Can Enough Sleep Really Improve Grades?
While we may sometimes complain about teenagers being lazy and sleeping too much, studies reveal how important sleep actually is for optimal brain function.
To wake up or sleep in? That is the question. Of course, if your teenage student has class, they better not be sleeping in too late. However, you should be making sure they are getting enough sleep, as research shows it can make a big difference in classroom performance. Lack of sleep contributes to poor concentration, which is an essential component if one expects to excel academically.
While we may sometimes complain about teenagers being lazy and sleeping too much, studies reveal how important sleep actually is for optimal brain function. After all, the brain of a teenager is still developing. In fact, it typically doesn’t even reach full maturity until the mid-twenties. Thus, sleep for teenagers is not just for their growing bodies, but also for their developing brain. Sleep deprivation is a hindrance to healthy brain development and could potentially be a contributing factor if you notice a decline in your teen’s academic performance.
In 2023, the Sleep Foundation found that later school start times support the biological needs of adolescents; they increase the amount of sleep adolescents get. Other benefits of later start times include: improved attendance at school, decreased tardiness, fewer occurrences of falling asleep in class, reduced irritability and depressive symptoms and fewer disciplinary issues.
Studies have shown the sleep patterns of teenagers differ from children and adults, and in most cases, they need more than those who are in other stages of life. Also, when it comes to sleep, teenagers experience phase delays which cause them to more easily stay up later than younger kids or adults. The levels of the sleep hormone melatonin usually don’t decline until later in the morning as well, which goes to explain why they may sleep later.
It can be difficult to make sure a teenager gets enough sleep, but with too little sleep, it could negatively impact a student’s grades. Whether it’s implementing bedtimes or curfews, making sure gadgets are turned off a while before going to bed, or developing a “pre-sleep” routine to help your body prepare for resting, there are rules we can try to teach our teenagers to implement to ensure they are sleeping enough. Cognitive function, attentiveness, and memory are improved by getting enough rest, and it has the possibility to significantly help their classroom performance. For more information on this topic, check out some of the sources below:
Sources:
“The Teen Brain: 7 Things to Know.” National Institute of Mental Health.
Sifferlin, Alexandra. “Why Teenage Brains Are So Hard to Understand.” Time. 8 September 2017 (visited 15 September 2022).
https://time.com/4929170/inside-teen-teenage-brain/
“Poor sleep can negatively affect a student’s grades, increase the odds of emotional and behavioral disturbance.” American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Updated 7 Nov. 2017 (visited: 5 Sept. 2022)
“Sleep and Health.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Reviewed 29 May 2019 (visited 5 Sept. 2022)
Walton, Alice G. “7 Ways Sleep Affects The Brain (And What Happens If It Doesn't Get Enough). Forbes. Visited: 16 September 2022.
Okano, K., Kaczmarzyk, J.R., Dave, N. et al. Sleep quality, duration, and consistency are associated with better academic performance in college students. npj Sci. Learn. 4, 16 (2019). Published 1 October 2019 (visited 5 September 2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-019-0055-z
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41539-019-0055-z
Merriman, Kate. “School performance can be improved with a good night’s sleep.” WMBF News. 19 Feb. 2021 (visited: 5 September 2022)
https://www.wmbfnews.com/2021/02/19/school-performance-can-be-improved-with-good-nights-sleep/
Suni, Eric. “How Lack of Sleep Impacts Cognitive Performance and Focus.” Sleep Foundation. Updated 29 April 2022 (visited 5 September 2022)
https://www.sleepfoundation.org/sleep-deprivation/lack-of-sleep-and-cognitive-impairment
Locker, Melissa. “Let Your Kids Sleep More For Better Grades.” Time. 13 January 2015 (visited 5 September 2022).
https://time.com/3663796/for-better-grades-let-your-kids-sleep-more/
A List of Reading Lists: Over 100 Summer Reading Ideas for Junior High Students
Because every family and every child is different, we can’t guarantee you’ll approve of everything on these lists, but hopefully you’ll be able to find something that is appropriate for your junior high students on these lists, which are ordered according to when the books were published.
There are plenty of great websites and book lists where you’re sure to find a story your kids will enjoy diving into. Of course, we recommend parents review books before their children read them to know what ideas your kids may be presented with. When a child is reading a book with a serious topic, it could be helpful to have a parent or trusted adult to help make sense of something they may find confusing or morally conflicting. However, we don’t always have the time to read through everything our kids may want to read. Thankfully, there are websites like Common Sense Media which review books and other media, giving specifics as to any sensitive content the book may contain (however, it is a paid site, but does give a few free trials).
Because every family and every child is different, we can’t guarantee you’ll approve of everything on these lists, but hopefully you’ll be able to find something that is appropriate for your junior high students on these lists, which are ordered according to when the books were published.
FANTASY
1. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll - 1865)
2. The Wizard of Oz (L. Frank Baum - 1900)
3. The Chronicles of Narnia (C.S. Lewis - 1950)
4. Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien - 1954)
5. The Last Unicorn (Peter S. Beagle - 1968)
6. A Wizard of Earthsea (Ursula K. Le Guin - 1968)
7. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (Robert C. O'Brien - 1971)
8. The Princess Bride (William Goldman - 1973)
9. The Neverending Story (Michael Ende - 1979)
10. The Phantom Tollbooth (Norton Juster - 1982)
11. Redwall (Brian Jacques - 1986)
12. Howl’s Moving Castle (Diana Wynne Jones - 1986)
13. Stardust (Neil Gaiman - 1999)
14. Inkheart (Cornelia Funke - 2003)
15. Binti (Nnedi Okorafor – 2015)
16. Beasts Made of Night (Tochi Onyebuchi - 2017)
17. The Girl who Drank the Moon (Kelly Barnhill -2016)
18. Children of Blood and Bone (Tomi Adeyemi - 2018)
19. Dragon Pearl (Yoon Ha Lee - 2019)
20. Amari and the Night Brothers (B. B. Alston - 2021)
SCIENCE FICTION / DYSTOPIAN:
1. The Time Machine (H. G. Wells - 1895)
2. War of the Worlds (H. G. Wells - 1898)
3. Out of the Silent Planet (C.S. Lewis - 1938)
4. A Wrinkle in Time (Madeleine L'Engle - 1962)
5. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card - 1985)
6. The Giver (Lois Lowry -1993)
7. Panda Ray (Michael Kandel - 1996)
8. House of the Scorpion (Nancy Farmer - 2002)
9. The City of Ember (Jeanne DuPrau - 2003)
10. Interworld (Neil Gaiman, Michael Reeves - 2007)
11. The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins - 2008)
12. When You Reach Me (Rebecca Stead - 2009)
13. Legend (Marie Lu - 2011)
14. Bloom (Kenneth Oppel - 2020)
ANIMALS:
1. Black Beauty (Anna Sewell - 1877)
2. Call of the Wild (Jack London - 1903)
3. White Fang (Jack London - 1906)
4. The Wind in the WIllows (Kenneth Grahame - 1908)
5. Where the Red Fern Grows (Wilson Rawls - 1961)
6. Animal Farm (George Orwell - 1945)
7. My Side of the Mountain (Jean Craighead George - 1959)
8. Island of the Blue Dolphins (Scott O'Dell - 1960)
9. Julie of the Wolves (Jean Craighead George - 1972)
10. Watership Down (Richard Adams - 1972)
11. Shiloh (Phyllis Reynolds Naylor - 1991)
12. Because of Winn Dixie (Kate DiCamillo - 2000)
13. Life of Pi (Yann Martel - 2001)
14. Hoot (Carl Hiaasen - 2002)
15. Pax (Sara Pennypacker - 2016)
SPORTS:
1. Chariots of Fire (William John Weatherby - 1982)
2. Tangerine (Edward Bloor - 1997)
3. Heat (Mike Lupica - 2007)
4. The Crossover (Kwame Alexander - 2014)
5. Ghost (Jason Reynolds - 2016)
6. The Distance to Home (Jenn Bishop - 2016)
7. Left Out (Tim Green - 2016)
8. Up for Air (Laurie Morrison - 2019)
DRAMA:
1. Finding Perfect (Elly Swartz - 2016)
2. The Ethan I was Before (Ali Standish - 2017)
3. The Someday Birds (Sally J. Pla - 2017)
4. The Science of Breakable Things (Tae Keller - 2018)
5. Genesis Begins Again (Alicia D. Williams - 2019)
6. The Sea in Winter (Christine Day - 2019)
7. 5 Things About Ava Andrews (Margaret Dilloway - 2020)
Graphic Novels:
1. Smile (Raina Telgemeier - 2010)
2. Rapunzel’s Revenge (Dean Hale, Shannon Hale - 2011)
3. El Deafo (Cece Bell - 2014)
4. Pashmina (Nidhi Chanani - 2017)
5. New Kid (Jerry Craft - 2019)
Historical Fiction:
1. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott - 1868)
2. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith - 1943)
3. Cry, The Beloved Country (Alan Paton - 1948)
4. One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel García Márquez - 1967)
5. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (Mildred D. Taylor - 1976)
6. The Midwife’s Apprentice (Karen Cushman - 1991)
7. Esperanza Rising (Pam Muñoz Ryan - 2000)
8. Fever 1793 (Laurie Halse Anderson - 2000)
9. The Book Thief (Markus Zusak - 2005)
10. All the Light we Cannot See (Anthony Doerr - 2014)
11. Wolf Hollow (Lauren Wolk - 2016)
12. Refugee (Alan Gratz - 2017)
13. The Night Diary (Veera Hiranandani - 2018)
14. The Weight of Our Sky (Hanna Alkaf - 2019)
15. We are Not Free (Traci Chee - 2020)
16. Angel of Greenwood (Randi Pink - 2021)
ADVENTURE / MYSTERY:
1. The House of Dies Drear (Virginia Hamilton - 1968)
2. The Westing Game (Ellen Raskin - 1978)
3. Zora & Me (T.R. Simon, Victoria Bond - 2010)
4. Vanished (Sheela Chari - 2011 )
5. Greenglass House (Kate Milford - 2014)
6. The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place (Julie Berry - 2014)
7. Skink - No Surrender (Carol Hiaasen - 2014)
8. The Great Greene Heist (Varian Johnson -2014)
9. Footer Davis is Probably Crazy (Susan Vaught - 2015)
10. Framed! (James Ponti - 2016)
11. OCDaniel (Wesley King - 2016)
12. The Emperor’s Riddle (Kat Zhang - 2017)
13. When You Look Like Us (Pamela N. Harris - 2021)
BIOGRAPHIES / AUTOBIOGRAPHIES1. I know why the caged bird sings (Maya Angelou - 1969)
2. Soul Surfer: A True Story of Faith, Family, and Fighting to Get Back on the Board (Bethany Hamilton, Rick Bundschuh, Sheryl Berk - 2004)
3. March: Book One (John Lewis and Andrew Aydin - 2013)
4. A Long Way from Home (Saroo Brierley, Larry Buttrose - 2013)
5. Brown Girl Dreaming (Jacqueline Woodson - 2014)
6. Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom: My Story of the 1965 Selma Voting Rights March (Lynda Blackmon Lowery - 2015)
7. The Plot to Kill Hitler: Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Spy, Unlikely Hero (Patricia McCormick - 2016)
8. Becoming Kareem: Growing Up On and Off the Court (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Raymond Obstfeld -2017)
9. Facing Frederick: The Life of Frederick Douglass, a Monumental American Man (Tonya Bolden - 2018)
10. Child of the Dream (Memoir of 1963) (Sharon Robinson -2019)
MORE PLACES TO SEARCH FOR BOOKS
If you’re interested in looking for more books, there are a number of websites and blogs that will provide you with plenty of reading suggestions. Some sites allow you to search by book lists, which makes finding something your kids will like all the more easy. Here are some websites that either list books.
1. Good Reads
2. Book Riot
3. Common Sense Media ($3/month)
6. Time’s best lists (such as “The 100 Best YA Books of All Time”)
7. Book Awards (such as Newberry’s yearly Award)
The First Two Weeks of School: A Valuable Transition
The 2021-2022 school year has begun, and as with every year, our students come in to a two-week alternative schedule to prepare them for the year ahead. Here’s why:
Have you ever had that Sunday morning church experience where you’re rushing to get the kids out the door? Everybody fed, check! Everybody dressed, check! Kids to their Sunday school rooms. Quick restroom stop. When you finally sit down in the pew, you can breathe a sigh of relief. Even though you are a few minutes late, you’re here and it’s time to settle in. As the music begins you take a deep breath and calm your mind by moving through the mental checklist: Yes, you turned the stove off at home. Yes, you packed the diaper bag, yes you locked your car in the parking lot… and you begin to mentally transition to focusing on this time with the Lord ahead of you.
This reality of transition is one that we acknowledge and accommodate for at the start of every school year. It’s our “two-week alternative schedule” where we acclimate, assess and settle the students in for the new year of learning.
Maybe you’ve heard your student say something like, “Well, we haven’t started our real schedule yet…” They’re not wrong! But although they have not begun their academic schedules, they have most definitely begun their school year.
High school students begin the school year meeting new classmates with opportunities to reflect on their summer where many of them participated in national and international mission opportunities.
Acclimation, assessment and “settling in”. Developed by Founder Gregg Garner, this is the simple way to understand what happens during our first 2 weeks of the school year.
During their first few days back on campus, students are acclimated back into the school setting by reconnecting with peers, getting to know their teachers, and reviewing school routines and behavior expectations. At the elementary level this looks like remembering how to line up, how to move through meal service times, when they can use the restrooms, and what activities are appropriate for indoor recess. Before we begin administering any demerits or incentives, students simply get these few days to adjust into being back at school.
Assessments come next, which do include academic assessments but also social and emotional. Through review exercises and games, teachers gauge how much their students remember, while also evaluating the demographics and personality of their new class. Is it a 2:1 ratio of girls to boys? Might need to adjust the sport through which Jr. High students will learn Game Strategies. Is it a class full of kinesthetic learners? Need to buy some more manipulatives for math class. Does this group of developing readers need to be on their feet for Language Arts courses? How about a readers’ theatre? Assessments provide teachers the data they need to teach students, not just classes.
Finally, during the last few days of our alternative schedule, students settle in for the upcoming year. For 7th graders this looks like the reminder that, although they will now be receiving a number grade on every assignment, they are not their grade. They are more than a number. And school is the safest place to be wrong, to make mistakes and to grow. For our Juniors and Seniors, this looks like several blocks of research, reflection and discussion with teachers to decide on senior projects, internship placements and directed studies.
So next time your student mentions that they haven’t started ‘regular school yet’, you’ll know what they mean! And you can follow up with questions like, “Tell me about your new teacher!” “What’s something you’re excited for/nervous about in this upcoming year?” Or even, “Remember to get to bed early tonight because your body is adjusting to the school year.” Here’s to being ready for a wonderful year of learning!
Elementary students use team-building exercises and games to develop their class dynamic and healthy interactions with one another.
STEM Comes to Life Through Integrated Learning
Jr High and High school STEM students explore how science, math, and technology span a variety of their courses to produce chemical reactions, flight paths, wave pools, and more!
Written by Ms. Rebekah Davis, M.S.
Spring is officially here and STEM teachers are taking it to the next level with experiments that get students up, active, outside and shooting things off into the sky!
Every good STEM teacher strives to help their students understand the application of their discipline -- to witness how scientific and mathematical principles don’t exist in a vacuum, but when integrated and applied to the real world, they unlock the potential to create! Teaching STEM in an engaging way is no easy thing. We are so proud of our Jr. High and High School teachers who work hard to make integrated learning happen.
Last week at the High School level, Ms. Castro (Math) and Ms. Hartnell (Physics) collaborated on a rocket ship project which had the students creating and launching bottle rockets across the field. In planning their rockets, each student had to consider drag, lift, thrust, center of gravity and center of pressure when designing a flying craft. They also learned how to calculate velocity and acceleration to build their quadratic equations.
LEFT: Ms. Hartnell guides students through the process of building rockets. Students had to consider drag, lift, thrust, center of gravity and center of pressure when designing a flying craft.
MIDDLE: High School Math teacher Ms. Castro looks for every opportunity to engage young bodies along with their minds. Coming back from Spring Break, she put chalk in the hands of Pre-Algebra students and turned them loose to review linear equations on the basketball courts. Students loved it!
RIGHT: After launching their rockets, students used the time and distance from their flight paths to build quadratic equations which mapped the trajectory in a parabola.
Meanwhile inside with the Jr. High students, Mr. Aaseby was making magic happen with a chemical experiment involving “elephant toothpaste”. Students analyzed the chemical reaction and pinpointed variables of the reaction, then changed those in order to produce a new hypothesis with a new result. 8th grader Blessing Davis says, “I learned how important it is to be really specific in predicting outcomes when the variables change.”
Jr. High Science teacher Skylar Aaseby is known for ensuring his students truly understand even the most challenging topics. He was inspired to build this wave pool to demonstrate to his students how transverse waves are additive and subtractive when they interact together.
Not only were students applying the scientific method, the experiment also gave significance to the concept of exothermic reactions as the beakers were warm from the produced heat. One student who is reluctant when it comes to science shared, “Mr. Aaseby works so hard to make a difficult thing like science make total sense! I don’t really like science, but I’ve actually really enjoyed his class because he makes it easy for me to understand. He is most definitely a top example of what a teacher should look like.”
Bravo teachers, here at The Academy and all over our nation this year, who work so hard to provide an engaging learning experience for the students. We appreciate you!
The Complex Cortex of Camille Lively
8-10th grade students collaborate on a one-act musical to close out their performing arts course in the fall 2020 semester. The result was funny, thought-provoking, and impressive as they showcased their work before their classmates and teachers.
High school performing arts teacher, Mr. Ownby, with Esther Bargatze, playwright, and songwriters and musicians, Justice Garner and Kiah Roufs.
The 8th-10th grade performing arts students at the Academy for G.O.D. finished a semester of learning about performance related to theater and music. To end the course, students produced an original one-act musical titled “The Complex Cortex of Camille Lively.” The script, music, program artwork, and acting were all produced and performed by the students. I had the privilege of teaching and directing these talented students this semester as they accomplished this project and successfully performed their one-act musical on Friday, December 18th to an audience of their fellow students.
This class was such a joy as the giftedness and potential of each student was further unlocked as they responded to the challenges associated with producing this performance. It was a blessing to instruct the students and also be able to envision all of the ways that God will continue to use their skills for the world to better know and experience his goodness.
From Esther Bargatze, 8th grade student and lead playwright:
The play was written to give insight into what goes on in the complex growing minds of the young and lively, in a meaningful and comical way.
Life can be difficult no matter what stage you find yourself in, but being a teenager can be incredibly difficult as you try to navigate the world, figuring out how to be you while yet potentially so influenced by everyone and everything around you. “The Complex Cortex of Camille Lively” explores the tensions of being a young teenager through the main character of Camille Lively (Young and Lively) who gets bombarded by issues with her siblings, tensions with friends, and the various input she receives from her best friends that ultimately leads to her feeling misunderstood by everyone. Julian, Camille's best friend, offers the perspective of the young male teenager who also deals with the influx of voices from those close to him in his life that influence decisions he makes, good and bad. Ultimately, this is an exploration of the necessity for perspective-taking and communication. There's a lot to consider when navigating life, but these considerations are best made with a group of faithful friends surrounding you.
This musical production was written and produced by 8th-10th grade performing arts students at our school. The play is about a teenage girl, Camille, and all of her friends (Penny, Emily, Lucy, and Cassy) who have significant influence into the decisions she makes just by being themselves. Alongside Camille is her best friend Julian Barnaby, and his group of friends (Donald and Dan, Parry, Logan, Eddy, and Cory). Camile and Julian's friends are there to help communicate how much we can be influenced by our peers, but also to communicate thoughts and feelings that happen in teenage minds through each character.
As Camille continues to work through her feelings with the help of her parents, she learns the importance of considering others’ perspectives, and how to handle the strong emotions that can feel overwhelming.
Throughout the play, Camille faces challenges with her family, and when her emotions get ahold of her, it affects her behavior at school and her friendships. Camille is reminded that she is not alone and that she has friends, teachers, and her parents who love her and can offer her invaluable wisdom. When we were writing this play we wanted the theme to be about considering others’ perspectives, and not just thinking about our own. As teenagers especially it can be very easy to stop paying attention to the people around us because we're so caught up in our own feelings. We hope this production encouraged everyone to consider the interest of others a little more, to communicate, and to trust those around us who love us.