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Topic : School Issues
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November 23, 2007, 6:07 pm PST
 Quote From: jb7ctx What are all of your thoughts on schools having a "full time" nurse at the school? My son will attend kindergaten this year. He is a diabetic child on insulin. The school he will be going to has a part time nurse. She goes to different schools each day throughout the county. I had to sign a piece of paper when I registered him for school this year stating that the school would not be held responsible for anything that happens to him at school. The schools are granted immunity. I later found out that if anything happened to my son at school pertaining to his disease, that I would be held responsible for "medical neglect". I dont think this is fair. We are now pushing the school to get a full time nurse for his care while he is at school. I have contacted the American Diabetes Association and got a copy of all of my sons "civil rights". He cannot be discriminated against because of his diabetes. I was told that he has to have his glucagon kit kept at school so that way the school will be forced to get a full time nurse. I have also contacted the Board of Education about this and the man said that if the school got a full time nurse, the school will have to pay for the full time nurse. (I thought the Board of Education pays for this). Either way I think the school is going to be upset that we are requestiong a full time nurse, because they are not wanting to pay for one, but I know that the school is receiving funds for my child attending there and I think they can use those funds to pay for his nurse. Whats a concerned mother to do? I want to have "peace" in knowing that my child will be taken care of properly while in the schools care. I think ALL schools ought to have a full time nurse. Anything can happen to anyone while being there. What do you guys think? I like the idea of having a full time nurse at school...but...at the elementary school that I work at, we are required to raise almost $16,000 to support her salary. I teach at a school were almost 50% of our school population are considered severely low income and the other half of our school are struggling middle class. The money that our school receives for each student goes to pay for curriculum and extra support in the classrooms. Our school spends all year fundraising and "moneying" our parents to death, just to try to pay for our nurse and because of this our school is suffering in other aspects. Our PTA doesn't have any money to support the teachers, staff, students, or programs in our school. A school nurse is a wonderful idea, but they need to figure out another way to get the money to pay the salaries. |
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November 23, 2007, 6:20 pm PST
Quote From: mustbecrazy Last year, the kids, as a class, EARNED points for being good. When they earned a certain number of points, the class got ice cream or popcicles. Points could be taken away from the class for being noisy.
For individual behavior, our school has "steps". Step one is to talk to the student to correct their behavior. Step 2 would be a "time out" in the hall. Step 3 would be a trip to the office. Step 4 is a phone call to the parents...and so on. Repeated bad behavior gets steps...little transgressions are handled by the teacher.
That point system seems utterly rediculous...behavior shouldn't be a cumulative thing for points, and if it is, there should be a way to earn back lost points...but the whole thing seems rediculous to me.
Well, that's my take on the situation.
Becky I am a 3rd grade teacher and I am lucky to have the same class as last year (I moved up to 3rd grade with them). I realized about 3 weeks into the school year I really didn't need a behavior system. I took down the chart and haven't had to use it. About a month ago I found that a lot of the fighting and minor behavior problems had returned. Instead of putting the behavior chart back up I moved the kids into groups of 4 and made it a team building activity. They encourage each other to do random acts of kindness and they work together to keep each other on track. They earn points as a team for things noticed by each other, by me, or by other staff members. They love the satisfaction that earning points gives them. At the end of the week I total up the points and the team with the most points gets a chance to earn a homework pass, extra recess, or lunch with me in the classroom. Every 4-5 weeks they switch teams so that they bond and learn to work with everyone in the classroom. |
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November 26, 2007, 8:51 am PST
Quote From: floridateacher I am a 3rd grade teacher and I am lucky to have the same class as last year (I moved up to 3rd grade with them). I realized about 3 weeks into the school year I really didn't need a behavior system. I took down the chart and haven't had to use it. About a month ago I found that a lot of the fighting and minor behavior problems had returned. Instead of putting the behavior chart back up I moved the kids into groups of 4 and made it a team building activity. They encourage each other to do random acts of kindness and they work together to keep each other on track. They earn points as a team for things noticed by each other, by me, or by other staff members. They love the satisfaction that earning points gives them. At the end of the week I total up the points and the team with the most points gets a chance to earn a homework pass, extra recess, or lunch with me in the classroom. Every 4-5 weeks they switch teams so that they bond and learn to work with everyone in the classroom. It sounds like your class really likes you and respects you. When I was in school, I had the same teacher for 4th and 5th grades...when I first learned that I had her for a teacher, somebody told me that she was mean, so I was scared, but after being in her class, I learned that a strict teacher actually ends up with less of a need to discipline the class for misbehaving...I think that out of all of my teachers as a kid, she was my favorite.
My youngest son is in 4th grade, and the teacher is strict, and her curriculum is very structured...the class is very well behaved, and they are learning good work habits. I help her out once a week with copying and other things that she needs. She doesn't really like classroom help, but I help all of the 4th grade teachers with the copies.
Our middle son is in high school...with him, we've got homework battles, but the teachers are good about anwering my emails regarding his assignments. The kids didn't start using planners until 7th grade, and he still needs lots of work on remembering to fill it out for every class. With his assignments, everything that he turns in is "A" work, and it is frustrating that he doesn't turn in all of his work...we get really suspicious when he says he has "no homework". The trimester ends this Friday...at this point, we will be happy for him just to pass his classes, but if he wants to get into a good college, he had better change his ways quickly.
It is interesting that our oldest son (almost 19 years old) now says that he regrets his days as a freshman and sophomore in high school, when he also didn't do all of his work. He is in culinary school now, and doing very well. He had a talk with our middle son...we'll see if it makes any difference...somehow, our middle son seems not to be able to see the long-term effects of not doing his work...our oldest son came around in his junior year, and graduated high school with honors.
Becky |
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November 27, 2007, 12:45 pm PST
Still struggling with Scott and his homework...he said all last week that he had no homework in health class...now his grade has slipped to an F, but the web site doesn't show any missing assignments. The health teacher was gone yesterday...I don't know about today, but she hasn't replied to my email asking what assignments need to be finished and turned in. I will go see her tomorrow morning before school to see what's going on.
Matthew is completely opposite. He is doing a report on a person in history who made significant advances in the practice of medicine. He is only required to do one person, but he wants to do two. He doesn't like to practice his multiplication, and he is still having to do the timings at school. With the manditory practice, he has improved. Three perfect scores in a row will excuse him from any more timings. He's almost there. Nobody in the class has achieved the goal yet. I downloaded practice sheets from the internet. He is NOT enthusiastic about the "boring" practice. BUT the basic multiplication is the gateway to the more complicated and challenging multiplication. He is looking forward to that, and his reward for doing the basics this week will be to move ahead next week (at home) to the more complicated math...he will still have to continue the basics practice though.
John has lost another roommate in his apartment (away at culinary school),and he doesn't have enough hours at work to pay the full rent. So my brother has offered to have him live at their house in exchange for housework and being "executive chef" on weekends. It's a really good deal, and that will relieve the pressure to get enough hours to make the rent and groceries. I hope he will do a good job with the housework and keep his room clean. Living there will allow him to concentrate more on his studies because of being able to work fewer hours at his job. He will be coming home for Christmas break, and he will move to my brother's house at the end of December. (The roommate's son got sick and needs to be at Shriner's hospital, so the roommate had to move.)
Well, that's the update for now....Becky |
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November 29, 2007, 11:18 am PST
My husband and I started a new allowance policy, effective tomorrow. Their allowance could be raised, depending on what they do...it could also go down. Half of the allowance is dependant on doing all of the homework and class work assigned AND having the planners filled out.
Scott, our middle son doesn't fill out his planner...at all...it is so important for him to write down all of his assignments. He also has his own definition of homework...it it was assigned as homework, it is homework...it it was assigned to do in class, and he doesn't finish, he doesn't consider it to be homework...no matter how much talking I do.
I called the school counselor, and he is the one who suggested that we tie the homework and planner to the allowance. For the failing health class grade (which has come back up to a D for the day, but changes daily, as the work is entered on the school computer), the school counselor will use the 504 plan provision of reduced work requirements to be sure that Scott passes health class, where his percentage is close to passing.
So, the new policy is 50 cents per day, when the planner is complete, and all of the homework for the day is completed...this adds up in a hurry to $5.00 per 2 weeks. The other half of the allowance is tied to the chores that the kids do...they could actually exceed the old amount, if they do all of the chores as prescribed on the list. If one of the kids is caught with a missing assignment that they said was finished, it will be a $2.00 penalty on the allowance.
Scott has a 500 word paper due tomorrow, and he hasn't even started writing it. He mentioned the paper last Wednesday, before Thanksgiving, but he said that he didn't have all of the information he needed to start on it. It turns out that he DID have the info, and now he has lost a whole week for working on it!! Since there was a 2 hour delay for the snow today, he had time to work on it this morning. He got the outline mostly done. I told him that in class, he needs to start the paper by using the outline for the first sentence in every paragraph. Then, he can fill in the details from the internet research. I'm not completely convinced that the internet is best place to get information. The books at the library have all of the information needed in one or two books. With the internet, we have to go chasing around to multiple web sites to get all of the pieces of information needed, and some of it can't be found there, and if so, there aren't enough details. It is too late to go to the library, especially with 9 inches of new snow on the ground...have to go 20 miles to the library. The one in our little town just doesn't have much of a selection of books, and we end up "ordering" most of the books that we want, and then we have to wait a few days for them to come in at our little library (still run by the county...just generally ignored and depleted).
Matthew (age 9) is going to get rich on the new allowance policy. He is really motivated, and he has his planning calendar filled out 99% of the time, and he remembers to bring his homework home, and he does his homework without being told to, most of the time. He is honest when he forgets, and usually mentions it right away, so we can drive to the school before it closes, to get the homework assignments. He is so motivated by the money thing, that he will do the dishes willingly, and this morning, the boys had to split the job of snow shoveling, so they could both earn money toward their allowances. When Matthew passes the multiplication timings three times in a row (so he doesn't have to do the timings anymore), he will get a $2.00 bonus. I am also going online to get some harder multiplication for him to start on at home...the class won't be doing it until a majority of the kids have passed their multiplication timings.
Scott is just as smart as Matthew, just less motivated when it comes to the school work. It is frustrating because we know that he is capable of much more than he is doing. His progress reports for each class show A's for the work that he turns in, and zeros for the work not turned in...not much in between...we frequeently remind him of what his grades would be if he did all of his work. I think it is frustrating for the teachers too because they also know what he is capable of. With the ADHD though, it is sometimes difficult for him to focus and get things done...hence the 504 plan.
John is doing well at culinary school. In January, there is a class graduating, and there will be a sale for them to get rid of the things that they no longer want or need. Some will be selling books, shoes, uniforms, and many cooking utensils. I told John to save up his money, so he can get what he wants. He had better ask for that day off, so he can get to the sale early. We will probably end up giving him money for Christmas and his birthday, so he can have more money to spend at the sale. He is the most intrested in the cutlery items...knives, cleavers, etc. We have an electronic kitchen scale that he can have. He also wants to buy his friend's lap top computer...we told him to be sure he has enough money before writing out the check for that!! $350 for a fairly new computer...pretty good deal...if he has the money. I think I already mentioned that he will be moving in with my brother and his wife, where he will get room and board in exchange for housework, and for "executive chef" duties on the weekends. That way, he won't have to worry about getting enough hours at work, and he can save up for some of the things that he wants to buy, and for housing after he graduates from school. Living there and working less will give him more time to focus on his studies. John is tutoring students at the school in English, Math and Computer skills. He is very good at all three, so it will be a good experience for him.
I think I've just written a novel here...sorry...with the snow on the ground, and the sattellite dish buried in the snow on the roof (no TV), and a rib injury that keeps me from doing much of anyting, there is nothing else to do. I will be reading a book though. Both Scott and Matthew are reading the same book right now..."Witch of Blackbird Pond", a fictional personal accounting of a young lady's experience with the Salem witch trials. I am going to read it, so I can discuss it intellegently with the kids...I read it when I was a kid, and I enjoyed the book back then, but I don't remember much of it.
Time to go read....Becky |
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November 29, 2007, 12:47 pm PST
Quote From: mustbecrazy My husband and I started a new allowance policy, effective tomorrow. Their allowance could be raised, depending on what they do...it could also go down. Half of the allowance is dependant on doing all of the homework and class work assigned AND having the planners filled out.
Scott, our middle son doesn't fill out his planner...at all...it is so important for him to write down all of his assignments. He also has his own definition of homework...it it was assigned as homework, it is homework...it it was assigned to do in class, and he doesn't finish, he doesn't consider it to be homework...no matter how much talking I do.
I called the school counselor, and he is the one who suggested that we tie the homework and planner to the allowance. For the failing health class grade (which has come back up to a D for the day, but changes daily, as the work is entered on the school computer), the school counselor will use the 504 plan provision of reduced work requirements to be sure that Scott passes health class, where his percentage is close to passing.
So, the new policy is 50 cents per day, when the planner is complete, and all of the homework for the day is completed...this adds up in a hurry to $5.00 per 2 weeks. The other half of the allowance is tied to the chores that the kids do...they could actually exceed the old amount, if they do all of the chores as prescribed on the list. If one of the kids is caught with a missing assignment that they said was finished, it will be a $2.00 penalty on the allowance.
Scott has a 500 word paper due tomorrow, and he hasn't even started writing it. He mentioned the paper last Wednesday, before Thanksgiving, but he said that he didn't have all of the information he needed to start on it. It turns out that he DID have the info, and now he has lost a whole week for working on it!! Since there was a 2 hour delay for the snow today, he had time to work on it this morning. He got the outline mostly done. I told him that in class, he needs to start the paper by using the outline for the first sentence in every paragraph. Then, he can fill in the details from the internet research. I'm not completely convinced that the internet is best place to get information. The books at the library have all of the information needed in one or two books. With the internet, we have to go chasing around to multiple web sites to get all of the pieces of information needed, and some of it can't be found there, and if so, there aren't enough details. It is too late to go to the library, especially with 9 inches of new snow on the ground...have to go 20 miles to the library. The one in our little town just doesn't have much of a selection of books, and we end up "ordering" most of the books that we want, and then we have to wait a few days for them to come in at our little library (still run by the county...just generally ignored and depleted).
Matthew (age 9) is going to get rich on the new allowance policy. He is really motivated, and he has his planning calendar filled out 99% of the time, and he remembers to bring his homework home, and he does his homework without being told to, most of the time. He is honest when he forgets, and usually mentions it right away, so we can drive to the school before it closes, to get the homework assignments. He is so motivated by the money thing, that he will do the dishes willingly, and this morning, the boys had to split the job of snow shoveling, so they could both earn money toward their allowances. When Matthew passes the multiplication timings three times in a row (so he doesn't have to do the timings anymore), he will get a $2.00 bonus. I am also going online to get some harder multiplication for him to start on at home...the class won't be doing it until a majority of the kids have passed their multiplication timings.
Scott is just as smart as Matthew, just less motivated when it comes to the school work. It is frustrating because we know that he is capable of much more than he is doing. His progress reports for each class show A's for the work that he turns in, and zeros for the work not turned in...not much in between...we frequeently remind him of what his grades would be if he did all of his work. I think it is frustrating for the teachers too because they also know what he is capable of. With the ADHD though, it is sometimes difficult for him to focus and get things done...hence the 504 plan.
John is doing well at culinary school. In January, there is a class graduating, and there will be a sale for them to get rid of the things that they no longer want or need. Some will be selling books, shoes, uniforms, and many cooking utensils. I told John to save up his money, so he can get what he wants. He had better ask for that day off, so he can get to the sale early. We will probably end up giving him money for Christmas and his birthday, so he can have more money to spend at the sale. He is the most intrested in the cutlery items...knives, cleavers, etc. We have an electronic kitchen scale that he can have. He also wants to buy his friend's lap top computer...we told him to be sure he has enough money before writing out the check for that!! $350 for a fairly new computer...pretty good deal...if he has the money. I think I already mentioned that he will be moving in with my brother and his wife, where he will get room and board in exchange for housework, and for "executive chef" duties on the weekends. That way, he won't have to worry about getting enough hours at work, and he can save up for some of the things that he wants to buy, and for housing after he graduates from school. Living there and working less will give him more time to focus on his studies. John is tutoring students at the school in English, Math and Computer skills. He is very good at all three, so it will be a good experience for him.
I think I've just written a novel here...sorry...with the snow on the ground, and the sattellite dish buried in the snow on the roof (no TV), and a rib injury that keeps me from doing much of anyting, there is nothing else to do. I will be reading a book though. Both Scott and Matthew are reading the same book right now..."Witch of Blackbird Pond", a fictional personal accounting of a young lady's experience with the Salem witch trials. I am going to read it, so I can discuss it intellegently with the kids...I read it when I was a kid, and I enjoyed the book back then, but I don't remember much of it.
Time to go read....Becky Snow, you say? Nothing like that here!
So John has lost two roommates?? Just luck of the draw, huh? But it does sound as though the arrangement with your brother will be a "win-win" situation. I could have a field day with that sale, LOL.
As far as Scott goes, all I can say is "AAAGH!" You want to scream, "What part of this don't you understand?!??" I am going through it wiht Anne to a much lesser extent. I have to dog her about actually STUDYING for tests -- she gets bent out of shape when M-- (allegedly) has no homework and Anne has about an hour's worth. She has 2 tests tomorrow, plus an oral book report due in a couple weeks (she has already read the book, at least!)
BTW, turns out Anne DID make the Honor Roll -- turns out they base it on overall GPA, not class-by-class (the A in reading compensated for the C+ in math). We are trying to get it to where it's all As & Bs.
Hope your rib feels better & you can get TV reception again soon.
I'll be more scarce on the boards as the holidays approach, but I'll check in from time to time.
Prof |
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November 29, 2007, 12:49 pm PST
Quote From: mustbecrazy Still struggling with Scott and his homework...he said all last week that he had no homework in health class...now his grade has slipped to an F, but the web site doesn't show any missing assignments. The health teacher was gone yesterday...I don't know about today, but she hasn't replied to my email asking what assignments need to be finished and turned in. I will go see her tomorrow morning before school to see what's going on.
Matthew is completely opposite. He is doing a report on a person in history who made significant advances in the practice of medicine. He is only required to do one person, but he wants to do two. He doesn't like to practice his multiplication, and he is still having to do the timings at school. With the manditory practice, he has improved. Three perfect scores in a row will excuse him from any more timings. He's almost there. Nobody in the class has achieved the goal yet. I downloaded practice sheets from the internet. He is NOT enthusiastic about the "boring" practice. BUT the basic multiplication is the gateway to the more complicated and challenging multiplication. He is looking forward to that, and his reward for doing the basics this week will be to move ahead next week (at home) to the more complicated math...he will still have to continue the basics practice though.
John has lost another roommate in his apartment (away at culinary school),and he doesn't have enough hours at work to pay the full rent. So my brother has offered to have him live at their house in exchange for housework and being "executive chef" on weekends. It's a really good deal, and that will relieve the pressure to get enough hours to make the rent and groceries. I hope he will do a good job with the housework and keep his room clean. Living there will allow him to concentrate more on his studies because of being able to work fewer hours at his job. He will be coming home for Christmas break, and he will move to my brother's house at the end of December. (The roommate's son got sick and needs to be at Shriner's hospital, so the roommate had to move.)
Well, that's the update for now....Becky On which medical folks is Matthew doing his report? Just curious. =)
Prof |
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November 29, 2007, 1:07 pm PST
He is doing his report on Madame Curie, and on (oh I can't remember his name), the man who invented the microscope.
Becky |
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November 29, 2007, 2:59 pm PST
my son grew up and we still live out in the country so he has had no
contact with kids his age really untill he started school. he turned 5
the end of june and one of the youngest in his class. i have him do
workbook work every day at home and he seems to do just fine but at
school the teacher just seems to complain that he doesn't do anything
and he plays with his pencils or the paper in front of him. he is now
sitting by him self facing the wall because she says he just doesn't
want to listen and talk to everyone else. i really don't know if it is
the teacher or him. i have also noticed that the teacher is starting to
critique him big time, like if his lower case f isn't curved enough. it
is just getting frusterating with me and him. i have tried to punish
him for not being good in school, i have asked the teacher to tell me
when he does good so i can reward him and she doen't. neither has
worked and she is already talking about holding him back he is 5 and
already can read and do math. his hand writing isn't great, i just dont
know what to do anymore |
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November 30, 2007, 9:26 am PST
Quote From: sagespirit my son grew up and we still live out in the country so he has had no contact with kids his age really untill he started school. he turned 5 the end of june and one of the youngest in his class. i have him do workbook work every day at home and he seems to do just fine but at school the teacher just seems to complain that he doesn't do anything and he plays with his pencils or the paper in front of him. he is now sitting by him self facing the wall because she says he just doesn't want to listen and talk to everyone else. i really don't know if it is the teacher or him. i have also noticed that the teacher is starting to critique him big time, like if his lower case f isn't curved enough. it is just getting frusterating with me and him. i have tried to punish him for not being good in school, i have asked the teacher to tell me when he does good so i can reward him and she doen't. neither has worked and she is already talking about holding him back he is 5 and already can read and do math. his hand writing isn't great, i just dont know what to do anymore Your son is very intelligent, from what you are saying, but he may lack the social maturity to do well in school. Repeating kindergarten wouldn't be the end of the world. It isn't his intelligence that concerns the teacher. It is his inability to focus on his work. I understand how frustrating it is to work with teachers who seem to criticize your child. Are you available to volunteer in his class? I've been volunteering in my kids' classes for many years now, and it really gives me good insight on just what goes on at school. It is a good way to observe your son in the classroom setting. Also, you might talk with the school counselor, and ask him/her to observe your son in class and give you some professional opinions.
My kids are all very smart (of course a mom would say that), but the older two have ADHD, which has hindered their ability to pay attention and get their work done in class.
The pattern of not being able to get his work done in class is common in kindergarten. Ask the teacher for some suggestions on how to improve your son's handwriting...that has been a "handicap" for all three of my boys...they were all unable to write very fast, and that is frustrating to the child. My middle son refused to learn to read or write until he entered kindergarten. Then, he caught on very quickly, in spite of the ADHD...but the hand writing was a problem. The teacher and school counselor gave me some exercises for him to do to improve his small motor skills. One of the exercises involves just playing with small legos and clay or play doh. Anything that requires him to use his fingers and focus on small things.
Just recently, we had our boys tested for visual problems (beyond just the normal eye test). It turns out that the younger two have esophoria, which is the inability for the eyes to work together to see whole words or phrases. They did vision therapy, and they have improved greatly.
At age 5, I wouldn't worry a whole lot. My middle son was born on August 28th, and we sent him to school when he was 5. He is the youngest one in his class, and this is a distinct disadvantage. He has always been one of the shortest kids in his class, and probably the least mature. He did manage to get by without repeating any grades, but I wonder if things would have been easier if I had made him wait another year. He has always learned quickly, but the maturity has always been an issue. Now, in high school, it is a struggle to get him to bring home his school work and do it...this is a common problem among kids his age, but frustrating...the ADHD is a big contributor to this problem, and we are working closely with the school counselor and teachers on this issue. If you have read my previous posts, you can see what a struggle it is.
So, in short, just keep the communication lines open with the teacher, and be open-minded about what she tells you...she is probably trying to be helpful, not critical. And, if you can, volunteer in his class...the closer relationship you have with his teacher, and the opportunity to observe him in action will be well worth the time.
Keep us posted...Becky |
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