APPLETON BLOG

Transitioning from 2nd to 3rd Grade

^{By: Dr. Kathrynn Seidler Engberg, Picasso, Director of Education}

The transition from 2nd to 3rd grade can be one of the biggest leaps you will see your child make as a parent. During this phase you begin to really catch glimpses of the young adult they are on their way to becoming. At the same time, your child has not completely left childhood behind. While your child may begin to exhibit more confidence, independence, and express the desire to not be so closely tied to parents, they are still full of silliness. You may begin to notice more pop culture references in their jokes, as they giggle with friends in the back of your car during school pick up. By 3rd grade, children are becoming more aware socially, and become more influenced by external forces. Friends, music, video games, and internet, begin impacting your child’s perception of the world at this stage of development, more so than during previous stages of your child’s life. The impact of outside influences can often be unnerving for many parents of 3rd graders.

Your 3rd grader is facing huge changes academically, challenges which can also unnerve parents. When children enter into 3rd grade, the level of work and expectation becomes much more challenging than what they experienced in previous grades. The reading passages get tougher, the amount of writing gets longer, and the level of abstract thinking in mathematics increases. There is a noticeable escalation in homework because this is the year that your child has to memorize multiplication tables and other important foundation information. Your 3rd grader is also faced with standardized testing for the first time. These scores often determine whether a school is labeled as successful, and so there is added pressure placed your child to master concepts. As a result, 3rd graders often begin to exhibit new emotions about school that they have never felt before. Often children begin to feel anxiety about homework and going to school because the pressure to succeed has increased. Many children struggle with perfectionist tendencies, trying to make their work perfect, because they have a growing sense that everything they do has impact on their success.
 

As a parent you can help your child have an easier transition from 2nd to 3rd grade. You need to become more aware of who their friends are and what external influences may be impacting your child. Do not be afraid to filter friends who you think may have a negative impact. Encourage your child to be more independent and hang out with friends, but also set aside time to connect one-on-one. Family dinner without distractions, planning activities that encourage family engagement, and even just making time to talk becomes increasingly important at this stage. Your 3rd grader may protest, but in the long run, they will love you for taking the initiative to engage them and get to know the person they are becoming.
 

Getting more involved in their academics becomes important as well. As a parent, you can help your child mitigate the increased stress of performing well at school by offering lots of encouragement. Praise the effort they put into learning a new concept, memorizing facts, or spending extra time to do an assignment well. Be sure to iterate to your child that tests and grades do not necessarily determine future success. If your child faces struggle, or even failure, help them see that these moments are part of the learning process. Turn homework into a game, especially if rote memorization is involved. Make time to quiz, even in short spurts while driving your car or cooking dinner. Help provide spaces that are conducive for your child to accomplish their homework. Your child may like to crawl away in quiet, or your child may need the social interaction of sitting near you, while you cook, surf the internet, or do your tasks. To balance the intensified work load, be sure to provide your child with unscheduled downtime, where they can just be themselves, doing what they like to do.

Most importantly, let your child know they are loved and encourage laughter. Even if they act embarrassed, tell them you love them and be silly with them. They may roll their eyes at you, but deep down it matters to your child. It is so much easier to face challenges, new experiences, and big transitions, when you know someone cares.

^{Appleton will later explore other transitional years and how parents can proactively prepare their students for success.}

^{By: Chris Sims, Aristotle, Test Prep Coach}

As we get into May, the general level of anxiety among students increases.  For some students, this anxiety builds for the end of semester deadlines of exams and papers.  Others face this with standardized tests such as the ACT or SAT.  For a less stressful end of the semester, here are a few things to remember.

Prepare mentally.  The best way to reduce test anxiety is to be well prepared for the test.  For final exams, make plans to study in advance for the test.  Study the way that is best for you.  Break the material down into smaller units to review each night.  Take mock exams.    If you learn best with others, make plans to have a couple of study group meetings before the exam.  Avoid cramming—you retain very little if you study the night before. So go ahead and chill out the night before a big test.

Prepare physically.  As you prepare for tests, make sure that you also prepare physically.  Get enough sleep the night before you take your test.  Eat a solid breakfast the morning of the test.  As you study, also allow time to exercise and spend time with friends, especially the night before a major test. 
 

Be a good test taker.  When you sit down to take the test, make sure to pay attention to the question and answer choices.  It is easy to miss a word that changes the meaning of a question.  Eliminate answer choices that are wrong.  Use your time wisely.  If you get stuck on a question, skip over it and come back if you have time at the end.  If you have to write an essay, take a couple of minutes to develop your position and broadly outline your response.  If you have time, review your work before you turn in the exam.
 

Finally, relax and be confident.  Tests are an opportunity to show what you have learned.  There is not a reason to get nervous about them.  As you prepare, you can build confidence that you will do well on tests.

^{By: Sonia Robinson, APR, Rembrandt} 

Just last week a colleague and I traveled to Atlanta to visit with our great friends from the Ron Clark Academy. We caught up with Rosalyn Merrick, Director of Development, and talked about RCA’s philosophy, rigor and discipline. We also marked our calendars for some incredible events coming up at the school including their musical, written and produced by the students. Jamal, his mom and sister, later joined us and just like always, each greeted us with a smile and hug. Jamal is in his first year at RCA, a 5th – 8th private school.

If you ever visit the Ron Clark Academy expect students to greet you with a handshake and politely introduce themselves. They have a slide in the lobby just incase you don’t feel like taking the stairs down. But perhaps one thing that Jamal’s mom would describe as the biggest difference between her son’s previous school, where he was making all A’s, and RCA is the discipline. We’re not talking about “stand in the corner for 5 minutes” discipline. We’re talking about academic discipline.

Jamal isn’t making all A’s now. Not because his skills are deficient, but because the rigorous course work is challenging him to push his knowledge and abilities. The discipline part comes in when the work seems too challenging or playing out side sounds more attractive than homework. Jamal was excited to tell us that he has improved his grades. Geometry is his favorite subject and he had just scored 100% on two assignments. For Jamal, the discipline is paying off. He’s more confident and his grades reflect his hard work.

Jamal has an incredible cheerleader at home, his mom.

^{By: Nick Wilbourn, Aristotle, Academic Coach}

With the end of the school year in sight, your students are probably getting excited about summer, that long-awaited seasonal break from school. This is not only an enjoyable time but also a highly important one for students: a chance to refresh their mental batteries so that they can be prepared for the next academic year.

Relaxing and de-stressing are an important part of the summer for most learners, from kindergarteners to college students. However, as we relax and refresh our minds this summer, it is important to remember that we are all lifelong learners. Even when school lets out for summer, students do not stop learning. We are constantly learning new things, from our time spent casually browsing the Internet to our social interactions with friends and family. Learning happens all of the time, whether we are actively trying to learn or not.

For our students to maximize their potentials as lifelong learners, they—like all of us—must be attuned to the idea that just about anything can be turned into a learning experience. The summer is a great time for students to learn new things because they do not typically have the same academic work load that they do during the school year. Summer is a great time to read a new book, learn to play a musical instrument, try a new hobby, or discover a talent you never knew you had!

Summer is also a great time for students to work toward their goals of academic success. Whether they are reviewing ideas from the previous year, looking ahead to concepts they will encounter in the fall semester, or planning for college and career, students can really capitalize on the summer as an opportunity to keep their mental muscles in shape and remain academically focused. Just as athletes work out year-round to stay at the top of their game, so too should our students constantly “work out” their mental muscles so that can be the best at what they do.

Meet Corban Swain. Appleton was recently introduced to Corban by ways of his scholarship application. After all, out of 86 applicants with score increases ranging from 3 - 8 points, Corban increased his ACT score 10 POINTS - from a 23 to a 33! We believe that all of our scholarship applicants are genius and we congratulate them on their success, hard work, and commitment to being the very best student they can possibly be. At Appleton, that's what it's all about. Identifying academic goals and setting the course for maximized performance and long term success. Congratulations Appleton Hometown Scholarship Applicants and Corban Swain!

More about Corban:

Corban Swain is highly motivated and very talented however his primary passion is Photography. He works as a freelance photographer and as a school photojournalist. His creative images have won both local and state awards. Second to photography is his love for origami; he teaches this ancient art of paper folding to kids and adults alike at a local art gallery. Often you’ll find him tutoring his peers in calculus and physics. He also serves as Vice President of the Spanish Club and has won two state awards for poetry recitation in Spanish.

At Sparkman High School, Corban is actively involved with the track team, the technology team, and the National Honor Society. This National Achievement Scholar has been accepted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, CalTech, Washington University in St Louis, and UAB.

Corban’s desire is to pursue a Biological/Biomedical Engineering degree and he envisions a path to conducting biomedical research as a Physician-Scientist (MD/PhD). “Working to perfect, innovate, and even invent treatment methods for pathologies troubling millions today,” Corban stated in reference to his future.