I must start with an apology for not getting a blog out las week as I had indicated I would – sorry. This is a new full week and we are hitting the ground running! Thank you so much for those who came in and helped with the button sewing! I also want to thank all those who did the sewing of the robes, purchasing buttons, bringing in needles, and searching for felt! We could not do this project without your support!
This week has us continuing our studies of the NAPNW with an investigation of the myths and legends of the area. We will identify elements of myths/legends, read many, and create some of our own! In math we are finishing Unit 3 and launching into Unit 4 with deeper work on multiplication and division. I believe we are back into the swing with the Spelling Packets after my forgetting of them.
Full disclosure, the majority of the following is taken directly form Ms. Shannon’s blog. It’s all about report cards. As you have seen in Shelley’s weekly memos, report cards at MRA are scored much differently than report cards you may have received in school. Competency based scoring looks very different from a letter grade scoring system, and I want to explain this a bit further.
The most important point to remember when reading your child’s report card is to know that the numbers DO NOT correspond to a letter grade. Occasionally parents, or students in older grades who are new to MRA, (or well-meaning grandparents who want to pay for “good grades”) have thought that MRA is basically using a traditional grading method but have changed the letters to numbers. They assume a 4 would equal an A, while a 1 would mean F. This is absolutely not the case. We are looking at the level the student is working at independently and their level of mastery of a particular skill. My good friend, Dainette Harris (who teaches in Huckleberry South), has a great analogy for explaining this, comparing it to riding a bike:
1 - The student is not yet able to peddle the bike.The teacher is holding the bike and pushing it.
2 - The student is riding with training wheels.
3 - The training wheels are off, and the student is riding independently.
4 - The student is a bike expert, performing tricks and teaching others.
We are still in need of buttons and if someone can pick up a few tubes of fabric glue, that would be very helpful! We had approx. 13,000 buttons (yes, thousands!) and we are going through them like crazy!!
Thank you for your support! Have a great week!
