The 100th day and come and gone already this school year.  Time is flying by.  If you get the chance, ask your son or daughter about the goals they have set for themselves in the second half of the school year.  Students at grades three through eight have set acheivement goals for the second half of the school year. They identified what they needed to work on (with a little help from their teachers) and decided on what they could do in the short term to make that happen. The focus is on the everyday hard work and focus, both inside and outside of school,  that maximizes learning.  In second grade, students wrote paragraphs about what their goals were and how they would make them happen.  Kindergarten set a grade wide goal of not rushing through work and always trying to do their best.

 

Below are some academic resources for parents.

Posted February 2013 - This review of research looks at the  most effective and least effective ways for students to study.

Research On Most Effective Study Habits

 

Posted August 2012 - This page has links to several good math related articles.

http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2012/08/important-facts-to-know-about-learning-math/

 

Posted June 2012 - Some easy tips for preschoolers and beginning readers to teach them about how books work.

Teaching Kids About Text Features

 

Posted November 2011 - Some research reported in Education Week reflecting the advantage that middle school students in K-8 schools have over students who have to transition from an elementary school building in fifth grade to a new middle school building in sixth grade. 

Middle_School_Transition_Article.pdf

 

CNN article on overcoming reluctant readers, particularly boys: 

http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/28/opinion/patterson-kids-reading/index.html

 

An article on number talks, 5-15 minute conversations that students have using mental math strategies and which occur at several of our grade levels.

Number_Talk_Artical.pdf

 

An article from the National Association of Independent Schools that discusses how schools and families can foster a growth model of intelligence with children (hard work will make me smarter) instead of a fixed view of intelligence (some kids are just smart, while others are not).  The PDF that follows the link is a diagram of how students with a growth model of intelligence view the world differently than those with a fixed intelligence model.

http://www.nais.org/publications/ismagazinearticle.cfm?Itemnumber=150509&sn.ItemNumber=145956

Growth_Mindset.pdf

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mitch Weiss, Principal of Curriculum and Instruction

mitch.weiss@mot.k12.de.us

(302) 376-5125 x 1103