Mr. Mark Solimo
Superintendent's Message
On behalf of the administration, staff, and Moonachie Board of Education, I am proud to welcome you to the 2007-2008 Robert L. Craig School website. Our goal is to enable educators, students, parents, and community members to share key information about districts activities and especially to showcase Robert L. Craig School achievements.
In recent years, research on student performance has documented the importance of parents, teachers, and administrators developing a common vision for their school. If all of the stakeholders in a school can agree on a common vision, develop a shared philosophy, establish short-and long-term goals, and together monitor the school’s progress toward the goals, the goals are invariably met.
If a school community can come to an overall vision and philosophy, parents, teachers, and administrators can mobilize around that vision. In addition, if a district can align its Pre-K – 8 curriculum, and if a school can agree on a common instructional approach (e.g., core knowledge, multiple intelligences, expeditionary learning, etc.), the entire school can assume a consistent approach from grade to grade and from teacher to teacher. Such school wide consistency has great power to influence positive student achievement. Without consensus in direction, approach, and vision, a school program lacks guidance and goals and too often demonstrates inconsistent, ineffective, and even chaotic educational practices. Shared vision provides focus. It allows goals to be established and potential to be realized. Shared vision has long been recognized as a critical
factor in the success of any organization.
Mission Statement
It is the Mission of the Robert L. Craig School to help its students gain the academic skills and knowledge, intellectual integrity, and individual courage as risk-takers, which will lead to their personal success. We will provide an education, which enables our students to operate as active citizens in America and in its democracy, as well as informed and concerned citizens of the world. This education will be provided in an atmosphere, which is disciplined and fosters respect for others by a dedicated teaching staff and administration who maintain a knowledge of contemporary teaching approaches and strategies.
Vision Statements
1. To provide students with the necessary academic and social/moral skills that will enable them to achieve in the future as a meaningful part of society.
2. To increase social skills i.e. respect for authority, common courtesies such as greeting someone in the hall, picking up papers in the hall, etc.
3. To develop programs focusing on problem solving skills, social-emotional intelligence and character building. To develop recognized programs focusing on reading and writing.
4. To become a community of active lifelong learners in partnership with students and their families.
5. To provide students with more literature-based learning and to expect not accept what will make our children well prepared for high school and beyond.
6. To help students grow and develop into capable, caring, and aware adults who can take their place in their society in a positive, responsible way. They are the future and the leaders of tomorrow. Let us give them the tools and values they will need to fulfill that role.
7. To provide knowledge and understanding regarding the importance of physical activity on health, both now and in the future.
8. To foster student’s self-esteem, respect for self/others, along with awareness of new technologies and changing practices.
9. To provide a coordinated program in math and language from Pre-K to 8th grade in which all teachers communicate with each other as we work towards a common goal of academic excellence.
10. To help students gain the academic skills, knowledge, integrity and courage to become risk takers in order to be successful in an ever changing world.
Shared Values
1. If you cannot learn the way we teach, we had better teach the way he can learn.
2. Alignment of curriculum is as important as anything a district can do to improve learning and student performance.
3. Positive expectations yield positive results.
4. Relationships are the core of successful learning communities.
5. Collaboration must have the goal of improving student achievement if it is to pay off.
6. All children can learn to high standards when there is a supportive environment, when high expectations are held by all stakeholders, and when there is clear accountability on the part of students, staff, families, and the community.
7. To build capacity for continuous improvement, districts must focus on four key strategies: interpreting and using data, building teachers’ knowledge and skills, aligning curriculum and instruction, and targeting interventions for low-performing students or schools.
8. Effective teachers actively engage families in their children’s schooling, make family members aware of their important contributions, and encourage them to feel comfortable in working closely with schools.
9. When parents are actively engaged in their children’s education, those children tend to have higher grades and test scores, better attendance, and complete homework more consistently.
10. A positive, supportive atmosphere contributes directly to a student’s improvement in school attendance, academic achievement, and attitude.
11. For the at-risk student to learn, teachers must make sure that students feel cared for, supported, respected, and challenged.
12. Students live up to or down to the expectations of teachers. Teacher attitudes have an enormous influence on student academic performance and behavior.
13. When students are taught through an aligned curriculum, personalized instruction, and a “can do” attitude from caring teachers, remarkable improvement can occur.
14. Teachers need to do everything possible to help students understand and connect the relevance and importance of classroom learning to their lives.
15. When teachers work together to establish measurable goals, monitor students’ process, and assess instructional effectiveness, remarkable gains in achievement occur.
16. Homework leads to better retention of knowledge, increased understanding, better study habits, better self-discipline, and better time management.
The Language Arts Literacy Program at the Robert L. Craig School promotes students’ capacities to construct meaning in any arena. Students are provided with differentiated instructional strategies to address individual learning styles and diverse student needs; “active learning” in which students are engaged in active questioning, active listening, authentic activities, and the learning process; immersion in reading, writing, listening, speaking, and viewing strands that leads to deeper and wider understanding; and explicit and systematic instruction in phonics and phonemic awareness, fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary development.
The Mathematics Curricula is designed to acquire the skills, understandings, and attitudes students will need to be successful in their careers and daily lives. Students solve real problems, reason effectively, and make logical connections.
Science in Moonachie is not merely a collection of facts and theories, but a way of investigating the world in which we live. The study of science includes the diversity, complexity, and independence of life and earth.
Through the Visual and Performing Arts Program, students develop the capacity to perceive and respond imaginatively to works of arts. The development of sensory activity enables students to perceive and acknowledge various viewpoints. Students observe, describe, analyze, interpret, and evaluate artistic expression and quality in both their own artistic creations and in the work of others.
The Health and Physical Education Program promotes each student’s optimum physical, mental, emotional, and social development. The program is student-centered and utilizes multiple learning theories and models to support and promote health-enhancing behaviors. As a result, students are empowered to develop and demonstrate increasingly sophisticated knowledge, skills, attitudes, and practices.
The Social Studies Program fosters in all students the ability to understand their world and to have an appreciation for the heritage of America with a high degree of literacy in civics, history, economics, and geography. Students acquire a basic understanding and appreciation of American traditions; develop critical thinking skills which enable them to function as lifelong learners; understand world history as the context for United States history; and participate in activities that enhance the common good.
The World Language Program prepares students for the demands of an independent world by teaching world languages for communication, heightening students’ linguistic and cultural awareness of their local, state, and world community, encouraging interdisciplinary and workplace readiness connections that may involve business and community members as mentors and models, and preparing students for using a world language in whatever career choices they make.
The Technology Education Program in Moonachie was developed to ensure the literacy needed by all students to succeed in a highly technological world. Computer and information literacy is integrated and applied in all the content areas of the Core Curriculum Content Standards. Students use technology tools and applications to conduct research, solve problems, improve learning, and produce products and presentations in conjunction with standards in all areas. They also develop, locate, summarize, organize, synthesize, and evaluate information for lifelong learning.
Career Education Program identifies key career development and life skills that students must accomplish in order to achieve continuing success in various life roles related to continuing education, career development and personal growth. Individual, Group, and Crisis Counseling is conducted focusing on family, peer, and academic concerns. Family sessions are held by the school psychologist and school social worker to work on improving the quality of family relationships and resolving behaviors that prevent students from reaching their potential.
Character Education is offered to students in grades 1-8 to foster the development of values, which function as the cornerstone of ethical behavior.
Conflict Resolution is conducted during the lunch period to help students find appropriate ways to diffuse and handle problems between students.
Peer Mediation is offered as an extension of the conflict resolution program where seventh and eight grade students are trained by the school psychologist to mediate disputes between students and help them arrive at mutually beneficial compromises.
Peer Tutoring and Peer Mentoring provide additional support to struggling students in the mainstream setting and assistance to classified students in the special education setting. Seventh and eighth grade students volunteer their time and give up their participation in non-academic subjects, specials, and afternoon activities to work with students on a one-to-one basis.
Common Planning time will continue for the 2007-2008 school year. During daily common planning sessions teachers between 8:10am – 8:45am participate in staff training, curriculum development, articulation meetings, and providing additional assistance to students. The primary goal of common planning time is to develop techniques in order to increase student achievement.
The following are Moonachie School District goals for the 2007-2008:
1. To increase student achievement.
2. To maintain and enhance support services.
3. To assess, modify, and enhance district curriculum.
4. To engage the community to create sharing responsibility for
student and school success.
5. To provide a full continuance of services and programs in the
home school district for educating children with disabilities
in the least restrictive environment.
6. To enhance School District operations.
7. To increase Technological Literacy Skills.
The Robert L. Craig School is a place where everyone is someone special. Our school is organized and designed to enable teachers to teach and students to learn. The efforts of the staff to create a climate for learning at Robert L. Craig are reflected in the accomplishments and achievements of our students.
Our educational goal is to make learning so exciting that students will experience the joy of discovering new ideas and building new skills, thereby developing a love of learning that will create lifelong learners. Student work and projects are proudly displayed throughout the school and students who complete their work on time are reinforced and praised by teachers.
The Moonachie School District is a culturally diverse school district with the primary goal of ensuring all its students are provided the opportunity for an exemplary educational experience and are challenged to a high level of performance. Overall, the Moonachie School District has developed a strong school community, finely attuned to the needs, values, talents, and interests of the students. Enjoy your visit and we encourage you to contact us with your questions and/or need for additional information at (201) 641-5833 Ext. 100.