One teacher's class seems much more fun :(

My girls are in separate kindergarten classes. They both love their teachers, but Lily's class seems to have a lot more fun. For example, in late September they have had a pajama party for earning their behavior marbles. On the day of the pajama party, they also all brought in an apple and made homemade applesauce (this was a lesson that coincided with the day), and got to watch an educational movie and eat applesauce at the end of the day.

Now for tomorrow they had previously planned to have silly sandwich day to encourage trying new healthy things. Every child was assigned a healthy item to bring and they get to create silly sandwich combinations for their snack. They apparently just earned their next good behavior pajama party day today, so now they get to wear pj's as well, and bring in a favorite board game to play.

This is all great, I think this kind of stuff is fun. I just don't know how to spin it with Gracie whose class has not earned a party yet at all, or done any of these fun food things either. The first applesauce/pj party day she was fine, but I can see for this silly sandwich thing she's a little sad they don't get to do it. And now she will see that Lily is wearing pajamas and taking a game to school, which will be even harder on her.

Just curious if anyone else has had this type of situation and/or how you would handle it.

 

I'm sort of in the same boat. My daughter and son are in first grade. She has homework about 4 out of 5 days and he may have homework once a week. I have no answers though. My kids had two different teachers in Kindergarten as well and one was much more 'laid back.' I liked the 'stricter' one better. I do not know though if my daughter would have responded well to her.

Is the one child who is NOT in that 'fun' classroom noticing it or complaining? Perhaps it does not have to be brought to that child's attention if he doesn't care at this point. Good luck!

 

I go through this too. One has homework every night and the other hardly gets it. Plus one gets to bring home rewards (it's a special needs classroom and they earn points which they exchange for a reward). So far the other one hasn't complained .. in fact it's the opposite. The other one complains that he doesn't get "hard homework" like his brother.
I agree with Jackie .. if she doesn't notice then I would just try not to mention it.

 

I'm generally very hands-off with teachers, but I don't think it would be out of line to send Gracie's teacher an email gently inquiring about how close they are to getting all their marbles (that's funny -- our K classes have "bead jars") and what the treat might be when they do. You could just explain that Gracie thought her sister's party sounded like lots of fun and is looking forward to getting to do something like that too.

The teacher of course has the right to run her class the way she wants, and it isn't her problem that your kids are twins, but if you could get some information from her, you might be able to tell Gracie that she just needs to hang in there a little while longer.

I'm sort of surprised that the two classes are so far out of sync on the behavior thing. Maybe the teachers have different standards for what is marble-worthy? You can bet that Gracie is not the only child in the other class who has noticed that Lily's class is already on their second PJ party. There are 5 kindy classes at our school, and I think our kids know exactly when each class first filled their bead jar and what the reward was. :ibiggrin: We're also lucky that all the K teachers operate as a team and try to follow roughly the same rules, have similar lesson plans, etc.

 

This is a time I'm glad my twins are so very different. Neither seems to really care much if the other's class is doing something. Among the three littles, there is occasional "I want ___ because ____ got to" but rarely. This is our first year in separate classes. I wish I had advice for you!

 

I just wanted to comment on Minette's suggestion to email the teacher. At our school, we had a fun kinder and a not so fun kinder. A parent emailed about a similar complaint, the principals were called in, and basically.....there became two not so fun kinders. They were told they had to do the same things, which meant the fun teacher had to stop doing the fun stuff.

Every teacher offers unique things. If your kids will be apart for their years to come, trust me, the roles will be reversed. Although it must be hard to watch, you just have to kind of chalk it up to "life's not always fair." Some grade levels, the teachers collaborate. Some don't. For us parents of twins, that means some years will be easier for us, and some will be more challenging. But honestly if I were you, I would let this one go.

 

We have that here too. My two are in different K classes and Trevor's teacher is way more fun than Emilie's. Emilie's teacher is very quiet, but has fun with the kids in her quiet way while Trevor's teacher is always singing songs and being loud and silly. He just loves it and it's exactly what he needed! We just tell them that every teacher is different and every class does different things. ardon: I just try and point out the fun things that Emilie's teacher does too (in her quiet little way). I feel they need to learn that everything is not going to be the same all the time and that's just how it is.

 

We have the "weird" teacher. I'm sure she's fun but she is young and at times overly educational. Their Halloween party was a bore (they made sandwich and cut them with cookie cutters and did abab patterens...). We have done seperate classes yet as their prek teacher said there was no need for it. They have seperate friends they play with and are in different work groups. I chalk it all up to if they were in different classes they are different kids and are getting to do different things even if they are small things,

 

Thanks everyone for the advice! Gracie was a little sad about the silly sandwich thing yesterday morning, so I thought she'd be really upset when Lily said she was getting another pajama party. But (luckily) they got their first field trip permission slip home yesterday. They get to go see the high school put on the play Snow White on 12/5. So that little nugget had Gracie's attention and she was so excited. She honestly didn't even seem to care about Lily wearing pj's this morning.

I volunteer in each classroom, so I may just ask Gracie's teacher about how close they are to their party. They follow mostly the same curriculum, and have the same homework, but there are definite differences in the way it is presented. And Gracie's class just seems to have a naughtier, rowdier(sp?) group that I think keeps them from earning their good behavior marbles. Which is hard to see since my Gracie is my better behaved child. If Lily were in that class, she'd tell the rowdy ones to get a grip so they can get their party. But Gracie is quieter and more reserved.

 

It's so interesting having twins in two separate classes. You get to see the differences in teachers so starkly because they are going through the same grade level at the same school at the same time. I think each teacher has her strengths and weaknesses. One son's teacher was so nice and was very good at teaching the kids how to make friends and to cooperate with each other. Another son's teacher's last year was strict and was not very fun, but he ended up learning so much from this class that he is still about 2 reading levels ahead of his brother.

I actually think it's a good introduction to life's inevitable fact that not everything is going to be equal or the same or fair. As twin parents, we spend so much time making sure that everything is equal. But I think we also have to teach kids that things are not always equal and to be ok with that inequality.

 

Twice we have had Jonathan's teacher move up with the grade, and Marcus would get that teacher the next year. One of the things I observed with that is that sometimes the makeup of a class can change how a teacher does things. Also, sometimes one had more work than the other, but in the end, it has all evened out. Next year it may very well be reversed.

 

We have been there. Last year both girls loved their teachers. They were both fun. Brianne's teacher had pj parties though. Hayley teacher did not have the same system. It seemed like Brianne was having a pj party at least once a month. They also had a field trip to a local bowling alley. The teacher's husband owned the bowling alley. Luckily, Hayley was not too upset about all of the parties.

This year, Brianne has the same teacher. So far she has had two parties. Hayley's teacher did talk to Brianne's teacher about her system and he is trying it. So far though that class has not earned any parties.

 

Hello all, I am new to this site. I have nine year old twin girls. When my girls were in kindergarten they had different teachers and one had the fun teacher and the other one did not. It was sad to see that one twin had all the fun and the other did not. After that I always have had them in the same class. They are in the fourth grade now and they love being in the same class, but they have their own set of friends and they do not sit together in class. Every year before school starts I email the principal and request that my girls be put in the same class. That has worked for us. I hope this helps.

 

I seriously LOVE this site! I always know where to come to feel "normal."

We are in the same situation with the boys in different K classes. This was just the discussion over the Thanksgiving holiday. My in-laws came for Grandparents Day and one went with each boy. One class said a poem, made a couple of crafts that morning, and also had a card for the grandparents. The other class did none of that. Actually, that class had two substitutes the whole week... My mother in-law made the comment that my child that was with her, needed to be in the other class because his class was so disorganized. Granted there were subs. The day before the "strict" one had a "popcorn" party where they watched a Charlie Brown movie and had treats. The other did nothing. With us, the stricter teacher is actually the one having all the "fun." There are good things about the other teacher. They made an "All About Me" poster that I thought was really cool, and they keep a reading log. However, I'm not noticing any actual learning of reading in that class yet. One class has also started on coins and their worth. The other class nothing that I've seen.

I was actually considering trying to move them to the same class, but both boys are happy. My husband says I'd just ruffle feathers. We have large classes too, 25 &27. Yea, I thought it was some great thing having them apart, but I'm not really seeing that benefit yet. One child isn't as vocal about not getting to do fun things...the other one sure would speak up. I see it though. I miss getting the art projects and actually "seeing" what they are doing. One teacher is great about using the school site to update DAILY what they do. The other teacher has given three generalizations so far this year.

I'm glad to know this is the new normal for those with multiples. At least we aren't alone. =)

 

This is an interesting thread. We have had Ian and Montana in separate classes since they began Pre-K. We have been really lucky that we have had teachers who match their personality styles. Ian needs a firm teacher while Montana needs a more nurturing teacher. So far its worked out that way. As far as homework differences, their homework has been pretty much the same. Ian has complained a few times that they seem to do funner things in Montana's class, but then a day or so, his class will do it and all will be well for him. It's nuts. I can't believe I have 2nd graders.

 

Nice to see you Laura! 2nd graders already? Wow!