This morning was a very full morning.
Last week a flyer went home inviting the families of our school to join in on a school wide celebration of our awesome achievement of raising our score of our California State Testing by 22 points! This morning was going to be a celebration of that success. I originally had a doctor's appointment scheduled for this morning, so I was not planning on going. Until...Hannah came home with a special letter stating she would be recognized for her academic success on the State Testing last April. Needless to say, I cancelled my doctors appointment.
The morning started off with the ceremony recognizing the 3rd and 4th graders. Our Principal got up and started off the ceremony with great words of encouragement and adoration for our students, for the parents, and for our teachers. He was bold and very direct and said that far too often in this day and age, the takers keep on taking while the givers go unappreciated. And the same goes for academic greatness. The great achievers keep on achieving and go unnoticed. And that was what today was about. Recognizing the students who scored Proficient or Advanced on the California State Testing.
Hannah scored Proficient in the area of Language Arts. So when her name was called she stood and received a special certificate. Other kids who scored Advanced received medals and trophies. 
Another ceremony followed for the 5th and 6th graders and then following that ceremony, the entire school was invited back out to the blacktop for some dancing! It was awesome to see the students and teachers participating and having fun. What was also fun for Hannah was that her sister was in on the ceremony where she was recognized. Not because she came with Mommy and Daddy like days past, but because she was sitting with her own class. It was special for me when I saw Hannah find Rachel with her class dancing about and they came over and greeted me at the bake sale table. My girls are growing up!! 
At the end of the morning we had our Parent / Teacher Conference with Ms Harris. And to be honest, I was a little stressed with how this conference was going to go. Homework has been such a struggle this school year. Hannah's had some returned back and had to be redone, etc. It's taking a lot of work this year, and I've heard 4th grade is a big transformation. So I was nervous to hear what the teacher was going to say.
We weren't even seated before Ms. Harris told us what a tremendous improvement she has made since August. And that about 6 weeks ago, something 'clicked' and she got it. That made my eyes well up in tears. I was so proud to hear that Hannah had gotten it and she was doing good in class and was even doing her writing the way we'd been working on at home. The teacher had nothing but great things to say about Hannah. To say we were pleased would be an understatement. We were very, very proud! It's a relief to know things are clicking and Hannah is going to be just fine.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
A Day of Great Accomplishments
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2 comments:
I feel bad for the kids who scored Basic and Below Basic, if indeed your state testing is scored as ours is; Below Basic, Basic, Proficient, and Advanced. Some students, no matter how hard they try, will NEVER achieve Proficient or Advanced. My student that scores Below Basic works a lot harder in everything than my two students that score Advanced. I wish schools would choose to recognize those that work hard to achieve their potential, no matter what that potential may be. That said, Hannah is a very conscientious student and you should be very proud of her efforts! WTG Hannah!
I agree with you Karen on the State Testing scoring. Hannah's not a good test taker, especially when the State testing are placed with so much emphasis and importance. A lot of kids suffer the same. And then there are those students who no matter how hard they try, to their best potential, don't measure up to where the State thinks they should be. And that is sad.
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