January 7, 2014

Welcome back to ASU Preparatory Academy!  I hope your winter break was wonderful, relaxing, and better than you anticipated.  I enjoyed the time with my family.

I spoke with all the 5th and 6th graders today about how this is the time in their lives when they are developing that traits, habits, and routines that will help them during their high school years.  I told them that not only are academics important but the things they do outside of school are important, too.  We talked about earning scholarships to college for academics, for sports, for dance, for music, for service and student government, etc.  I told them it is amazing how colleges will pay them money to come to their schools.  We also talked about the service academies(West Point, The Air Force Academy, The Naval Academy).  We talked about becoming inventors, small business owners, and going to trade school.  We also talked about minimum wage jobs and the lower pay and higher physical demands in these jobs.

I had students rate how they are doing in school both academically and socially.  Then I had them set three goals for either/or/both academics and social.  I believe that even though colleges don't generally look at the grades for elementary/junior high; but the skills, traits, habits, and routines that children are learning in these grades will contribute to their success in high school.

ASU costs over $10,000 a year.  The top three schools in the United States are Princeton, Harvard, and Yale.  Can you believe these schools cost over $40,000 a year to attend?  Wow!  Let's support our kids in their academics and encourage them to work hard in school and do their best and work towards earning a scholarship to college.

Yours in science,
Mrs. Biggs