Last Day of Fifth Grade….

Ben's last day of school was Friday. It was anti-climactic. They got out at like 10:30. LOL.

He's excited to be free earlier than everyone else, though I'm not sure why. With Jonathan still at camp for another week and Simon still in school for two more, there's really not much we can do.

I really can't get over how quickly elementary school flew by. :(

Blue shirt picture is the first day of fifth grade, red shirt is the last day.

Last pic is his first day of kindergarten. (cry)

I asked him to rate his fifth grade year on a scale of 1-10, 1 being awful, 10 being perfect. He said "From the time I switched schools to now, I'd give it  a 9.5, before that, I'd give it a 5.5." LOL.

I'm glad we made the move. It's nice to know he's staying where he is next year rather than starting at a huge middle school. We definitely made the right choice for him. I'm not sure what the future holds school-wise after 8th grade for him or what it holds for the other two as they head to middle school, but for Ben, right now, this was the right decision. He has made some nice friends and is getting more involved next year. He plans on playing basketball and tennis, neither of which he would have been able to do at the school level if we hadn't moved him. I think this will be fantastic for him.

He finished the year, I think, with four As and two Bs. (the report card gets mailed in a week or two, but that's what the online gradebook says) Overall, a successful year with lots of growth and maturing.

Onward to middle school! (!!!!???!!!)

They Are Not Messing Around...

New school does NOT play around with homework… this is an example of what I mean when I tell people that the work there is not HARDER than bcps… in many cases, the work itself is actually easier… but the expectations are sky high. (which is great… but yikes… snow day work… LOL…)

ARGH.

The one negative of Ben's new school…he has a male teacher.  Male elementary school teachers and men trying to shop at the grocery store on the weekend…. two things that drive me nuts!  (I know, I am so sexist… but seriously…. there are some things women are truly just better at… ) 

Now, let me just say, he seems very nice. Ben likes him and all.  Apparently, he is "fun", as male elementary school teachers tend to be. Fun, fun, lots of FUN! But man, they are uncommunicative and unorganized!!  Yes, admittedly, this is a stereotype, but one I have yet to see defied. 

He doesn't answer emails… EVER. I have given up on that. 

He forgets to put homework in the kids' mailboxes, so Ben will freak out thinking he doesn't have the homework and it will turn out the next day to have just been the teacher's fault. (we've actually just started assuming this when he doesn't have his math, grammar, or science homework) He also loses the kids' work.  Ben has had a couple assignments marked "missing" on Engrade that he definitely turned in. Then? Then there is this --   see all the E's? That means "excused"  Um…. that means they don't count toward or against his grade. However, these are ALL quizzes and homeworks Ben was there for and did. (trust me, some of those fraction worksheets took him over an hour and lots of tears… I KNOW he did them)

WTH? Did the teacher lose them? Why are they excused? Is he just using these as place-markers and will come back later and put the grades in? I will never know (well, at least not until report cards come out) because he DOESN'T ANSWER EMAIL.

AAAAAAAARGH!!! Rant over.  It's really a petty complaint, I realize. Ben is doing well and is so happy and this guy is clearly engaging him and a good teacher. From a parent standpoint… just a little frustrating….

Learning Experience….

Today, Ben has his first BIG test since being at his new school.  It's a reading test on the book they just finished, Fever 1793.  The teacher sent home all kinds of studying information… they even had to fill out this super detailed sheet about HOW they were planning on studying.

They have a folder with all their papers from the unit that they have to turn in today with the test. Discovered he was supposed to be doing this in science too… thankfully, I've only tossed a few graded papers. Unfortunately, no one mentioned this folder thing to Ben (or me).   (mid-year start issues again…people assume you know things.) So he only has like maybe 3/4 of the reading papers. Worse, several of them are from before he started, so they aren't completed. I'm a little irritated that this wasn't something anyone bothered to tell us (to keep everything in this folder) and the incomplete papers would have taken him hours and hours to finish, so I didn't make him do them. :\  He'll probably get marked down substantially but so be it. It wasn't fair to him. I really need to have a conference with his teachers to get on the same page… they are very hard to communicate with via email in that they don't respond… like EVER.  They told me early on that they have issues with mail going to spam, so I never know if they got it and didn't respond or if they never got it. Hence, REALLY need a face-to-face.

Anyway, so they were supposed to study. Ben basically didn't. He had a basketball game last night and the night before, he spent almost two hours on other homework. I tried to get him to at least look over it last night before basketball, but he said he feels confident in the material. I am apt to believe him… he has gotten As on every quiz he has taken so far and hasn't done anything except go to class, do the homework, and read the story. I considered pushing the matter to enforce good habits, but decided to use this as a learning experience. If he aces the test (which he very well might), then great, he knows himself and when he needs to study. If he doesn't, well, then, next time, he'll listen to me.

We made a deal that if he gets a low B or lower, we study together next time.  We shall see!

Updates...

Fifth grade Take Two is going well. Ben loves every aspect of it. His list why gets longer by the day! He says the classes are all more interesting, and they do all kinds of in-class projects and hands-on experiments. Lots of opportunities for moving around. There is more freedom.... he especially likes that on the rainy days when they have to have indoor recess, they can choose what they want to do -- whether they want to play board games in their classroom, go over to the other fifth grade room and do something different or even go to the gym and play! (he chose the gym last week) ;)

So far everyone seems nice. There are a couple boys he talks about more than others and says he sits with the same group at lunch every day. :)

The most amazing thing to me, is that his attitude about school changed almost overnight. He brought home some graded classroom last week and the difference in his effort, neatness, etc was night and day.   It's something I had hoped would happen but did not expect to see so quickly.

There are little things I love about it.... like that the daily homework is on the fifth grade website, along with any papers that are needed. Spelling words are there, vocabulary words, test information.... everything.  There was a slip that needed to be signed about an upcoming science test, the document was linked on the website.... Ben didn't have to remember to bring it home.  The website/homework thing is SUCH an easy, simple thing to do.... and makes a world of difference for a kid like Ben.

Anyway, so we are off to a good start there. :)

Simon.... Simon is doing well! He just finished up his second round of cello lessons through school and starts a new one next week. (they go by quarter) He made progress despite me being truly AWFUL about making him practice. Yesterday, he spent part of the day picking out all of his cello songs on the piano.  He has an ear for music, for sure.... I did discover that the instrumental music teacher has not actually been teaching them to read music.  Now, I KNOW Simon could pick this up reading music quickly....  that's the kind of thing he's really good at!  So over Christmas break, my plan is start working on this with him because I think once he can read the notes on the page, he'll really take off.  I got the level 1 piano book I used when I was a little kid and thought we'd just start it and see how it goes.

Schoolwise, he is doing well. We have an IEP team meeting coming up Wednesday and I don't think there is a whole lot that needs to be said. He has hit a groove this year. :)

He and Jonathan have become the best of friends. They play together constantly. This drives Ben insane. He feels like he has no one here at home to play with because the two of them have their dress-up/pretend games they play all the time and Ben wants someone to play sports with. I need to do better about inviting kids from school over. I say this all the time but life is just so busy.... and time keeps getting away from us. :(

Jonathan is loving his standing extended day at preschool! I may even add a second one after Christmas. We just dropped his group that he was doing through the county in favor of the teacher coming to his regular preschool more often to work with him. He had lost all of his same-age peers there to preschool placements and was left with two young 3s who didn't speak much English and another who was more like him but socially where he was a year and a half ago. The teacher's supervisor came to observe the group and thought Jonathan was the "typical" peer placed there to be a model for the other kids.  We enjoyed going, but the teacher and I agreed he wasn't getting much out of it at this point and the time would be better spent at preschool and maybe doing another activity on Tuesdays and Thursdays in its place.... so I'm looking into swim lessons or gymnastics.... library storytimes.... that sort of thing.  He just needs to spend as much time as possible with socially typical peers. He's doing SO well.... and things are a hundred times better than they were last year, but the more social stuff he gets now, the better.

I didn't do a post about Thanksgiving.... but we hosted it here and it was good. I feel more comfortable with that now and it's actually almost easier to just have it here. My sister-in-law and I do it as a team and it just works. The kids had a blast, we hardly saw them all day. The food was great and we all survived. ;)

So that's about it for now! I have a goal to do a post a day this week... hold me to it! :)

Second First Day of Fifth Grade....

:)

He was a little nervous this morning, but mostly excited! He talked my ear off all the way to school. I walked him in because they had wanted him to get there a few minutes early to get his things situated. They welcomed him with smiles and I left him in good hands. He was SO happy. Can't wait to pick him up today and hear how it went!

Visit....

We went by Ben's new school yesterday afternoon because they wanted him to meet his homeroom teacher and give us some things he would need.

I was excited before, but after this visit,  I am even MORE excited for him and 100% sure we made the right choice.

His teacher, Mr. B.,  looks like he's about 15... so Ben was immediately very comfortable.  LOL. He's really nice and was so welcoming. Showed Ben all around the classroom. He already has a desk with his name on it! Ben was really excited to see that it was next to a kid he already knows from basketball and two desks down from the the kid from his class who switched to this school at the beginning of the year.

His other teacher, Mrs. W, popped her head in too. He'll have two other teachers in addition because each classroom has two teachers.  Life-changing, I tell you.

They gave him a new agenda and a homework folder and explained the binder system they use. The entire operation seems set up to help kids like Ben succeed. After they showed me the binder organization and the checklists they put on the kids' desks,  and mentioned "organization workshop" the kids can go to in the morning before class, they asked if I had any concerns about them making the accommodations Ben is supposed to get at JES through his 504-Plan. I laughed. I've been doing my best to keep my criticisms of JES's fifth grade to a minimum;  but in this instance, I had to be honest.... basically, Ummm... NO.... he'll be getting more NATURAL accommodations (as in, they just DO these things for everyone) here than he is getting with a legal document in place at his old school.  (his teachers are basically ignoring it this year)  The class size alone is going to make a huge difference for him. I counted the desks in his homeroom and there are 19, which is fantastic! But some of his actual classes will be even smaller than that... the day he shadowed, the math class he saw had six kids in it!

They said the kids in the class are SO excited he is coming and I think that made him feel great. They said they've had a lot of shadow visitors lately and the kids are thrilled one is joining them! I think he'll feel very welcomed on Monday.  There is also another new student starting Monday too, so he won't be entirely alone in his newness! It's a fourth grader... which makes me suspect some other parents had the same reaction to American Education week that we did.  Now I super curious if we know him! LOL.

When we got home, his uniforms had arrived. Perfect timing to keep him excited!  We unpacked everything and hung it up. I have to admit, I am giddy about the uniform. Oddly, he is too, which surprised me because he generally shuns the golf shirt and khaki pants look. My life is about to be 1,000 times easier in the mornings with him. He is ridiculously picky about clothes and which shirts he'll wear.... this will end those arguments! Not to mention, the uniform is adorable and he looks SO cheek-pinchingly handsome. :)  (picture to come! ;)  )

I'm not usually one to embrace change so wholeheartedly, but I think this is a good one. A REALLY good one.  :)

Update!

Yikes.... did I really let almost a month go by? Stupid Facebook.... still eating my blog.

First? The biggest news! Jonathan is officially, finally, mercifully, potty trained! Still in Pullups at night, but otherwise? GOOD TO GO! Never thought I'd see the day.

We went to the pumpkin farm with his preschool class yesterday. It was the the same one (though relocated about 15 minutes further away... ) that Simon went to when he was four where we got to pick a bunch of vegetables to bring home. Jonathan was basically done with this after the first turnip.... so we spent a lot of time in the hay wagon waiting for the rest of the class. In his defense, it was super hot out in the middle of that field and also because it had rained HARD the night before, crazy muddy.

We bailed when the hay wagon dumped us back out at the picnic area. He was just done. And so was I. I was SO exhausted when we got home!

Last weekend, we went to the Renn Fest with the boys. They LOVED it. We stayed way longer than Tom thought we'd last.... we watched three shows and an archery demonstration, ate lunch and the boys bought some wooden swords. Ben wants to go back next year and dress up. How fun is that? :)

The boys' swingset came a couple of weeks ago! They love it! We still need to call and get some sand delivered for the sandbox. 

Simon has made the most wonderful new little friend who we brought home for a playdate last Friday. He's adorable and fits right in at our house. Then we went to their house after school yesterday for a playdate. He's a lot like my boys (more like Ben than Simon, probably.... but loves to play the computer stuff and doesn't play sports, which is more like Simon)  He gets along well with both Ben AND Simon, which is awesome! He lives really close to our house too, so I foresee lots of playdates in the future. Love it!

Simon is doing really well in school.... haven't heard a word from the teacher and no news is generally good news! Turns out, he's a pretty great little speller and, even though they are only required to spell the first ten words, he has been taking it on himself to do the ten challenge words on the tests and doing a great job! I'm really proud of him! He's very happy this year too and wanting to do well... he has confidence he hasn't had before. I love that! 

Ben is doing okay.... hanging in there with decent grades. Happy. I'm not so thrilled with fifth grade in general though. It's pretty disappointing after a great year last year. No high expectations.... lack of structure.... I don't know this is true, but the feeling I get as a parent is there is kind of apathy from the fifth grade teachers. I'd like for that to be wrong.... but I have yet to be convinced. To be completely honest, I am sort of wishing we had pulled him and put him somewhere else for this year.  :( 

Jonathan is loving school these days. Skips in smiling and always super happy when I pick him up. I am THRILLED for such a great year! He's doing well and now that we're good on the potty training front, I'm leaning more and more lately toward sending him to kindergarten next year as opposed to holding him a year. 

Not much else going on.... doing the annual pumpkin farm visit with all three boys this weekend! :) So I'll have a new post up sooner than later. ;) 

All's Well...

Jonathan had a great second day of school yesterday. Walked in like he was leading a parade. Waved to people, said hello.... went right into the classroom. Told me when I picked him up that he had fun! YAY!

Had a conference with Simon's teacher already.... seems things are going okay! She said he's getting his papers where they need to be (huge, HUGE issue last year). She wanted to know more about what he struggled with last year and how to draw him out a little. (he doesn't often speak to teachers unless spoken to) She did say he is raising his hand now and participating, so that's good. He's also starting and finishing classwork without prompting.  I really, really like her.... her classroom structure and the way she naturally goes about keeping the kids on task and prompting with visual cues is really helpful for him. I'm optimistic about continuing to make lots of forward strides with him and school this year!

Ben is doing well... though I continue to be sort of unimpressed by 5th grade. He didn't even have any homework last night.... or much at all on any other night. Apparently there was a sub in math, which explained that one.... but he rarely has any other homework other than math. Really? Middle school is going to be a jarring experience for him if the demands don't pick up a little here....  They've implemented this online grading system, so I can check in on his grades a couple times a week. I like it and it's really helpful to keep tabs on quizzes and things. Simon has this too, but it really makes no sense for the grades below fourth. So the teachers aren't even sure what they are going to do with it for the little guys.

Waiting on Jonathan's glasses to come in. He keeps asking about them. LOL.

OH! We are also waiting on a swingset to be delivered for the backyard! We hemmed and hawed about this for a few years, but finally caved. The boys helped customize it... Simon asked for a "pirate bridge" (like the ramp thing with ropes on the side), so we added that... and Ben wanted three swings,  so we swapped out a trapeze swing for a third swing. He also wanted monkey bars, so we made sure the model we picked had those. Jonathan is excited about the slide. :)

Other than that, no news around here.... just trying to get my life organized lately!

Back to School Night....

Back to school night was uneventful.

I went to fifth grade first and they presented as a team, as they do from 3rd on up. Lots going on this year field trip wise and special activity-wise. Philadelphia, Marshy Point, BSO and like two other things.

In the spring they have the big "Your Changing Body" and an HIV/AIDS unit. Ugh. We're pretty open about talking about all that at home, but something about it being presented to 10-11-year-olds at school weirds me out a little.  (probably just that I have a kid old enough to be partaking in such a unit...)

They've changed "GT" to "AA". I guess "Gifted and Talented" was no longer politically correct. Ben's math teacher confirmed for everyone that the "AA" class gets homework on the weekends. (he had homework over Labor Day weekend and was not happy about this. LOL)

Ben has a seriously bad attitude so far about fifth grade in general. There is none of the excitement he had last year. I don't know why this is, but hope it's just him getting back in the swing of things and that it changes soon. I already miss his teachers from last year and I think he does too They were a great bunch and he was almost always excited about what they were learning and came home with stories. This year, not much so far. His best friend also was pulled out to be homeschooled, so I'm sure that is part of it.

Second grade was great. It's just nice to sit at your child's desk in their classroom... to look around at the bulletin boards and book centers and all that. I miss that when they start presenting as a team. I love his teacher. I just think it's going to be a good year all around there. She wants to meet with me next week to go over his IEP and reports and whatnot, so that's great!

He'll learn cursive this year, which he's excited about.

I learned he doesn't switch for math, so stays with his teacher all day. A handful of other kids from other classes come in. I'm relieved he doesn't switch. Consistency is good....

All in all, not much new.... just trying to get everyone in a good routine!

First Day of School...Second Grade and Fifth Grade....

Today was the day! Big boys are off! Jonathan and I have spent a blissful morning and afternoon at the playground, at Target, out to lunch, and visiting a friend! Now I am home enjoying a cup of coffee and some Facebook time while J plays. HOORAY! I can't wait to hear how the day went.

As usual, I anticipate Ben will come home pleasantly surprised. (he is always pessimistic on the first day)  Simon, who was fairly happy this morning will likely come home annoyed about having to sit and write all day. ;)

Ben? Are you smiling?

Second grader.... same age Ben was when he started at JES.

My big fifth grader.... ambivalent, at best, about school starting....

His annual Peanuts expression first day photo.... 

THe only thing that made me sad about today.... this is the last time they will head off on a first school day together until HIGH SCHOOL.




This was when Ben drew the line on the photos... "NO... just no." LOL. Simon was still a good sport....

Peek at Your Seat 2014

Today was open house for the new school year. Armed with our backpacks of supplies and donations of tissues and plastic baggies, we headed off to see their classrooms and meet their teachers.

We started at Ben's class, like we did last year, since he can unpack himself and then I can take care of getting Simon where he needs to be. The fifth grade teachers were having the kids do a scavenger hunt to figure out their schedules. They had to go from classroom to classroom the check the lists and figure out where they are for each period of the day. As it turns out, Ben's homeroom teacher is only his homeroom teacher, just like last year. Then he has three other teachers the rest of the day, including the brand new teacher. I'm know nothing about any of them and for probably the first year ever, I'm pretty indifferent about all of them right now and haven't heard much from other parents.  (unlike all the other grades where there was always scuttlebutt about who was good to have and who was good at this or that... nice... not nice.... strict....etc....) Unless something goes horribly bad, I probably won't hear a whole lot from them this year.  It's getting to the point where I'll know Ben's teachers less and less and be less involved.... and they seem to foster that atmosphere in 5th grade, which is good preparation for middle school, I suppose. For me, it's kind of sad because I enjoy getting to know the teachers.... but, c'est la vie....

After I got Ben settled doing his thing, I walked Simon down to the second grade hallway. His teacher was very warm and welcoming. She reminds me a lot of his teacher last year, which is truly what I wanted for him.  There was long checklist to take care of and Simon had a worksheet of "What I did this summer" to do. I busied myself putting supplies away and working my list while he did that.

Simon was in his quiet, expressionless mode, but he did say hello to his teacher, so that was good. She had a backdrop set up with props and took silly pictures of all of them before they left. We got a few extra... ;)

Hoping for awesome years for both of them. :) Ready or not, here we go!