SPELLING LIST:
LESSON 15 nurse,work,shirt,hurt,first,word,serve,curly,dirt,third,worry,turn,stir,firm On Tuesday, January 20th we are at exactly the half way mark of our current school year and also is very close to the half way point of this trimester. I was a high school athletic coach for 26 consecutive years, and from that I learned many things about the importance of half time. One of which is that in order to be successful in the second half of the game adjustments need to be made with the team in order to finish strong. When I was coaching basketball, strategies were changed to make sure we were stronger in the second half. Something else I learned as a track and field coach. It was that when athletes reach the half way mark of a race and begin to run the 3rd portion, that part of it was always the slowest. It’s very easy right now for students to start coasting and to not put forth a lot of effort. They have just finished some major testing and might be content with their scores and not realize how they must maintain their effort to keep up. Here’s my analogy. Everyone starts off fast and strong at the beginning of the race or school year and also seems to have that sprint towards the finish line or end of school year. What happens is the middle portion of a race, in this case, the school year is vital to how we will finish. So far this year your child has committed to reading for 20 minutes a night or 140 minutes a week. They have also been given a green homework sheet nearly every night this year that has been completed and checked by the adults they live with daily. I have been so impressed with the support I have received from you. Some students have never missed an assignment and those that do forget to bring it back do that very rarely. Now for the half time adjustments that we need to make for the second half are the following: Starting today, I’d like your child to read for at least 25 minutes a night or 175 minutes a week. You can divide it up however you want. It is also strongly suggested that they master their multiplication facts very soon. I’d also suggest that you try out the websites that I suggested on the class blog if your child has been below grade level in any area. This could make a big difference. Very soon some of their homework will include items that are found on the MCA Math test. I have some old questions from former tests that I have been giving them daily to start off our morning. If we commit together for the second half I know without a doubt that we’ll see positive results this spring as we finish up our school year. This class has really bonded well together and it’s amazing to see them working together daily. I’m very proud of the accomplishments and how they help one another during our day. Our test scores in Reading and Math were fantastic when we tested earlier this month. There is still room to grow or should I say, another mountain to climb. One of my favorite quotes while coaching was this: “When some people reach the top of the mountain they stop to admire the view. But the truly remarkable person looks for another mountain to climb.” As I teacher I loved the view of the mountain top we reached in January, but I can’t wait to see the view of the mountain top we’ll reach in May!
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