Jump to content

Kid stuff


Recommended Posts

My son's teacher started a Google classroom and assigned a week's worth of work but make it due in 2 weeks at the end of spring break. Literally it is 7 sheets that are all a variation of circle/color the letter K every time you see it. Sigh. I think I am just going to scan and submit all the work he does on his own instead of making him do preschool stuff. I get it, most of the class is not on his level. Just frustrating, and I see why he hates school.

Literally our problem! It's why started homeschooling. I knew we couldn't expect all of Noah's teachers to differentiate in every subject. But we can here.

 

Today I tried to get Luke to play this online "game" thing where you use colored disks to match letters to their sounds and stuff like that. I started with the level that matches letters which I KNOW he can do easily, but did he? OH NO! Mr. Little OCD refused to match anything. Instead, he insisted on putting the disks in rainbow order.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We can try it tomorrow! He has been doing some math games on i-Ready, which is what his district uses. There is one where he drags bubbles together to add or subtract so the fish will eat it. But there is no reading version so maybe your website is kind of similar.

 

I went to the website that was listed on the worksheets the teacher provided. She literally just grabbed all the worksheets from letter K letter recognition. I'm going to make him do 1 because it has one very good question about whether koala or cake starts with K. Then I went on the same website and printed some addition, subtraction, and letter sounds. I'm going to scan them and turn them in instead. If he can do more challenging work, I'm going to do it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My Mom (the crazy one who's in hospice) is a certified Learning Disorder teacher. She says a lot of kids fall through the cracks like your kids with long distance learning because they need one on one individual plans that cannot be done online easily. There was also an interesting talk on NPR for Texas Public Radio where a local lawyer who specializes in special needs kids lawyer problems was talking about how the kids will lose out on the distance learning. I am so sorry that this is happening. Especially for E.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We pushed out several platforms including iReady and Edgenuity. I am not a big fan of iReady; the best online adaptive math program is Dreambox by far. The nice thing about these programs is that we can monitor how long and what students are doing in the modules and provide feedback. We had teachers set up a Google classroom/ Hangout and are logged into those to deliver instruction twice a day. Our focus is on providing student access. We recommend all students attending their homeroom teachers morning meeting, 1 instructional session each day. The nice thing about the programs is that students can do more work if they want through the content.

 

You are right, students with special needs are highly impacted...as well as students in poverty. We checked out all of our Chromebooks to families. Even still, most families have only one device for multiple students making it a challenge for all students to access their morning meetings, tutoring, instruction, etc. Almost ALL of our families do not have access to printing. A lot of our parents still have to go to work requiring many of my older students watch their younger siblings during the day or themselves struggle to do the work. My school also supports students whom are highly impacted with autism. Many students are non-verbal, requiring diapering, feeding tubes, etc, We are still trying to figure outhow to provide the students services. Colorado is still requiring IEP deadlines to be met. This is a challenge for initials and reevaluations as we cannot administer WJ, WISC, WIAT, etc so we have to do review of records. Basically we are going to have to redo all of these evaluations next fall.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh yeah, definitely. I have families with four kids using one computer. I am still working on what works best for my kids. We are using something called digital homeroom. It's been working but when we offer stuff through google classroom I find not all my students can access it easily.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some of my students are excelling at online distance learning and doing EXTRA work without being asked. I have a few that are going to be held back if they keep procrastinating on their school work. I've tried calling and emailing parents and texting but still none of the assignments from me have been done. I mean if it is an issue with getting something to work I can help with that. The school has been doing hot spots and laptops for free.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We pushed out several platforms including iReady and Edgenuity. I am not a big fan of iReady; the best online adaptive math program is Dreambox by far. The nice thing about these programs is that we can monitor how long and what students are doing in the modules and provide feedback. We had teachers set up a Google classroom/ Hangout and are logged into those to deliver instruction twice a day. Our focus is on providing student access. We recommend all students attending their homeroom teachers morning meeting, 1 instructional session each day. The nice thing about the programs is that students can do more work if they want through the content.

 

You are right, students with special needs are highly impacted...as well as students in poverty. We checked out all of our Chromebooks to families. Even still, most families have only one device for multiple students making it a challenge for all students to access their morning meetings, tutoring, instruction, etc. Almost ALL of our families do not have access to printing. A lot of our parents still have to go to work requiring many of my older students watch their younger siblings during the day or themselves struggle to do the work. My school also supports students whom are highly impacted with autism. Many students are non-verbal, requiring diapering, feeding tubes, etc, We are still trying to figure outhow to provide the students services. Colorado is still requiring IEP deadlines to be met. This is a challenge for initials and reevaluations as we cannot administer WJ, WISC, WIAT, etc so we have to do review of records. Basically we are going to have to redo all of these evaluations next fall.

I've heard really good things about Dreambox. We use Beast Academy, which is also available online. BA is for mathy families though as there isn't a lot of instruction for their workbooks. It's very heavy on problem-solving.

 

Luke's teacher has been emailing us about his IEP. I need to email her back. I kinda feel bad because we haven't been terribly responsive. Her emails kinda get lost in our sea of emails every day.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My kid HATED iReady in grade school.

I got an email from one of my daughter's teachers. He asked if someone was doing her work for her because she's actually doing all the assignments and turning them in on time.

Hahaha- I have been waiting for this email.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I also hate iReady now. Took like an hour of work each to get through both the Reading and Math assessments and they put him pretty much exactly where I could've told them he would be. The math doesn't group things by 5, which I'm already used to after 2 years of my older kid doing Common Core. I know some people hate on it, but I think most of it is actually a good idea. (Although I'm not sure I entirely understand their version of borrowing for subtraction.) The Reading part is also horribly slow, which is painful for a kid with ADHD, who tries to pick the answer but can't until it's done talking, so then he will go poke at the wrong answer to see if that will work.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Have I mentioned the people above me have 5 kids under the age of 10.

 

I want to complain about the noise to the manager of the building, but honestly, whatever Hell I am in being under them I'm sure it's worse for the parents.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dreambox is free right now for families.

 

I would argue it is the best online curriculum and certainly better than iReady. It says PK-algebra, but the PK and K is kinda lacking, but at that age students should be learning through manipulatives anyways.

I actually started pushing this today for my 4th and 5th graders I'm supporting but mostly I'm pushing my own stuff right now. I tape myself doing a lesson and upload it to a private facebook group I set up for our class because Facebook seems to be the best way to meet as a group and post questions. They watch it and then we do Q and A. Some of my stuff is being modified though from what I planned to teach in class. We were working on some plant sciences stuff for biology for my fifth graders and the science fair was scheduled for this week so their science project requirement was thrown right the hell out the door. I'm awarding bonus to students that still put one together and present to me through whatever medium online they want (skype, facetime, whatever).

 

Homeroom was hilarious today. Some mom's did hair cuts themselves for Easter and I have a lot of high bangs showing up in my "Brady Bunch" feed. LOL

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Im about to give myself and my son buzz cuts. I got my hair cut just about a week before everything really hit, which means its been over a month and my hair grows quickly. My son didnt get his cut with me, so his really needs it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Im about to give myself and my son buzz cuts. I got my hair cut just about a week before everything really hit, which means its been over a month and my hair grows quickly. My son didnt get his cut with me, so his really needs it.

I just picked up a pair of clippers from Target. I keep my hair short so I am fine with a buzz cut, but my wife is anti-buzz cuts for the boys.

 

I have a fairly big job interview later this week, which if I move on might take a few weeks for the whole process to complete, so I am struggling with the decision of whether or not toI cut my hair.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dreambox is free right now for families.

 

I would argue it is the best online curriculum and certainly better than iReady. It says PK-algebra, but the PK and K is kinda lacking, but at that age students should be learning through manipulatives anyways.

 

I find most PK/K programs lacking. Or at the very least, just a really bad fit for my kids. Every week the PK teachers at Luke's school (which are closely tied to the EC classes that he's in, so they often get lumped together) send out a slide show of YouTube videos that they would have used in class (*rant about those later) and a list of "suggested" activities. They also resend out the "4th 9-weeks objectives for Pre-K", and Luke already surpasses them all. This week they're supposed to make rainbows so they learn the colors and the color wheel. Luke obsessively makes everything into a rainbow. He rainbows his toys (and all of our manipulatives) every chance he gets, and he's been like this for at least a year now.

 

 

Im about to give myself and my son buzz cuts. I got my hair cut just about a week before everything really hit, which means its been over a month and my hair grows quickly. My son didnt get his cut with me, so his really needs it.

I just picked up a pair of clippers from Target. I keep my hair short so I am fine with a buzz cut, but my wife is anti-buzz cuts for the boys.

 

I have a fairly big job interview later this week, which if I move on might take a few weeks for the whole process to complete, so I am struggling with the decision of whether or not toI cut my hair.

 

Job interview? For what? Are you still trying to open a Montessori?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My husband made me cut his hair last week. It was super stressful and he was getting excitable. I actually didn't do a terrible job but definitely not as clean as a hairdresser. But I warned him that he had a "2000s teacher haircut" because he had left his hair long in the front and he said he was going to push it back (which is a look I hate because it makes him look like an old man, but it's a pandemic so I'll deal). Then this weekend he got out the scissors that came with the trim kit to fix up the front, and overdid it a little. I don't understand why people don't realize how short they are cutting. Fortunately this pushed him into doing the messy look which hides a lot. We do clippers with my son because he freaks out in the barber chair. I think he's actually terrified of scissors.

 

Virtual schooling is making me nuts. Our private school has lost their minds because they are freaking out that the kids will be behind next year. Guess what, so will EVERYONE. Honestly, I don't think school is all that challenging in the first place for my kids so I'm not worried. They're just very comfortable with learning and pick up on concepts very easily. They aren't top of the class or evil geniuses (ok, maybe my son), but they're smart and school isn't a struggle. Reading was a little hard for my daughter, but now I think she's on grade level as long as it isn't a really long word. But the school has decided that its summer camps will only have 2 field trips all summer (instead of every week) and all morning will be academics. I think that solidified getting a summer nanny as soon as stay-at-home is lifted. I like my kids to learn but this is nuts. They got this exemplary Blue Ribbon award this year given to the top 1% of all schools in the nation and it's gone to their heads.

 

So when we returned from spring break, we picked up new worksheet packets. Then they assigned a big social studies project and expected it to be done in 3 days (they do assign projects a few times a year, but usually we get weeks to do them, and most importantly, weekends). Write an 8-panel comic strip about the French-Indian War and then film a reenactment about the war with specific points to hit. Tons of work for parents. I found out that half the parents refused to do the video. I had my kid do the bare minimum and had to stitch it all together on my phone, which I was not happy about. Then this week they've assigned lots of stuff that isn't in the packet, asked us to recreate these worksheets that they're using in the video (just upload the damn file so I can print it). Every other day we have a full-blown science experiment because its zero work for the teacher who is in charge of science but tons of work for us. I HAVE A JOB. Most parents come from 2-income households and are expected to work, and most of us have multiple kids. I will say that my daughter's teacher is really fabulous, gives us lots of grace, and her lessons (Bible) are some of the best ones. I am also getting a very irritated vibe from many of the teachers who are emphasizing submitting CLEAR pictures of the work. Honey, its clear on my phone. Starting to realize ClassDojo is a pretty crappy platform and that they should've taken more time to figure this out before charging ahead. But now that the parents are used to it, they will have a mutiny on their hands if they try to change platforms.

 

I debated asking for my son to be moved to a gen ed virtual classroom. But seeing some of the stuff they've assigned, it also looks like more tedious crap. But they are also saying next week that we're going to have more structure and more accountability. I hope his teacher keeps doing what she is doing. While the stuff in her class is not difficult enough for my son, she is offering an appropriate amount of resources and reasonable things that most of her class can accomplish.

 

Can I complain about the specialist classes? Music. Oh my God the songs are terrible. He doesn't like them and I can't blame him. Is this what my kids have to put up with every week? Then my son's music teacher asks (optionally) if we can record the kids singing or something. Who the hell has time for all of this? Then my son's STEM teacher comes up with the worst, most tedious projects every week. This week it was literally watch ice cubes melt. By minute 5, we had gotten the point and confirmed his hypothesis. But she suggested 20-30 minutes to record how long it took to melt. At minute 20, I made up the last 2. I had to fill out some worksheet in Google Drive (I can tell you my Kindergartener can't do that independently) and submit it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.