Dear Parents,

 

This week we began our Terranova testing with our students. Every year, we spend two weeks administering the tests to enable us to see how much growth each child has had in comparison to other students of the same age and grade level who are taking the same exam throughout the country. Such a test requires good listening skills, good reading skills and the ability to bubble information into a given area to mark one’s answer selection. All of these capabilities take time to master and some are much more capable than others to complete the tests with ease. We know as educators that students must learn to complete all sorts of assessments and tasks both now and into their adult lives. Practice of such is essential to grow and master such tasks.

 

We model behaviors every day with students to help them to understand and process information and use a variety of methods to do such. Accordingly, we try to play to the students’ strengths and build resiliency in those areas most challenging. This is part of every student’s daily life both in and out of school. You as parents, work with your child to teach them skills to take care of themselves, to contribute to the household, to hone gifts and talents they may have in music, athletics, academics, and friendship.

 

We try to find many different ways to recognize students’ accomplishments and emphasize that their greatest contributions lie in doing as God calls them to do in loving Him and others.

 

Please take some time to encourage and explain to your child that his/her gifts are being nurtured at school and home and that sometimes the things most challenging become our greatest joys and the contributions we can make to God’s world, and the people in it.

 

May you have time this weekend to do something with your family, and to acknowledge each individual in the family for the great gift he or she is to your family, and our Epiphany School family as well.

 

Yours In Christ,

 

Rita M. Klenk