Hi all! Thank you for all your helpful suggestions. I called the teacher the morning after receiving the progress report and she promptly called me back. She admitted to not sending home any graded papers and was very apologetic. She told me about two tests that he did not do well on. One he halfway finished and one he barely started on because he wanted to doodle on the back of the paper. She said she only allows them to doodle on the back of their paper after they finish their tests. Well, my child doesn't have a lot of self control when it comes to putting necessary things over fun things(we are constantly working on it) so I told him no more doodling on the back of test papers period. She apologized for not giving me a heads up on the progress report and said that she wanted it to be more of a wake up call for him. I asked what I could do from home and she said to just practice with him. I asked her if she thought he was comprehending everything and she said yes, that he was one of the brightest kids in class and that he has plenty of time to pull the grade back up to an A. I asked if there is any extra work he can do to help and she said that if it gets down to the last week and his grade is still not up to a good grade she would give him extra work to do. As for my son he has realized what an F means in our house. He has been banned from the computer, tv and any other fun activity in our home(except for reading) until I receive a graded math test with an A on it. I have also reiterated no doodling at all on tests. I felt a little better after talking to her but I still feel kind of out of the loop per se. I hope I'm going to be filled in more on how he is doing on more of a daily basis. I certainly don't want to wait until his report card. I thought about sending letters once a week inquiring about how he is doing. What does everybody think? Any other suggestions?
Is this your only child in school? I'm just wondering if this is school policy (grading policy, parent/teacher communication, etc.) or just the way this teacher handles her classroom.
How often do you receive report cards. Here, elementary is every 10 weeks, middle and high school are every 6 weeks. I think waiting until, "
it gets down to the last week and his grade is still not up to a good grade she would give him extra work to do," is too long. Could she send you one half-way between marking periods? Our middle and high school are
required to send one if the child is in danger of failing and some teachers send one for all their students, regardless of their grade.
Also, it shouldn't just be about his "grade," not at any age, but especially this young. The focus should be on learning, working to the best of his ability and taking pride in his work.
Grades don't always reflect what a child knows and understands... for a any number of reasons, poor test takers (test anxiety), verbal vs written work, a simple mistake on a "fill in the bubble" sheet, etc. However, it is the main system used to measure a child's knowledge, strength and weakness. Grades can also determine future placement or privileges.
At this age, I wouldn't focus on the "F" (in and of itself.) What if, one day he receives an "F" because he truly doesn't understand the material or concept... nothing good can come from making a child feel bad about him/herself. I would stress the importance of
always doing his best.
It's really all we can ask of anyone.
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She is not finding out how much math he knows. Instead she could have written a note about his classroom habits or at least let you know why he got an F. Anyway, at least you don't have to worry about his math skills.
