Bulldog Blog
Week of April 8th!
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This past weekend I went grocery shopping. On my old-fashioned handwritten list I still make, I noticed I wrote STAAR in bold letters and circled it three times. I wrote it to remind myself to get him a card, snacks that he loves to munch on, and a new book he has been wanting. I remember thinking to myself that it is funny how I put this much worry into getting everything ready for this test, but any other exam of his throughout the year, I am not writing it on my grocery list and sending him to school with a card telling him how much I believe in him....
Why do we put so much emphasis on this test? Maybe it's because it is the unexpected of the test.I can help my son study for his spelling test everyday. He knows that if they are studying fractions in Math, than the test will be over fractions. It's easy to build up their confidence when asking them the same 20 questions and they get them right. But, how do we build up their confidence for the STAAR Test...the test with unknown questions?
If you think about it.. a good test will always have items that are different than what you have studied. If all the questions were easy and what you expected, then you wouldn't have to think or study! A good exam will test your confidence! Not only do we need to build our kids confidence, but I am finding that we have to build our own confidence as a parent as well.
CONFIDENCE in our kids teachers.
CONFIDENCE in the school's curriculum.
CONFIDENCE in the entire system.
"Confidence" is made up of two roots: "con" which means "with," and "fidence," which means "faith," "loyalty," and "belief in." We can be confident that the STAAR assessment will test our child's' skills, but it is also okay to be confident in knowing that the results of the STAAR test does not define our children or their abilities!
Below are some test-taking strategies that will help to boost your child's confidence and reduce test anxiety. Remind your child that all tests have unknown questions and there is nothing different from this test than the last they took. Send them with their favorite confident building materials such as a handwritten "I believe in you," make a smiley face pancake if that is what they love, and high five them out the door! I have confidence that Alkek will exceed expectations on the STAAR Test because our staff and students are more than prepared!
If you haven't done so lately, email your child's teacher or maybe even the principal and tell them, 'Thank You!' As much as you are doing as a parent to help boost your child's confidence for the upcoming test, the Alkek teachers and staff are prepared to boost them up even more!
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APRIL 9- STAAR- 4th Writing/5th Math
1st Grade Field Trip to Botanical Gardens
3rd Grade Field Trip to the Planetarium
APRIL 10- STAAR- 5th Reading
APRIL 11- STAAR-make up testing
APRIL 12- PK/HS/PPCD Field Trip to Singing Winds Park
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Attendance Egg-Stravaganza in Full Swing!
Last week we began our April Attendance Egg-Stravaganza!! Our Week 1 winners are:
FIFTH GRADE with 96.82% and
PPCD with 100% Attendance!!!
Congratulations to our Week 1 winners who will all receive FREE COOKIES from Subway!
Moving on to week two! Who will be the next winners?!
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Meet Chantry!
Mrs. Vander Zee is a 3rd Grade Teacher here at Alkek!
She has been teaching for 11 years and with BISD for 8 amazing years!
A little about Mrs. Vander Zee:
She married her Spouse-Jacob- on July 26, 2008!
They have 3 beautiful girls together:
Elle-7, Everly-6, and Ealyn-4
She is a Scorpio born on October 25th!
Her favorite hobby outside of school and teaching are: anything with her kids, cooking, eating, gardening and plants, and RV-ing!!
Chantry says she doesn't really have a favorite book, but loves watching Annie on TV! I bet the girls love watching it with her!
She is a furry animal lover, they have a Dog named Hawkeye, and Cats named Radar and Ranger!
Her favorite holiday is Christmas!
Chantry's favorite quote or words she tends to live by are:
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!" Phillipians 4:13
When asked if she had a hero, Chantry simply says, "my mom!"
Chantry says she is most proud of her faith and her family, her husband and her kids.
When asked a little about how she ended up where she is now, Chantry tells us she married herself a Banderian and here she is! We are so lucky she found her love here in Bandera! We are blessed to have her here with us!
Thanks for all you do, Chantry, we appreciate you so much!
Enjoy your spotlight!