In class we talk about progress reports and report cards being “private business” between a child and his or her parents/guardians. I highly discourage sharing and comparing progress report and report card information with friends, classmates, and maybe even older brothers or sisters! However, we always shared our report cards with our Grandma Floy who was always a great cheerleader for my brothers and sisters and me.

Since this is the first time that students have received letter grades, please read the progress reports together. Talk about areas of strength and areas to improve over the next few weeks before report cards come home. Materials from our September Orientation meeting may be helpful to explain the grading system. Ask your fourth grader to make a plan for improvement in at least one academic area and brainstorm specific ways to improve that area.