The last of them is finally free from school! :)
Showing posts with label second grade. Show all posts
Showing posts with label second grade. Show all posts
Thursday, June 18, 2015
Thursday, May 07, 2015
It's Amazing What the Right Help Can Do!
She flipped to a page and excitedly showed me a line of numbers. I stared at them but had no clue what I was looking at. "This is where he started in September….." she said, pointing to the first number. "And THIS is where he tested now…." she pointed to another number.
"That's a HUGE leap." she explained. (although it was obvious that was the case without the explanation. LOL. )
Wow!
After she left, the librarian explained to me that that really was a pretty big deal. She said if I had noticed any of the other kids' scores on the page, (I purposely had not looked at the ones visible and the teacher had most covered up anyway) I would have seen that most kids started out on a level closer to where S is now and may have moved a LITTLE, but nowhere near the leap Simon made. It means he caught up this year!
He has had two years of consistent and big academic strides. Hoping to continue this into third grade, which I know from experience is quite the change from K-2. The foundation is definitely in place and he's where he needs to be. He has worked so hard and so have his teachers! They have been the best. :)
The combination of efforts has definitely paid off! :)
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Homework Makes Me Sweat….
Simon had this project to do over the weekend. Actually, he had two weeks to do it but I was dreading it so much, I put it off until Sunday… the day before it was due. He had to read a Dr. Seuss book and then write a letter to Dr. Seuss about his favorite character and favorite part of the story. Then he had to draw a picture illustrating his favorite part of the story.
OMG.
Seriously.
It was AWFUL.
The story part was fine. We read "What Was I Scared Of?" the story about the green pants with nobody inside. He said he didn't have a favorite Dr. Seuss book. Neither do I. I kinda can't stand Dr. Seuss, honestly. So we chose Uncle Brandon's favorite. LOL.
The badness began when he had to write the letter. I made it easy by having him dictate everything to me so he could just focus on the handwriting part later. Following the directions for the assignment though (at least three sentences for each question), the letter was REALLY a lot for him to write.
We sat down with "second grade paper" to get started. (Simon definitely needs lines to constrain his other enormous handwriting) THIS was when I realized, there was NO WAY on God's green earth this child was going to fit all this on an 8.5x11 piece of paper. And it HAD to because the letter then had to be glued to a scrapbook page.
I started him writing. He cried. He whined. He did super crappy work on purpose. I made him start over.
Lather. Rinse. Repeat. x 4
I finally said this was NOT going to work and told him just go in Tom's office and type it.
His face lit up and the bad attitude melted away. "Okay!"
Wait. Seriously?!
He had the entire thing typed up in about 10 minutes and smile on his face, with only minor corrections needed to his punctuation.
He then asked if he could do the drawing part in Paint on the computer. Um YES. Yes, PLEASE. His drawing was minimalist (at best)… but whatever. It would have been if he had used crayons and markers too. He was just NOT into this.
Slapped it onto scrapbook pages and then saw the last direction on the homework sheet. "Decorate the scrapbook pages." I sent him back to the table with some markers. The result was…. well, it was DONE anyway….
(cry) Simon is most definitely my most challenging child when it comes to school, homework, and anything related. He just has a million other things he would rather be doing. It's like pulling teeth to make him put forth any effort whatsoever. I'm not sure what to do about this. He's doing fine…. blows through math and spelling worksheets and always says, "That was so easy!"… but they are always SUCH a mess. ARGH. How do you entice a kid to slow down and do his best? To take pride in his work? I used to worry about this with Ben too but even he takes a LITTLE bit of pride and care in how his work looks…. Simon takes not caring to a whole new level….
OMG.
Seriously.
It was AWFUL.
The story part was fine. We read "What Was I Scared Of?" the story about the green pants with nobody inside. He said he didn't have a favorite Dr. Seuss book. Neither do I. I kinda can't stand Dr. Seuss, honestly. So we chose Uncle Brandon's favorite. LOL.
The badness began when he had to write the letter. I made it easy by having him dictate everything to me so he could just focus on the handwriting part later. Following the directions for the assignment though (at least three sentences for each question), the letter was REALLY a lot for him to write.
We sat down with "second grade paper" to get started. (Simon definitely needs lines to constrain his other enormous handwriting) THIS was when I realized, there was NO WAY on God's green earth this child was going to fit all this on an 8.5x11 piece of paper. And it HAD to because the letter then had to be glued to a scrapbook page.
I started him writing. He cried. He whined. He did super crappy work on purpose. I made him start over.
Lather. Rinse. Repeat. x 4
I finally said this was NOT going to work and told him just go in Tom's office and type it.
His face lit up and the bad attitude melted away. "Okay!"
Wait. Seriously?!
He had the entire thing typed up in about 10 minutes and smile on his face, with only minor corrections needed to his punctuation.
He then asked if he could do the drawing part in Paint on the computer. Um YES. Yes, PLEASE. His drawing was minimalist (at best)… but whatever. It would have been if he had used crayons and markers too. He was just NOT into this.
Slapped it onto scrapbook pages and then saw the last direction on the homework sheet. "Decorate the scrapbook pages." I sent him back to the table with some markers. The result was…. well, it was DONE anyway….
(cry) Simon is most definitely my most challenging child when it comes to school, homework, and anything related. He just has a million other things he would rather be doing. It's like pulling teeth to make him put forth any effort whatsoever. I'm not sure what to do about this. He's doing fine…. blows through math and spelling worksheets and always says, "That was so easy!"… but they are always SUCH a mess. ARGH. How do you entice a kid to slow down and do his best? To take pride in his work? I used to worry about this with Ben too but even he takes a LITTLE bit of pride and care in how his work looks…. Simon takes not caring to a whole new level….
Monday, February 23, 2015
Jump Rope for the Heart
I just happened to be at school today doing something else (library, what else? LOL) when I realized Simon's class was doing their Jump Rope for the Heart thing. I popped my head into the gym to see him. :) The gym teacher told me to be sure to take some video because he worked SUPER hard to figure out how to jump like that. (not an easy thing for him… coordination does not come easily) He is quite tickled by the slo-mo video I took. ;)
Thursday, January 15, 2015
Team….
I've been to my fair share of school teams over the last two years. Funny enough, I didn't even really know what they were until Ben needed one in third grade. For a little while, I had three kids with them, now I'm down to two since private schools don't do written educational accommodations.
Some people find teams stressful and combative… honestly, I really don't. My kids are pretty squared away and have wonderful supports all around from school personnel who are very familiar with us at this point. I have always felt like we were working together to help my kids. So usually it's a pretty nice discussion and check-in on how the boys are doing academically. I usually enjoy them because it's an opportunity for extra facetime with teachers that you otherwise don't get. The only one I ever found really stressful was the one I had to go to at a different school to make sure Jonathan kept his Infants and Toddlers services. But all the ones at our elementary school are actually really pleasant, for the most part.
For those who don't know, a team is where you sit around a conference room table, generally with your child's current teacher(s), the assistant principal, the guidance counselor (in most cases), the school psychologist (in most cases), and any other ancillary staff who are involved or should be involved with your child's learning… OT, speech pathologists, special educators….
Yesterday, I had back-to-back teams for Simon and Jonathan. Simon's was simple and straight-forward. He has had an IEP (individualized Educational Plan) in place since last year, so this was just to sign-off on some updates to that. They decreased his special educator time, which is where he gets pulled from the classroom for extra help. Some people would fight this just to fight it, but we were okay with it since he is doing very well this year and doesn't need it… our chief concern was keeping the plan in place should he need it down the road. There had been some talk a month ago about bumping him down to a 504-Plan, which is no special educator time and only accommodations for learning differences like ADHD -- usually preferential seating, extra time on tests, permission to type assignments… that sort of thing. We are happy they allowed us to keep the IEP for now because these are more easily enforced. 504-Plans are a bit of a crap-shoot and depend on how much time and effort a teacher wants to put in.
After Simon's, I had Jonathan's, which was also really just an IEP-update, but slightly more complicated. His special educator wanted to up her time working with him at his preschool since we had dropped his county group a little while back. However, she and I had talked and she wanted to use some of the team time to try to lay the groundwork for adding speech services for pragmatic (conversational) speech before the end of the school year in an effort to allow him to keep his IEP next year in kindergarten. Otherwise, he will lose it because, long story short, kids whose IEPs are strictly for social reasons, as Jonathan's is, can't keep them once they turn 5. This likely won't be doable, and he'll end up with a 504-Plan, which is what I'm expecting and we're okay with… but it doesn't hurt to try.
His team consisted of the guidance counselor, his special educator, the speech pathologist, the OT, and a kindergarten teacher. The kindergarten teachers are randomly assigned to Pre-K teams and, thinking ahead, I requested the one who knows us. That move worked out well…. we ended up having a very productive and helpful discussion about whether even sending him next year is the right decision.
This particular kindergarten teacher leans toward a pretty solid "no" in general for boys with later birthdays….I've talked with her several times since last year as we've weighed our decision….but by the end of the team, everyone, including her, had decided sending him would be the right move, securing him the services he would need (more than if we held him back), plus his test scores show he is more than ready academically. The only issue I see is his writing, which is still age appropriate, but the OT said she will be able to keep an eye on and continue to work with him if I send him, but won't be able to if I don't.
OY. Who knew this would be such a hard decision? It's really nice to have a room full of people to bounce all the pros and cons off of though and help decide what's best.
We go back to in May to lay out kindergarten plans and either rewrite his IEP (unlikely) or transition to a 504. (very likely)
I never realized what a full-time job the school part of having kids could/would be!
Some people find teams stressful and combative… honestly, I really don't. My kids are pretty squared away and have wonderful supports all around from school personnel who are very familiar with us at this point. I have always felt like we were working together to help my kids. So usually it's a pretty nice discussion and check-in on how the boys are doing academically. I usually enjoy them because it's an opportunity for extra facetime with teachers that you otherwise don't get. The only one I ever found really stressful was the one I had to go to at a different school to make sure Jonathan kept his Infants and Toddlers services. But all the ones at our elementary school are actually really pleasant, for the most part.
For those who don't know, a team is where you sit around a conference room table, generally with your child's current teacher(s), the assistant principal, the guidance counselor (in most cases), the school psychologist (in most cases), and any other ancillary staff who are involved or should be involved with your child's learning… OT, speech pathologists, special educators….
Yesterday, I had back-to-back teams for Simon and Jonathan. Simon's was simple and straight-forward. He has had an IEP (individualized Educational Plan) in place since last year, so this was just to sign-off on some updates to that. They decreased his special educator time, which is where he gets pulled from the classroom for extra help. Some people would fight this just to fight it, but we were okay with it since he is doing very well this year and doesn't need it… our chief concern was keeping the plan in place should he need it down the road. There had been some talk a month ago about bumping him down to a 504-Plan, which is no special educator time and only accommodations for learning differences like ADHD -- usually preferential seating, extra time on tests, permission to type assignments… that sort of thing. We are happy they allowed us to keep the IEP for now because these are more easily enforced. 504-Plans are a bit of a crap-shoot and depend on how much time and effort a teacher wants to put in.
After Simon's, I had Jonathan's, which was also really just an IEP-update, but slightly more complicated. His special educator wanted to up her time working with him at his preschool since we had dropped his county group a little while back. However, she and I had talked and she wanted to use some of the team time to try to lay the groundwork for adding speech services for pragmatic (conversational) speech before the end of the school year in an effort to allow him to keep his IEP next year in kindergarten. Otherwise, he will lose it because, long story short, kids whose IEPs are strictly for social reasons, as Jonathan's is, can't keep them once they turn 5. This likely won't be doable, and he'll end up with a 504-Plan, which is what I'm expecting and we're okay with… but it doesn't hurt to try.
His team consisted of the guidance counselor, his special educator, the speech pathologist, the OT, and a kindergarten teacher. The kindergarten teachers are randomly assigned to Pre-K teams and, thinking ahead, I requested the one who knows us. That move worked out well…. we ended up having a very productive and helpful discussion about whether even sending him next year is the right decision.
This particular kindergarten teacher leans toward a pretty solid "no" in general for boys with later birthdays….I've talked with her several times since last year as we've weighed our decision….but by the end of the team, everyone, including her, had decided sending him would be the right move, securing him the services he would need (more than if we held him back), plus his test scores show he is more than ready academically. The only issue I see is his writing, which is still age appropriate, but the OT said she will be able to keep an eye on and continue to work with him if I send him, but won't be able to if I don't.
OY. Who knew this would be such a hard decision? It's really nice to have a room full of people to bounce all the pros and cons off of though and help decide what's best.
We go back to in May to lay out kindergarten plans and either rewrite his IEP (unlikely) or transition to a 504. (very likely)
I never realized what a full-time job the school part of having kids could/would be!
Monday, December 08, 2014
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! :)
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! :)
Thursday, October 09, 2014
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!
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. ;)
Thursday, September 11, 2014
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!
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!
Wednesday, September 03, 2014
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!
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!
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
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. ;)
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| Ben? Are you smiling? |
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| Second grader.... same age Ben was when he started at JES. |
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| My big fifth grader.... ambivalent, at best, about school starting.... |
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| His annual Peanuts expression first day photo.... |
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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.... |
Friday, August 22, 2014
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!
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....
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!
Friday, June 08, 2012
Saturday, June 02, 2012
Second Grade Vernacular....
Things my kid says/does I can only assume are part of second grade culture this year....
* The happy birthday cha-cha-cha thing. Actually, this has persisted since Kindergarten and across two different schools... must be an elementary school thing.
* The word "Awkward". Everything is "awkward" these days.
* Saying the punctuation mark at the end of a sentence. For example, "Can we go to the pool, question mark?" Or.... "School was boring today, period." Or... "I'm going outside, exclamation point!"
* "Jinx, you owe me a soda." When I was in school, it was "You owe me a Coke". They've gone generic now.... ?
* The happy birthday cha-cha-cha thing. Actually, this has persisted since Kindergarten and across two different schools... must be an elementary school thing.
* The word "Awkward". Everything is "awkward" these days.
* Saying the punctuation mark at the end of a sentence. For example, "Can we go to the pool, question mark?" Or.... "School was boring today, period." Or... "I'm going outside, exclamation point!"
* "Jinx, you owe me a soda." When I was in school, it was "You owe me a Coke". They've gone generic now.... ?
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Ben's Shark Story
Ben came home from school with this yesterday... I don't think it was an assignment, which means he did it in his free time. I took his temperature to make sure he was feeling okay. LOL. He does write a lot in his room... but i'm shocked he did this in free time at school. Kudos to his teacher for transforming my kid this year! (last year, he had to be pushed to write more than a couple sentences about anything at school... )
So, without further ado, I give you "The New Hexo Mystery" (chapters 1 and 2... I guess it's "to be continued...")
So, without further ado, I give you "The New Hexo Mystery" (chapters 1 and 2... I guess it's "to be continued...")
Tuesday, May 01, 2012
Mr. Literal...
So Ben has this question on his math homework (that he forgot to do last night) where he is supposed to answer three questions about a calendar page, one of which is to make up something about the starred date, August 14th.
The conversation went like this.
Ben: "What do they mean, 'name the starred date?'"
Me: "It means just make something up... like August 14th is my cat's birthday."
Ben: "No... our cat's birthday is in September."
Me: "Invent something... like August 14th is my aunt and uncle's wedding anniversary."
Ben: "No... that's August 31st."
Me: "It's my brother's birthday?"
Ben: "That's the 25th."
Me: "BEN! JUST. MAKE. IT. UP!"
Ben: "I can't!!!" (tears tears tears)
Me: (head vs. wall... face vs. palm)
Do you know what he ended up writing?
"August 14th is just a normal day."
The conversation went like this.
Ben: "What do they mean, 'name the starred date?'"
Me: "It means just make something up... like August 14th is my cat's birthday."
Ben: "No... our cat's birthday is in September."
Me: "Invent something... like August 14th is my aunt and uncle's wedding anniversary."
Ben: "No... that's August 31st."
Me: "It's my brother's birthday?"
Ben: "That's the 25th."
Me: "BEN! JUST. MAKE. IT. UP!"
Ben: "I can't!!!" (tears tears tears)
Me: (head vs. wall... face vs. palm)
Do you know what he ended up writing?
"August 14th is just a normal day."
Wednesday, April 04, 2012
Playground Fun....
Ben asked to visit the playground at his school yesterday so off we went. It's great because there are actually three separate playground and we hit them all. This one in the first video was our last stop and it's the one that is all monkey bars and parallel bars and trapeze rings. Ben informed me that he's usually not allowed up there because it's for the 4th and 5th graders and he was excited to show me all the things he has learned to do this year... which is a LOT. (apparently, his gym teacher is awesome because monkey bars and skin-the-cats used to terrify him!!)
Simon had a blast too and loved all three playgrounds! So nice that school is out and we have access to them!
p.s. I also love the ending of the first one... cracks me up. ;)
Simon had a blast too and loved all three playgrounds! So nice that school is out and we have access to them!
p.s. I also love the ending of the first one... cracks me up. ;)
Wednesday, March 07, 2012
Aunt Debbie at School!
Aunt Debbie came to read to Ben's class yesterday during their library time! Mrs. Dance, the school librarian invited her. So fun! They used to teach together and Aunt Debbie also taught with the school's principal at one point, so she stopped in to hear the story too.
Ben was SO excited about this. I took the little boys over too and Simon, with just a a little prodding, went and sat with Ben's class and listened to the story, "Enemy Pie". He even answered questions and when Aunt Debbie told them to talk to their neighbor about something, he would turn and talk to whoever was next to him. LOL!!! Kindergarten, here we come!
Jonathan, on the other hand, sat on my lap for awhile, then jumped down and started methodically removing books from the shelves. He would pick one, climb up into the rocking chair, rock and read for about 5.5 seconds, jump down, toss the book and go grab another one. So I spent about 30 minutes reshelving the books he took down, making sure he didn't tear pages out and chasing him around. GOOD TIMES!
;)
Saturday, February 04, 2012
Here!
LONG week.
Simon didn't go to school all week because he has had an absolutely awful cold. He's finally feeling better, but now the baby is getting it and I'm pretty sure I'm right behind him. Ben seems to have been spared, so far. (as has Tom, but that's not a surprise because he has a superhuman immune system)
As a result of Simon being sick, we hardly left the house all week except for school dropoffs and pickups and a couple grocery store runs. I am going completely stir crazy. So sickness or not, we really must find something interesting to do today.
I've also been distracted because I have been in manic non-blog/Facebook writing mode. I've made myself a goal and I've been pretty inspired lately. It has been nice to get back to long-form writing. It has been a long time when I have really sat down for hours at a time and chiseled something out of a massive bock of spewed words. This is basically my "process", as I have come to realize. I spew a mass of ideas. I go back. I chisel out the important details then go back over them a hundred more times, buffing and polishing them until they shine. I'm curious if that is just me or not of if that's how others write too? Anyway, so I have about 5-6 works in progress. I'll share them eventually... but for now, I am just enjoying the process. I didn't even realize how much I had missed it and how much I need it.
Ben brought home a stellar report card on Thursday. I was truly shocked that every single grade from the previous report card that was anything below the highest mark had gone UP, it was pretty close to perfect! Not only that, his teacher wrote glowing comments that surprised the heck out of me. This year is turning out okay after all... and his work habits, his handwriting and his overall effort have improved substantially since the beginning of the year. Happy. :)
Anyway, so that's what's up... I have some pictures to post too... maybe later today. Happy weekend!
Simon didn't go to school all week because he has had an absolutely awful cold. He's finally feeling better, but now the baby is getting it and I'm pretty sure I'm right behind him. Ben seems to have been spared, so far. (as has Tom, but that's not a surprise because he has a superhuman immune system)
As a result of Simon being sick, we hardly left the house all week except for school dropoffs and pickups and a couple grocery store runs. I am going completely stir crazy. So sickness or not, we really must find something interesting to do today.
I've also been distracted because I have been in manic non-blog/Facebook writing mode. I've made myself a goal and I've been pretty inspired lately. It has been nice to get back to long-form writing. It has been a long time when I have really sat down for hours at a time and chiseled something out of a massive bock of spewed words. This is basically my "process", as I have come to realize. I spew a mass of ideas. I go back. I chisel out the important details then go back over them a hundred more times, buffing and polishing them until they shine. I'm curious if that is just me or not of if that's how others write too? Anyway, so I have about 5-6 works in progress. I'll share them eventually... but for now, I am just enjoying the process. I didn't even realize how much I had missed it and how much I need it.
Ben brought home a stellar report card on Thursday. I was truly shocked that every single grade from the previous report card that was anything below the highest mark had gone UP, it was pretty close to perfect! Not only that, his teacher wrote glowing comments that surprised the heck out of me. This year is turning out okay after all... and his work habits, his handwriting and his overall effort have improved substantially since the beginning of the year. Happy. :)
Anyway, so that's what's up... I have some pictures to post too... maybe later today. Happy weekend!
Friday, January 27, 2012
Signature....
"Mom! I wrote my WHOLE name in cursive!!!" (he finally learned the letter "G" yesterday, I think)
This doesn't do his cursive justice, actually... when he is writing the assignments for handwriting on the lined paper it's beautiful! I can't get over how quickly he took to cursive after struggling with legible printing for so long!! Is it just the novelty of it?
This doesn't do his cursive justice, actually... when he is writing the assignments for handwriting on the lined paper it's beautiful! I can't get over how quickly he took to cursive after struggling with legible printing for so long!! Is it just the novelty of it?
Friday, January 20, 2012
Guidance, We Need Guidance....
Ugh. Ben has himself all worked into a tizz lately. This is completely my fault as these are 100% my genes at work, for sure.
So first there was this weird stomach pain he was having all week and part of last week. No sickness... no fever... just "my stomach hurts". It was concerning enough that I emailed his teacher after I sent him to school yesterday and the day before to ask her to check in on him and report back. He was always fine when she asked him. I did take him to the pediatrician yesterday just to make sure there was nothing nefarious going on... the doctor said there was a possibility maybe it was a really mild stomach bug working its way through and to give it a couple more days.
Okay, so MAYBE a stomach bug of some kind. But my guess?
Anxiety. Why? you ask?
Well, first and foremost, he's my kid. SO my kid...
But anyway, yesterday, when we got to the drop off zone at the school, Ben's lower lip started to tremble like he was trying to hold it together. I closed the door and continued around the loop again two more times to give him time to tell me what was going on. He BURST into tears and out it all came... "Markus won't stop making fun of me. He won't stop saying I'm the smallest kid in the class. He calls me a midget and says I am a bug and he will squash me. He says he can beat me at everything. I asked him to stop but he won't. He does it every single day."
(sigh)
I managed to help him get himself under control by promising to email the teacher about it. (he actually begged me to, which I thought was a pretty desperate sign, honestly)
So I came home and sent off a note to Ms M. to let her know what Ben had said and how upset he was. I knew she'd take it seriously, although I did issue a caveat that sometimes Ben can be REALLY sensitive and can take something that is even good-natured teasing sort of personally. (umm... yeah... those would be my genes at work right there) In this case, since I KNOW the kid in question and Ben has had issues with him before, years ago, in preschool, I can pretty much assume it wasn't good-natured... but at any rate, I thought I should let the teacher sort it all out and not go full throttle on the other kid right off the bat.
She wrote back relatively quickly and said she was surprised about this particular child taking part in something like this, but that she would address it. She talked to him and he is supposed to apologize to Ben today. She also said she was afraid that maybe she made it worse inadvertently by getting Ben and another child smaller chairs recently so they could sit at heir desks more comfortably. (I had to giggle a little at this thought, by the way.... poor Ben... ;)
At any rate, after her reply, I wrote back that I thought maybe he would benefit from talking to the guidance counselor a little... he is SUCH a sensitive kid and becoming increasingly upset/self conscious about this size issue.... seeing as how it's NOT going anywhere for now, I'm hoping maybe she can give him some coping tactics. It REALLY really seems to bother him... and now to the point where anticipating teasing from other kids is actually making his stomach hurt. (sigh) He also tends to store all of this anxiety up and let it loose all at once (like he did on me yesterday morning), so I'm hoping she can help him with that some too....
Anyway... we'll see. Poor buddy! :( He was tearful even this morning when I dropped him off. I hate sending him to school knowing he's upset. :(
So first there was this weird stomach pain he was having all week and part of last week. No sickness... no fever... just "my stomach hurts". It was concerning enough that I emailed his teacher after I sent him to school yesterday and the day before to ask her to check in on him and report back. He was always fine when she asked him. I did take him to the pediatrician yesterday just to make sure there was nothing nefarious going on... the doctor said there was a possibility maybe it was a really mild stomach bug working its way through and to give it a couple more days.
Okay, so MAYBE a stomach bug of some kind. But my guess?
Anxiety. Why? you ask?
Well, first and foremost, he's my kid. SO my kid...
But anyway, yesterday, when we got to the drop off zone at the school, Ben's lower lip started to tremble like he was trying to hold it together. I closed the door and continued around the loop again two more times to give him time to tell me what was going on. He BURST into tears and out it all came... "Markus won't stop making fun of me. He won't stop saying I'm the smallest kid in the class. He calls me a midget and says I am a bug and he will squash me. He says he can beat me at everything. I asked him to stop but he won't. He does it every single day."
(sigh)
I managed to help him get himself under control by promising to email the teacher about it. (he actually begged me to, which I thought was a pretty desperate sign, honestly)
So I came home and sent off a note to Ms M. to let her know what Ben had said and how upset he was. I knew she'd take it seriously, although I did issue a caveat that sometimes Ben can be REALLY sensitive and can take something that is even good-natured teasing sort of personally. (umm... yeah... those would be my genes at work right there) In this case, since I KNOW the kid in question and Ben has had issues with him before, years ago, in preschool, I can pretty much assume it wasn't good-natured... but at any rate, I thought I should let the teacher sort it all out and not go full throttle on the other kid right off the bat.
She wrote back relatively quickly and said she was surprised about this particular child taking part in something like this, but that she would address it. She talked to him and he is supposed to apologize to Ben today. She also said she was afraid that maybe she made it worse inadvertently by getting Ben and another child smaller chairs recently so they could sit at heir desks more comfortably. (I had to giggle a little at this thought, by the way.... poor Ben... ;)
At any rate, after her reply, I wrote back that I thought maybe he would benefit from talking to the guidance counselor a little... he is SUCH a sensitive kid and becoming increasingly upset/self conscious about this size issue.... seeing as how it's NOT going anywhere for now, I'm hoping maybe she can give him some coping tactics. It REALLY really seems to bother him... and now to the point where anticipating teasing from other kids is actually making his stomach hurt. (sigh) He also tends to store all of this anxiety up and let it loose all at once (like he did on me yesterday morning), so I'm hoping she can help him with that some too....
Anyway... we'll see. Poor buddy! :( He was tearful even this morning when I dropped him off. I hate sending him to school knowing he's upset. :(