Got Grit?

Who's got grit?

This student?

Or this one?

"Grit" is the new school buzzword. It means:

• Stick with it.
• Tough it out.
• Keep plugging away.
• Hang in there.
• And that old classic: Try, try, and try again.

Little Engine That Couldn’t? Not! 

It turns out that big winners give themselves big brains when they stay on the job until it's done. Sez who?
   
Sez Angela Lee Duckworth, a smart cookie professor at the University of Pennsylvania. She tested West Point cadets, National Spelling Bee brainiacs, top teachers, and successful sales people. What did they all have in common? 

Grit. 

High achievers hit it out of the ballpark thanks to super determination and focus. Grit helped these winners unleash their talents over the competition. 

Want to find out if you’ve got grit? Take Professor Duckworth's Grit Test. There's no pass or fail. Your score on the Grit Test can tell you how much grit you already have and give you an idea of how to get more. 

So go get gritty. 

All this talk about grit is making Mizz C. hungry for shrimp 'n grits, one of her fav meals down South where she's visiting her family. 

Thanksgiving Shout-out To . . .

TURKEY

TURKEY, MASHED POTATOES, GRAVY, AND CRANBERRIES

PUMPKIN PIE

When you're down to the wishbone, and the dishes are dried, curl up with one of Mizz C's all-time favorite books. The first page opens on Thanksgiving Day and is out of this world! (Warning: It's an adventure and a tearjerker.)  

A SWIFTLY TILTING PLANET by Madeleine l'Engle

Dumpster or Backpack? You Decide.

Do you feel like this when you need something in your pack?

Mizz C. knows you're busy. So she’ll make it quick and easy: 

• Get a wastebasket and a recycling bin if you have one.

• Dump out everything from your backpack onto a desk or table.

• Put school books in one section of your backpack.

• Put your notebooks in another section. It's like keeping your peas separate from your mashed potatoes.

• Hunt down all loose pieces of paper. Pile 'em up. 

• Put like with like--math homework with math tests, science homework with science tests, and so on. Find a place in your room—a shelf, a cubby, a box. Put those old tests and homework papers away.* Use them as test tools later on. Hold the bonfire until the end of the school year when all your tests are over!

• Toss or recycle outdated papers, worn-out pens, markers,  pencils, peanut shells, and wrappers of things you ate or chewed in September.

• Add fresh writing tools and paper but not too much.

• Done! Now go find a skateboard.

*Someday when you fall in love with folders the way Mizz C. did many blog postings ago, you can stuff your old corrected quizzes and homework in those.

 

All Together Now: Study Groups

Exams ahead--call in the study buddies! No not these two:

 

                                       

          More like this:

Mizz C. has a few tips for studying with friends so that the work gets done and there’s still time for fun:

• Keep your study group small, 2-4 people tops--the nerdier the better.

• Meet a few days before the big test for one hour max.

• Pick a place where you can talk quietly without distractions—no cell phones until the hour is over.

• Ask all study buddies to do a couple things: bring their class notes and predict two or three test questions.

• Set a timer for one hour. (You remember Mizz C’s kitchen timer, don’t you--the chicken timer she loves almost as much as her granddaughter?) 

• Spend a half hour sharing class notes. Fill in information any of you forgot.

• Ask the questions everyone thinks the teacher is going to ask. Take turns answering the questions out loud. No interruptions, put-downs, or pile-ons. Be helpful.

• Take notes on the answers you hear.

• When the timer sounds, have fun.

Yes, you Khan!

Hey there, Middle Schoolers. Were you home sick when your teacher talked about quadrilaterals, and now the class is onto polygons?

Or were you in class on quadrilateral day but didn't understand what the heck your teacher was talking about?





What if there were a school with a calm, patient teacher who explained quadrilaterals in eight minutes flat? 

Oh wait, there is! It's called Khan Academy! All you need to go there is a few minutes of your time and a computer. No school bus. No attendance. No homework. This free online school offers hundreds of You Tube videos on almost every topic at every grade level.

Here's how it works:

• Go to the Khan Academy home page. No need to register. 

• Type the topic you want to work on.  

• Click the video for that topic. Watch it as many times as it takes to get it down. 

• Optional: Go to the Practice menu. Type in your subject again. Do a quick workout until you've nailed it. 

   
Best part? No report card except the one in your head.

LOTS OF TEACHERS, LOTS OF BOOKS, OH YES!

Hey, Middle Schoolers. Was this you just a month ago?

Is this you today?

 

Mizz C. to the rescue with a study skill tip you can try out TONIGHT, yes TONIGHT-- and every night for the rest of the school year. This amazing study tip will do more than index cards, nagging voices, or class notes to help you prepare for tests, memorize information, stay focused in class, and get your work done. 

Can you guess what it is? 

Not!

                                                          
Mizz C. knows the energy you need for school doesn't come from a can. It comes from two things you can see in the picture below. You probably have both of them right in your room. 

pillow and alarm clock

Mizz C. has been accused of repeating herself. Now she's going to do just that. The best study skill you can master this year can be found in one of Mizz C's first blog postings, Sleep, the Super Study Skill. 

Now go catch some zzzs (unless you're in class right now or you haven't finished tomorrow's homework yet).  

No More Teachers, No More Books? Oh, No!

Hey, Middle Schoolers! Would you rather lie on a hammock with a book you love or go to summer school? If you said "summer school," Mizz C. knows you thought today was April Fools' Day. Who wouldn't choose lying in the nice cool grass, on the beach, or in a hammock and reading a book you love?

Go for it! Here's why. An incredible report came out in 2011 showing that students who read twelve--12, 12, 12--books over three summers scored as well as students who went to summer school.


Here's the best part. The twelve books weren't assigned books or books that parents or teachers picked out for the kids. They were titles the kids picked themselves--everything from books on celebrities, gossip, to gerbils and a wizard pupil by the name of Harry. Nobody had to write reports or get tested on the books they picked. They just read twelve books that interested them.


Why is Mizz C. not surprised? Every time you read a new book, you pick up new vocab words, new ideas, new kinds of information, and new ways different authors present information. Those are the very reading skills that get a workout on standardized tests.  


To find the best summer books just right for you, grab your library card. Ask a friendly librarian for book suggestions based on subjects and books you already like. 


Or go to amazon.com. Type in the title of a book you really, really enjoyed. The brainiacs at Amazon will list titles of similar books you'll also like. Read the real-kid reviews for the books Amazon suggests. Then track down some of those books wherever you can find them. 


So get with your very own reading program, whether it's Dancing with the Starlings, The Real House Flies of Beverly Hills, or The Snack Games. 

Happy summer, Middle Graders! See you in the fall. 


XO 
Mizz C. 

Memorization Homework for Memorial Day Weekend

Remember to remember
these people.

Remember to celebrate Memorial Day.

Remember to give a wave .

Hey There, They're, Their!

Are you there, Middle Schoolers? Or are you they’re or their? 

If you get mixed up on which there to use in your writing, here’s 

the drill:

They’re is a short form--a contraction--of two words: they are.

Example: They’re walking on eggshells, aka: They are walking on
eggshells.

Plain old there is a condition or a place.

Example: There are broken eggs right there--at that place--on 
the floor.

Their shows ownership or possession of something.

Example: Their scrambled eggs--the eggs they ordered--are rubbery.

There! Mizz C. is done. 

Middle Schoolers, Start Your (Google™) Search Engines

Do you have a school report coming up and feel like this: 

instead of like this: 

Not to worry. That Internet search engine, Google,™ has come up with a new way to list information at different reading levels. 

Let's say you're a super genius expert on tornadoes. Tell Google™ to list advanced articles:  

What Causes Tornadoes:

Tornadoes form in unusually violent thunderstorms when there is sufficient (1) instability and (2) wind shear present in the lower atmosphere. 

Instability refers to unusually warm and humid conditions in the lower atmosphere, and possibly cooler than usual conditions in the upper atmosphere. Wind shear in this case refers to the wind direction changing, and the wind speed increasing, with height. An example would be a southerly wind of 15 mph at the surface, changing to a southwesterly or westerly wind of 50 mph at 5,000 feet altitude. 

This kind of wind shear and instability usually exists only ahead of a cold front and low pressure system. 

http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/edu/safety/tornadoguide.html

If you're a tornado newbie, ask Google™ to list basic articles first:

How do tornadoes form?

Most tornadoes form from thunderstorms. You need warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico and cool, dry air from Canada. When these two air masses meet, they create instability in the atmosphere. A change in wind direction and an increase in wind speed with increasing height creates an invisible, horizontal spinning effect in the lower atmosphere. Rising air within the updraft tilts the rotating air from horizontal to vertical.

http://www.weatherwizkids.com/weather-tornado.htm

Click here for instructions on how to get Google™ to list articles at just the right reading level.

  

And if your report needs a little something extra, and you're sending it to your teacher through a computer, then your go-to search engine is the free Microsoft™ Clipart files:  

Way to go Microsoft™ Clipart! And you too, Google™.

Watch Out, U-Turn Words Ahead!

How annoying, right Middle Schoolers? You think you understand what a speaker or author means. Then bam! They stick in a "but." Suddenly they mean the opposite of what they just said. Outrageous. 

Mizz C. wants you to have the list of U-Turn words--transition words--that often appear in standardized test reading passages. If you see these words, be on the alert. The passage is heading in the other direction!

U-Turn, transition words:

although 

but 

even though

however

on the other hand

otherwise

yet

U-Turn Sentences:

Although I’d love to try that mystery meat casserole, I might be allergic.

I know finishing my homework is important. However, trimming my toenails is important, too.

I like you, but . . . (I secretly mean the opposite of what I just said.)

I know I should put away the dishes. On the other hand, if I let them air dry, everybody can find them faster.

Even though it’s a school night, having a sleepover will help me learn more if I study with my friends.

I’d better eat the rest of these cookies. Otherwise they might get stale.

I know it’s time to come inside, yet it doesn’t make sense to go to bed if I’m not tired.

Oh, Say! Can You See . . . the Blackboard?

Today Mizz C. has two stories with happy endings about wearing glasses at school if you need them. 


Story #1: It was a dark and stormy day. Mizz C. was walking along with Mizz C, Junior, who pointed at the sidewalk: "Oh, look at that cute dachshund!" 

Only it wasn't a dachshund. It was a skateboard! 

That's when Mizz C. realized that Mizz C. Junior might need glasses. And she did! Pretty soon middle school got easier for Mizz C. Jr. She could see the blackboard! And she could tell the difference between a dachshund and a skateboard! 


Story #2: Mister Teacher, a blogger Mizz C. knows from the Internet, posted a story about eyeglasses, too: 

A Bit of Near-Sightedness

After I witnessed one of my kids get up and walk closer to the board to look at a problem for about the fourth time today, I had this conversation with him:

Me: Have you ever gone to the nurse to get your vision checked? To see if you maybe need glasses?

Student: Yes.

Me: Oh, well, did they say that you needed glasses?

Student: Yes.

Me: I see. Did you ever GET glasses?

Student: Yes.

Me: So do you have glasses here at school?

Student: Yes.

Me: Can you put them on??

Student: Yes.

Eye test over! 

Lights Out, Middle Schoolers!

And that goes double for you, iPad, Mortal Kombat, TV, cell phones, and laptops!

Are tech toys stealing your sleep? Colorful, exciting tech screens are fun. But they can really mess up your sleep if you keep them on too long. Bright lights interfere with a great sleepytime chemical called melatonin that your body releases when the lights dim. Here's what happens to melatonin when tech toys light up the night:

• brightly-lit screens = less melatonin
• less melatonin =  trouble falling asleep 
• trouble falling asleep = falling asleep at school
• falling asleep at school = crankiness, forgetfulness, stress, and trouble with the teach.

Bad way to go to sleep--with the TV remote and a bowl of popcorn about to hit the floor. 

Isn't this better?

So put your screens to sleep 30 minutes before you put yourself to sleep. 

P.S. Feel free to pop in at Mizz C’s other snoozy blog posting--the one where she tells the world that sleep is an important study skill. 

Sleep workshop over. Go catch some zzzzs.