5SOS

While doing classroom walk-throughs last week I noticed that one student had written "5SOS" in large highlighted letters on the bottom of her paper. If you have middle school age daughters you are probably familiar with the "code." I was not. I went over to the student and quietly asked if that was a way to let her teacher know she needed help with that homework problem. After an eye roll, the likes of which only a middle school girl can pull off, she politely said, "No, Mr. Tanis, it has nothing to do with homework; that stands for my favorite group, 5 Seconds of Summer." Trying to salvage what little middle school street credit I had left, I said, "Oh, I knew that, I just didn't see the '5.'" I quickly made my way to the next class.

I am sure parents, teachers, and students alike will think of this band's name, though, as word of the start date for the 2016-2017 school year spreads. As you will see in this week's newsletter, our start date for students next year is August 10th. For many, the summer will feel only 5 seconds long. At Christ the King, we are in slightly better shape than others. While many surrounding schools end June 10th this year, we anticipated an earlier 2016-2017 school calendar and were able to adjust this year's calendar to make June 3rd our last day of school. Therefore, rather than a 5 second summer, we will only miss 5 days of summer (71 days last summer vs 66 days this upcoming summer).

Regardless of our thoughts about summer, here are a few thoughts on how an earlier start date can benefit our students:

1) Aligned calendars - While some schools have yet to set calendars for the 16-17 school year, the surrounding county public school systems, Tampa Catholic, and the Academy of the Holy Names have published calendars with August 10th as the start. Calendar alignment helps our families with students in multiple schools plan for child care and important family time over the summer and throughout the school year.

2) Wednesday start date - this provides a natural calendar break to review classroom procedures, communicate expectations, and build a classroom culture these first few days. There is an overwhelming amount of brain research that cites these practices as critical for learning to take place in a classroom. Students must feel safe in order to take risks academically and for learning to occur.

3) Balanced quarters - beginning school on August 10th allows each quarter to be the same length of time, so that quarter grades more consistently reflect student learning throughout the school year. It also provides an equal amount of time each semester for our students to prepare for semester exams and even more instructional time before high school placement tests in November or Iowa Assessments in March.

While there will probably be an adjustment period, the teachers and I feel the calendar shift will benefit our students and families. Although we won't be able to start the school year with a Labor Day Weekend party, we will be able to end it with Memorial Day Weekend.  Here are dates for your planning purposes:

CKS 2016-2017 Preliminary Dates

 

August 10 - First day for Grades 1-8

August 11 - First day for Kindergarten

August 12 - First day for EC4

 

Thanksgiving Break

November 21-25
 

Christmas Break

Dec. 16 (early dismissal) - January 2

 

Classes resume

January 3, 2017

 

Last day of school

May 26

 

**additional dates including Spring Break, etc. to follow soon