If you feel your student is lost or underperforming, schedule a meeting or phone call with your child's teacher to discuss the report and get their perspective on how to support their academic progress. **Pro Tip - don't rely on email conversations with your child's teacher - we (all of us) frequently misread tone or make incorrect inferences in when reading others' written words - talk face to face, through Teams or Zoom, or over the phone to avoid losing understanding that comes from direct human contact.

2. Prepare for the Conversation: Go into the parent-teacher meeting with specific questions and potential solutions to facilitate a productive discussion about how you and the school can work together.

3. Discuss Support Options: Explore options like tutoring, extra help sessions, or adjusted homework routines to help your child overcome academic challenges.

Keep up that positive mindset at home

1. Encourage a Growth Mindset: Teach your child that challenges are a part of learning and that with effort and persistence, they can improve over time. If there's something they struggle with, it's not that they won't ever know it - they just don't have it mastered YET!

2. Establish Routines: Help your child create a consistent study routine at home, including dedicated time for homework and studying. **Another Pro Tip: There is not a teacher at this school who thinks your children should be staying up until 10:00 at night doing homework...at this age, your child should be spending no more than 30 minutes to an hour on homework per night (independent reading is a different thing - that could add another 30 minutes); If your child is struggling getting work done and is losing sleep time because of it, shut it down, email your teacher to let them know your child hit the wall and had to stop, and begin the conversations about how to meet their academic goals without becoming frustrated and sleep deprived. Also, your child needs about 10 hours of sleep per night. It should be lights out, screens off, and head on the pillow by 9:00 p.m. at latest. Students who come to school without having gotten enough sleep are less likely to attend to tasks properly, have difficulty grasping new concepts, and reach the point of frustration much faster than if they are rested and ready to face the day.

3. Focus on Effort: Emphasize that their effort, not just their grades, is important and leads to pride in their work. 

Please be a part of the fun happenings on campus this year! We just had our first snack bar of the year - just one of the many functions of our PTC Board and its committees. Email Mr. Dritz through the link below, and he'll get you hooked up to help!

Last week, we included information in the Growl about how our safety upgrades would soon be in the process of being installed, and Friday those projects began. The Front Office, Library, and Cafeteria had crews scurrying around drilling holes and running cables for the auto-locking features that will be on all unattended doors. Once completed, this system will give us the ability to lock down all of those spaces with the push of a button or keystroke on our computers. We do apologize for the mess and inconvenience that the process created, and it is likely we will be disrupted for a few more days, so we thank you for your patience as we work through this phase of our upgrades. While the mess and the noise were a little difficult to work around, the security we get coming out the other end of all this will be worth the minor inconvenience!

Clovis Unified and City of Clovis police departments have partnered to provide important information to families about e-bike safety and the laws every rider should know before taking to the streets. Click on the button below to view our CUSD Parent Bulletin on this topic.

One of the ways we help students navigate growing up is through our Clovis Support Initiative (CSI) groups. Using a scripted, curriculum-based program, trained staff meet with small groups over the course of several weeks to improve how students communicate and build positive interactions and relationships at school. For more information, please click on the blue button below.

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