Midterms come home this week!

Today we are officially more than half way through the third quarter of the school year! I can't believe it! Since that is the case, midterm grade reports are coming home this week. I have to say... grades are pretty bad overall. There has suddenly been a lack of motivation by the students overall. They are not reading at home anymore, not turning in homework, not following directions and listening very well, and not trying very hard at school. Everything they are presented with is met with "This is so hard!" The materials and assignments are not hard, they just require that the students have to try and that doesn't seem to be something they want to do much of. Hopefully we will get out of that phase soon! If your child's reading grade has gone down from last quarter, that is due to the reading comprehension practice that we have been doing. The reading passages are all at the students' reading level that they are capable of reading but often times the students aren't paying attention to their reading and just guessing an answer to quickly get done. Many of the students' grades are Fs at this point because of that fact. Also, they need to be writing in complete sentences to get credit on their answers so many are doing poorly on their reading assignments because their answers are correct but they are not using complete sentences, so they only get half credit.

CRTs are next week so make sure that your student gets plenty of sleep and healthy breakfast to make sure that they are as successful as possible. We will be doing one section of the test every day next week so they are not overwhelmed and completely exhausted after the first day! It is important that they are able to do their best so a good nights sleep and a full belly will always help that out! :) Also, I will have activities to do when they are done while the rest of the class finishes but I recommend that students bring a water bottle because they are not allowed out of their seat unless we are doing a group break to make sure they are not distracting others.

One last reminder, we have book orders due tomorrow! You may buy books online or send in a paper order form by the end of the day to order! For every item you order, your student gets 20 class dollars for their wallets.

Great job today with your work and getting assignments in. Remember, there is still half of the quarter left to lift those grades! Don't give up now! See you tomorrow!