The beginning of the school year can be tough for many kids. It's not easy leaving behind the fun of summer. Others may be ready but still need a way to transition into the structure of school.
A favorite activity of mine is to create goals at the start of the year. It helps students self reflect and take ownership over their own learning. This activity can be used to work with any age.
Here are some tips when making goals:
Keep the goals simple and attainable: Saying I will get straight A's is an achievement, but we want kids to look at growth, not just the grade. Focus on the things that your student or your child really need to work on. Ask your child/student, "what do you think you need to work on?"
Make goals specific: For example, "I will work on reading 20 minutes two times a week." "I will look over all my writing assignments for capitalization, sentence structure, spelling and punctuation."
Self-reflect: Revisit the goals at the end of each grading period. What worked? What didn't?
Create a timeline: Do you hope to achieve this by the end of the grading period? Or by the end of the year?
Chose a goal that is not related to academics: Let students find growth and success in other areas they value as well.
Attached is our Start of the Year Goal Making Freebie! We hope this gets you off to a strong start!