Parents,
There is so much you can do to help your son or daughter succeed to the best of their ability this year. They're not in high school yet and they still need your guidance whether they know it or not. If your child is not earning an A or a B, this should be unacceptable to you. Something is wrong and you need to discover what that is. Contact me and we can find out together. Below are my suggestions for helping your child get the most out of 8th grade. Backpack/Binder It is very hard for a student to be successful without being organized. Many students just keep all their papers mixed together in their backpack or binder without rhyme or reason. We adults assume students know how to organize, but most students need to be shown how. Also, many students never throw anything away and their backpacks end up crammed with random junk that contributes to their disorganization, slows them down, and makes success harder. This is not okay. Please help your child organize their papers in their binder according to their different classes. Additionally, show them how to clean it out at the end of each week, throwing away papers they don't need and double checking that everything is where it needs to be. Ask them, "Do you still need this?" If not, they should remove it from their binder or backpack. This seems like a small thing, but it will make a huge difference for the student. I have my own kids do this every Friday. Sleep Science has shown that teenagers need 9.25 hours of sleep each night. Since most teenagers average only 7 hours of sleep each night, this means students are routinely coming to school sleep deprived. "I'm tired," is probably the thing I hear most frequently from students. Every day I see students struggling to sit up straight and keep their head up. When I ask them when they went to bed, I hear answers like "midnight" or "2AM." If you let them stay up this late, THEY WILL RAT YOU OUT. This is not okay. When they become adults, it will be up to them to decide how much sleep they get, but while they are under your roof and if you want them to be successful, see they get the sleep they need. Middle School is challenging enough without suffering sleep deprivation. Please see that your child is getting the sleep they need to become the adult you would like them to be. Please click these links to read more about sleep and kids: Homeroom Zombies or How Sleep Deprivation Decays the Mind and Body or How Smartphones Hurt Sleep. Agenda and Laptops Most teachers record all assignments and tests for the week on the board each Monday so students can know everything expected of them and can budget their time like adults. Students should record these assignments and dates in their agenda first thing each Monday. Please check their agenda occasionally to see if they are doing this. Also, make sure your child has a system for charging their laptop every night and unplugging it only when they are about to leave for school. Parent Portal (GRADES) Teachers upload scores on tests and assignments into Parent Portal so that students and parents can always know what their current grade is. I generally update grades every Friday afternoon. The school counselor can provide parents with a password to access this, but I encourage all parents to share this password with their children so that students can be responsible for staying on top of their own grades. If you don't know how to access Parent Portal, please call the school and ask to speak to our counselor immediately or use this link . Download the AERIES Mobile Portal phone app to makes this even easier. Students should never be in the dark about the grade they are earning. My best students download the AERIES Mobile Portal app for their phone which allows them to check their grade at any time. Mr. G's Rules for Reading Netflix, iPhones, texting, games, and YouTube are just a few of the distractions that make it even more challenging for students to get into reading these days. Becoming a college-ready reader is not something that is just going to happen on its own; becoming a reader takes discipline and a strategy. Please ask your child what they are reading (and when they are reading.) Their home reading is something I'm relying on you to monitor. Ask them what they like about their book! Only 20-25 minutes a day of independent reading makes a HUGE difference in student achievement. (The Magic of 15 minutes) We spend time in class discussing Mr. G's Rules for Reading and I'll share these rules very briefly here:
|