Ready Set Go 2019: Week 9
Hello Families,
Welcome again to the Breakthrough Schools community. The first week of school is finished and we are on to the second week. As you begin to settle in to the new school year please remember that if you ever have a question, concern, or want to tell me how things are going I am here. Even if I do not have an answer for you I can usually connect you with the right person. My phone number and email are below. I usually try to share these Ready Set Go communications for the first couple of weeks of the school year and as always if you want me to address a specific topic let me know.
This week’s topic is about helping your scholar settle in to their new school. Starting the school year at a new school can be scary; not knowing what to expect, meeting new people, navigating a new building. Here are some tips to help make the transition for your scholar easier:
- Utilize parent association meetings, open houses, parent-teacher conferences and other events as an opportunity to connect with your child’s teachers, meet other families in your child’s class, and become aware of what is happening at school.
- Encourage your child to participate in sports teams, clubs, or other extracurricular activities. This helps students to feel connected to their school.
- If your child has an Individualized Education Program (IEP), meet with the Special Education team. Discuss your student’s needs and how to make the year productive for your student.
- Meet with teachers early in the school year. Give them a profile of your child’s strengths and where help is needed. Encourage teachers to continue using strategies that have worked for your child in the past, such as writing homework assignments on the board, or assigning your child a “homework buddy”. Make sure you and your child know how to use online resources to track and complete homework assignments.
- Help your student with time management skills. Work together on a schedule for study time, break time, chores, etc. Work out an organizational system with your student.
- Making sure your child gets a handle on how to meet the demands of the new school is critical in the early weeks.
- Stay connected to your child’s school work. Try to teach your student to work more independently while supporting them enough to give them confidence.
- Help your child be their own advocate. Encourage your scholar to discuss problems and solutions with teachers on their own, but be ready to step in and help as needed.
Kareemah
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Kareemah Williams
Parent of Two Breakthrough Alum
Former Board Member of Citizens Academy
Former Board Member of Breakthrough Schools
Current Director of Enrollment & Engagement
Office: (216) 367-5720
Email: kwilliams@breakthroughschools.org
Upcoming Summer Events
Saturday, August 24th - Noon to 8pm
Sunday, August 25th - Noon to 6pm
The 2019 Cleveland Garlic Festival will take place. This year’s festival will continue to bring the most delicious garlic laden food and also: Top Chef Grill Offs, Miss Garlic 2019, Garlic Fries, Mitchell’s Garlic Ice Cream, and the Ohio Cheese Guild Tent!
Sunday, August 25th at 4pm
Enjoy Kombilesa Asé at Tremont Arts in August - Location: Lincoln Park – Consider bringing a blanket, lawn chairs and a picnic. The band offers songs in Spanish, English and Yoruba, as well as a wide range of genres including jazz, hip hop and reggae are featured in an experimental mix with African and classical instruments incorporating technology. The band creates electroacoustic collaborative arrangements of traditional music from African descendant communities in the Americas.
Thursday, August 29th at 4:30pm
Farewell to Summer at the Cleveland Public Library Jefferson Branch - Join us for an outdoor bash to celebrate the end of summer. Snacks and treats, games in the sun.
Reading Ideas for Fun
To Read Together
Goodbye, Friend! Hello, Friend!
 by Cori Doerrfeld
Change and transitions are hard, but Goodbye, Friend! Hello, Friend! demonstrates how, when one experience ends, it opens the door for another to begin. It follows two best friends as they say goodbye to snowmen, and hello to stomping in puddles. They say goodbye to long walks, butterflies, and the sun...and hello to long evening talks, fireflies, and the stars. But the hardest goodbye of all comes when one of the friends has to move away. Feeling alone isn't easy, and sometimes new beginnings take time. But even the hardest days come to an end, and you never know what tomorrow will bring.
Emerging Readers
My Fate According to the Butterfly
by Gail D. Villanueva
When superstitious Sab sees a giant black butterfly, an omen of death, she knows that she's doomed! According to legend, she has one week before her fate catches up with her -- on her 11th birthday. With her time running out, all she wants is to celebrate her birthday with her entire family. But her sister, Ate Nadine, stopped speaking to their father one year ago, and Sab doesn't even know why. So Sab and her best friend Pepper start spying on Nadine and digging into their family's past to determine why, exactly, Nadine won't speak to their father. But Sab's adventures across Manila reveal truths about her family more difficult -- and dangerous -- than she ever anticipated.
Established Readers
Hotel Dare
by Terry Blas, Claudia Aguirre
It’s not your typical family vacation when Olive, and her adopted siblings Darwin and Charlotte find themselves falling into other worlds as they explore Grandma Lupé’s strange hotel. OPEN THE DOOR. ADVENTURE AWAITS.
Get Involved
If you are interested in getting involved at your school specifically, or with me at the citywide level, let me know. We always welcome parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents interested in volunteering and getting involved in several ways. Email me here or call me at 216 367 5720 and ask for Kareemah. I look forward to hearing from you!
Refer Your School!
If you know someone you might want to enroll their child/ren in our schools, please let them know we would love to have them. School may be just starting, but we will keep our doors open to new scholars as we have space!
Please use the link below to refer your school to a friend or family member!
Staff Spotlight
Meet Principal Johnson! While not new to the E Prep & Village Prep Cliffs Campus, Marc Johnson kicks off his first year as E Prep's principal this year.
Mr. Johnson is proud that "Our school is moving the needle with our scholars and getting them to tap into their potentional and really cultivate the talents that are there."
We are so excited to announce Mr. Johnson as our #StaffSpotlight this month!