Middlesex Lion News
Published on Feb 23, 2018 15:01

Hello Middlesex Families,

5 Easy Tips- How You Can Help Foster a Growth Mindset at Home from Oxford Learning by Kate Winn:

1. Pay attention and verbally praise kids for skills that don’t sound predetermined: hard work, persistence, rising to a challenge, learning from a mistake, etc., rather than being “smart”, “brilliant” or “gifted”.Recently my girls brought me a song they had recorded together, and said they had to do it 10 times to get it right. I made sure to tell them I was just as proud of their persistence as I would have been if the song had been perfect the first time.
2. Be a growth mindset role model. Be honest: how often do you say “I can’t (cook/sing/balance my bank account)” or “I’m terrible at (sports/spelling/public speaking)” as if there’s no hope for you? Make sure you’re sending the right message – maybe even take on something new! (Relax, it doesn’t have to be cooking. Sorry, just thinking out loud.) My students and daughters all know that I expect them to finish any sentence about something they are currently unable to do with the word “yet”!
3. Encourage your child to forget taking the easy route (where little learning is done) and instead embrace challenges. A sheet full of questions he already knows the answers to won’t “grow the brain” like one deeper problem to solve (even if he doesn’t get the correct answer).
4. Remember growth mindset isn’t just academic; it applies to many areas of life (athletic, musical, social). Having trouble getting the basketball into the net? Keep making mistakes on a guitar chord? Tried to initiate play with someone but it didn’t go well? Discuss the next step for improvement.
5. Discourage envy of peers, and talk to your child about what he or she can learn from others who appear more successful. While skills may come more easily to some, most often there’s a (possibly unseen) element of practice, persistence, and hard work which leads to achievement. 
Embracing a growth mindset isn’t always easy, but can have a huge impact on your child…and perhaps on you, too!

 READ ACROSS AMERICA WEEK: 
Read Across America Week will be taking place at Middlesex from February 26th - March 2nd. Read Across America focuses the country's attention on how important it is to encourage children to read. Since NEA launched the event in 1997, more than a million Americans have participated each year in events across the country celebrating Dr. Seuss and his unique style of writing.

Some of the ways in which Middlesex is celebrating reading and community is by using our theme of Superheroes and becoming reading superheroes! 

• 1. We are fortunate enough to have local super heroes from the community coming into read to our classes.
• 2. Students are creating Puppet Pal Reader’s Theaters with their grade level buddies to celebrate reading in the form of a “film festival” one day during the week.
• 3. We have special secret morning readers sharing pieces of their favorite children’s literature on the morning announcements.
• 4. Teachers will showcase book covers of their favorite youth books throughout the hallways.
• 5. Students will be receiving special reading surprises to share a love for reading with everyone at home!

Our themed days for the week are:

Monday,2/26 - Super Hero Day: Wear your Middlesex Super Hero shirt or dress up as your favorite super hero (no masks please)!  Remember that there are many local heroes we can dress up as too!

Tuesday,2/27 - Favorite Character Day: Spend your Tuesday dressed as your favorite story book character!  All students will be given a “Hi, my name is” nametag to wear around school with their favorite character on it as well!

Wednesday, 2/28 - Wacky for Words Wednesday: Wear your wackiest outfit and be on the lookout for new vocabulary words posted around the school!

Thursday, 3/1- Hats off to Reading!: Wear your favorite hat to school!

Friday, 3/2 – Green Eggs and Ham Day: Wear as much green to school as you can!

Try Out These Special Reading Activities at Home:
If you do these, or any other special reading activity at home, send us a photo and we will tweet it!

Skype Night: Skype or FaceTime with a family member and read a book aloud to them!

Read to a Pet/Stuffed Friend: Sit down with a pet or a stuffed friend and read aloud!

Silent Reading Fort: Build a silent reading pillow fort and read to yourself in it!

Draw a picture of what you read!

Act it out!: Read a book as a family and then act it out together!

Fluency Photo Friday: Take a selfie of you reading as a family and email it to Mrs. Remm ([email protected]).

JUMP ROPE FOR HEART: Stay tuned...grand total revealed next week!

EAGLE FOUNDATION ENRICHMENT CAMP SCHEDULE:
For those that want to get your summer schedule in order early, mark down a couple dates on your calendar.
Feb. 27th - the 2018 camp schedule will be posted online
Mar. 6th - registration opens for students residing in the CV District (6:00 a.m.!)
Mar. 13th - registration opens for students living outside of the CV District

Camp scholarships are available to those who can demonstrate financial need. Letters of request can be directed to [email protected]. Please use CAMP SCHOLARSHIP REQUEST as the subject of your email and include the following in your letter: child's full name/CV school they attend, parent name, your request for financial assistance and list any aid you may be receiving now.  Scholarship email request should be sent no later than February 28th.  Camp web page, www.cvschools.org/EFcamps

CONFERENCE FORMS:
Please look for a sign up document to be sent by your child's teacher for conference night. Our conference night at Middlesex will be March 1st from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m.

2018-19 Middlesex Elementary Kindergarten Registration:

UPCOMING EVENTS: