May is a time to prepare for change. During May, we will be taking many “end of year” math and reading assessments. Since these evaluations cover everything that we have done this year, you will see that, in math, we are reviewing time, money, measurement, area, graphing, median/mode/minimum/maximum, fractions, addition, subtraction, and some multiplication and division. In reading and language arts, we will be checking fluency (speed and inflection), comprehension, story elements (main idea, details, etc.), grammar/punctuation, and vocabulary. You may also wish to review these concepts at home with your child; to do so, just pull out some of our practice pages from your child’s backpack!

          This is also the time of year for many special activities. As always, they are listed on the class and school calendars on the website. Check often, because tight scheduling means that a change in one event may lead to a change in date or time for another.  To start, next Monday and Tuesday, we will have the “buy one get one free” book fair in the library.   Our class members who bring money will go to the book fair during our regular library time on Monday. You may stop in before school to check out the selections in advance. This is a great way to get “cheap” books for camp, to read while traveling or beside the pool, or to relax with inside on a hot summer day. Your child will also soon be bringing home information on the Westbank Library Summer Programs for children, and the May Scholastic Book Order (due May 11^th). 
          It doesn’t matter where you get the books- just please keep your child reading this summer. In my house, we used to have a rule. The boys could do one-half hour of reading a day……. Or spend that half-hour cleaning the bathrooms. Amazingly, everyone developed a fondness for summer reading over toilet bowl cleaner! I have also added several links for our May studies to our class web page, and several activities for “Pearson/Reading Street”. I asked that all of these posting be available through June so that you could use them over at least part of the summer.

          In this May newsletter, I’d like to suggest some books about the summer for you to share with your children. Little ones might enjoy Ladybug Girl, The Tiny Seed, or Planting a Rainbow. Young readers may like, Turtle Summer, Church Summer Camp, Stage Fright on a Summer Night, Summer of the Sea Serpent, Werewolves Don’t Go to Summer Camp, or Sunny Side Up Kids. Older and teen readers could try, Galveston Summer of the Storm, Summer of the Monkeys, or Summer of My German Soldier.

          I’d like to end this school year with some final thoughts. This is my last year as an educator. I have taught for over twenty years, and I was a school principal for over seventeen years. I am ending almost 38 years in education, and that doesn’t count the countless hours I spent as a child helping my mother set up classrooms, mark papers, and do hall bulletin boards or as a teen volunteering in classrooms.  At the end of this time, I can’t help but think about “how I would like to be remembered”. I only wish I could have the following story as “my” legacy. What better way to be remembered than helping the next generation to grow to their fullest potential? So, selfishly, I give you my home e-mail and address. The e-mail is jacksonsix@aol.com and I live at 3107 Eaneswood Drive, Austin , TX, 78746 if you wish to mail me a letter. 
          In the past, I have been fortunate enough to have former students contact me about what they were doing. One young man came to see me and said that he was a teacher, and that he had been inspired to be one since he was in my kindergarten class. Once, a young policeman stopped one of my sons for making a sharp turn, but smiled when he looked at the license and address and said, “I can’t give you a ticket. Your mother was my kindergarten teacher!” The mother of one former student, a boy who had visited my “principal’s office” regularly, called to ask me to pray for him when he was a Marine sent to Iraq. I have had children from my classes stop to show me their children. Each time, I think back and thank God for my years in education. I can honestly say, I do love these children and all the ones who have crossed my classroom doorway. I hope that you will keep me informed as your children grow. I may not be around when they have children, but I’ll watch for their names listed with the high school sports teams!

 

A college professor had his sociology class go into the Baltimore slums to get case histories of 200 young boys. They were asked to write an evaluation of each boy's future. In every case the students wrote, "He hasn't got a chance." Twenty-five years later another sociology professor came across the earlier study. He had his students follow up on the project to see what had happened to these boys. With the exception of 20 boys who had moved away or died, the students learned that 176 of the remaining 180 had achieved more than ordinary success as lawyers, doctors and businessmen. The professor was astounded and decided to pursue the matter further. Fortunately, all the men were in the area and he was able to ask each one,  "How do you account for your success?" In each case the reply came with feeling, "There was a teacher." The teacher was still alive, so he sought her out and asked the old but still alert lady what magic formula she had used to pull these boys out of the slums into successful achievement. The teacher's eyes sparkled and her lips broke into a gentle smile. "It's really very simple," she said. "I loved those boys."

 

                                                                 
                                                                   Sincerely,   Joan Jackson