I had parent/teacher conferences this week. I was very nervous to meet with Ben's teacher. He has brought home at least one note a week stating that he has been sent to Australia during the day. I wouldn't think much of it, knowing Ben (and I don't mean here that Ben is a bad boy, but rather a boy who is rambunctious and has a lot of energy), but in school Ben is usually very well behaved. In fact, Riley's kindergarten teacher for this year was Ben's 1st grade teacher last year and when I met with her (before I met with Ben's teacher) I asked her if Ben ever exhibited behavior problems in her classroom. She told me that he could have been the model student he was so well behaved. She said that she remembers being worried in the beginning because when we brought him to her class for the first time McKenzie had said how loud he was and she was sure she would have issues, but none ever arose. Another issue I was concerned about had to do with his math grade. He got a D which means developing. At this school there are three grades for grades K-3rd: S for secure, D for developing and B for below grade level. In school, Ben's strongest subject is math. He is one of those kids that just gets numbers. He started multiplying numbers on his own last year and now can divide numbers. Math comes easy to him. He has only taken one math assessment this year and on it he got a D for developing which is why the grade D for developing. On the test, there was a middle row of numbers and on the left he was asked to put the number that was 10 less and on the right the number that was 10 more. On each of them Ben had put the number that was 1 less and the number that was 1 more. Obviously he missed these. These were the only set of problems he missed. He missed them because he didn't follow the directions. Hence the D. When he brought it home he told me that he wasn't good at math. I had to work with him for a week until I finally got him to admit that he is good at math again. When I went into the teacher, I just wanted to be sure that she knew his strengths, his weaknesses and how these notes could make a child feel if he was receiving them week after week. I wanted to do this without attacking her as a teacher. That's not my place. In the end, I feel like the conversation we had was productive. She actually let me know that she did know math was his strongest subject, that he was one of the top performers of the class in that area and that she expected his grade to be S/secure for the rest of year. She just wanted him to learn how important it is to follow directions, okay I get that. She also said to notify her if the Australia notes are discouraging him. She said that she may be setting him up for failure because she puts him and 4 others who are the loudest in the class together at a table so they wouldn't disrupt the others in the class. She told me that even though he gets in trouble Ben is still one of her favorite students. I can actually understand that too. When I taught 9th grade Spanish, some of my most difficult students were a group of brilliant boys (3 of them). I loved them. They were great, but they did get into trouble with me frequently. So what she is saying could be true. Still, I worry. The other day Ben said to me, "Mom, the only thing I seem to be good at is getting in trouble." I want to give her a little longer with Ben, but I may have to remove him from her class. I've never done that before. Hopefully things will improve. As for the rest of the conferences, they were easy. All the others seem to be right on track.
On a lighter note, I was in target the other day and what did I happen to see in the woman's department? Flannel shirts and jean overalls. These were my favorite thing to wear in college. I think I may have even worn the jean overalls long after they were stylish just because they were so comfortable. I bought a few of the flannel shirts and passed on the jean overalls for now. So, in honor of the two flannel shirts I purchased this last week I've made the following list:
Top 10 things you've got to love about a flannel shirt:
10. Flannels are warm
9. You never have to iron them
8. A flannel allows you to appeal to the cowboy out there who is looking for his own little cowgirl.
7. It also allows you to appeal to those rednecks and lumberjacks out there too!
6. Flannel, it always matches.
5. The multi-colors are great for camouflaging any stains that may be lurking about on the shirt.
4. Flannels can double as a picnic blanket
3. They shout grunge, teen spirit and the pacific northwest...all things I'm proud of.
2. Flannel is to clothing as mash potatoes is to food...I don't know what that means, but I found it on facebook and thought I'd include it. (Did you know there's a facebook page devoted to flannel shirts?)
1. Flannels feel like a best friend.
By the way, if these two items are recycling themselves in the fashion world, what does that mean about my age? I don't even want to think about it.
After a brief, 3 month hiatus from our local bovine neighbors, they have returned.
Last, with the beautiful fall colors outside and the nice weather yesterday (it was in the 70s) we decided to snap a few family photos. My favorite is this one:
but I like these ones too:
I really like this ones I got of the kids:
and this one I got of the kids and Brad:
Any opinions on those above are welcome, especially if you are a grandparent and would like a copy for Christmas.
Man, your kids look big in those pictures, it's just hard to believe. They are still pretty young in my mind. That's a hard choice on the pictures, they are all pretty darn cute.
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