Every Little Bit Helps, 1590 Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs

Its a new year and a slow start as students and teachers come back from the days off. How easily we fall out of healthy routines and into laziness. Its good to have that time to rest and recharge. But sometimes with the new year, we feel like we should charge ahead, but the days are dark and short and our bodies and minds have become accustomed to hibernation. So remember, every little bit helps. Get those healthy routines going again: homework, bedtime, healthy meals and snacks, a time to read with your child, a time to count with your child. Think about a new one to incorporate. I wish you a happy and productive new year.

You win some and you lose some. 1897 Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs

whew.....

I was having computer problems for awhile but now everything is working again. And the Christmas season is upon us!

Learning to win and learning to lose is important when working with young children. Children tend to watch a lot of television and hear a lot of stories AND almost always the main character that the child identifies with wins in the end. Often we let small children win when we play with them, so it can come as a shock when the begin to play with their peers and don't always win. So, don't forget to give your child opportunities to lose and let them know that gracious losers are also winners!

Whether You Think You Can or You think You Can't, You're Always Right

A lot of my job is convincing kids that they can do it. This time of the year, that often involves hooking into the excitement of the season. Kids who are struggling with adding and subtracting, find it easier when we're adding and subtracting pumpkins. So take advantage of the season and Happy Halloween!

MAPS

"Look where you're going instead of where you've been and you'll quit running into stuff."

Jodi Turner's dad told her when she played softball as a kid. Today is a day when we're looking where we're going. It's a late start day that most of the teachers are using to get "MAPS" training. MAPS is a computerized assessment program that we're beginning to use for students in the 2nd grade through high school. It adapts to the students level, offering easier questions when a student misses items and more difficult questions when a student is correct. The beauty of the program is that we can get results for students that tell us where we should be going and who else in our class needs the same skills taught so that we have the knowledge needed to figure out how to group for effective instruction without "tracking". The down-side is, this is a powerful, complicated system that is going to take us awhile to figure out how to use, and even longer to use efficiently and effectively. And we're all so busy teaching day to day that we don't have a lot of time learn how to use this new tool to "look where we're going". So....... today we have been given a few hours to do just that.

A PROMISE IS A PROMISE, 220 BC The Home Book of Proverbs

whew.....

I just spent my entire planning period figuring out how to "reset" my blog account. I was told why this had to be done but it was technical and unimportant. What was important is that I had to go through the process....... follow the directions........ (sent in multiple e-mails and requiring a verification number that was sent to my phone) in order to continue writing in this blog. But I made myself a promise that I would do better with this year's blog than last year. So......

And from the students also; I don't expect miraculous over-night change. I'm looking for a improvement over time and a firm promise: a steady commitment to doing what needs to be done; making the attempt, that will lead inevitably to increased achievement.

Be it ever so humble there's no place like home. John Howard Payne 1823

A word about homework

This Friday, in their take home packets, most of our Parkside students will have homework. There's lots of good reasons for homework and there's lots of advice for parents and students about how to manage homework, but I'm not going to talk about either of those things.

What I want to share is: what to do when the homework is TOO HARD, or TOO FRUSTRATING!

The most important thing is communicate with your child's teachers! Sometimes you just need to know a little bit more about what is being asked or what the expectations are. Sometimes you need a trick, for example a different way to study the spelling words. Sometimes you can do the paper in a different way. For example, some kids are writing on their own, some kids really benefit from dictating and then reading what they've dictated. While some kids can read the practice story, some kids should be looking for a particular letter and circling it each time they find it and then only reading those words (with help).

So if you, or your child are frustrated by the homework, communicate with the teacher. If your child has an IEP be sure and let the IEP teacher know about the problem. He or she will have lots of resources to help homework time become a happier time.

"It's easier to keep up than to catch up" Michelle Thomas

This week is an important week in the classroom as students are learning routines that will serve them well all year long. But I don't have a class of my own, I provide academic support to students. So what do those of us who provide academic support do this week?

We test students! We want to know who is going to have to do the very hard job of playing catch-up so that we can figure out how to best help them and we want to find out who is going to need support to stay caught up so that they don't fall behind. Really we're figuring out what our job is for the first semester, finding out where kids are and planning paths for them to get where they need to be. Next comes the very difficult job of scheduling so that we can provide students the help and support they need.