Nohe 5

Tell Those Kids to Shut Up

I have to keep repeating to myself that there are now less than two weeks left of school.  Poor Rachel got her math test back today.  She didn't do well, but she didn't do horribly.  The worst part was that I knew that she knew how to do the work.  So after dinner I had her fix the problems that she had gotten wrong without any help from me.  She breezed through them and was able to fix everyone.

I asked Rachel why she was able to get these correct at home and not at school.  She told me that it was hard to think at school.  I asked if she had taken her time like we had talked about.  She assured me that she had and, in fact, she was the last one to turn in her test.  So what was the problem.

"It's hard to think in the classroom because all the other kids are talking and laughing," she told me.

I asked, "You mean after the other kids are done they don't have to keep quiet?"

"No," she said. "They all start talking to each other and laughing and I just can't think."

Well another mystery solved.  While Rachel probably won't grow up to be a mathematician, with a little peace and quiet, she will probably do quite well.

Just gotta make it to June 10th.

Choose Your Words Carefully

This morning I got a call from Marty.  He was telling be all about how Rachel was bemoaning the fact that her class was going to get to go on a field trip to the zoo and then to CiCi's for pizza, but that she wasn't allowed to go.  I could not for the life of me figure out what she was talking about.  I checked the calendar and there was no listing for a field trip anywhere.

Then I said to Marty, "Well there is a CiCi's pizza night listed on the calendar, but I told Rachel that we couldn't go because it is always a zoo."  I must say right here that my husband was much quicker than I was on this one, because immediately the light bulb went off over his head.

Apparently, when I said the phrase "because it is a zoo," Rachel thought there was a literal zoo involved.  Never mind the fact that I say that "our house is like living in a zoo" to the kids all the time.  Rachel must often be confused at the zoo, because, despite what I say, it is not at all like our house.  In fact, it is much more fun, what with all the animals, ice cream and fun.

So now I have been tasked with explaining to Rachel, that although we will not be taking her to Cici's pizza night, she is not missing out on the zoo.  Next time, I will choose my words more carefully.

While Getting Ready For Bed

Me: Rachel you are just getting too big.

Rachel: I know.  I'm almost 10.

Me: What happened to 8 and 9?

Rachel:  Well, I mean I only have two more numbers and then I will be 10.

Me: I don't want you to grow up so fast.

Rachel:  I know.  I know.  You are going to cry, "Where are my babies?  Where are my babies?  Who are these big kids?"

Me:  Yes.  I want you all to stay little for me.

Rachel:  But if we don't grow up, we can't make you a Grandma.

That's my girl.  Always looking to the next step.

She'll Never Work for the CIA

A dinner conversation:

Rachel: E told me a secret in school today.

Me: What was it?

Rachel: I'm not supposed to tell anyone.

Me: Well, you know you aren't supposed to keep secrets from your mom.

You could really see her pondering where her loyalties lie.  On the one hand, E is her very best friend at school and she had entrusted Rachel with a secret.  However, I was  the M.O.M., Master Of Most, supreme power in her life.  This was a major quandary for a 6 year old.  I didn't push.  I would have, but there was no need.  Rachel folded like a deck cards under the intense pressure of one reminder that she shouldn't keep secrets.

Rachel: OK.  E said T was stupid.

Me: That wasn't very nice.  But don't you feel better now that you aren't keeping that secret.

Rachel: Yes.  I don't like secrets.

I Deserve a Big Grace Cookie For This One

Yesterday Rachel brought home a less than stellar test.  I am not upset because I think the tests are stupid.  They give the kids a sentence with a word missing.  Then there are three options for spelling the word and the kids need to pick the correct one.  Why I think it is stupid is because these are words that the kids would not commonly see or be familiar with, so basically they are guessing.  What are they testing?  Which kid is luckiest?

So on this luck test that Rachel didn't do well on there was a note explaining how it was not the teacher's fault that Rachel did poorly and how she went over this and then they took the test 5 minutes later.  I wanted to write on the test under the teacher's little note...

Obviously your teaching method didn't work.  Excuses without suggested solutions are of no use to me.

I know it doesn't make me a good person, but I was taking a little bit of joy in knowing that I was going to turn the tables on the teacher and use her own note against her.  Then I mentioned it to Marty who said, "When I get presented with a situation in which I can make a snide comment back at someone I don't like, I thank God for giving me the opportunity to show grace and bite my tongue."  RATS!!!!!

So I didn't write the note, but I fixed the test myself, because I am tired of spending time on pointless assignments.  This week for homework has been a killer: 2 Reading Tests, 16 pages of Math, memorizing a reading for Mass, and Spelling words.  Plus, it is All About Me week for Rachel.  Personally, if it is supposed to be "all about Rachel," they should have no homework so that they can have their free time be "all about Rachel."

Furthermore, I recently read a study that indicated that the best predictor of whether or not a student will be a good speller as an adult is not how much homework they have or how many spelling drills they preform, but rather how much time they spend reading for pleasure.  Children can't learn words they aren't exposed to.  So rather than luck tests, how about some time to read a book of their choosing?  That is what she did at home while I fixed the stupid luck test.

How Dare I !?!?

My fashionista Rachel is outside weeping because I dared to suggest that she wear her baseball pants to baseball practice.  What was I thinking?

Now I Know What They Do All Day

You'll remember when I asked What Do They Do All Day.  Well now I know.  Today at school, Rachel and her classmates watched Alvin and the Chipmunks.  Forget the fact that their teacher was out of school sick for 3 days last week and this is the end of the quarter, I'm sure they didn't have anything to catch up on.  Oh wait...they do...which explains the homework.  Why do work at school when you can just send it home and watch a movie during the day.  It makes perfect sense.  If they tried to watch movies in the evening with their family it would be such a waste.  They would be so tired.  Better to do it during the day when they can really enjoy it.

What Do They Do All Day?

I know that I am starting to sound like a broken record, but Rachel's teacher strikes again.  This week she has 3 and a half days of school, so of course the teacher schedules 3 tests: a unit test in Social Studies (we've been told to keep the book home for the last two weeks, so I don't know what they are using in class), a unit test in Science (the test on the whole unit is on Thursday and we just got the worksheets from which to study today) and a Spelling test.

Also, she sent home two pages of prayers that Rachel is to have memorized.  Well, actually she was supposed to have them memorized by last Friday, but quite frankly between the 2 reading tests last week which each covered 20 pages of material, the Spelling Test last week, reviewing for a Math test that never seemed to be given, and learning the Social Studies I didn't have a chance to also teach her the prayers.  I am tempted to attach the following note to the list of prayers and send it back to the teacher.

Dear Teacher,

I am well aware of the fact that I have not had a chance to teach Rachel the attached prayers.  Quite frankly, I thought that I was paying for a Catholic school education so that she would learn these basic prayers in school and I am quite troubled that it is March and she is not more familiar with them.  I figured that was what you were spending your time on since I am already teaching Math and Spelling at home, not to mention studying for Science, Social Studies and Religion, as well as reading over 20 pages twice a night for our new bi-weekly Reading tests.

My daughter is at your school for 7 straight hours a day, five days a week.  Not counting the 40 minutes it takes us to drive her to and from school, she spends about an hour with us in the morning (during which time we have to get our children up, dressed, and prepare breakfast along with packing a lunch) and 3 and a half hours with us before she goes to bed.  During that time, we must make dinner for her and the rest of the family, give 4 children baths/showers, read bedtime stories (no, the boys don't find Rachel's Reading assignments an acceptable substitute for their bedtime story) and do homework.  Clearly, when it comes to teachable time, you have the long end of the stick.  So why is it that after spending 7 hours in school, you feel that it is perfectly reasonable to assign upwards of 1 to 2 hours of homework to be done when your students get home from school?  This is on top of the Math that we started doing after you suggested that I buy a Math curriculum and start teaching Rachel at home myself.  Do you really think that two unit tests and a Spelling test is a reasonable amount of work for a first grader to digest in a week that only has three and a half days in it?  Especially, when on Monday, according to my daughter, you had a party all day because of St. Patrick's day and the pizza party that your class won.  Don't even get me started on the time and energy that you put in to winning class contests.

We spend every single night of the week doing homework.  I understand that parents must be partners in their child's education, but I feel that I am shouldering more than my fair share of the load.  Perhaps you should spend a little less time trying to win pizza parties and free dress days and more time teaching Reading, Math and Religion.  Two Science tests in two weeks when we haven't had one all year, tells me that I am not failing to get what I need covered at home, but that things are falling behind in the classroom.  I will teach Rachel these prayers when I can fit it in to the other homework that you have assigned and if that is not fast enough for you, take some time during class to have the children practice.  You certainly get more time with Rachel than I do.

I Am Starting To Have Contempt for This Woman

As you may or may not have noticed, I have added a count down to the last day of school on the sidebar of my blog.  The fact that they number of days is still so high is quite depressing, because I CAN NOT WAIT for this year to be over and to not have to deal with Rachel's incompetent teacher ever again. 

After we finished our homework last night (yes I call in our, because I have to oversee it as much as Rachel has to do it and it took just over an hour and a half), I told my husband that I am starting to have contempt (noun, lack of respect accompanied by a feeling of intense dislike) for the teacher.

Yesterday we received a note telling us that the science worksheets that were sent home last Wednesday are to be used this week to study for the test on Thursday.  Well, that would have been very helpful information last week before I threw the papers away.  I guess that we are supposed to save the almost ream's worth of paper that these kids bring home each week just in case we might need it later.

So I had to send in a note asking for an additional copy of the worksheets.  Perhaps I would have known that we should save the worksheets if this weren't the first science test of the year.  Yes folks, they are doing Chapter 1 of their science book...and it is March...and over half way through the year.  I guess this is why the teacher told me that they won't be doing anymore addition or subtraction this year.  How can they?  They need to cram 9 months worth of science in to the last three months of school.

Like many of you suggested, I went to see the principal about the teacher a couple of weeks ago.  Well, the very next day I start getting notes sent home on Rachel's work like "Not Paying Attention in Class" and "I Reviewed This In Class, Rachel Didn't Pay Attention."  While Rachel does have a tendency to space out at times, it is the teacher's job to get her attention and isn't it convenient that all of these notes start coming home only after the principal has been informed about what is going on.  Sounds more like a teacher practicing CYOA versus being a concerned educator.

I am totally at a loss right now.  I was so frustrated last night thinking about this situation that I almost cried.  I cannot wait until the end of the year so that we can be done with this school forever.  I would pull her out now, but I know Rachel and there are two things that she just doesn't deal well with 1) unexpected change and 2)feeling that someone else is doing something that she is not, which she would feel if she knew her friends were at school and she was not.

So I try to fill in the wholes in her 1st grade education at home and I wait for summer.  Then she will know that everyone is out of school.  She will be able to come to our homeschool park days and make some additional friends.  We will be able to take dance class and swimming lessons and play outside.  All of the things she doesn't have time for now because we are doing 1 to 2 hours of homework a night.

War of the Notes

So I sent in a couple of notes with Rachel's work on Friday.  A note asking why a big star was put on a paper that had multiple wrong or answered questions and a note on test that we were asked to correct that had all answers and no questions.

Finally, after three (3!) back and forths, we got the questions and instructions to fix the tests.  Of course by this point, the class has moved on so going back over this work will not tie in to anything that is going on in the classroom.  I mean these are papers from the last grading period.  Way to stay on top of things!

For the math paper, the teacher explained that she was in a "meeting."  I only add the quotation marks because the teacher put meeting in quotation marks.  I don't know what it means.  Was she in the ladies room?  She said she was gone for a half an hour.  Maybe I should send in a Get Well Soon card if that is the case.

Anyway, since she wasn't in the classroom, she stated that Rachel probably wasn't paying attention or didn't know how to write the numbers.  What?!?  Rachel knows how to write numbers up to 100.  I know, I teach her math at home (at the teachers suggestion).  As far as not paying attention, perhaps she wasn't.  Lord knows Rachel sort of goes through life like a squirrel in a tin foil factory (too many shiny things to look at), but I dare say that whoever was teaching the class (the teacher said it was an experienced teacher) was also not paying attention because they didn't take the time to notice that Rachel was not doing the work correctly.  Besides that, how would the teacher know?  She stated that she wasn't in the room.  ARGHGHG!!!!!

So the run down is this, after three attempts we will finally be able to fix a test that is from the last grading period and Rachel didn't do well on a Math sheet because the teacher was in a "meeting" and an experienced teacher who is faultless was forced to deal with my innumerate, unlearned daughter.  Oh yeah, we are getting our money's worth at this school!