My son has been requesting letter grades and a report card for a while now. He will be in third grade next year. I have not done any grades with him so far. Most of what we do doesn't involve tests or workbooks. How have you graded classwork that was mostly reading, discussions, or activities? What are the standard percentages for each letter grade?
at that age don't worry about specifics, grade him on his effort, his attempt to do a good job. Grade him on daily behavior during school time, and creativity in writting or coloring, if he tries hard and gets half of them wrong, well grade that one twice! make him re do it then make the final grade reflect where he ended up.
I can understand that he wants to see how well he is doing, and have solid results to see in front of him. I'd Agree with TeacherMom. Grade him on school behavior and effort mainly.
I grade math, because it is so objective. I also grade attitude and writing assignments. Jazz was upset (for about 2 seconds) when I told him I thought he did a very good job on his writing assignment, but that he got a C+ on it. I then explained that a C is what you would expect from your average 7th grader and that while I thought he had some good structure and ideas, he also had two paragraphs that were only 2 sentences long, quite a few punctuation errors (more than 7 in 1 page) and he didn't go above and beyond...which was what you would need to do to get an A or a B. so then he was fine with it...and we discussed what would need to happen in the future for a better grade.
precentages vary by district. The easiest is 90-100% = A; 80-89% = B; 70-79% = C; 60-69% = D; 59% and below = F My district was stricter All I remember was A & F LOL 92-100=A and below 69 was an F I found this one on a homeschool site 93-100% = A; 85-92% = B; 77-84% = C; 70-76% = D; 69% and below = F You could give an oral test for reading comprehension, or even just give a grade for effort. You can grade anything. If you've ever had a evaluation on a job, you know this LOL
Some kids think in numbers, and will gauge success that way. It's okay. I have a teacher friend that offered to check in with me sometimes if I'm wondering if my standards for writing, colouring, presenting etc, are grade appropriate. It might be worth looking for someone like that in your community. If you can find someone supportive that is! (especially if your kids rely heavily on the grade for their sense of success).
You can grade everything on a letter scale (A, B, C, D, F) and then convert that to a numerical scale: A=4, B=3, C=2, D=1, F=0. Keep track of those scores, then average them later in the year: 2 As = 8, 3 Bs = 9 Total = 17 Divide that by the 5 grades = 3.4 Then set your scale: ie 3.7-4.0 = A. 2.9 - 3.6 = B, 2.1-2.8 = C, 1.5 - 2 = D, below 1.5 = F. That is how many high school teachers and college profs do it. Another thing you can do is set the assignment before hand and give each one a certain number of points. Then add the total number of points for the quarter or semester, divide by the total points possible, and that gives a percent: 5 assignments worth 10 pts each = 50 pts. Say the student received 8/10 on three assignments, and 9/10 on the remaining 2. THeir total is then 42/50. Divide the 42 by 50 for a percentage of 84%. I go back and forth between the two methods.
My 7yo insists on a grade (thank you Christian School) so I simply made up an excel spread sheet to do it for me. Each day he gets 10 points just for participating in class and if there is a special activity or test or worksheet he gets a point value for that as well. Then excell gives me a percentage grade, and a letter grade. I use the standard 90-100 A, 80-89 B, 70-79 C scale. Also if he doesn't do well on a particular item I allow him to redo it until he understands it and can get a better grade.
