The Kids' Version of the Learning Skills and Work Habits Part of the Report Card

As I write this in mid-June, I know teachers are busy at work compiling report cards to give parents the best idea of how the year has gone, detailing the strengths, weaknesses, and next steps for each child.  It's not an easy task and I always thought that if I had time, I'd much rather sit down with both child and parent and give them an oral report, showing them exemplars (student work at various levels) and sharing what I'd seen in the classroom that led me to use the grades I did.

For me, the most important part of an elementary report card is the Learning Skills and Work Habits section.  In fact, in my work for GTK Press, editing and modifying Grade 5 and Grade 6 Math, we have incorporated assessment for these Learning Skills and Work Habits right into the 'regular' Assessment package.

In my classroom, I would set time aside to have students assess themselves on these Skills and Habits, and then I'd make time to review with each student their assessment and compare it with mine.  It was seldom that we differed greatly.  We could then set goals for improvement.

To that end, back in 2011, I worked with the teacher of my oldest grandson (and she is, hopefully, reading this Blog post) to create a Kids Version of the Learning Skills and Work Habits.

If your child's teacher is not able to review the Skills and Habits, you can do it.  Print out the document, and then go over each of the skills/habits and ask your child to tell you how she/he thinks she did.  Use some of the 'Kids' Language' to set the stage.  You could ask what skill/habit he wants to work on next term (or during the summer - choose one).

In September, pull out the June report card and the two of you zero in on one or two of skills/habits that could use some improvement.

Finally, everything is connected.  Check out the Executive Functions post and see how the skills/habits line up. The post on Developing Self-Determination has more ideas.

Good luck!