Abraar's Grade Two GRADS! Congratulations!

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Spelling Games

Try it out these fun spelling games to help you read and write!

http://www.netrover.com/~kingskid/Safari/safari.htm

http://www.eduplace.com/kids/sv/books/content/smg/index.html?grade=2&unit=6

http://www.eduplace.com/kids/sv/applications/wordfind/index.html?grade=2&unit=1

http://www.eduplace.com/kids/sv/applications/wordfind/index.html?grade=2&unit=2

http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/picturematch/

Monday, December 7, 2009

Assalamu Allaykum Dear Parents,

Report cards will be distributed this Friday, insha'Allah, with an option for you to speak to teachers about the results the following week.

In the meantime, I thought the following article was useful --- though I don't think it should only be for those who feel their child received a "bad" report card, but because I think that all parents should take the final quotation to heart: “The goal for schools and parents is to help students find where their strengths are . . .It doesn’t mean to say you can’t participate in all the things you’re not number one at because number one isn’t the goal. The number one goal is to find our strengths, participate in as much as possible and love where we’re going.”

I encourage parents to talk to their children about their expectations, results and how to look ahead to the future. Insha'Allah, report cards should be a moment of reflection and supportive goal-setting.

From:

http://www.tvo.org/cfmx/tvoorg/tvoparents/index.cfm?page_id=145&action=article&article_title_url=TalkingtoYourKidsaboutaBadReportCard&article_id=5760

Talking to Your Kids about a Bad Report Card

It may happen. Your child brings home a report card with grades or comments that disappoint or discourage. How do you talk to your kid when this happens?

First, prepare yourself in advance and learn more about report cards and what they represent. Then, get into a positive frame of mind. Whether the report card is good or bad, the report card itself is a starting point for conversation between the parent and child, and the parent and teacher, says Annie Kidder, Executive Director of the People for Education.

Children also absorb the way their parents react to situations. “Parents need to be very careful in ‘punishing’ their children for bad grades,” says Lin Fang, an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto. “Instead of simply taking away children’s play time, it’ll be far more constructive for parents to help children make an action plan.” Michael Byrne, Principal of Churchill Public School in the Toronto District School Board also explains that some children, especially younger ones, may not even understand what a letter grade ‘C’ means unless an adult tells them. So he suggests that parents focus on progression and make goals for improvement.

Here are seven tips to initiate that conversation with your child:

1. Know when to expect the report card

Anticipate report card time, says Fang. In Ontario, report cards are sent home in December, March and June.

2. Stay Calm

It may seem obvious, but it’s important to remain calm and not get frustrated, says Fang.

3. No Surprises

Parents and teachers should already have been in contact about any challenges a student is experiencing. “I think there should be no such thing as a bad report card, in the sense that there should be no surprises,” says Byrne. If there are surprises, that should be a motivation for parents to contact the teacher.

4. Celebrate the Positive

Some parents are easily drawn to bad marks on a report card, says Fang. “Parents should always try to find something good,” she says. “It varies from person to person, but parents should look for anything good.”

Byrne encourages parents to celebrate the positive. “For the majority of our children, there’s a lot to celebrate,” he says. “We have to focus on that while putting in all the strategies and supports in place to make sure the other areas are taken care of. But the reality is that we’re not all multitalented.”

Here’s a way to focus on the positive with your child, says Byrne: “I see from your report card that you’re having trouble in math. But look at your music mark! Your music mark is an A. You know what? All music is, is math with instruments.”

5. Identify the Issues

Kidder suggests parents and children should read report cards together. “It’s a good way to understand the report card and to have an all-important conversation with your child,” she says. “It gives you something concrete to have the conversation around. You can have it with a four year old or a ten year old.”

She suggests these questions: “Tell me what you in each of these subjects do so I can understand the report card. What do you think about this mark? Do you understand why got this mark? Is there some specific area that’s causing you to struggle?”

When you start a conversation with your child, it does two things, Kidder explains. It helps parents understand the report card and it develops engagement between parent and child.

6. Talk with the Teacher

It’s most important to use the report card and the subsequent conversation with a child to inform the parent-teacher conference.

“Nothing that’s on this piece of paper can ever replace or even come close to the actual sit down time, and talking with the teacher,” says Byrne. The comments on the report card come from a standard comment bank and cannot completely articulate how a child is doing in school, he says. But at the parent-teacher conference, two adults can share information and discuss what’s happening in school and how a child is doing.

“Consistent bad marks on the reports cards may also signal some deeper issues,” says Fang. A child may have special learning needs or severe test anxiety. “At schools, there are supports to help those children in terms of remediation,” says Byrne. If grades continue to slide once supports are in place, there’s perhaps a need for enhanced support, or there may be some building blocks missing in numeracy or literacy, says Byrne.

7. The Report Card is a Tool for Starting Conversation

Ultimately, the report card is a tool for starting a conversation between parents, students and schools. “The goal for schools and parents is to help students find where their strengths are,” says Byrne. “It doesn’t mean to ay you can’t participate in all the things you’re not number one at because number one isn’t the goal. The number one goal is to find our strengths, participate in as much as possible and love where we’re going.”

Friday, November 27, 2009

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Media Literacy - Internet Marketing

In-Class:

Create a cool internet site for a children's cereal:

http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/special_initiatives/games/coco/flash/start.html

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Too much homework? Interesting article - feedback always welcome!

November 17, 2009
Family negotiates homework ban
By Erin AnderssenFrom Wednesday's Globe and Mail

Faced with frenzied nights and kids overloaded with work, the Milleys decided to take matters into their own hands

Shelli and Tom Milley were exhausted by the weepy weeknight struggles over math problems and writing assignments with their three school-aged children. They were fed up with rushing home from soccer practice or speed skating only to stand over their kids tossing out answers so they could finish and get to bed.

And don't even get them started on the playground that their daughter, Brittany, had to build in Grade 3 from recycled materials, complete with moving parts. Or the time their eldest son, Jay, was told to cut pictures of $1-million worth of consumer goods from a catalogue.

So last week, after two years of trying to change the homework policy at the children's school, the two Calgary lawyers finally negotiated a unique legal contract: their kids will never have to do homework again.

"We have struggled constantly as a family with excessive amounts of homework," said Ms. Milley, who left her practice to stay home with her children. "We just blindly accepted the way it was."

But after many long stressful nights of getting 18-year-old Jay through his high school homework, they weren't prepared to repeat history with Spencer, 11, and Brittany, 10. Being lawyers, she and her husband decided to make it official.

The "differentiated homework plan" spells out the responsibilities of the students: to get their work done in class, to come to school prepared, and prep for quizzes. But their teachers will have to mark them based on what they do in class, and cannot send work home that factors into their grades.

For the Milleys, this means a school year that would make many homework-stricken parents envious: they are free to hang out as family without long division and English comprehension questions hanging over their heads.

“It was a constant homework battle every night,” Ms. Milley recalled. “It's hard to get a weeping child to take in math problems. They are tired. They shouldn't be working a second shift.”
It's not as if, the couple pointed out, they don't value education. They know firsthand the work involved in earning university degrees. But they wanted the academic work done at home to be on their terms, based on where they knew their children needed help. Brittany, for instance, was struggling with spelling, but “we never had any time to focus on that because she had so much homework,” Ms. Milley said.

And there were plenty of frustrating nights, she said, when her kids were so tired, “we'd stand over them, saying, ‘write this, write that.' ” If that's what families are doing, she asked, “how do the teachers even know whose work they are marking?”

Two years ago, Ms. Milley began collecting studies on homework, most of which suggest that, particularly for younger grades, there is no clear link between work at home and school performance. Working with the staff at St. Brigid Elementary Junior High School, she formed a homework committee, although no firm changes resulted. This fall, the couple began negotiating the legal document that decided the matter.

“We think it's a parent's right to choose what's in our children's best interests,” said Ms. Milley.

“But we're thankful the school did the right thing.”

Prompted by issues raised by parents, the Calgary Catholic School District is officially reviewing its homework policy to create more concrete guidelines for schools. Other parents and teachers have worked out homework deals, although more informally. “We know it's not one size fits all,” said Tania Younker, a district spokesperson.

The contract the Milleys and their children signed doesn't go just one way. While preventing teachers from giving penalties when homework isn't done, it also puts clear expectations on the students and their parents – to practice a musical instrument, for instance, and read daily, two activities more clearly linked to academic success, Ms. Milley suggested, than racing through leftover schoolwork. And the parents agreed to make sure their children have “opportunities” to review class work and study for tests. (Although that may as well be homework, Ms. Milley observed wryly, noting that, by her count, Spencer, has had roughly 28 quizzes and tests in about 38 class days of Grade 7.) The bottom line: the Milley kids won't be doing any school-assigned work at home any time soon, although Jay, now in first year university, must resign himself to being a trailblazer for his younger siblings.

“Why were we putting our family through that stress,” wondered Ms. Milley. “If we don't want it all, we shouldn't have to have it.”