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@T.H.O.U.: @MamaG: @Mamaof2: @looch: I am a little relieved to hear you're dealing with this too. I think my perspective is a little skewed because again, I was that kid who would be mortified to break the rules, and the one friend I often talk about this stuff with has a daughter who seems to be that type, too. Ha.
@MamaG: Agreed -- he is also one of the youngest and most boys his age were probably red-shirted. I opted not to for many reasons (he is also big, smart enough, and boredom probably would have been far worse). But, I think that is definitely in play here.
@Mamaof2: Wish I could say we never had issues at home but listening often isn't so great here, either. A lot of which I think stems from being so damn tired from the school grind. I am trying to start getting him in bed just a bit earlier so that he can get closer to 11 hours of sleep. Hopeful that might help.
@looch: Unfortunately I don't think there's a policy against taking away recess here. Discretion of the teacher.
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@Mrs. Yoyo: We have the same clip system at LO's school, but they are able to move from yellow back to green if they correct their behavior. They also do not have privileges like recess taken away. That seems a bit harsh. The teachers are very good at working with the kids to address behavior issues and work at correcting them. The kids dislike visually seeing that they're not having a good day and work hard to get it back to green. Kids are sent home a note on yellow and red days, and it's up to the parent to address the issue. For example you can take away dessert for the night on a yellow day and give a warning. If they come home with a note for a red day, then no screen time for the rest of the week. It gives them an incentive to correct their behavior since they dislike the punishment.
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@Maysprout: Luckily LO has only gotten sick twice so far this year. Since he never had a fever with those two sicknesses, he still has perfect attendance. He has been battling a cold for the past week, but he has been chugging along just fine at school. LO's school has a strict policy with absences, so I try to only keep him at home when necessary.
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@Maysprout: we missed two days in the fall due to strep throat. Honestly she was sick from September through December. She had a strep followed by a sinus infection, then an ear infection, strep again and one more ear infection. So five rounds of antibiotics over four months. The only time she felt good was from about day 3 of antibiotics to 2 days post antibiotics. It was hard and I wasn't prepared for so much sickness.
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@yin: That's a good question to ask -- whether he is given the opportunity to self-correct. I feel like earlier in the year I heard about him being able to move back to green but we got a spiel about how she was going to be "much stricter" about behavior from now on, now that they supposedly know what's expected of them.
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@Maysprout: We've lucked out regarding sickness. Aside from a couple of colds (one minor, one with more coughing), he's been OK. I think he's only missed one day, maybe two. But flu season hasn't really ramped up yet here yet (thankfully I did managed to get him his shot this year).
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@Mrs. Yoyo: Even if they know the rules and expectations, 5-6 year olds still need reminders. It's okay to make mistakes.
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@yin: Thats a good point about punishment at home versus at school. I feel like I dont want to punish at home if she's already had a consequence at school (aka recess removed). But I would be willing if we were allowed to handle it.
Also, I feel like loosing recess is not a motivation for my daughter. We struggle with this at home too. Sometimes she gets upset to loose tv time or loose dessert. Time out usually frustrates her.
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@Mrs. Yoyo: Have you read the policy? I thought it was at the discretion of the teacher as well, as did a ton of parents, until I actually looked up the handbook and there it is, as clear as can be, that food and recess can not be used as a reward or punishment.
Our school uses reflection time if you do something that you're not supposed to. And you get a call home. I feel like once my son has had to deal with reflection time, that's enough, it isn't worth it to then punish him again at home.
As for illness, goodness. My son has already missed at least 6 days. I know this isn't going to be popular, but I really think the issue is the communal supplies. As it is the kids aren't washing their hands enough and now, they use the same pencils and whatnot, and touch their faces.
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@looch: Yup, welcome to Kinder! In our daycare, they really pushed handwashing and disinfecting. And even in our quasi-public Pre-K I feel like the standards were just different than in our full public Kinder.
I fully expect that the cafeteria tables aren't disinfected between grades and I would be shocked if the tables in the classroom were disinfected during the day.
When I volunteered a couple of weeks ago it was a disgusting chorus of sniffle, sniffle, cough, sniffle, snort, cough. And we were in the computer lab (wonder when the keyboards and mice are disinfected??!?!). Heck I had to tell one of the boys to stop trying to chew the mouse. I think he was bored, but so gross.
We went all of Pre-K without missing a day. I really thought we had turned the corner on a strong and healthy immune system. Kinder has been a huge slap in the face in this regard. And we have been blessed to have shared all of the nastiness with our toddler. So take those anitbiotics and illnesses I mentioned times two! It really was a rough fall.
And in January, our toddler has been twice exposed to influenza and I brace myself with every notice of illness to see if we are going to re-kindle our affair with illness.
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DD has only missed 1 day so far and that was in November for a fever.
My kids are on fish oil, multi vitamins and I am going one step further and using EO on them too! -
We do a daily multi-vitamin (we just started after Christmas one that was extra C), immune support vitamins with Elderberry and Echinecea. I have some EO's for them, but really suck and remembering to use them consistently.
What EO are you using @Mamaof2: ?
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@MamaG: I have 2 blends
Germ Destroyer and Sniffle Stopper
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@Mamaof2: I have both of those
Roll-on? Now if I could just remember to use them.
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LO hasn't been sick this year but I did take her out for a trip. She used to get sick a ton when she was a babe so I think her immunity is up now.
In preschool, I told her 4 year old teacher, "Let me know if anything at all happens, big or small, because I want to know." But man, I got irritated because she really did take that to heart and let me know about every little thing. And it got old fast. I was constantly talking to LO. Maybe it helped. She was a talker and a bit unengaged. Plus her teacher was on her with a different personality she wasn't used to. Now, I don't ask that of the teachers...and I didn't hear anything except for when she had a 'misunderstanding' where she was involved but they have a counsel session in place where a different teacher (Educational Assistant) talks to the small group involved to iron things out and nothing gets to the disciplinary level. I think if that wasn't in place, I would be going toward discipline as a teacher ...but with kindergarteners...it takes a team to get to the heart of the issue sometimes.
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@MamaG: yep roll ons
My kids remind me "Mom, you forgot my oils"
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@Mamaof2: you think those really make a difference?
At this point I am willing to try anything. I give my son medication, he's 6 now, so there's a wide variety of stuff to give him, but man, he's already taken an entire bottle of Delsym since December.
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@looch: I have no idea but I'm trying everything I can as it seems like every bug possible is going around lately!
So far so good!!
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@Mamaof2: she eats really healthy and takes a multivitamin and fish pills, got the flu shot.
I donno. This stomach bug was just bad. DH hasn't gotten very sick in awhile and he was sick for a good 4 days. The kid she sits next to on the bus was out just as long too. But then that time off adds up quickly. -
@Mrs. Yoyo: We are in the exact same situation. I like how your school does the clip system. Our kids either get a happy face or don't, but there's no in between, which I feel like misses the boat on actually making it teachable moment. I like when they give them the opportunity to improve and correct their own behavior. I was like you in school, so this drives me crazy. And I just don't want my kid to be "that kid."
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@Mrs. Yoyo: @T.H.O.U.: I agree about recess, they need to get their wiggles out! I can't see how no break actually helps.
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@looch: I have a little girl that likes to tell me when DH does anything, whether to her or just general naughtiness. I've talked to the teacher about it, but she did it again this week. While I don't want my kid to be a jerk, I almost want to blow her off because she seems to want him in some sort of trouble.
@Maysprout: LO is home again today, maybe his 4th or 5th absense? I know the schools don't like kids to be absent, but it's doing a disservice to him if he feels crummy and can't focus and a disservice to the teacher spreading his germs.
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We haven't really had behavior problems so far (knock on wood); I think my DD is a rule-follower like her mama (except at home, hmmm...). We have had ALL THE GERMS, though. I think she missed 3 or 4 days of this fall. Several instances of vomiting, which I was not prepared for, as she had previously vomited like once in her life before this. But she's had so many colds, and so much postnasal drip, and she's prone to prolonged coughs whenever she gets a cold, so I feel bad. I hate to send her to school when she's sick at all because of the germ-spreading, but if I kept her home every time she had a cold or cough we'd have missed half the year by now!
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@Pancakes: Mine suffers from year around post nasal drip from allergies and also is prone to prolonged coughs. We are going on a 5 week long one right now.
LO loves school and hates to miss a day to play with his friends, when he agrees to stay home that's when I know he feels super unwell.
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@Pancakes: I also have a rule follower. It's interesting to read about how other schools deal with behavioral issues though as I've never heard of any of these systems. So far, we haven't heard anything about our son. My son has only missed one day so far for vomiting, back in November. I hope the healthy streak continues.
Right now the kids are doing an ice skating unit as part of PE and are going to the rink once a week. I went as a chaperone yesterday and it was really eye opening! I have so much respect for the teacher and how she has the right combination of authority and kindness with the kids. She was also amazingly well organized!
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@T.H.O.U.: How did your chat with the teacher go?
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@Mrs. Yoyo: Conversation went well. She again reiterated that academically she's fine and a lot of the behavior issues are things other kids still struggle with too. But DD had gotten much better by the end of last semester and now seems to be struggling again after winter break (another reason I wouldn't mind year round school).
Basically she said the issue is not focusing during whole group lessons (direct teacher instruction to the class). DD is fidgeting and not listening, focusing more on others than herself. The teacher has moved both her spot on the rug and her seat in the room. We didn't really talk about the root cause of the issue. I dont know if its because she's young and has attention issues in general or if she's bored or what.
One other issue she brought up is DD trying to "help" other students before finishing her own work. This is something we are also seeing at home so it didn't surprise me. While sweet, its really a distraction from her doing what she is supposed to be doing.
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@T.H.O.U.: Interesting, I feel like we saw an uptick after break too. But I'm not sure how much of that is him and how much of that is our teacher not giving much leeway anymore (she pledged to be stricter after break was over).
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@T.H.O.U.: Your DD sounds just like my son. Did she have any ideas to improve those things going forward?
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This has been bugging me, so I am going to ask for some opinions/thoughts. Here we go:
There are 6 kindergarten classes. There is one "head teacher" that oversees things like holiday activities for the classes. The gist of it is that they pick one craft, all 6 classes are then doing the same thing at the same time.
The teacher informs the room parents of the craft and the materials that are needed. As an example, one craft was to decorate an apple as a monster. The materials list was 20 apples, dried cranberries, mini marshmallows, toothpicks, plates, napkin (for 20 kids to complete the craft).
Question is, how do you gather the materials? I don't want to color anyone's opinion with how we've handled it and what the current issue is, so can you shed some light on this for me?
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We've done this sort of thing several ways...
1) sign up sheets for the various items and trying to keep the items cost equal (so 20 apples will cost more than 20 plates, so it might be 4 apples with 5 people signing up).
2) assignment by the teacher for each kid to bring something, again broken down where the cost is fairly equal across the kids.
3) collection of $5 (or whatever is appropriate) from each student and the room does all the purchasing.
I don't mind any of these options personally, as long as the items are all easy to purchase, and easy for my kid to carry into school. If it's hard to find or going to be difficult for my kid to transport, I'd rather give someone money.
eta: Our Xmas party was the pay $5 variety and was super easy for me, but I think the class mom took the short end of the stick and that sucks.
Our 100 day celebration organized by the teacher was an assignment (we could see the list of items and she randomly assigned one to each kid), we had to contribute a bag of Hershey kisses. Again, less than $5 and not a big deal for our family (cheap, easy to carry and easy to source).
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@looch: activity costs are covered already (parents donate $$ on day 1) so the homeroom mom would pick up all the supplies for her class with that money- for food, plates, etc for the party we use sign up genius and parents bring stuff in
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We haven't had to deal with this yet. I think a key thing to remember though is that not every family has the financial means or will be willing to contribute. Without knowing the whole situation, I would probably say something like "I need 5 families to contribute $5". I would expect the room parent to keep track of any surplus and use it towards future needs.
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We just use sign up genius with the list of items needed. Usually there are only 5-10 items needed and 18 in the class. So its not like everyone needs to sign up for every activity.
For the larger school wide fundraisers and activities and teacher appreciation week and that type of things, we asked for a $40 contribution at the beginning of the year. Only about half turned it in and the others are contributing on an event by event basis.
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@T.H.O.U.: Ditto. Sign-up genius and participation encouraged but not required. Some probably end up bringing two things, others nothing sometimes. But it seems like everyone makes an effort.
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@looch: Ok, now I'm curious, how was it handled?
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I like the suggestions above and it would work with me. Personally I probably would have mass messaged the list to the parents and asked them to reply all with what they can donate until list was done. I would be sure to note dropoff information. If not completely fulfilled I would ask those who have not yet responded to please chip in x amount of dollars to help defray the costs. I would not hound anyone for payment and just cover the rest as my personal donation. I would then send a nice thank you to all after compiling donors.
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So, here is what we did. 20 or so kids in the class.
We asked for a materials fee up front. $20 to cover the cost of the class crafts. Not everyone participated. From the money that we did collect, we were able to cover the Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas crafts. We have a balance of $5 in our pot.
So now, we get the Valentines craft. We've done sign up genius for the individual items and again, poor participation. The thing is I can not keep covering the cost of the materials. If we do not get what is needed, I don't want to punish the children and not have them be able to do the craft, but at the same time, I can not keep paying for it out of my own pocket.
As of this morning, we are still missing the main components of the craft, namely the bags and foam hearts. If we don't get the materials by the end of the week, would you suck it up and buy them, or what other options do I have? I've already spent well over the $20 materials fee.
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@looch: that's a bummer and I suspect happens often. Some families are just not as invested in the classroom. Have a reminders been sent?
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@looch: man that's tough. Hypothetically if you had received all the money would it have covered all the projects?
Is there a way you could notify parents and just say that the parties can't continue until more supplies or funds are received.
Roll-on? Now if I could just remember to use them.
LO loves school and hates to miss a day to play with his friends, when he agrees to stay home that's when I know he feels super unwell.
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