Principal's Message
Welcome to Bryant School
The Mission Statement:
Bryant School is the place where we prepare children to become students and students to become scholars.
Classes at Bryant
Bryant School, may serve about 400 students from grades Pre-K-3H to Pre-K-4H and Kindergarten. As in all of Teaneck’s schools, Bryant's classes are balanced according to gender, race or ethnicity, and academic ability. Bryant school hours are from 8:30am to 2:20pm. Regular half day classes for Pre- K-3 and 4 are from 8:30am to 11:00am and 11:50am to 2:20pm. In addition, some morning only half-days are scheduled for the entire school or district and these half days end at 12:30pm for everyone.
Curriculum
For school year 2012-2013, we will be using the Balanced Literacy curriculum for Kindergarten students and the Tools of the Mind Curriculum in all Pre-K-3 and Pre-K-4 classrooms. The curriculum encompasses the basic concepts of Reading , Writing, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies, based on the Common Core Standards. In order to appropriately serve a population that is diverse, with a wide range of abilities and developmental stages, we deliver instruction of these concepts through differentiated instruction.
Assessments
PRE -SCHOOL BASIC SKILLS ASSESSMENT / LETTER IDENTIFICATION / LETTER-SOUND IDENTIFICATION/HEARING AND RECORDING SOUND/ SIGHT WORDS/WRITING SAMPLES/ BOEHM TEST OF BASIC CONCEPTS /DEVELOPMENTAL READING ASSESSMENT(DRA2) and “ GO MATH “INVENTORIES are assessments used at Bryant School. Since assessment informs instruction, development of lesson plans is data-driven by close and continuous monitoring of student performance. .At the early childhood levels, various stages of these assessments are administered based on the unique developmental readiness of each child as he/she develops throughout the school year.
Kindergarten Achievement
At the end of school year 2011-2012, a review of student performance on the DRA2 revealed that eighty five (85%) of kindergarten students achieved the district benchmark of Level 3 and above to enter First Grade classes.
CONFERENCES AND REPORT CARD DISTRIBUTION DATES
For Grades Pre-K -3H, Pre-K -4H, K and Pre-First.
- Conferences on November 27, 2012
- Report Card on distributed on November 29, 2012
- Report Card distributed on February 8, 2013
- Conferences on March 19, 2013
- Marking period ends on June 14, 2013
- Final Report Cards distributed on June 21, 2013
Highlights of the Tools of the Mind Curriculum:
(A) The central focus of Tools of the Mind is the development of both cognitive and social- emotional skills with self-regulation, at the same time that academic skills are taught. It is the only one of the five state-recommended curricula that incorporates self-regulation as an integral component of its structure.
(B) “When children enter pre-school," Lev Vygotsky the Russian psychologist wrote, "they are unable to control their reactions or direct their interests, responding to whatever shiny objects are put in front of them. Accordingly, the most important goal of pre-kindergarten is to teach children how to master their thoughts, and the best way for children to do that …… is to employ various tools and habits that train the mind to work at a higher level. So Tools of the Mind students learn to use private speech, to talk to themselves when they do a difficult task, or use physical objects 'mediators' e.g. a picture of an ear to signify listening, that remind them how to do a particular task. But more than anything, they use play , but not just any play but 'mature dramatic play'- and lots of it.“ Excerpts from New York Times magazine/ September 27, 2009.
(C) A scientific study reported in Science Vol. 318, November 30, 2007 that Tools children performed better on measures of Executive Function than students who were trained in the district’s version of Balanced Literacy. Executive Function, - the ability to think straight and self –regulate, is also called cognitive control and is critical for success in school and life. It is more strongly associated with school readiness than intelligence quotients, and is important for academic achievement throughout the school years.
Tools of the Mind Achievement
At the end of school year 2011-2012, assessment indicators revealed that all regular education Pre-K-3 students had attained the third and some the fifth level of scaffolded writing and drawing their verbal statements on their Play Plans. They could recognize and point to their first names and could recognize, point and count numerals up to ten(10) and higher. Seventy seven percent (77%) of Pre-K 4 students could recognize, read and write their first names, and therefore met and/or exceeded the literacy school goal of sixty percent (60%).
Bryant School may serve about 400 students from grades Pre-K-3 half-day to Pre-First. As in all of Teaneck’s schools, Bryant's classes are balanced according to gender, race or ethnicity, and academic ability. Bryant school hours are from 8:30am to 2:20pm. Regular half day classes for Pre-K-3 and 4 are from 8:30am to 11:00am and 11:50am to 2:20pm. In addition, some morning only half-days are scheduled for the entire school or district and these half days end at 12:30pm for everyone.
