Coupla Things v36 (6/6/14)

Post date: Jun 06, 2014 10:42:17 PM

Dear Parents & Kids,

Happy Saturday All!

Today is a great preview of summer -- sleeping in, sunny day, household commotion, bored kids, beckoning beach. I am looking forward to the last 8 schooldays of the year, but also eager to join my family in their daily routine of summer vacation.

Review/Preview: This past week had some really important and valuable moments in it since we delved into lessons and discussions about human growth and development as well as watched Stand By Me and did some great character analysis of those four quintessentially adventurous kids. In science, the details of reproductive anatomy meshed with the "sociology" of the topics -- questions revolved around the diversity of stages of puberty, incidence/reasons of circumcision, ovulation, menstruation, contraception, and some of the details of "sexual response". Next week, we'll do a bit more on the female anatomy side, STDs, and then get into genetics.

Upcoming Afternoons: Since selectives have ended, our class has 5 full afternoons together during the next two weeks. I have a few ideas about how to spend them but would love to hear any ideas that you might have.

Grades: I won't be adding many more assignments during the coming week and so if the kids (or you) aren't satisfied with their grades, it might be a good idea for the kid to find ways to increase their percentage. Getting rid of zeros is the most effective way to increase grades, followed by redoing low-scoring assignments, and then doing extra credit. The social studies grades haven't received any new scores since Mrs. Hare started teaching it, but there will be about 100 points worth of her assignments going into the gradebook next week.

Beach Day: The sign-up list is looking good, especially for our class. I think that the only BIG thing that we still need is someone to collect beach toys from room 25 families.

The next issue of these weekly newsletters will be my last and it is likely to be a bit goopy, so let me say here, in advance, that this has been one of the greatest years of my career. I know that my ways can be overly casual, overly optimistic, overly trusting, and comparatively edgy at times, and so I appreciate that all of you supported, honored, or tolerated it. As I keep hearing in some song on the radio these days "all of me loves all of you".

Chris