Last night was the first day with homework. During homework, you could tell he was bored. He did it, and when we got to a part where we change the name and made it to Pappy, he thought it was hilarious and it was fun then. But, I still have been noticing the boredom when he talks about things. He has not come home telling us about anything that is new to him yet. Of course, he has been mastering the fine motor skills with a lot of writing. He can now fit his name onto the lines a lot easier and his writing is starting to become a lot less messy. They will not start the kid writing and the without tears program until they have mastered all of the alphabet. So when he does his writing time, it's on his own. An example is they had a paper yesterday in which they were suppose to use the empty space to draw what they did to prepare for kindergarten. He wrote that he "got a bac pak". He sounded out the spelling. When we get home from pick up, I ask what he did, and we look at his papers. He always acts annoyed, and does this little attitude body shake thing when describing it. That is a boredom thing for him. As far as I know, this is only for at home. I have not been told about any concerns or issues in the classroom yet. He told us last night that when he finishes before other kids, he is allowed to go and play at centers quietly till everyone has had time to finish. He says he gets to do that "almost all the time."
Now, I know there are going to be some things that each child is bored with or already knows, I still feel that he should be happier and more into telling me about his day. The things he gets happy about are always the lunch or recess part of things. He does his work, and plays. Maybe that's all kindergarten is suppose to be. I don't know. But I feel uneasy about things still.
And what really got me annoyed last night was over the weekend we decided to do a day trip to the DC zoo. He went to school yesterday excited to tell his teacher about it. Last night when we asked if he told his teacher he says "yes, but she said that I'm doing a good job using my imagination." So after asking a few times, we've determined that she blew it off as an imaginary trip, and doesn't believe the fact that he went to the freaking zoo. The teachers aide told him that it was cool, and he apparently believed the fact that he went, but seriously?????? What kind of response is that? So, I'm officially annoyed with the teacher.
This morning I wrote an email about the boredom concerns and I started it by saying that we noticed while on our long car ride to the zoo....And said how he acted annoyed with us questioning what he learns in school. So, now she can know we actually went and maybe next time he tells her about something cool he does on the weekend, she will believe him. She can get use to it now that we are an active family and we do a lot on the weekends. And distance is not a big deal to us so if we want to do something that is 2 hours away, oh freaking well. We're going to do it if we have the time. And we make it a learning experience while we go. He loves it.
As of right now, I'm not asking for him to be pushed up a grade. I just want them to realize that he is coming home acting like it's boring to him. I'm very glad it's just at home that he acts this way, and that there are not concerns in the classroom. But I feel that there might be too many kids for her to fully see this herself.
He also found in the hallway how other kids in 2nd grade had a project to draw a picture and write something they like. He used his extra time to draw a picture and he wrote "I like cats". I asked what his project was and who told him how to spell it and he said he did it on his own. So after he explained why he did it, I found it funny because it was a picture of a house. I'm very impressed with fact that he did that on his own, and is it too much to ask that a teacher picks up on that as well? She sees all the projects because she is the one putting them in the folder!
So yeah...let the drama begin because I just have this feeling that this is about to become a big push to keep him busy till he hits his level.
Sounds like you have a boy on your hands who is too advanced for the grade. Due to the age cut-off and him not being able to start last year, he may very well be ready (in more ways than one) for 1st grade. I would wait to see what the teacher says. Give her a chance first. However, if she continues to have this "I don't care" type of attitude and thinks K is making up stories when in fact he is telling the truth about his days and trips, then I would request a personal sit down meeting with her after school. If that doesn't go anywhere, I would head right to the principal. This needs to be a "child centered decision" and right now, K is well beyond where the other kids are.
ReplyDeleteGood luck! Keep us posted on what her response email was!