We survived the first full week of Gavin's school year. Gavin has mixed feelings about school at the moment. He likes going but he's made comments like, "I'm not learning anything", "I already did what they told me at Ivybrook", and "Why am I in kindergarten when I can read 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade books?". His assessment of his reading level comes from the "I Can Read" Books which state the grade level on the back of the books so he knows he is ahead of kindergarten in reading. What he doesn't realize is that he is not ahead in everything....like his behavior. Although we wonder if the behavior is related to it since anytime he's not engaged, he acts out (any child does). We went through this a little even when he was at Ivybrook.
Anyhow-- these comments got us worried that he would lose interest in school. I asked his teachers when assessments would be done so I knew when we could sit down and talk about a plan. The good thing is that there is a good line of communication between his teachers and us so I'm hopeful that we can come up with a plan. The first assessment was done on Wednesday and it was a "High Frequency Word" count, where I think they showed him sight words on flash cards and he had to read as many as he could in one minute. The goal for the end of the YEAR in Kinder is 60 words/minute. The other day we timed Gavin while he read his "Wild Kratts" I Can Read book, 368 words and he read it in under 6 minutes. I know that it doesn't matter how he does at home, if he can't demonstrate that at school then it's like he doesn't know it so we'll see what his teacher says.
On the other subjects, he does like his electives. He has P.E. on Mondays and Wednesdays, Art on T/R and Music on Fridays. In P.E. he did have a boy tease him about being stronger than Gavin. I worry about the social interactions with Gavin because as smart and outgoing as he is, he has a soft spot for people commenting on his height or strength. He doesn't like being the shortest and he is on the short side for the boys. But we talked about the incident and gave him pointers as to how to handle those types of comments in the future. He feels great about his running and that gives him confidence. He thinks "he's the fastest boy" and he hopes to beat me in a race one day. I look forward to that day.
I attended my first ever PTA meeting. It was different than I expected. I wished someone had explained what the mission of the organization is so I knew how to respond. It seems like the PTA's job is to fundraise and make up the difference in the school budget. It was kind of sad to hear the requests from the teachers. The school is well-funded and the kids have everything they need, the requests were for things above and beyond but it was still awkward for me. Other than that, it seems like they try to put little rewards programs for the kids...which in my eyes I translated to the many ways in which the kids are "junked up" all day, every day because EVERY single "reward" involved a "treat." I mean, the kids get to pick candy out of a treasure box in the library every time they bring in a "Box Tops for Education" label....that's just ridiculous. Kids do not need to be rewarded for every stupid little thing, I think we're better served by focusing on the fact that sometimes you do things because it's for the common good and not because you'll get something out of it. Not to mention that what you get it's "junk!" that distracts from their education.
I am disappointed that I won't be able to make anymore meetings for this semester because they meet on Thursdays at 12:30 and I'll be teaching at that time. But I was assured that I'll be sent emails and the minutes so I can keep up to date and give feedback. They do have other events where parents can voice opinions/concerns so we'll be as active as possible. We have to invest the time and make relationships at the school because they're stuck with us for like the next 10 years between all of our kids. :)
The school does have a policy that any parent can have lunch with their child any day. On Friday I took advantage of it and I went to have lunch with Gavin. I did it for 2 reasons: first and foremost, I wanted to spend time with Gavin in his new environment and 2. Friday is "ice cream" day for kindergarteners. On Fridays, they allow the kindergartners to buy ice cream for $1 and parents have to send in $1 in a ziploc bag if they want their child to participate. When I heard about this, I was not happy. I just don't see the point. I don't see why the schools feel like they have to provide the "treats" for the kids. That's our jobs if we choose to, not theirs. But anyhow- I had a conversation with Gavin and I explained why I wasn't sending the $1 for him to buy ice cream at school (but I promised I would get him "good" ice cream after school). Gavin is pretty mature about all this and he understands that "junk food" is not good for our bodies so he didn't fight me about it at all. So, I went to lunch to see how this all played out. After seeing it all play out in person, I'm even more opposed to it. The teachers hate it too. The kids get 40 minutes to unpack/eat/pack-up/clean-up and go to the restroom. For Gavin, this is a challenge as it is. So what they do is they wait until about 1/2 way through lunch, 20 minutes in and then they line up the kids for the ice cream line. I looked at the trays as they lined up and none of them had barely eaten their lunch by that point and of course, once they got ice cream they didn't go back to their lunch. Strike 1. Once they get the ice cream, the teachers are frantically running from side to side with napkins because of the mess. Lunches are wasted and even the ice cream is wasted because most of the kids didn't even finish their ice cream before it was time to clean-up. So, it's just an all-around pointless mess.
The good thing was that 1) about 1/2 of Gavin's class brings their own lunch, 2) about 1/2 didn't get ice cream either so Gavin was not the only one. I was concerned about that but feel much better about it. Even as Gavin saw the others eat their ice cream, he didn't mention anything about it. I also got to talk to the main teacher while the kids were gone getting ice cream. That was great because she sat down and talked to me about the assessments and eased my mind a bit. Basically, we have to wait 2 more weeks or so until all of their assessments are done and then they break up the class by levels.
As it turns out, I learned that the main teacher's daughter is a HS senior taking dual enrollment courses at VSU and will be in Nick's Intro class in the Fall semester. So, it's kind of funny that each of us has one of our kids in the classroom.
On a non-school, but related note: I found a Suzuki violin instructor for Gavin. I actually met her before I knew she was a Suzuki instructor. We met her at the new faculty orientation at VSU since she's also new to VSU. I didn't think to ask her during orientation about lessons. One night I did a google search for Suzuki instructors in the Valdosta area and her name popped up. She does private lessons at her home. Gavin is ecstatic. He has been asking about violin lessons for nearly two years now and he will finally have his first lesson next Friday. He keeps saying, "I'm so excited for next Friday".
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