Lower School Division News: September 19, 2024

By Dr. Debra Sass, Lower School Division Head

Dear parents,

Being an accomplished teacher is a career-long work in progress. Teachers must be lifelong learners and open to new research and instructional practices if they are to inspire students to succeed and achieve. This year the Lower School teachers are studying student motivation. They are exploring proven techniques, strategies, and scripts based on six possible motivational styles through a book called The Motivation Breakthrough by Richard Lavoie. 

Helping unmotivated students is one of the most complex challenges we face as parents and educators. Motivation has been studied and analyzed for decades.  The solution to chronic underachievement requires more than just focusing on reading, writing, and arithmetic skills. In most cases, a child’s lack of motivation results from far more than simple laziness or a conscious desire to act out. The roots of apathy go much deeper, into feelings of frustration, anger, hopelessness, lack of control, or loss. In most cases, these feelings originate at the subconscious level, where they wreak havoc on a child’s ability to engage in higher-level thinking tasks, such as sustained attention to detail, problem solving, memory, perseverance, and self-control. Your child’s teachers are learning to recognize the obstacles that hinder motivation as well as how to implement effective interventions that will spark interest and increase joy.

Winston teachers know that any child can be motivated to learn. They spend each day looking for the keys to unlocking enthusiasm and bolstering understanding.  In the words of Rick Lavoie, “We constantly search for ways that we can “change the child.” Perhaps we should first analyze and change our policies, procedures, and practices when dealing with hard-to-reach kids.”

Green and growing,
Dr. Debra Sass

A LOOK AHEAD 

TODAY is North Texas Giving Day!
Join the Winston community and others in North Texas in our most exciting day of philanthropic giving to organizations with which you share a passion! We’d love to be the beneficiary of your gift, and will also be grateful for the organizations, non-profits, or community partners that benefit from your generosity. 

Tuesday, September 24 - School Pictures, Grades Kindergarten - 11
All students should be in uniform for school pictures! 

Friday, October 11 - Early Dismissal, Professional Development
Lower and Middle School will dismiss at noon, and Upper School will dismiss at 12:30 p.m. If you are unable to pick up your student at that time, childcare will be available from 12 - 3:30 p.m. for students in Kindergarten through Sixth Grade. The charge will be $75 for that time. Regular After Care charges apply beginning at 3:30 p.m. 

Parents must register to hold a space for their students and to allow our providers to plan appropriate coverage. Please register by clicking on the EARLY DISMISSAL CARE REGISTRATION FORM.

Monday, October 14 - Indigenous People’s Day, NO SCHOOL

Friday, October 18 - Fall Conferences, NO SCHOOL

GENERAL UPDATES

AIMSWEB TESTING BEGINS NEXT WEEK
Aimsweb testing is scheduled to begin with our oldest students next week. Aimsweb is a research-based assessment and monitoring system that measures students’ reading and math skills. Aimsweb is administered online and is used to monitor student progress, evaluate instruction, and manage student assessment data.

WINSTON STUDENTS EXCELL AT STATE-WIDE PRODIGY CHALLENGE
Prodigy is an adaptive math program that is assistive while providing a gamified math experience incentivized by the self-paced, student-led, and teacher-directed activities aligned with the current classroom curriculum and adapted to students’ math learning levels in real-time. Prodigy hosts a state-wide class challenge every 2 weeks. In the first state-wide challenge of the school year, Winston students take the lead!

Grades 4, 5, and 6 have all earned FIRST place! 

Kindergarten and Grade 1 have earned 2nd place!

Grade 2 has earned 4th place!

Grade 3 has also earned 2nd place!

Wow! Huge thank you Ms. Condie for exemplary leadership in STEM instruction! WAY TO GO Winston Eagles!