I got a call from my son's teacher last night. Parents, please help!

[hrh_disney_queen]

Originally posted by IMGONNABE40!
Despite the fact that my (5th grade) son has received all A range grades on tests and quizzes in language arts this quarter, his report card grade for the quarter will be a D! This is because he did not hand in two assignments for the quarter. What makes it worse, is that I know that he did the assignments, but just never handed them in! The teacher said she asked for them repeatedly but never received them. DS says he does not know what happened to them. URGHHHHH. Heavy sigh.

When I talked to my son about it his reply was "At least I"m not getting an F". That made me madder! When he could have easily gotten an A for the quarter, he seems satisfied with a D. I don't get it. We have struggled with issues like this all year. When I know that he can do all A & B work, it is frustrating to see him bring home C's and D's due to factors other than ability.

Any advice for us so that the 6th grade will go more smoothly?

I know that your DS has to be responsible for his assignments, but it would have been nice for you to receive that phone call when there was still time for you to do something about it... Good luck in 6th grade, we will be in 1st, can't wait for 6th.....

 

[Pin Wizard]

Originally posted by manchurianbrownbear
My response to the question, "who will pay him for performance when he gets out of school?" HIS EMPLOYER!

That was me! But it was actually who is going to reward him for EACH THING he does. His employer will pay him for doing his job he's responsible to do. But no one will pay him for each task/project along the way. It all goes into what he's responsible for. I really don't get the kids. If they bother to do the assignment, why not turn it in ON TIME and get credit for doing it? If they're the type to forget, write it down! I know my son recently had an 11 week computer project that was due. From time to time I asked him how it was coming along. Hmmm...don't hold my breath. Finally, we ended up at the library since I'm without a printer right now. He got what was left done with me sitting there. Hmmm...guess he's not quite embarassed enough yet having mom around. LOL! And thankfully, he got it in on time. I wasn't about to remind him again, and if he forgot, too bad. The instructions sent home did say that for EACH day it was late, it would be dropped one letter grade!

 

[KristaTX]

As you know, I don't have kids yet so I have no advice on how to get him to do what he needs to do. My question is what were the assignments that he didn't turn in?? In 5th grade it seems like a big drop for 2 assignments to knock him from an A to a D. They must have been major projects if the teacher is just averaging everything together with some things weighing more than others.

Krista (Hi )

 

[always quiet]

Not sure if I can offer any advice, but here are some hugs to help YOU get through this!! I posted about THIS EXACT THING yesterday with my 8th grade son!!! I know he completed all the work but didn't turn most of it in the this half of the final marking period! ( can anyone make any sense out of this?? It's like working all day and not wanting to be paid! ) My son brought home a list from the teacher yesterday (after my phone conversation with his) and spent from 3:30 - 8:30 last evening doing all the math homework he 'lost', 'forget', 'misplaced'..................

Maybe we could start a DIS support group??!! We could call it Parents Keeping Parents Sane.

 

[Bojangles]

Originally posted by skporter
In 5th grade it seems like a big drop for 2 assignments to knock him from an A to a D. They must have been major projects if the teacher is just averaging everything together with some things weighing more than others.

I doubt they counted all that much. One zero would be hard to recover from, and he would have had 2.

Even if the assignments were counted as only 10% each, and if he had a 100 average, it would have brought him down to an 80, which is a low "C" on a 7 point grading scale.

 

[IMGONNABE40!]

A BIG thank you for all of the replies. It is comforting and encouraging to know that we are not alone.

Some additional information. When the teacher called last night she said she intentionally did not call me sooner (as she had in the past) because she felt that the time had come for my son to do it on his own. While I would have appreciated the call, I have to agree with her. At one point she said she asked my son if we knew he was missing assignments and he told her that we did! Anyways, the kids have assignment books and that is backed up with a daily "hotline" which the teachers update daily informing parents of what was covered during the day, the current homework and pending tests/projects. That is how I knew about the assignments and could tell the teacher that DS did the assignments. When the teacher kept asking for the assignments, DS said he looked for them but could not find them and thought he had turned them in.

DH and I are working on guidelines/expectations for next year. Hopefully that will help. For the D that DS is getting this year, we are considering keeping him home two days next week--one day is the class field trip--swimming, picnicing, field games, etc, and the other day is "student appreciation day" at the school. Basically a day of games, prizes, ice cream etc. In addition, there will be some yet to be determined "assignment" that will be ongoing during the summer. What do you guys think of that?

 

[Disney Doll]

My parents knew what I was capable of academically and whe I didn't meet that because of laziness or stupidity, I lost priveleges.

I can tell you that there would have been no extracurricular activites, sports, social events, games or anything else if I was getting a "D" when I was capable of an "A" and my response was "Well, at least it's not an F". I'd have been very well acquainted with my bedroom, which would NOT have had a Gameboy, stereo, or TV in it.