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News Extra - January 10, 2008 FRIDAY "STAY-AFTER SCHOOL" SCHOOL No that is not a typo, but rather our newest idea to help motivate our students to do their best work first! In an attempt to keep-trying-new-ideas-until-something-works-idea, the faculty has decided to try Friday After School to replace Saturday School for students in grades 4-8 that are having difficulty with homework completion. The ultimate goal, of course, is for there to be no need for either "extra school" because all homework is completed ON TIME and turned in ON TIME. So, it will work like this… 1. Thursday morning all teachers in grades 4-8 will turn in a list to Ms. Croy of any work that is missing from any student in any subject (this does NOT include excused absences—within the predetermined timeframe for completion). 2. With some luck, Ms. Croy will have a "master list" completed by lunch time. That list will be posted. 3. Students have until 12:40 p.m. on Friday to turn-in the completed work to the specific teacher’s box to whom the assignment is from. 4. As the teacher receives the work on Thursday and Friday, he/she will cross off the names on the Master List. 5. Any student’s name still on the list by Friday at 1:00ish, will come to the office to call home and report that they must stay after school until all of the work is completed. 6. These students will go to the announced class room (depending on which teacher has this duty) at 3:30 and begin working on the missing assignments 7. When the work is finished, the student will call home for a ride. Please realize that the teachers reserve the right to find a turned-in assignment as unacceptable. We have found that some students are not even attempting to "do" problems, answer questions, etc., but just circling or writing answers on a page and turning it in to avoid the "extra" school time. While that might address the "letter" of the problem (turning in a paper); it certainly does not address the "spirit" of the problem (learning from the homework). So a teacher may request a student to redo some work so as to improve the learning. Remember, late work receives a lower grade, no work receives a zero. Realizing that there could be family plans of long-standing that makes this Friday after school time too inconvenient, the parent may talk with Ms. Croy. The possibility of playing in a HFS basketball/volleyball game would not be an acceptable reason to not attend. Our goal is 100% turn-in rate for all homework! Thank you for your help as we all work together to provide the best learning environment possible—not only "book learning" but "responsibility learning" too. Band and Junior High Chorus is No More Due to extenuating health issues, Mrs. Hilleary is unable to finish the year with band and chorus instruction. HFS will not seek to substitute another teacher into these classes for the remainder of this school year. Hence, currently our 4/5th Grade Band, 6/7/8th Grade Band and our Junior High Chorus is no more. We certainly hope to continue these programs in the future, but only time will tell. Mrs. Hilleary has always done a fantastic job with these programs—we want to thank her for her effort, dedication and love of music! Ms. Croy announced this to the students on Tuesday, January 8th. So if you have not seen the musical instruments come home already; you should check with your child. Thank you for your understanding in this situation. |