During this meeting I showed each of the children some of their new school books and one of their blank assignment pages for this year. The work listed on each assignment page is for one week, and they will eventually get a spiral bound notebook with all 36 assignment sheets for the entire year. We are still a 20th century family when it comes to assignment sheets.... I fill them in with pencil for each upcoming week. My children do not have their own phones or digital devices, and the old fashioned pencil way still works well for us!
Also during the meeting each child and I discussed goals for this year. Goals are not a new idea for us, but this year my husband and I challenged the children to come up with three goals for the school year: one academic, one personal, and one spiritual. To help them with goal setting I showed them this picture:
This eliminated some early goal suggestions such as, "I want to do better in school." ;)
As each child set goals for themselves, I typed them up in contract form and they, myself (the teacher), and my husband (the principal) all signed the contract. The contracts will be posted in the school room all year, where the children can see them, remember their goals, and assess how they are doing.
Just the process of setting measurable, realistic goals was such a good exercise for the children! It is not always easy to do. I am hopeful this will help to keep us all focused and on track, and give us a sense of accomplishment at the end of the year when we see how we have met our goals. We may not have done "everything" we wanted to do, or as well as we wanted to, but if we focus on a few things that are important and do those well, that is success! (something this mama needs to remember too!)
Many thanks to my friend April for the goal graphic and the idea to post the contracts in a visible place!
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