The Hammer Times

Most parents know that the best thing they can do for their child’s literacy and education, in general, is to have them READ and read a lot. Reading every day is the best thing to do for your child when it comes to cognitive growth. You can buy all the learning apps there are, but nothing replaces reading to and with your child and independent, sustained reading. By the time students make it to middle school, reading with a parent seems like a thing of the past, but this continues to be something that we encourage at Brooks County Middle School!

One of our greatest barriers to reading is a lack of reading stamina. In other words, students simply don't have the attention or focus to read for an extended amount of time without getting tired or quitting. As students progress through each grade level, this becomes an even greater issue as students must read more challenging, and often even longer, texts to succeed in their classes.

Maybe you think reading stamina is something teachers are solely responsible for, but the reading foundation is built on the homefront. Teachers work to build on the foundation students bring to school. We highly encourage 20 minutes of reading per day for every student at Brooks County Middle School. When you send your child to read for 20 minutes, we also think it is important that your child sees you reading during this time period!

Many times we hear parents (and even some teachers *gasp*) say they do not enjoy reading, but that just tells us you haven't found the right book just yet! Do you enjoy sewing? Find some crochet books! Are you an avid sports fan? Find a book about your favorite sport! There is something out there for EVERY reader; the first step to developing a love of reading is to ensure you are focused on a topic you actually enjoy!

Reading informational texts in different formats is key to building our students' literacy skills. Working with your middle schooler to examine infographics and explore different formats of facts is an excellent way to provide an alternative to reading paragraph after paragraph of informational text.

Check out this website from the New York Times Learning Network! On this website you will find that students can examine a variety of graphs, from maps, to bar graphs, to scatter plots. It is a great way to have students study, read, and interpret different types of graphs and charts which is a key component of media literacy!

Not sure what to discuss with your student while examining these graphs? No worries - there are discussion prompts with each graph so you don't have to come up with your own questions!

#readMoreBrooks

Mrs. Freeman will host a Parent Input Meeting on Tuesday, March 2nd at 6:00 pm. Please join us to share your input on the GMAS Testing Schedule and the 2021-2022 School Calendar. The meeting will be held in the BCMS gymnasium to allow for social distancing. We look forward to seeing you and getting your input!

Click HERE to access the GMAS End of Grade Study/Resource Guide for your child's grade level.

As you know, we have had some issues this past week with our internet. However, report cards were sent home with students on Thursday and emailed to virtual students on Friday. You can access Infinite Campus from the Explore page on our district website, or students can login to their Clever accounts to view their current grades. If you have concerns, please reach out to your teachers via Class Dojo. #bringTheHammer #aimForSuccess

We love to keep our families in the know! If you have not already downloaded the BC Schools app, wait no more!

Access sports scores, cafeteria menus, news updates, and even emergency notifications, right from your pocket. Download the app on Android: http://bit.ly/2Gh6jxGor iPhone: https://apple.co/2GeQhV1.