Eldon South Elementary

Missouri First Lady Visits South Elementary

The First Lady of the State of Missouri, Mrs. Georganne Nixon, visited South School as a part of the  global literacy initiative, “ Read Every Day, Lead a Better Life,” through the Scholastic Summer Challenge.  This is a reading program designed to keep parents informed and kids motivated to read over the summer months. Scholastic donates 500 books to elementary school students at a school that the First Lady chooses.  The First Lady looked at schools across Missouri and chose Eldon South Elementary, based on its exemplary school leadership and noteworthy initiative.  During her trip, Mrs. Nixon read to pre-school students and visited other classrooms as well.

Kindergarten Orientation – May 13

Kindergarten orientation will be held on May 13 from 5:30 – 6:30 p.m.

ECSE Graduation – May 17

ECSE graduation will be held at Rock Island Park on May 17.  AM classes will be from 9:00 – 11:00.  PM classes will be from 12:00 – 2:00.

Last Day of School – May 21

School will dismiss at 12:40.

Ask the right kinds of questions to improve your child’s thinking

Experts recommend asking questions to build your child’s thinking skills. The trick is to ask the right kinds of questions.  A well-known classification system, Bloom’s Taxonomy, divides thinking skills into six categories.  Ask your child questions that fall under these categories:

1. Knowledge. Find out what your child knows about a topic. Talk about facts. Start with the basics, such as who, what, when and where. “When did the war start?” “Who was the President?” The answers should be clearly right or wrong.
2. Comprehension. Test how well your child understands the subject. Ask him to describe, explain or predict something. “If we were tadpoles, where would we live?”
3. Application. Encourage your child to connect previous learning to new experiences. “Chickens hatch from eggs. What do you think happens with ostriches?”
4. Analysis. Discuss how something works or how it’s organized. “Name the different kinds of animals you studied.”
5. Synthesis. This involves thinking about old information in new ways. “What if Christopher Columbus lived today? Where could he explore?”
6. Evaluation. Help your child be creative without worrying about right or wrong. “Imagine you could go back in time. What would you do during the Civil War?” “How might you change history?”

You can help your child reach for the stars

All parents have dreams for their children. And those dreams can motivate children to succeed. But sometimes, those dreams can turn into pressure.

How to keep a good balance? Try to:

• Link your dreams to our child’s interests and strengths. If he loves legos and math, he may be an engineer one day. If he loves dancing and singing, maybe acting is for him.
• Listen to words and actions. If he starts trying to avoid practice, ask him whether he still likes the game. Sometimes, all it takes is for a parent to step back a little and let the child own the dream.
• Help your child feel successful in your eyes. He may not get the starring role in the play. But you’ll love him even if he’s singing in the back row of the chorus.

Experts say three habits can make your child a great reader

Reading researchers have studied the best readers. They’ve found there are some things these people do that make them good readers.

Luckily, these are skills you can teach your child. And you can teach them while reading aloud to your child. Here are three habits you can help your child develop:

Make predictions. Expert readers think about what might come next. That helps them pay attention to details in a story. As you read, stop occasionally and ask your child, “What do you think might come next?” Look for clues in the story that might give something away. Later, you can see if your child’s prediction was right. If not, go back and see if there were some clues you missed.

Look for interesting words. Children who read a lot have bigger vocabularies than those who don’t. So when you read, point out interesting words. “Oh, look, it says ‘his coursers they came.’ Let’s see if this poem tells us what coursers are.” Your child will pay attention to try to learn this new word. Later, she can make a list of new words she’s learned so she can try to use them when she speaks or writes.

Relate what you have read to your child’s life. If you read a book in which a character learns a lesson, ask your child if she’s ever learned a lesson like that. If you read a nonfiction book, you can ask about things she has learned. “What do you know about bees that you didn’t know before?”

Instill respect at home to ensure your child is respectful at school

Have you ever marveled at how teachers keep classes under control? They deserve a lot of credit, and so do parents! When parents instill respect at home, it shows at school. To help your child work well with teachers:

• Practice the basics. Expect your child to take turns, listen when adults talk, follow instructions, and say please and thank you. Enforce basic class rules at home (such as keeping hands and feet to self), and compliment your child’s good behavior, especially in difficult situations.
• Be a role model. Children are most respectful when they’re shown respect. Picture how you want your child to behave, and then do the adult equivalent. Share, avoid interrupting, speak politely and apologize for mistakes. Show appreciation for rules. (“What if everyone ran stop signs?”) And remember to say positive things about school.