My ears - and mostly my heart - has grown weary of the following daily reports from Sam, third grade:
"We only got SIX MINUTES of recess today because our area wasn't clean/so-and-so was talking/we didn't line up straight enough." (mass classroom punishment due to a few offenders...grrrrrrr....)
"All we do is the same old stuff." (yeah, typical...)
and worst of all,
"I hate school." (I understand. Not a too terribly uncommon sentiment...)
Not that anyone I ever knew *loved* school either. And I tell him that. And not that I think school should be a *good source of entertainment for kids* either. But in Sam's case, he's always been a child with just a natural love of learning. Unfortunately the past two years has sucked it right out of him for the above reasons, I guess.
Last year at Sam's school daily worksheet-type homework was officially supplanted by the (unfulfilled) promise of several "big projects" to be assigned during the various six week grading periods.
Required weekly reading and math "minutes" (100 reading minutes and 50 math minutes) are still in effect, however...guess what...only one or two homework projects were assigned last year - and NONE to date (the year is half-over) this year!
Thankfully, Sam gets a lot of "time management" practice on various stuff at home, as I give him an objective to complete, ask him to consider a reasonable timeframe in which to get it done, then hold him to his word.
But I can imagine that some kids - for whatever miscellaneous reasons - don't have parents with a similar mindset. So I sometimes wonder...how the heck do they get practice with time management? One of life's most important skills...! ...Okay, I'm about to skid off topic here...anyway...
This year I've resolved to do various "fun" activities with Sam to reinforce topics he's learning in school. "Fun" is in quotes because my "fun" and his "fun" are distinct. Sam's brand of fun is better characterized by either a.) running wild outside with friends...or b.) the contrary, sitting completely inert for hours, glued to the tv. He's an extreme kinda guy.
Nothing against his teacher - I love her - but this year I realize that a majority of classtime is devoted to preparing them for the onslaught of standardized testing that will make up a huge chunk of their remaining elementary years.
So I'm seeking out activities such as cooking, creating "concoctions", building, current event/news awareness, and other such subjects to tie "the real world" into what he is learning in school.
I wish I could create (and get paid for, HAH!) an "afterschool club" or something like that, in which we do the activities together...I'd have to figure out what to do with Charlie though...maybe I'll figure that out one day! Surely parents would pay for SOMEBODY ELSE to do sit down with their kids and do school-related projects...doncha think...???
So, yesterday we did our first thing. Sam was absolutely GIDDY WITH ENTHUSIASM when I pulled out the newspaper article I lovingly searched out and cut out, just for him, to assist in our exciting writing assignment...NOT.
If you, too, want to fan the burgeoning flame of your kids' (non)interest in current events AND watch the excitement for penmanship practice practically bubble over, try this...
NEWSPAPER NARRATIVE
Go fetch that free, weekly, usually-wet newspaper that sometimes makes it to the end of your driveway - and sometimes not - and put it to good use.
Lovingly search for and cut out a local, regional or national current events article that might be of interest to your child. The article I chose for Sam was recent "UFO sightings" that have been happening in Stephenville, Texas.
By the way...go grab that O magazine that's been sitting on your bedside table for two months, and scout out an article for yourself - and do the exercise WITH your child, if you want. Then you can switch the final products, and have "fun" (uh, remember that would be my brand of fun) reading each other's work.
Ask your child to read the article, then find a good handful of nouns, adjectives, verbs...whatever grammatical part of speech you want...and highlight them with a highlighter.
List 5 of the most interesting nouns (adjectives, whatever - we used nouns) on a sheet of paper.
Tell your child what a "narrative" is (a type of writing that "tells a story") and tell him that you will be writing a narrative using the 5 most interesting nouns you chose.
Shown is Sam's work...
I won't show you mine!
"We only got SIX MINUTES of recess today because our area wasn't clean/so-and-so was talking/we didn't line up straight enough." (mass classroom punishment due to a few offenders...grrrrrrr....)
"All we do is the same old stuff." (yeah, typical...)
and worst of all,
"I hate school." (I understand. Not a too terribly uncommon sentiment...)
Not that anyone I ever knew *loved* school either. And I tell him that. And not that I think school should be a *good source of entertainment for kids* either. But in Sam's case, he's always been a child with just a natural love of learning. Unfortunately the past two years has sucked it right out of him for the above reasons, I guess.
Last year at Sam's school daily worksheet-type homework was officially supplanted by the (unfulfilled) promise of several "big projects" to be assigned during the various six week grading periods.
Required weekly reading and math "minutes" (100 reading minutes and 50 math minutes) are still in effect, however...guess what...only one or two homework projects were assigned last year - and NONE to date (the year is half-over) this year!
Thankfully, Sam gets a lot of "time management" practice on various stuff at home, as I give him an objective to complete, ask him to consider a reasonable timeframe in which to get it done, then hold him to his word.
But I can imagine that some kids - for whatever miscellaneous reasons - don't have parents with a similar mindset. So I sometimes wonder...how the heck do they get practice with time management? One of life's most important skills...! ...Okay, I'm about to skid off topic here...anyway...
This year I've resolved to do various "fun" activities with Sam to reinforce topics he's learning in school. "Fun" is in quotes because my "fun" and his "fun" are distinct. Sam's brand of fun is better characterized by either a.) running wild outside with friends...or b.) the contrary, sitting completely inert for hours, glued to the tv. He's an extreme kinda guy.
Nothing against his teacher - I love her - but this year I realize that a majority of classtime is devoted to preparing them for the onslaught of standardized testing that will make up a huge chunk of their remaining elementary years.
So I'm seeking out activities such as cooking, creating "concoctions", building, current event/news awareness, and other such subjects to tie "the real world" into what he is learning in school.
I wish I could create (and get paid for, HAH!) an "afterschool club" or something like that, in which we do the activities together...I'd have to figure out what to do with Charlie though...maybe I'll figure that out one day! Surely parents would pay for SOMEBODY ELSE to do sit down with their kids and do school-related projects...doncha think...???
So, yesterday we did our first thing. Sam was absolutely GIDDY WITH ENTHUSIASM when I pulled out the newspaper article I lovingly searched out and cut out, just for him, to assist in our exciting writing assignment...NOT.
If you, too, want to fan the burgeoning flame of your kids' (non)interest in current events AND watch the excitement for penmanship practice practically bubble over, try this...
NEWSPAPER NARRATIVE
Go fetch that free, weekly, usually-wet newspaper that sometimes makes it to the end of your driveway - and sometimes not - and put it to good use.
Lovingly search for and cut out a local, regional or national current events article that might be of interest to your child. The article I chose for Sam was recent "UFO sightings" that have been happening in Stephenville, Texas.
By the way...go grab that O magazine that's been sitting on your bedside table for two months, and scout out an article for yourself - and do the exercise WITH your child, if you want. Then you can switch the final products, and have "fun" (uh, remember that would be my brand of fun) reading each other's work.
Ask your child to read the article, then find a good handful of nouns, adjectives, verbs...whatever grammatical part of speech you want...and highlight them with a highlighter.
List 5 of the most interesting nouns (adjectives, whatever - we used nouns) on a sheet of paper.
Tell your child what a "narrative" is (a type of writing that "tells a story") and tell him that you will be writing a narrative using the 5 most interesting nouns you chose.
Shown is Sam's work...
I won't show you mine!
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