How to Read a Report Card

The purpose of a report card is to communicate about a child's progress across the subject areas.  Most report cards also include an effort, behavior, and personal skills section as well.  Here are some suggestions for making report card time positive and productive.

• Become familiar with the grading system at our school.  
• Make sure you understand the different competencies on the report card.  If it is vague such as "uses time wisely", ask your child's teacher for more details if you don't understand.
• As you look at your child's report card, resist the impulse to jump directly to an area with a lower score.  Find an area with a good grade and focus on that first.  
• Once you've focused on the positive, talk about areas in which your child's grade was lower.  "Tell me how things have been going in science lately".  Start an open conversation about the difficulty your child may be having in that area.
• Together, develop strategies to help in subject areas that are difficult for your child.  Is there a book or website that could help?  If you are not sure, call the teacher for some ideas.
• Last, let your child know that he/she is so much more than just a report card.  Remind them of all the things that make him/her special and important in your family.  

Report cards should not contain any huge surprises about how your child is doing.  Most teachers work to talk with parents if a child is having difficulty. A strong school-home partnership is what makes children succeed!   

Take a break, but bring a book!

Kids look forward to some time away from homework and tests, but summer is not a time to take a break from reading!  When students don't read for three months, their academic skills can easily slip! Three months may not seem like a long time, but by middle school some experts say this down time can put kids up to two years behind!  Reading over the summer not only keeps your child from losing ground, but actually improves skills for the coming year.  Here are some suggestions to keep a book in your child's hands over the summer months:

1.  Visit your local library. They offer free books, audio books, and DVD's that can be borrowed for free!

2.  Bring along a book whenever you leave the house.  Kids can find time to read in the car, at the park, or on the beach!

3.  Don't make reading a punishment.  

4.  Reward reading progress!  Add a shell to a bucket each time your child reads a book and when you've filled it up, do a fun summer activity like making a cool milkshake together!

Have fun reading this summer!