Hoping the Rain Stays Away-We're Going Back in May-TR started

[jordanyosh]

That is a good questions. Thanks for the finger crossing!

certainly

I did look it up and it's something about back in the day two people crossing their index fingers for good luck. then it became doing it by yourself....thus, crossing your fingers.

 

[MaryAz]

Hmmmmm, what do you think you saw? We do have the spring break trip....

Nope, there were 3
pg 58
post # 849
Wigd's bday trip

 

[MaryAz]

Sending some pixie dust your way that everything works out this time.

Thanks

 

[SoonerGirl]

Nope, there were 3
pg 58
post # 849
Wigd's bday trip

I thought the bday trip was a new ticker too! I first noticed it in shockers siggie, but I figured I just missed something along the way.

Wigd have you disclosed this trip already?????

 

[leamom2princesses]

Hiya Mary! Hope you had a nice weekend. I got a lot of lingering tasks done this weekend. Every now and then I can be productive-especially when I step away from the computer.

 

[that's nice]

certainly

I did look it up and it's something about back in the day two people crossing their index fingers for good luck. then it became doing it by yourself....thus, crossing your fingers.

Thanks Jordan!!!!

Now I don't need to learn something new today!!!!

Can you find where scratching your chin came from? (I love that smilie!!)

 

[MaryAz]

Hiya Mary! Hope you had a nice weekend. I got a lot of lingering tasks done this weekend. Every now and then I can be productive-especially when I step away from the computer.

Thanks, we did. Good job on accomplishing those lingering tasks. I read on your report that shopping was one of them

 

[jordanyosh]

Thanks Jordan!!!!

Now I don't need to learn something new today!!!!

Can you find where scratching your chin came from? (I love that smilie!!)

Google didn't come up with anything...

 

[leamom2princesses]

Thanks, we did. Good job on accomplishing those lingering tasks. I read on your report that shopping was one of them

Who can say no to 60% off the entire store! That was Friday night though. Saturday I did a deep clean on the house, had a G-Force informal Disney night with the girls and Sunday I worked on homework. Only two and a half more weeks and these two classes are over! I can't wait. I think I'm going to lay out again until June. More classes start then. I'm having a hard time obsessing over my trip and getting my homework done.

 

[MaryAz]

Who can say no to 60% off the entire store! That was Friday night though. Saturday I did a deep clean on the house, had a G-Force informal Disney night with the girls and Sunday I worked on homework. Only two and a half more weeks and these two classes are over! I can't wait. I think I'm going to lay out again until June. More classes start then. I'm having a hard time obsessing over my trip and getting my homework done.

I agree 100%!! Yay for cleaning LOL. Your classes are ending soon. COngrats to you! I agree on waiting until June-you need more Dis time!!

 

[MaryAz]

I need a little advice-Non Trip Related-especially from the teachers out there

My ODD Avery (A) started K this year as many of you know. She went to a non academic play based pre school 4 days a week when she was 4 for 3 hours each day. Around Nov of 08 she started reading basic words in short books. Her reading has taken off from there. Before school started she was reading chapter books like "The Magic Treehouse" and "Fairies" collection. Currently in school she is reading "The Chalk Box Kid" and at home "Trouble with Tink" in the Disney Fairies collection. Due to her reading abilities the teacher wanted to test her for the gifted program. In Az they do not offer any gifted services until 1st grade. We decided to wait until Spring to test her so she could be a little older and recieve services for the fall (if she qualifies) Things were going along ok, there was a little trouble at times with talking.

After Thanksgiving, she started complaing of being bored. Especially during calendar and when they reviewed the letter and sight word of the week. We were recieving notes home about her not paying attention during this time. I am torn because I know it is probably boring and a review to her but she also needs to be able to "focus" when things may not be so exciting. She has asked me to buy her workboooks with "harder stuff" I found some at Costco-I bought grade 1 and so far she is whipping through them. I am NOT at all a workbook fan but she wanted them. Her behavior has been getting increasingly worse at school. She gets a note home at least 3x per week about talking and not paying attention. She is asking me to home school her-which is not really an option. Today she said she had a tummy ache and did not want to go to school. This is not the first time.

We have a conference with the teacher next Mon. For her first report cards she has done overall pretty well-needs work in writing and listening. Do any of you have any suggestions on what I should say to the teacher? I really like her. Think she is doing what she can with the number of kids she has. I just wonder if there is a way to provide A with more stimulating work? She does have her write multiple sentences in her journal instead of just one. I do supplement at home. The homework she has is mostly letter review and coloring. Or is this a matter of her "getting through" K for the other social aspects. I just want school to be a good experience for her.

Any opinions, suggestions anyone has would be so appreciated.

 

[eandesmom]

Well I'm not a teacher but am familiar with gifted child boredom and stubborness



The first thing that comes to my mind is, are you tying her behavior into anything at home? It sounds like she's been rewarded for the behavior so far. Harder books to read, workbooks etc. She may well be simply seeing just how far she can push, and what she can get when she does.

She will have to learn to behave appropriately even if bored, or if the subject is not interesting etc. The issue will not go away once she is in a gifted program. I would consider tying rewards to improved behavior. A new harder workbook, reading book, pretty journal to write in, etc.

I would imagine the teacher would be open to some type of behavior chart if she doesn't have one already that shows how she does each day. For example green is a good day, yellow is some reminders, red is a lot of reminders and she still didn't stop the behavior. All green weeks could earn something, versus a red day, she loses something.

Each child has their "price" so it really depends on what you think might motivate her but teaching her the value of appropriate behavior, reinforcing the good instead of the bad, will go a long ways to helping her succeed in any gifted program as well as just general life.

 

[MaryAz]

Well I'm not a teacher but am familiar with gifted child boredom and stubborness



The first thing that comes to my mind is, are you tying her behavior into anything at home? It sounds like she's been rewarded for the behavior so far. Harder books to read, workbooks etc. She may well be simply seeing just how far she can push, and what she can get when she does.

She will have to learn to behave appropriately even if bored, or if the subject is not interesting etc. The issue will not go away once she is in a gifted program. I would consider tying rewards to improved behavior. A new harder workbook, reading book, pretty journal to write in, etc.

I would imagine the teacher would be open to some type of behavior chart if she doesn't have one already that shows how she does each day. For example green is a good day, yellow is some reminders, red is a lot of reminders and she still didn't stop the behavior. All green weeks could earn something, versus a red day, she loses something.

Each child has their "price" so it really depends on what you think might motivate her but teaching her the value of appropriate behavior, reinforcing the good instead of the bad, will go a long ways to helping her succeed in any gifted program as well as just general life.

I think I should clarify about the behavior at school. The notes being sent home are based on a behavior system the school has set up. Kids have either a green,yellow,orange or red day. She has recieved 98% yellow notes. It says something like "talking at centers" I sign and return. She has only recieved one orange. She needs reminders in class-is not a constant disruption. This is another place I am torn. Whether behavior and consequences that happen at school should stay there or also be dealt with at home.

 

[eandesmom]

I think I should clarify about the behavior at school. The notes being sent home are based on a behavior system the school has set up. Kids have either a green,yellow,orange or red day. She has recieved 98% yellow notes. It says something like "talking at centers" I sign and return. She has only recieved one orange. She needs reminders in class-is not a constant disruption. This is another place I am torn. Whether behavior and consequences that happen at school should stay there or also be dealt with at home.

I am sure you will get mixed feeling on that one!

For me, personally, with both of my boys if it gets the point of 98% yellows...it did need to be dealt with at home as clearly school alone wasn't enough. Just not enough deterrent. So for me, tying them in a way that made sense, in different ways for each boy, focusing on rewarding good behaviour (versus focusing on penalizing the bad) worked quite well.

Generally speaking they were not "big" rewards, things I would want to do for them anyways but this gave them a goal and sense of purpose and motivation to deal with things they didn't really want to. Bigger issues we have done longer term plans and larger rewards.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Mary,

I had a very similar experience with our daughter when she was your daughter's age. During "centers" she would often get to chit chatting (hum, I have no idea where she gets that from...anyhoo) and during reviews or work time, she'd get bored. That was her exact word "bored". The teacher started giving her more worksheets and color pages, etc. We found that this kept her occupied. Other than the chit chatting, she wasn't having any real behavioral problems.

They had a similar system as what you are describing. They had cards and if they misbehaved, they had to pull a card. After pulling a certain number of cards, you had a time out, notes were sent home, etc.

I am sure that she really does feel sick to her tummy. Poor thing. It's hard to adjust going to school and having a set routine.

I know how you feel about whether or not school problems should flow over to home. Back when this was happening to us, we would sit her down and talk with her about what was going on. We did tell her if she continued to get in trouble at school, there would be consequences.....television time taken away, a favorite toy being taken away, etc. Fortunately for us, the problem went away pretty quickly and we didn't have to do much of the "consequences".

Rest assured, your child is probably not the first child that has done this and the teacher will now how to guide you.

 

[Brave teacher]

Mary - IMO she needs more work at school. As a teacher, I always have work for my early finishers or higher level students. The same rule applies. When she has nothing to do, Avery is going to find a way to keep herself busy. It seems her way is talking to others. I would ask the teacher to describe what is going on when Avery is getting in trouble. From there, the three of you should troubleshoot as to how to best meet the needs of Avery.

 

[my2disneyboys]

Hi Mary,
I don't really have much advice but as another mom to a child in kindergarten, I can say that it is a pretty hard year for these kids. They are alone and having to make the right choices for themselves for the first time and so excited too because of this new environment they are in! In our school if you talk, your name goes up on the board and you loose 5 mins off recess. Myles LOVES rewards, so for us we have a chart and for each day that he comes home and says his name wasn't on the board, we put a gold star and at the end of the week if he has 5 gold stars he gets to pick something out for himself at the toy store. It seems to work good for us and he feels so proud of himself when he has a great week. Avery sounds like such a bright little girl, I am sure you will figure out what is best for her!

 

[MaryAz]

I am sure you will get mixed feeling on that one!

For me, personally, with both of my boys if it gets the point of 98% yellows...it did need to be dealt with at home as clearly school alone wasn't enough. Just not enough deterrent. So for me, tying them in a way that made sense, in different ways for each boy, focusing on rewarding good behaviour (versus focusing on penalizing the bad) worked quite well.

Generally speaking they were not "big" rewards, things I would want to do for them anyways but this gave them a goal and sense of purpose and motivation to deal with things they didn't really want to. Bigger issues we have done longer term plans and larger rewards.

Oops again, I meant to say that she got yellow 98% of the time IF she got a note. Not 98% of the time she got notes that were yellow. ANyway, I appreciate your feedback. Reward charts work very well with her.

 

[MaryAz]

Mary,

I had a very similar experience with our daughter when she was your daughter's age. During "centers" she would often get to chit chatting (hum, I have no idea where she gets that from...anyhoo) and during reviews or work time, she'd get bored. That was her exact word "bored". The teacher started giving her more worksheets and color pages, etc. We found that this kept her occupied. Other than the chit chatting, she wasn't having any real behavioral problems.

They had a similar system as what you are describing. They had cards and if they misbehaved, they had to pull a card. After pulling a certain number of cards, you had a time out, notes were sent home, etc.

I am sure that she really does feel sick to her tummy. Poor thing. It's hard to adjust going to school and having a set routine.

I know how you feel about whether or not school problems should flow over to home. Back when this was happening to us, we would sit her down and talk with her about what was going on. We did tell her if she continued to get in trouble at school, there would be consequences.....television time taken away, a favorite toy being taken away, etc. Fortunately for us, the problem went away pretty quickly and we didn't have to do much of the "consequences".

Rest assured, your child is probably not the first child that has done this and the teacher will now how to guide you.

Thanks so much Lisa, judging by how well Lacey turned out I am thrilled to hear Avery is like her! We do talk about what happened at school. I just feel that if she was talking-the teacher reacted with the correct consequence then it was handled. Now if I got a note home everyday.....I look forward to the conference.

 

[MaryAz]

Mary - IMO she needs more work at school. As a teacher, I always have work for my early finishers or higher level students. The same rule applies. When she has nothing to do, Avery is going to find a way to keep herself busy. It seems her way is talking to others. I would ask the teacher to describe what is going on when Avery is getting in trouble. From there, the three of you should troubleshoot as to how to best meet the needs of Avery.

Thanks so much. I wonder if maybe she could take 2 center times to read instead of just one. She is moschatty then. I really like the idea of having the teacher tell us what is happening when she is talking.