I had a first conference with Joseph’s 4th grade teacher this morning. She seems like a nice teacher. She doesn’t seem as “wimpy” as I’d initially thought, although I think her communication to us could be better. I made sure to ask her to email me ANY time stuff comes up.
As for Joseph, apparently his reading teacher gave him 3s on reading and writing… so now I gotta wonder what Ms. Fuller was thinking! 🙄 Oh well. He was/is getting a 2 in Math though which REALLY bothered me. Joseph is very strong in math.
Come to find out, she’s been “testing” them via mini-assessments, TIMED mini-assessments and he’s been balking at doing them. She didn’t understand why. So I explained how with the IEP, he is to be given MORE time for ANY AND ALL tests! Mini-tests stress him out beyond belief and he needs the extra reassurance that he can stop and think about it before proceeding.
She also noted that he refuses to do the 1-minute math activity that they do each week. Again, a timed 1 minute activity where kids try to see how much better they can get. Uh…. 🙄 TIMED again. So we got through that issue and she’s going to think about it more.
She’ll also be sending review math home on the weekends and I am going to buy a 4th grade math workbook for Joseph to do a page or so a day in. I know with practice he can get faster and without practice, he still knows this stuff, just isn’t applying himself.
As for behavior, she noted that she sees him making some good progress and making good decisions. She did bring up “the one evil day” a few weeks ago that required the intervention of Mr. Green. I asked her if Joseph had eaten that morning and she said she remembers that he had not because he didn’t like what they had. There ya go.
She asked what she should do and I told her to SEND HIM BACk to the cafeteria. If he doesn’t eat, he is like a evil-moster-being, not the sweet Joseph that we know and love!
She did say that on a daily basis she tells Joseph how much she likes him and how much she likes having him in her class — which I know does nothing but embarrass him, but at the same time, that positive reinforcement is *EXACTLY* what the little stinker needs! 😆
She also noted that she’s struggling right now, as a teacher, because her class gets pulled out for CCR SO Much. Hmmmmmmmmm. Last year Ms. Fuller was FULL of 3rd graders — many in Joseph’s classroom. Now, she’s full of 4th graders — MANY from Josephs’ CURRENT classroom. Gotta wonder what was in the water 9 years ago that caused SO many kids … particularly BOYS … to have school issues NOW. Hmmmmm….
Ah, so, anywho … it wasn’t a bad meeting at all. 😀