Since October is almost over...

I just thought we would do a roll call of sorts where we can all check in to see how everyone is progressing.

We are having parent teacher conferences next week, so I should have a good idea by then. As far as I know, both boys are doing well, and love school.

We started Book It last week, and they are both excited to earn their free pizzas!

 

We don't get report cards until after Thanksgiving I think, but Sarah and Caitlin's teacher is planning on sending home monthly reports, which I like. Caitlin is doing well, but Sarah is struggling a bit in math and science. I hope she is able to bring things up a bit before the real report cards come out. Their math is getting to the point where I can't always help them and I know even when I understand it, I'm not the best at explaining how to do it.

 

My boys are both doing great. Kiko really loves school, making new friends and all the positive feedback he gets for his good behavior. He sits right down and works on his homework when they bring it home Tuesday (it's due Thursday) and turns it in the next day. Sam, on the other hand, moans and wails, throws his arms in the air and draws it out until they are practically climbing on to the bus Thursday morning. It's getting better, but that's been the one challenge (for me) with the transition to elementary school.

They sent home Math Challenge books that are about 140 pages long that are due in May. Since they can't read yet, I have to sit with them and read the instructions, but they are really loving it. For some reason, that doesn't count as homework in Sam's mind.

 

Hayden and Brady are doing very well. I had Brady's conference, and his teacher said he's excelling in all ways, including social, and she had no negatives to report. Brady's reading teacher happened to come in and said, "I LOVE him! I have a daughter his age and I'd like to arrange a marriage, please!" Hayden's teacher has said good things about him, too, although we haven't had his conference yet. He's had the teacher reprimand him a couple times in class, but he always tells me about it. Both of them come home from school and head right upstairs to do their 20 minutes of reading for Book-It every day and then color in their charts, without my having to remind them, which is great.

Jackson is doing well, but now that he has letter grades, he's getting more uptight about the two C's he has. His goal is to reach the A&B Honor Roll. He is keeping up with homework much better, but still having trouble taking full responsibility for getting his work completed and turned in, and double checking for errors. I think he's finally starting to realize how messy handwriting and a few hastily-completed problems can really affect his grades. He understands almost everything in his head, and his reading comprehension is really good, but he has a lot of trouble getting the answers out in complete sentences with enough detail. He can give me fantastic answers verbally, but putting it on paper is much more challenging for him. So, he's working on it, but I'm pleased that he has a goal, and that he's keeping up with his work far better than last year.

 

Glad to hear everyone is having a good year so far! Ellen, Marcus used to give me problems about getting his homework done, but he has gotten better. Homework here is given erratically, so we never know when it is coming.

Amy, have you tried letting him dictate the answers to you, and then he can copy them down? That should help him, in that it sounds like the process of writing is distracting Jackson from getting his ideas down.

 

QUOTE
have you tried letting him dictate the answers to you, and then he can copy them down?
My parents used to do this with me. It always helped me with the "topic sentence", even all the way through college, to wrangle all the ideas in my head in to one clear sentence/idea.

 

We received the Boys' progress reports on Friday. They are both doing wonderfully and perfectly in the same class. Couldn't have been a better decision for them. Conferences aren't until the 12th of Nov. so, we will see what she has to say then, because I know that progress reports won't tell us everything. It has been a wonderful start to their schooling career!!!!!

 

Sounds like everyone is off to a great start, more or less. :Clap:

 

Alexis is having a mixed review to her start of the school year. She is still excelling in spelling, but she has started to struggle in everything else. They have started teaching the parts of a sentence and it just goes straight over her head. We had finally gotten down what a noun was for the most part and they had to confuse her by throwing in a test on Proper Nouns, which she failed. I don't like the fact I have no idea what is going on in language class until it is to late to help her. By the time I see the test on it, they have moved onto the next topic. This is a sore area for me since I never understood sentence structure until well into high school (and even then it was mediocre understanding). Math has switched from addition to subtraction, so we are dealing with some transition issues there. She will be subtracting right along and then switch to adding instead without realizing her error. I don't think + and - compute to her when she sees them. Her AR reading is going well. We have difficulty getting her to take her AR test at school and remembering to bring new books home. The kids are left up to their own devices to take their AR test throughout the day and with just 2 computers in the class she has to be aggressive to get to the test and she is not. Usually once a week I have to send a note with her to get the test taken and new books home. All the above is the reason that we will be switching to homeschooling come January. I think it is time that I have more control over her education and that just isn't going to happen in a school setting. She needs extra time to get concepts that her classmates can pick up on in the 45min block of time they were taught the subject.

 

We just wrapped up our October Book It and the boys can't wait for their pizza coupons. We had parent/teacher conferences and report cards on Friday. Both are doing terrific and loved by their teachers.

 

Heather, I am sending in the Book It calendars today--bad mommy forgot to send it in last week. I am glad it is going so well for your boys this year!

 

We haven't had any conferences, yet, but my kids seem to be doing well. They're making new friends, learning many new words, and they're always singing new songs, when they come home. The teasing has already started - Kyle is friends with a girl named Lizzy, and some of the other boys taunt, "Kyle's in love with Lizzy," but he is going to stay friends with her anyway. :good:

Homework packets come home the first of the month and are due at the end of the month. There is a calendar with daily activities to check off and about 20 math sheets. Oh, and of course, there's the reading log. I was just feeling good about nailing the October homework, so we could have a homework-free Halloween, but November's packet came home Friday, so I guess we should start looking at it. (Urgh; I know it's important, but sometimes it's such a time-sink!)

K&K go to an after-school care program on the school site. One of the teachers there told me last week that my kids are some of the best artists in there. And they always take their time and do their best job. Yesterday, an older (5th grade?) girl asked Kelly what grade she was in, and when Kelly said kindergarten, the girl commented, "Wow, that picture is really good!"

 

Wow, Cathy, that is a lot of homework! Personally, I hate the concept of homework packets. The purpose of homework is to reinforce what you learn in class, so giving a packet to me seems like busy work.

I had Jon's conference yesterday. He is doing great! He is the top reader in his class, and the teacher loves having him in her class. She does have some questions about his comprehension, and we are looking into it. I contacted the superintendant about a meeting to discuss AR for Jon--his teacher agrees he is a good candidate, and will benefit from it. I will let you know how that goes.

 

Sharon, what's AR?

Cathy -- your kids are adorable in your new avatar How fun to have 2 little artists! That older girl's comment must have really made Kelly feel good.

 

Ellen, AR is Accelerated Reader. It is a program where kids read books and then take tests on the computer which test for comprehension. They are multiple choice tests. If Jon is successful with them, it can tell us that his issue isn't that he isn't comprehending, just that he is having trouble finding the words to give the answer--which is what we think his problem is. Now we are looking into whether it is a speech or cognative (learning disability) issue.

Probably more than you wanted to know, right?

BTW, Ellen, I used your movie thread as an example in a thread in PC--hope you don't mind

 

Thanks Sharon -- that is exactly what I wanted to know! I appreciate your taking the time to type it out for me

I don't mind your using my thread as example, unless it was as an example of a completely ridiculous thread!

 

QUOTE(sharongl @ Nov 2 2007, 04:10 PM) [snapback]478650[/snapback]
Wow, Cathy, that is a lot of homework! Personally, I hate the concept of homework packets. The purpose of homework is to reinforce what you learn in class, so giving a packet to me seems like busy work.

I hate them, too. Some of the stuff does reinforce classwork, but all too often the main thing it does is raise my blood pressure, especially when K&K are focused at different times and it shoots a major part of our evening. :wacko: (We get home 5:30/6 pm.)

Ellen, thanks for your compliment on my avatar.

 

Mine are doing well in school. Report cards come out next week. Jennica is in gr 4 and is loving all of it except math. She actually has to think in math sometimes, unlike most of her other work. School comes pretty easy for her right now. Joshua is in gr 2 and is also doing well. He's been suffering from headaches alot, but just got glasses on Friday so that should take care of the headaches. Solomé and Danielle are in gr 1 and LOVE school! I think their favorite subject is art. Both girls are doing really well in school. Danielle catches on to new concepts a little quicker than Soli. Solomé isn't quite as confident that she knows the answers when asked a question, so she'll look to her sister to answer first. Solomé also just got glasses on Friday so I'm wondering if being able to see the words in her books more clearly will boost her confidence. Samara is not in school until next year, but knows her alphabet, does some adding, can count to 200. Her older siblings love to come home and play school with her and she's a very eager student! She also loves to do adding on the calculator. She'll press the buttons and say the addition sentence out as she does it and it is helping her to memorize her adding. Pretty cute to watch too.

Gee, didn't mean to write a book! I guess that's what happens when you only come on TS every few months. :blush:

 

Great update, Robin!

I did have Marcus' conference yesterday, and he is doing very well! She said he doesn't need to work on anything and is flying through! His current goal is to be the first to get their Book It! paper turned in He is reading more and more on his own. So proud of my little guy!

 

Jacob and Nathan have made a smooth transiton to Kindergarten(new school and new daycare after school) they have adjusted well and seem to love both. Jacob has the seasoned teacher very, very good and Nathan got a brand new first year teaching teacher. I personally wish the assignment had been reversed given Nathan has special needs and Jacob's teacher has a ton of experience with the special needs children and Nathan's openly admitted to me at the conference she has none. At the conference they both got great reviews academically. Jacob's teacher was funny her first comment was "The girls just love your son" she says she has trouble keeping the girls away from him. We witnessed this at family fun night when all the girls were saying "Hi Jacob" as he hides behind dads leg, one little girl had her arms outstretched saying "Jacob, I need a hug" and then procedes to just about tackle him for a hug. His teacher said he is doing very well and reading at level higher then expected at this time, and got top scores in all tested areas, but does have trouble with attention at times and she needs to redirect him.

Nathan's teacher said he has a lot of attention issues and is even getting up from circle time and walking around the room. She is not sure why, if he is just uncomfortable sitting that long, or what is going on. She has also stated he has had a couple melt downs crying and won't tell anyone what is wrong. He did one day say he had a bad day at school, but wouldn't tell me why. Then on his paper he said look at baby q he is sad. I looked at his paper he had done at school and inside the lower case q he had drawn a crying frown face. just about made me cry thinking how sad he must have felt when he drew that. He did score well academically on all tested areas, but also is missing a lot being pulled for therapy 4x a week and only in half day K. She said he has trouble following instructions. I was halfway worried this would happen before K started. One on one at home he is very focused and does very well, does far more than he demonstrated to her in testing at school. But, when in room with a lot of activity and noise (this is big factor he has sensory issues R/T noise level) his attention level goes wayyyyyyyyyyyyy down. I did talk with Nathan and he did say he was crying because it was too loud in the classroom. I also think I figured out why he gets up from circle time and will just walk around. (R/T bowel issue with his CP--i know TMI, but he will frequently have to pace when he gets the feeling before he can actually go) Well, now that I wrote a book, Nathan is having another IEP meeting in December and I will have a lot to say, including the fact that they let him go to bathroom in gym class alone and he got stuck in bathroom (not stall but room) he couldn't opent the door to get out, he said he pulled and pulled (but only has strength in one arm) and couldn't get door open, he finally did but only a crack and got out only to be hit in back of head by door.

So as you can see from my novel, despite their nice transition to change we still have some work to do to make it a better situation.

 

Michele, in our school, the K kids who get therapies actually get full day K--so they don't have to get pulled from their K classes--could that be an option for Nathan? I am glad to hear things are going so well for Jacob, though!

 

QUOTE(sharongl @ Nov 6 2007, 09:39 AM) [snapback]483464[/snapback]
Michele, in our school, the K kids who get therapies actually get full day K--so they don't have to get pulled from their K classes--could that be an option for Nathan? I am glad to hear things are going so well for Jacob, though!


I did ask about this at his conference. They call it an extended day here. Where they ould go to school then lunch then do their therapies. Unfortunately our school district does not offer it Also per his IEP OT was supposed to be doing one time per week in class, and one time each week in therapy room, but per teacher she has been pulling him for all therapy grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr :angry: So that is being looked into having her push in for all sessions.

 

My girls are doing good in Kindergarten. They are in different classes and seem to be doing ok with this. Jasmyn is interested in boys and wants to call one every night. Which is not going to happen. Jadlyn loves homework and reading. I am trying to get them to do a little bit of math every night. They seem interested in it. I just don't want to push anything so we only do 3 problems a night. Until they tell me they want more.

 

My guys are also doing really well in first grade. Isaac is a top reader in his class, started reading AR books and is getting different harder assignments for spelling and math. He is really loving school, has made some new friends and has a really wonderful teacher. Since we moved last summer, this is a new school for us, so it was a big transition for the kids. Ethan is also doing pretty well academicaly and socially, but unfortunatelly I don't agree with the methods that his teacher is using in the classroom. It does not seem that she spends a lot of time planning the activities for kids nad trying to keep them interested in learning. She focuses a lot on discipline ( like "no talking", and putting their heads down on the desks as a punishment :unsure: ), but I don't think that the kids respond well to her teaching style... She really likes Ethan and gave him a great report at the conference, but I believe that he could've been learning more and getting more out of his first grade experience. We tried talking to her during the conference, but truly I am not sure if she really gets the six year old kids . Anyway, Ethan is not very happy in his class this year, but we'll try to make it work somehow for him.

 

Oh Michele!! Look at your avatar! I'm sorry to hear that Nathan is having a tough time and hope that you can get things sorted out for him. Gosh those are handsome boys!

Anna, that sounds like a hard situation with Ethan's teacher. Hopefully as the year goes on she'll lighten up, or Ethan will figure out a way to thrive despite her. Congratulations to Isaac! I like your avatar too -- but do wish for a more recent photo of your boys (I was going to say adorable, but they've probably graduated to handsome now!).

 

Don't know how I missed this thread. Oh well. Anyway, the girls are doing well. They both have teachers who are pretty much in line with what they need. Brooke's teacher is older, more experienced and strict which is perfect because Brooke needs more structure. Morgan's teacher has been teaching for a few years, and is great too. She isn't as structured, which is fine because Morgan doesn't require it as much. Both are doing well academically. I have conferences in a week or so, so will see what she says. The only problem we have been having is with Brooke. She was fine until a few weeks ago when classmate threw up. She has an extreme fear of getting sick and vomiting. She also says she misses me a lot too. She cries in the morning and before she gets on the bus. I have had the nurse call me (twice), and I explained if she is not vomiting and doesn't have a fever, she is to go back to class. I am doing a reward chart also for her, and that works so-so. I told her if she cries to her teacher, she will not receive a sticker for the day (that is because her teacher called me and said that she feels bad for Brooke and it makes her sad). I also told her that if she cries on the bus, she will get no TV that night after school. I hate having to go through the mornings with this sad, quivering lips and tears. It is both heart breaking and annoying at the same time. Oh well, hopefully that will all pass soon. I guess I should be thankful that once she is in her class, she is perfectly fine because she is distracted. Plus academically, she is doing great (mostly 100%'s on her tests).

 

They girls are doing GREAT!!!!! at their new school this year. If you remember last year Meghan had a hard time and cried for a bit but SHE is doing soooooooo well this year and has even told me on several occasions she loves her new school and teacher, they have a wonderful teacher, they have both read 15 books for OCT & NOV Book It, and had their parent- teacher conferences a few weeks back and both girls are doing awesome, they are two of her top performers and said they were very well behaved, so has loved having them. Mackenzie is the top AR reader in her class. I am really proud of them both.

 

Just had the girls conferences this morning and both are doing excellent. Both teachers had not 1 negative thing to say. Brooke is reading on a 2nd grade level, and is getting extra math work from a 2nd grade level too. Her teacher expects her to be reading at almost a 3rd grade level by the end of the year. Morgan is reading about the same, just a smidgen better and her math is just as well. I was very pleased to hear they are doing so well. They said twins in general don't usually do academically as well as most children and the same goes for preemies. Well, we beat them on BOTH of those fronts. Both teachers said they are a dream to teach and are such wonderful, polite little girls (THAT I was shocked....my girls nice and polite? :icon_eek: ). Well, glad they are at school anyway, lol.