A mark of a 4 indicates Mastery. A mark of a 3 indicates Proficient. Since Maly has started the First Grade, she has had spelling tests on Fridays. Her teacher sends home a list 16 words on Monday and we are given the next 4 days to review said words and practice for Friday’s spelling test.
Every week Maly has come home with a 4+ grade on her spelling tests. Until last week. She came home with a mark of a 3. I was disappointed. These were words that we had practiced spelling many times throughout the week. She missed two words: trip and trap. During her test, she heard the “tr” sound as a “ch” sound, and thusly spelled “chrip” and “chrap.”
I told Maly that we were going to have to work extra hard on her spelling words this week. And we did. Any words that she had difficulty with, we focused on those words while not ignoring the others. I told her that it is very important that she tries hard, concentrates and performs well on tests. I also told her that I wanted her to earn a 4 on her spelling tests. I confirmed that she also wanted to earn 4’s on her spelling tests as well. And then I allowed her to get out of the ice bath and told her she could spit out the ball of aluminum foil.
When she stepped off the bus this afternoon, I greeted her and we hugged and kissed as usual. Elise, Maly, Mara and I all walked toward the house. Casually I asked, “Maly, how’d you do on your spelling test today?” She turned around, ran toward me and yelled, “I got a 4!!!!”
I smiled, ran my fingers through the hair on top of her head and praised, “I’m very proud of you, Sug!” Elise and I both reminded her of the value and importance in hard work, dedication and persistence. Maly said she understood, and was proud of herself for the high mark.
And after she’d received her graded test, she made it a point to write me a note. I still hope and pray, every day, that we’re doing this parenting thing right.
