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Managing School Year Stress

Managing School Year Stress

During the first weeks of each semester, children will come home daily with many needs, stories of exciting adventures, and frustrating challenges that must be resolved. Parents typically feel overwhelmed with the many school supplies needed for each classroom. Added paperwork must be completed for classroom teachers. Children must also adjust their personal schedules to meet individual classroom schedules.

Managing Stress

We can model effective stress management behavior by taking a deep breath, reflecting, and choosing our words carefully as life becomes demanding. Our family will be happier during the afterschool routines if we are calm and respectful. Most family members need a break when they first arrive home from work and afterschool activities. The kids want to play or watch television. The parents want to change into their cozy clothes and relax. Younger children demand hugs and quality time with their parents. Some families preplan their dinners each week and eat leftovers every other day to simplify and support a relaxed evening. Other families make simple meals on alternate nights and purchase prepared food at the grocery store. Whatever the solution for dinner preparation, it is important to strive for a relaxed evening. [Read more…]

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Getting Ready For Next School Year

Getting Ready for the Next School Year

Once you decide on a school for the upcoming school year, it is important to plan ahead throughout the spring and summer. For example, during the last weeks of summer, it is important to help your children plan for the first days of school by coaching them to become organized for the first day of school. Many children have later bedtimes during the summer. It is helpful to slowly adjust their wake-up and bedtime hours to align with the school year schedule a couple of weeks before school starts. Your children may resist at first, but the family will feel successful that they are ready for the new school year. [Read more…]

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Consider Children’s Needs for School Choice

Consider Your Children’s Needs for School Choice

When considering different school options, you can ask yourself the following questions about your child or collectively about your children:

  • What is my child’s personality type?
  • Does she prefer playing or socializing in small groups, large groups, or by herself?
  • Does she like to lead a group in various activities?
  • Would she prefer to watch others and then follow in small group play and socialization activities?
  • Is she easily frustrated when playing and socializing with others?
  • Does she get angry when things do not go her way?
  • What are her favorite activities?
  • Does she prefer outside or thinking types of activities?
  • Does she prefer paper and pencil activities or large muscle and interactive activities?
  • Would she learn best by reading with you, listening, or watching others?
  • What are her academic experiences?
  • Does she recognize letters and letter combination sounds?
  • Has she exhibited other pre-reading or reading skills?
  • How does she apply number sense in everyday activities?
  • What has the teacher said about her social, emotional, and learning skill development?
  • What concerns do you have about her academic success and learning challenges?

[Read more…]

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Which School Best Meets Your Needs?

Which School Best Meets Your Needs?

As children get ready to attend elementary, middle, or high school, parents have many concerns about the type of learning that occurs in various school settings. Parents often ask how they can determine if a school is successful. For example, most parents believe that a successful school has a high academic ranking. It should offer a variety of performing arts and creative experiences. It must provide extensive experiences in language arts, real world math applications, science experiments, and history activities. The school should also plan for sufficient nutritional and physical fitness activities. Students must feel safe, secure, and learn basic life skills and effective problem-solving strategies in nurturing classrooms. Parents want to feel welcome to support their children’s learning and participate in the school. Additionally, students and their families can partner in project-based and service-learning activities that support their community. [Read more…]

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Parent Support of Student Assessments

Parent Support of Student Assessments

This blog is a parallel commentary from the parent perspective on Mary Ann Burke’s January 11, 2022 post “How Students Own Their Learning Assessments” from her series Student Engagement Assessment: Strategies to Empower All Learners.

What Do Student Learning Assessments Look Like?

When a classroom teacher includes student choice for learning assessments, it can take on many different forms. Often times, they will tend to be project-based assessments where students have full control over demonstrating and evaluating their learning. Here are some examples of learning assessments that might be assigned by your child’s teacher:

  • A history research project using both primary and secondary sources to learn more about the immigration story in the family.
  • A science project that demonstrates the effective application of the scientific method.
  • A cross-curricular Language Arts and Physical Education project to develop scripts for a PSA (Public Service Announcement) campaign regarding physical health or mental health issues.
  • A smart-water garden design that employs the mathematical computations to find area of landscaping, find plants and other organic materials needed in cubic feet, and calculate the cost of materials to stay within a budget.

[Read more…]

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