Dear Parents,

The 2012-2013 school year is about to begin! We would like to take this opportunity to share a few thoughts that we feel will help us work together to ensure the success of your child.

You are the most important person in your child’s life, and you have the ability to motivate, stimulate and help your child succeed.

Two areas of concern to parents each year are discipline and homework. Both of these areas require parents and teachers to remain in close communication.  In middle school, we do not contact you for every infraction of the rules, but rather emphasize that the choices each student makes will bring either positive or negative consequences. We will help your children learn to make appropriate decisions and will support and praise them when they are successful. If a situation arises and we need your support, we will not hesitate to contact you.

To help accomplish our goal of working together, you must be aware of the lines of communication available to you. Halfway through each ten-week marking period, your child will receive a school progress report, which will give you a picture of your child’s academic performance at that point.  The progress report will be mailed home.  At the end of each ten-week period, report cards will be mailed home. If you have concerns, you may call us or email us to discuss what can be done. Our individual email addresses appear at the end of this letter.  Another way to make contact is through your child’s guidance counselor. Whatever the circumstance, show your child you care about his/her academic success by staying in contact with us over any incident you feel may affect your child’s self-esteem or academic success.

(over)

We will do our best to help your child to learn to grow academically, personally and socially. We also would like to make four requests of you. First, we ask you to support our academic efforts by stating to your child that you expect him/her to put forth a quality effort. Second, we need you to impress upon your child the importance of proper behavior and the need to follow the rules of the classroom and the school, and to maintain an excellent attendance record. Third, you must make sure your child completes the assigned homework each night. Finally, please contact us whenever your child experiences a problem or crisis. In adolescence even the slightest problem can interfere with your child’s learning; however, if we are aware, we may be able to provide your child with additional support. An involved parent can provide the boost to a student’s self-esteem that will lead to ever increasing success in school and a more fulfilling adulthood.

We are confident that if we work together, your child will have a great year.

Enjoy the rest of the summer. We look forward to your child’s arrival at Weber and hope to see you at our Open House on Wednesday, September 30, 2009.

Sincerely,

Ms. Tara Donohue  - Math                       tdonohue@portnet.k12.ny.us

Mr. Matthew Holzer  - Social Studies    mholzer@portnet.k12.ny.us

Mr. Jeff Moss – English                             jmoss@portnet.k12.ny.us     

8th Grade Blue Team Supplies

We welcome you back to Weber and look forward to working together as a team.

To help you get off to a good start, here is a list of basic supplies you will need:

4 - Hard cover three-hole loose leaf binder (1”) or 1 large loose leaf binder with a section for each core subject

Floppy (soft-covered) binder (1 ½” – 2”) (for Regents Earth Science students only)

Dividers (15)                                                Blue ballpoint pens

Loose leaf paper                                         Pencils (No. 2)

White-out                                                    Highlighters

Colored pencils/markers                        Eraser (click if possible)

Graph paper notebook with holes          Colored pens

Ruler with inches and centimeters     Index cards

Pencil sharpener                                      One positive attitude!

*** Please be sure to have completed reading one full-length work of fiction before returning to school in September.

Any additional materials will be discussed in class. If you are uncertain regarding above items, please wait until class, rather than purchase the wrong material.

If you are able, please consider picking up an additional supply for a student who is less fortunate.  These supplies may be dropped off in the guidance office in the designated boxes.  We thank you so much for your care and concern of others.

This will be a new and exciting year and we look forward to sharing it with you!