Hellobee Boards

@MamaG: @Mamaof2: They have two letters that they focus on each week. For the month, there are about 10 sight words, a few word families (-am -at -ap) and some sentences that incorporate both to master. And similar cutting and pasting. None of that seems out of line with what you're getting. The things that have raised my eyebrows are the in-class worksheets that require them to write several complete words (whose letters may not have already been practiced) in what seems like not that much time.

@Mrs. Yoyo: Yup! I agree! I haven't been making him do it, but last week we got a post-it note that we need to send it back completed, and a letter from the guidance counselor on the importance of homework. And then today LO tells me he needs to do his homework otherwise the teacher will send it back again. So yeah...we are going to have to chat about that because um he's 5 and there are more important things for him to be doing in the little time he has after school.

@808love: yeah, I'm not sure how much stroke order and all that is emphasized. When I was working with him yesterday, it seemed like he was still in "throw it against the wall and see what sticks" mode.

In the process of setting up a conference now...

@Maysprout: God I hope not? But he clearly knew he hadn't done well when I took it out of his backpack, and he has also previously talked about making his teacher "sad" ...

One of the things I will be emphasizing in this conference is that I feel like I'm not seeing/hearing about much positive reinforcement. Which is huge for him. If he feels like he did some little thing well, it makes him try harder on the big things. If he feels like he failed, well, the opposite happens and he doesn't want to even try anymore.

@Mrs. Yoyo: I really hope you can get some answers from the conference with the teacher. It sounds to me like your DS is just going to get frustrated and turned off of learning/dislike school unless a better approach is implemented. Everything you have described sounds more advanced than what I'm seeing, and school starts almost a year later here (most kids are already 6 with some older 5s).

@Maysprout: that seems strange that they don't always have recess. How long is your school day? Our school has a 15 min recess in the morning, 55 min after lunch and another 20 min in the afternoon. They also have PE twice a week for an hour.

@Mamaof2: Yeah, I've seen a couple of smileys in the wild but only when he absolutely nails something. I think I have even seen a couple of frowns, which seems completely unnecessary.

@Maysprout: That's rough. I think ours get 30 mins plus they always have some sort of mandatory 15 or 20 minute movement break on days they don't have PE. I still feel a little bad for him though because he's out there at like 1 pm, there's no shade and it is still so hot here.

@Mrs. Yoyo: the frowns seem harsh. I've seen "need to work on", which seems more gentle and productive and our teacher does a ton of positive comments too.

On the physical activity topic - our girl has PE 2-3 times/week. She's on a rotating schedule of T/TH one week and M/W/F the other. They also get a 30 minute recess immediately following lunch each day. They haven't been able to go outside very often because it's still so hot here. And I don't think the gym is available for an indoor recess either They tend to go back to the classroom, and I think the teacher tries to do something physical, but their space is limited.

@808love: haha that's cute!

We don't have fall break - 1st break is Thanksgiving!

@808love: how long is your break for? Ours is coming up soon and it's for 2 weeks! We have lots of visitors coming during that time though, including grandparents, so I think we'll manage to stay busy.

@808love: yes, YOLO theme. I didn't realize it was the overall campaign theme. We are doing a whole spirit week and got the handout yesterday. Does this planners heart good to get notice. I'm assuming sine our final day is movie or book character day that we won't be in costume on Halloween.

@tinyperson: how is your DD making out?

My DD is actually doing really well, socially "behind" for sure, but loves going and has been a sponge in terms of learning and her teacher is so amazing to her. She has a really good team (ECE, parent volunteers, etc.) in the class, which is great too! Went with class on first field trip (orchard!) yesterday. I saw the social stuff, she doesn't really seem to latch on to any friend/kid in the class, definitely prefers teacher, ECE and definitely says nothing in a group setting where they are being asked simple questions, just stands back very reserved and totally muted. I hope that will eventually come.

"Homework" has been pretty light, one book comes home each night she reads, it's insane within a month she is reading....and like....she's still three! Obviously very simple sequences and lots of work on sight words, but something I didn't expect already. Parents got the attend an evening reading session a few weeks ago so we learned how they are learning to read in the class so we are teaching them and assisting them at home the same way, it was soooo helpful. Her printing has really tidied too, same size on something resembling a straight line! She is only 1 of 3 JK girls in the class, so all her friends at this point are boys.....and it's really just the two who live on our street! She is four next week, and a set of twins in the class are also four the same day. She had been coming home (to daycare) for lunches but was struggling with the lunch transition and we learned was the only kid going home, so she is staying for lunch now and seems to be doing okay. Seems to do better with the same things in lunch versus having to get creative each day for her.....which I am not complaining about!

@MamaG: I have never heard of Red Ribbon week! I guess that's not a "thing" here.

We haven't had any days off yet. We have an early dismissal next week and our first real day off isn't until Election Day.

Fundraising isn't horrible, though there are a lot of "spirit days" between LO1 and LO2's school. LO1's big fundraiser is coming up and it's a Walkathon. Honestly, I think my mom was happier to just write a check than to have to buy wrapping paper or some other thing she doesn't really want/need. I'm not really into fundraising at all, even though I know it's important. I just hate asking people (or teaching my daughter to ask) for money!

On a different note, I can't tell if LO's teacher has figured out how well she can read, because she keeps sending these emergent reading level books home. I think my daughter my be nervous to read in front of her reading group, and so maybe her teacher isn't really seeing her true skill? I am tempted to email but I don't want to come across as criticizing her teaching ability...I just want my girl to be challenged! We don't have parent conferences for another month.

@Pancakes: We just had conferences and I think they leveled my daughter too low on her reading. She's been leveled as "C instructional". The books she's bringing home are laughable compared to what she's capable of. I've received some pointers from the teacher and here they are:

1) Comprehension - make sure she understands what she's read, ask Who, What, Where, When, How questions after the reading. And ask her to relate the text to herself or her experiences.
2) Word endings - make sure she's getting all the "s" and "ed" and "ing" on words.

All that being said, they use STRIPE (I need to figure out what that stands for). Apparently they have assessed all 100+ Kinder kids at her school, compared their levels and grouped them accordingly to below average, average and above average for reading groups. LO now sees a different teacher for reading and she's with a different set of peers to work on reading development based on her current skills.

We also had to set an agreed goal for mid year reading level. The teacher recommended to increase by two levels. I don't know what "E" level books look like, but I'm hopeful we will get there.

We are really focusing on comprehension at home now, it's not something we focused on previously.

@looch: not being snarky but what do you have to do for those 2.5 hours - homework shouldn't take more than 5 mins - can you just do it as soon as you get home?

I wouldn't do any apps in K - just homework and nightly reading at bedtime

This is what I would try: After LO has eaten either snack or dinner, I would give LO ten mins for homework. See what time is best for productivity or LO's choice. The earlier the better, in general. Do whatever you can in those ten mins. and leave the rest undone and report to school as is. If LO does finish early though, you "get" to do your school app for the rest of the time. Like it is a privilege. On weekends, you can do more app time as desired since it is optional but encouraged. I think I remember math is your LO's strong suit so that should be ok to wait until the weekend for a longer app session. I think they are at the age where they have to see schoolwork time as part of their regular fun time and make daily learning as fun as possible.

How long do you think it would take each night to do one piece of the homework? LO gets home at about 5:45 and goes to bed at 8:00. We make sure we get in her 15 minutes of reading nightly and address any homework that might come home. Her homework usually will take 5-10 minutes at the most. She will sometimes do it before dinner while we are finishing getting it ready or right after dinner as we are clearing the table. Reading is always done after she has on PJ's and before she brushes her teeth.