“It’s not what you do for your children, but what you have taught them to do for themselves, that will make them successful human beings.” – Ann Landers

Dear Carnelian Family,

At Carnelian, the staff and faculty of the school are honored to be an important part of each child’s education.  We want to support you and work hand-in-hand with you to help our children achieve their learning goals; our partnership is of utmost importance.  It is important for parents and students to be informed about the student’s reading level.  This should be considered when we see what books students are reading and how they are doing on their AR comprehension quizzes.  It can be confusing because there are many ways that reading scores are presented.  One score to interpret is the ZPD, which stands for Zone of Proximal Development.  If a student has a ZPD of 3.1-4.7, that could be identified as the range that would provide the optimal reading challenge without frustration.  That range essentially represents books written at the 3rd and 4th grade levels.  You can enter your child’s ZPD in AR Book Finder to find appropriate books that will be beneficial for your child to raise his/her reading comprehension level.  Make it a homework assignment to know what your child’s ZPD is and what his/her reading goal is for the trimester.  The ability to read and comprehend is a critical skill for students to be successful and to grow into lifelong learners.  Our schoolwide reading goal this year is to surpass 100,000,000 words.  As of right now, we are at 14,860,357.  Keep encouraging your child to make a daily habit and routine of reading and taking their quizzes on Accelerated Reader (AR).

I would like to thank all who have joined Carnelian’s PTA this year.  We are currently at 125 memberships.   If you haven’t already, we hope that you take a moment of time to join our PTA.  You can stop by the office to join or click on the following link:  Join Carnelian PTA.  Joining PTA does not mean that you have to attend meetings and/or volunteer.  It simply shows our children that we value education.  Our PTA is working hard to creatively find ways to support our students and families.  

If you would like to have your child lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance during our morning announcements, please send a video recording to cdeegan@alsd.org,  and I will use them as I am able.  It is fun to see our students, and I appreciate those of you who have sent in photos during different spirit days.  Remember, for glimpses of highlights of Carnelian and our students, follow us on Twitter at @CARN_Principal.  The feed is also on our school website at https://www.alsd.k12.ca.us/carnelian.  

Thanks so much for partnering with us and supporting us as we do all that we can to enhance the lives of our students.

Mr. Deegan

Principal