SUPPORT AT HOME
Your child spends many hours every day in school. These are important hours, and parents can help make the time even more important and meaningful with the following suggestions:
· Talk with your child every day about school, friends, and teachers. The more you know of the events of the day, the easier it will be to engage your child in specific dialogue when your child provides vague answers to your inquiries.
· If you disagree with a teacher or other staff member about something that happened at school, do not discredit the school or teacher with the child. Make an appointment to address your concern with the teacher or the other involved party. Remember, your student will have to attend school for many days with the school faculty and staff. It is always best for all parties that the student feels parents, teachers, and other school staff are "on the same page." There are always opportunities for parents/guardians and staff members to settle their differences outside of the world of the child. Such situations can be settled in a manner that discredits neither the parent or the school.
· Take an interest in your child's schoolwork.
· If your child acts differently or doesn't want to go to school, talk with the teacher, then the counselor, and finally an administrator.
· Set a time each day for homework, reading and sharing books, and/or other learning activities.
· If your child watches TV at home, watch along with your child and talk about the programs. Be sure that your child doesn't watch too much TV or spend hours playing video games. Limits are good!
· Make sure your child gets to sleep at a reasonable time and has a nutritious breakfast to start the day.
· Read to your child every day and listen to your child read to you.
· Attend parent-teacher meetings, classroom and school activities whenever you can. Students need to feel that school is important to you if it is to remain important to them.
· See that your child follows the school rules and goes to school every day. Appropriate behavior and strong attendance are habits that your student must develop in order to be successful at school. It is so much easier to establish good habits initially than to fight bad habits once they have developed.
· Talk about college now! Discuss in terms of “Where do you want to go to college?” instead of “If you go to college?”
HOMEWORK
Shultz encourages a reasonable amount of practical work to be done at home. Homework may be any preparation, work, or activity that a student does on non-school time as requested by the teacher or with teacher consent.
This definition is broad in meaning to allow for many different types of homework assignments. Some homework assignments have long term completion dates such as research projects, long-term assignments, Study Island. In order to make sure the time spent at home doing homework is effective and efficient, research clearly suggests:
· Students have an established, quiet, comfortable place to do homework each day.
· Students have a set time each day that is dedicated to homework. If students have no homework for that particular day, the child can use the time for studying or reading for enjoyment.
· Parents/guardians should check their children's homework for completion rather than checking each problem for correctness. If parents rework each homework problem with students for correctness, students soon learn to rely too heavily on the parent's input and it becomes difficult for teachers to see what students do and do not know on their own.
· Parents/guardians regularly communicate their expectations regarding homework to the student.
· Students that do not complete their homework at home will be given time during study hall/recess to complete their homework while at school.
GRADING
The purpose of the grading system and report cards is to keep students and parents informed about the students'progress. The general grading guidelines per grade are:
Kindergarten through Second Grade- Students will be graded on a performance level.
3-Meets Expectations
2– Developing/Making Progress
1-Beginning/Insufficient Progress.
Please refer to the front of the report card for a more detailed description of the performance levels.
Third through Fifth Grade- Students will be graded on a performance level.
4-Advanced
3-Meets Expectations
2– Developing/Making Progress
1-Beginning/Insufficient Progress.
Please refer to the front of the report card for a more detailed description of the performance levels.
Teachers have the final call on grades earned.
If your student is failing or is in danger of failing at the three-week or nine-week mark, intervention may be required by the teacher during the regular school day. Intervention time may take the place of extra activities or enrichment in which the student participates.. We encourage parents to go online to the Home Access Center and submit a request to view their child’s grades. The Home Access Center can be found on the Denton ISD website under the for parents tab and follow the link for student grades.
What do I need to do if I have questions or concerns about my child in the classroom?
Though the principals are the instructional leaders of the school, the student's classroom teachers are the best resource of information on the individual performance of students. If you have questions or concerns about your child or your child's teacher, always begin by meeting with your child's teacher/teachers. Teachers have a planning period during the day for parent meetings. They are also available for a conference by appointment before and after school. If you are unable to reach agreement upon meeting with the classroom teacher/s and still wish to pursue the concern, call the assistant principal for an appointment. Even then, it is the belief of the administration that most problems will be best solved with the input of the teacher/s at this meeting.