Parents,
I want to take this opportunity to stress the importance of your child
studying science nightly. If your child studies their notes EVERY night, it
will prevent them from cramming the night before a test. Often we have too
much information on a test to try to learn it over night. Ask your child to
teach the material to you or a sibling or even themselves in the mirror!
Anything, as long as they are having to look at it. Let them (or you) make
up quizzes and take them. See the science links page for websites with
review games and quizzes. I believe that this is the key to doing well in
science. Thank you for studying with your child nightly!
AR goals should be met weekly. These goals are set up to give your child a
way of keeping themselves in check on a weekly basis instead of trying to
take AR tests at the very end of the 9 weeks to try to earn their points.
AR does count as 1/5 of your child's reading grade. Make sure they are
reading 30 mintues nightly. If you want to know how your child is doing in
AR, you can look at their green AR folder which will tell you the percent
that they made on each test. It will also be in their yellow take home
folder that comes home each Monday. If you would like a more detailed
report, let me know and I will be more than happy to print out a report that
will tell you your child's percent correct, what percentage of their goal
they have met, the grade they made on each test, and how many points they
have earned. Any time your child fails an AR test, I will send home the
failed test report for you to sign and return.
Take home folders will go home every Monday. This will inform you of any
upcoming events, behavior issues, and AR goals. There will also be a set of
stapled papers in the folder. These are tests/classwork from the previous
week. Please look through these papers with your child and discuss his or
her grades. It is important to keep these papers at home. These can be used
as excellent TCAP review material.
Thank you for wanting the best for your child! I believe that is what we
offer at Castle Heights!
Mrs. Smith