My Child/My Student campaign is now in its fourth year

My Child/My Student campaign is now in its fourth year

This week more than 477,000 Arkansas students are heading back to the classroom.

I wish all of you a peaceful transition into the school year and look forward to hearing great reports on your progress.

This week is a perfect time to turn your attention to a program developed by the Arkansas Department of Education designed to help enhance the communication between the student, teacher, and parent. This communication is essential to academic success.

The My Child/My Student campaign is now in its fourth year. It encourages positive, productive and ongoing communication between parents and teachers. The campaign provides questions, tips and resources that will help parents and teachers begin those discussions and build a strong partnership. A college and career readiness topic and student safety topic have been identified for each month between August and May.

The topics are outlined below:

• August: Setting Goals, School Bus Safety

• September: R.I.S.E. Arkansas,Mental Health Awareness

• October: Parent-Community Engagement, Red Ribbon Week

• November: Volunteering, Cyber and Social Media Security

• December: Building Character, Texting and Driving Hazards

• January: Preparing for the Future,Child Abduction / Human Trafficking

• February: Digital Learning, Health Awareness

• March: Testing, Severe Weather Awareness Week

• April: Internships / Job Shadowing, National Child Abuse Prevention Month

• May: Keep Learning, Summer Safe Habits Each month a ready-to-print newsletter in English and Spanish is posted on the website, along with links to articles, websites, blogs, activities and more. Parents are encouraged to learn more about the topics and use the resources as home. Teachers are encouraged to share the newsletter and use the additional resources in their lesson planning and classroom activities. To learn more about the My Child/My Student campaign, please visit the ADE website at www.arkansased.gov.

And finally this week, I want to send a special thank you to all of the teachers in our district. You are not just teaching the children of Arkansas, you are teaching them the importance of education. It is never lost on us at the Capitol that your day does not end with the bell. We know you spend countless hours at home grading papers, preparing for tomorrow’s lesson, and thinking about how to reach that challenging student who is falling behind.

Thank you for your relentless commitment to our children.

From State Representative Deborah Ferguson