Monday, December 28, 2009

January 2010-Happy New Year


Welcome to a brand new year. The next post to the blog will contain important dates and announcements, but for this post, I wanted to include something from an article I ran across recently. The writer wondered what it really took for students to be ready for school and asked around. The results of her survey are compiled in the following list. While the results may not be scientifically verified, I think most of us would agree with her findings. Also, while circumstances we face may cause some things on the list to be more difficult to achieve than others, most things the writer indicates are absolutely free. Staff and parents can work together to provide so many of these items and ensure that each child will be 100% ready for school and life.
The twenty things a student really needs to be ready for school are:

1. A No.2 pencil and a willingness to erase.

2. A healthy respect for themselves and others, especially their teachers.

3. An awareness that the world does not revolve around them and that they alone are responsible for their actions.

4. Parents (or grandparents or caregivers) who teach by example a love for reading, learning and life.

5. An assurance that school is a good, safe place;their teachers will like them; and their parents won't leave town without them.

6. An understanding that school is their "job" and no one else can or will do it for them.

7. A system for exchanging communication between school and home; a backpack for notes that need to be signed; an emergency phone number that always works; a quiet place and a consistent time to do homework; a daily chance to read aloud and be read to.

8. A plan for getting to school on time every morning and back home every afternoon.

9. A pet to care for, clean up after and come home to.
10. A public library card and regular chances to use it.

11. Someone to welcome you them when they come home from school; to laugh at their jokes, answer their questions and listen, really listen to what they say and don't say.

12. The power of knowing how it feels to give anonymously and sacrificially to help someone less fortunate.

13. The encouragement to try new things; the freedom to fail ; and the chance to try again.

14. The gifts of being well fed, well rested, well mannered and well covered for medical, dental and after-school care.

15. The confidence to know how to deal with bullies(stand up straight, look them in the eye, don't start a fight, but don't back down); how to ask questions (raise your hand and wait to be called on); and to never, ever stop asking questions, especially "why?"

16. To feel they're the best (or almost best or pretty good at least) at something; and it's OK not to be good at everything.

17. To spend more time with humans and less time with machines

18. To have nothing to do once in a while but to look at clouds or make up songs or daydream.

19. More than anything else, they need someone to love them unconditionally, no matter what, regardless of their grades; someone to beam at them; someone to light up whenever they walk into the room.

20. Finally, they need to know that school won't last forever(despite how it may seem) but learning is a lifelong process.