Happy New Year!

Have you missed me on here?  I have been enjoying the winter break and haven't been on my computer.  I wanted to pop on here really fast to wish you a happy new year!  I hope you have been having a wonderful and relaxing break.  It's hard to believe we are back to school the day after tomorrow... I'm looking forward to hearing all about your break.

As 2013 comes to a close, I hope you will look back with pride over your accomplishments from the past year and look forward to the future with hope and possibility. Tonight, as you are celebrating the new year, please remember to stay safe and be smart!

Winter Break

Hooray! We reached winter break! I don't know about you, but it seems like the last few weeks have been a major sprint - especially with exams being held before break.  You made it through and now I hope you will be able to relax and enjoy the upcoming days off.

I wish you the best during the holidays and hope that you enjoy the time with your family.  If you will be travelling, please stay safe. Also, I wanted to let you know that I will not be blogging as consistently over break as this is a vacation for me too. :-)

I'll be looking forward to hearing all about your holiday fun after we get back to school. Again, have a great break!

PSAT and PLAN Test Results

Your scores have arrived! Any students who took the PSAT and PLAN tests in October can now pick up your score reports from the Counseling Center. You can pick up your score sheets during your lunch period or before or after school from the secretaries at the front of the counseling center. 

The score sheets have a lot of useful information and tips for understanding your scores as well as the information and links that we have available on the counselor website -http://www.wkhscounselors.com/. 

If you have questions about your scores, I invite you and your parents to attend an Understanding your Results Workshop during the late start time on Monday, January 6th from 7:45 - 9:00am.  This will provide a great chance to develop a better understanding for what your results can tell you.

Don't forget, these are just practice tests so they are giving you a general indication of where you might expect to score if you were taking the ACT or SAT with no additional preparation or review.

Test Anxiety

How did the first day of exams go? Were you feeling anxious? Test Anxiety can be common for students - especially with exams since they have such a significant influence on your semester grades. The best strategy to prevent test anxiety is being prepared. It is much more likely that you will be anxious and struggle with feeling overwhelmed if you have not adequately studied and prepared for the test. Unfortunately, for some students, you can be well-prepared, but still struggle with anxiety.

There are a wide range of strategies you can use to help deal with anxiety:

- Recent research has indicated that spending several minutes before a test to write about your feelings will help decrease test anxiety and improve test scores. The University of Chicago researchers “believe worrying competes for computing power in the brain’s ‘working,’ or short-term memory.”

- Practice putting yourself in testing situations when studying. The more you get used to the experience and feelings of testing the less anxious you will feel when in the actual test.

- Just before the test, avoid talking about the test material with your friends. Chances are fixating on the test material and talking about it with your friends right before the test will only make you more anxious.

- Approach the test with a positive attitude. Don’t go into the test expecting the worst to happen. You can remind yourself that you have studied and know the material.

- Avoid distractions so that you can focus on the test and not on what other students are doing. Do not compare yourself with others and how they are doing on the test.

- Take a deep breath, relax, and do the best you can.

I should also mention that smart testing strategies like getting a good night of sleep, eating breakfast, having all of your required materials (pen, pencil, calculator, scratch paper, etc), getting regular exercise, and giving yourself plenty of time to get to your test on time will also benefit you as a whole and in testing situations.

Good luck in the next two days of exams!

Good Luck on Exams!

I just wanted to wish all of you good luck on your exams tomorrow (and the rest of the week.) Good luck with your last minute studying, get a good night's sleep and then tomorrow, relax, eat a good breakfast, take a deep breath and do your best on each exam!  

Remember, you don't have to be THE best, as long as you do YOUR best!

As always, I will be anxious to hear how things go for you on your exams - so stop in and say hi to share an update (and, of course, you can pick up a piece of candy too.) :-)

Holiday Assembly

As you know, today was the annual holiday assembly.  Many of my students showcased their leadership and talents as a part of the ceremony.

Lauren Hedges and Danny Darby helped lead assembly and shared feedback from some of the people who received gifts as well as those who delivered them.  It was incredible to hear that our student body raised nearly $7,000 to help make the holidays a little brighter for some of the families in our community.

Joey Ambrozich and Charlie Cox were a part of the jazz band which performed.

Bailey Andrews, Michelle Borchers, Grayson Brown and Emily Dyer sang two songs with Encore.

Josh Blake (who had a solo), Steven Borchers, and Alex Brothers performed as a part of Acafellas.

And last, but not least, Maggie Barrie wrote and directed the video which included Andy Cook and Bryn Caswell.

Today was a wonderful celebration of your generosity and the positive impact you are making in the school and community.  I am so proud to work with you all!

Tomorrow's Schedule

We have a VERY different schedule than normal tomorrow.  It is a late start day so you get to sleep in a little more.  Classes will start at 9:10.  And then because of exams, the annual holiday assembly will be held tomorrow instead of the last day before break.  It should be a great way to kick off the last school week of 2013.

Here is the breakdown for the day:

Period 1 - 9:10 - 9:40

Period 2 - 9:45 - 10:15

Period 3 - 10:20 - 12:10  (Students will be divided to spend 1/2 of the time in class and 1/2 in the assembly)

Period 4 - 12:15 - 12:45

Period 5 - 12:50 - 1:20

Period 6 - 1:25 - 1:55

Period 7 - 2:00 - 2:30

Period 8 - 2:35 - 3:05

I hope you have been studying this weekend and are feeling confident for your upcoming exams.