carolinagrl

I purchased 3 sets of clothes for MaCayla and left them in the school’s clinic. Often MaCayla comes to school in hand-me downs that are ill fitting or just plain worn out. One day she had on a t-shirt that had to be a men’s small (MaCayla is 8)and it had several holes in it that looked like they’d been chewed in the shirt by an animal.
Now when MaCayla comes dressed like this, I will send her to the Clinic and the school nurse will redress her in a new outfit that is more appropriate. MaCayla will be allowed to keep the outfit and, hopefully, the mom will wash it and send her back to school in the outfit again.

Lauren was an 8 year old, beautiful 3rd grader. She died tragically 2 nights ago in an automobile accident. Although she wasn’t in my class, she and her parents attend my church, and her parents work with my husband. Our school is shaken by this tragedy and I had to comfort many of my third grade students as they realized the ramifications of the tragedy.
I came home and hugged and hugged my four children. Life changes in an instant and for Lauren’s family, life will never be the same again. I can’t imagine going on after the loss of a beloved child. I want to hold my children and protect them from anything that can bring them harm. I know it’s not possible and I have to trust that God will hold them and keep them safe for me. As for Lauren’s family, I grieve with them and try to understand God’s plan for this family. Lauren is survived by her parents (dad was driving the vehicle and the accident was his fault while mom was out of town on business) and her sister, Claudia ( a special needs child who was also in the accident). Tell your family how much you love them, hold them, cherish them…things can change in the blink of an eye.

Yesterday was our anniversary. 26 years. Just another day for him. No card, nothung special. I got him a card and wrote a loving note , wishing for things to be like they used to be . He read it and tossed it aside with the other mail without comment. He opened the gifts I’d gotten him and expressed some interest because they were things he had wanted. He gave me a perfunctory kiss and said thanks and our anniversary celebration was over. I slept on the couch last night and he doesn’t get it.

I need to call Ann NOW.

After meeting with Kenny’s parents and presenting them with statistical data and work samples indicating that Kenny was well below grade level, they made the decision to keep him in 3rd grade. Kenny is 7 years old, a year younger than my other 3rd graders, having started school in a private school and transferring to our public school this year. He is used to small class sizes, ten students at the most and is now in a class of twenty-one. He is finding the pace of 3rd grade to be much too fast and the content to be much too difficult. His parents’ decision includes enrolling him in an after school program much like Sylvan Learning Center, but I’ve never heard of the one they chose. Frankly, in all my years of teaching, I’ve never had a parent come back to me and tell me that enrolling them in Sylvan or any other after school program like that was the magic answer that cured their academic problems. The parents also suggested that after a couple of months that if things didn’t look like they were working out, they would take him out of our school and try him somewhere else. (That sounds like a problem solver!) Meanwhile, I now have Kenny, very much below average and I need to use every trick in my little book to get him up to grade level in a few months. But who will get the credit? The after school tutoring program that waves the magic wand and makes it all right? The teacher that diagnosed the problems and tried to do something about them? One will get the glory and one will get the blame. Which way do you think it wiil go?

Kajah is my neighbor and attends my school. She is repeating 3rd grade, the grade I teach. While she has wonderful parents with good intentions, I don’t think they really know how to help Kajah academically. I’ve invited Kajah to come over a couple of evenings a week for “tutoring” lessons with me. She brings her reading book and she reads the weekly story aloud to me and we discuss it. She also brings her Accelerated Reader book over and we read a couple of chapters together. Kajah has to earn a certain number of points by taking computer tests on her AR books. Of course, I’ve heard all of these stories a million times and I’m tired when I come home and I’ve got 4 teenagers of my own to help with homework or just motivate to get homework done, but I feel like if I can make a difference in Kajah’s life, it will be worth it.

Kenny is 7 and is in the 3rd grade. He has been at a Christian private school and started school a year early, so he is the youngest child in my class. Immediately I noticed that Kenny had huge gaps in his learning. He could not keep up with the pace and was struggling on a day to day basis. I administered a Basic Literacy Test expecting a score of about 80, typical of a starting 3rd grader. He scored 47. I administered a diagnosic reading test and he scored on a grade equivalency of first grade seventh month. I administered a math beginning of the year skills test and he scored 25%. His school did not forward any testing information that they had done. I was beginning to suspect that this child would be better placed in the second grade. But how to convince the parents? My principal looked at all of the information and student work samples that I showed him and saw where I was heading with this. Meanwhile the parents contacted me concerned because he had brought home some low scores on classwork assignments and tests. They were also wondering why I was sending home incomplete classwork. We deciced on a face to face meeting called a Student Support Team Meeting involving me, the rest of the third grade teachers and our principal. The parents insisted that Kenny was at the top of his class in 2nd grade and could not understand why we were insisting that he was below average in reading and math. They insisted that our pacing was much too fast and our curriculum was too difficult. We directed them to the district’s curriculum guide and pacing chart which I follow to the letter. When our principal suggested moving Kenny back to 2nd grade, the parents were floored. They had not even considered this as an option. They somehow thought he would stay in 3rd grade and miraculously catch up in a few weeks. Also it should be noted that our state has a test given in the spring that must be passed by 3rd graders in order to be promoted. If they fail the state test, they automatically fail the grade. Period. At this point, I don’t see Kenny being ready at a 3rd grade level to pass that test by spring. Then he will be in 3rd grade next year anyway. So, we told the parents to go home and think about their son’s future and what they think would be best to do at this point. Before they left, they turned to me and asked me for my educated recommendaton. I told them that I had taught 2nd grade for 14 years before moving to 3rd grade and that I honestly thought the best course of action at this point would be for Kenny to go back to 2nd grade now. He would be more successful, he is new to our school, therefore, he doesn’t have a lot of established friends he would be leaving in the 3rd grade, and he would be more prepared for 3rd grade next year. They thanked all of us and told us they would make their decision soon. I hope for Kenny’s sake everything works out well,

I attended the Dance Booster Club Meeting for Meredith. Tomorrow I will volunteer on her behalf and sell pizza after school to the high schoolers as they leave. Ugh…but I will put on a smile and do it for my daughter. I love Meredith, Colby, Logan, and Kathleen!

149.5

I do not want to see 150!!!

I got an email today from Luke’s mom. Luke took home some unfinished classwork to do as well as his homework last night. Luke is a very bright student, but works very slowly. His mom complained about the amount of work that Luke had to do last night. She said it took him 3 1/2 hours to complete everything and that he was very tearful throughout the whole homework ordeal. She says he now hates getting up in the morning and dreads coming to school because the workload is too much for him. It is not too hard for him, he just works slowly and can’t seem to get all of the assignments completed. I responded to her email and assured her that Luke was a bright student and was making satisfactory progress in all academic areas. I really feel like Luke is not staying focused on his assignments, and is easily distracted by things going on around him…but I didn’t mention that to her. I don’t want to get into the whole Ritalin – Adderall conrroversy. She requested a face-to-face conference for next week, so we will get into his distractability issues then. Meanwhile, I need to get Luke excited about school again. I can’t lose him now.

Our principal met grade chairs yesterday and said we had to develop progress reports to go home by next week. After much moaning and groaning, I went back to my grade level and we discussed what we wanted to include on a progress report for our grade level. Last night, not only did I come home and develop an impressive looking progress report for our grade level, I customized it for each teacher on the grade level, and printed out enough copies for each teacher for her class. This morning I was able to proudly present each teacher with copies of her progress reports all ready for her to fill out with names and grades.

MaCayla had a really bad start to her morning. She has two older siblings, Madison and Mason, and they come from somewhat of a disrunctional home. MaCayla is brilliant. She is in the gifted and talented program. It has been very hard for me to make inroads with her. She appears disinterested in school, finishes everything fairly quickly, does everything correctly without much effort, then buries her nose in a book until everyone else is finished. She comes to school clean, but looking like she obviously dressed herself and brushed her own very long, thick hair which is usually gathered in a rather messy ponytail.
Today the adult bus monitor came into my room before school started dragging in a tearful MaCayla. Madison and Mason had taken her backpack away from her on the bus and were playing “keep away.” Out of frustration, MaCayla hit her sister, who then screamed bloody murder. The school bus driver was little help with the situation. He turned the whole mess over to the bus monitor upon arriving at school, and that’s how MaCayla came to be the one in trouble.I certainly don’t think MaCayla would have hit in any other situation, but Madison was a sibling. Also, knowing Madison, there was probably a little acting involved concerning the severity of her injury.
Later that day, when things had calmed down a bit and MaCayla had finished an assignment and no one was clammoring for my attention, I called MaCayla over and began talking to her. In the course of our conversation, I asked her if she brushed her own hair each morning and she said she did. I asked her if she would mind if I combed it out for her and she smiled and said that she loved it when people played with her hair. I have a ziplock bag in my classroom with a recently purchased brush, comb, and hair articles. I got that out and began combing the tangles out of her hair, all the while talking to her about Madison and Mason, and it turns out there is a younger girl Madeline. Meanwhile I began French-braiding her long hair away from her face until she had a neat braid down the back. She smiled and asked me if I had a mirror and she kept feeling it with her hand. Some of the other girls had noticed what was going on and complimented MaCayla’s hair. For the rest of the MaCayla was a different child, more animated and she talked to me more, initiating the conversations. I think I’ve made a small breakthrough.

I’m still looking for anybody who has used the program NewNovelist. I’d like to know how they liked it and if it is worth purchasing. I’d also like to know if anyone has taken an online writing course, and if so the details of doing so.
I’m anxious to get immersed in a second novel.

I;m trying to be more patient. I’m also trying to say “I love you” more often. Sometimes it’s hard because he sometimes acts as if I’m not even in the house. He says it’s because he gets so caught up in whatever he is doing that he forgets to speak or acknowledge me. What am I, a wall? Also, we have 4 kids and they take up alot our attention. Sometimes we don’t even talk until we both fall in bed exhausted. Our relationship needs a lot of work.

I’m not doing well with this. Exercise is not my thing, even though I know I need to do this for my health. My cholesterol is over 300 and I have to eat properly AND exercise in order to get it under control. Common sense tells me I’ve got to do this, but my lazy butt won’t get moving.

Today was a good day at work. I feel like I made a big break-through with Trevor and subtraction. I still need to work harder with Kenny and Antoinisha. Kenny still struggles with subtraction.
Tonight I’m going to work on a new format for progress reports for our grade level. I’ll also be working on my reading and spelling lesson plans for next week.

I drank two bottles today. That’s two more than yesterday!

Today I felt so organized when I immediately pulled the relevant paperwork for my grade level and distributed it. I was able to put my hands right on everything, make copies for everyone, and put the originals back in the notebook. Hooray for me!

Today I got an email from Lisa about telling your friends you love them when you’ve got the opportunity. I immediately forwarded it back to Lisa and my closest friends. It was as easy as hitting a few keystrokes on my computer, but the message was heartfelt. Now I need to take an additional step and tell each of them in person when I get the opportunity.

The girls and I went shopping together for new clothes. I was very patient as they picked out things they liked and tried not to be too critical. I want them to be cute and feel comfortable with their age group, but I draw the line at anything trashy or inappropriate. I tried to stay positive and steer them towards things that were really fashionable and looked adorable on them. They are very picky, but we were able to come up with a few things that we all were happy with.