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Well I went see the teacher and it got a little ugly!!!!!

Well I went see the teacher and it got a little ugly!!!!!

Old Feb 17th 2008, 12:57 am
  #31  
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Default Re: Well I went see the teacher and it got a little ugly!!!!!

Originally Posted by mclauchlan35
I would have to agree with Novo, (as much as it kills me to do so)
Danny
Thanks Danny. Your support is essential to my sense of self worth.

To Mrs M.

On the book home every night thingy... I suggest you speak with the school teacher-librarian rather than (or better as well as) the classroom teacher. S/he will very likely be extremely pleased with your attitude and assuming that Junior Miggins is on the same page, as it were, this will work out very well.

The OH, who is a senior T-L here in York Region ON, endorses this advice. Whether Danny does is immaterial.

Novo.
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Old Feb 17th 2008, 1:07 am
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Default Re: Well I went see the teacher and it got a little ugly!!!!!

well I had tried all that in the old school, but anyway.....

The new school has the city library van come every Wednesday, and his new teacher has come on high praise from some of the other switched on people in the profession that I know.

However, I now just have the small issue of cursive writing to think about... as they only had him priniting. And in fact, I sit next to kids who have never learnt cursive writing, which is kind of scary really. His new teacher has given me a sheet to help him work on, so Ill give that a go in the morning

also to anyone else that home schools their kids as well as having them in main stream schooling (which hopefully I won't have to from hear on....) there is a very good web site that costs about $20 join but has lots and lots of valuable resources....

www.edhelper.com


Thanks again novo for the advice, I do appreciate it.

All the best to you this evening
Mrs Miggins xxx

Last edited by Mrs Miggins; Feb 17th 2008 at 1:10 am.
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Old Feb 17th 2008, 4:51 am
  #33  
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Default Re: Well I went see the teacher and it got a little ugly!!!!!

Hi Mrs M

Just found out about this post from Mrs Mini - and therefore read it ! Also Hannah has only just told me that you rang on Friday afternoon - sorry hun

I think that you did right with telling the teacher how you felt - if only to make yourself feel better about how disappointed you are with the school - I also agree with the other poster that this matter should really be discussed with the principal or someone at Lethbridge No51 School District. But I do remember you saying last week when we chatted that Master Migs felt intimidated by this teacher and at Grade 1 this isnt what any child should be put through.

I also think that you also have to remember that the little one has already done a full year before he came out here in full time education which is bound to make him a little bored in class - dont know whether I suggested this to you over the phone but have you considered putting him up a year ??? To stretch him ???????????

Personally although I do believe in the reading books coming home etc from school I really think that at 6 kids should be kids and not pushed too far ahead educationally as I feel that there will come a point when either the level which he reaches or he becomes a hormonal teenager that this early stretching might cause some kind of backfire with an underachievement kind of thing or behaviourial problems due to boredom.

Maybe Father T's will be a good move for him and you as per our discussion about this - seems as though it has started off quite well but keep an eye on it .

Will chat in the week about the girlie tour of Lethbridge this coming weekend - out all weekend at the Lethbridge Indoor Soccer Tournament.

Gay
x
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Old Feb 17th 2008, 5:58 am
  #34  
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Default Re: Well I went see the teacher and it got a little ugly!!!!!

Originally Posted by burton bunch
Hi Mrs M

Just found out about this post from Mrs Mini - and therefore read it ! Also Hannah has only just told me that you rang on Friday afternoon - sorry hun

I think that you did right with telling the teacher how you felt - if only to make yourself feel better about how disappointed you are with the school - I also agree with the other poster that this matter should really be discussed with the principal or someone at Lethbridge No51 School District. But I do remember you saying last week when we chatted that Master Migs felt intimidated by this teacher and at Grade 1 this isnt what any child should be put through.

I also think that you also have to remember that the little one has already done a full year before he came out here in full time education which is bound to make him a little bored in class - dont know whether I suggested this to you over the phone but have you considered putting him up a year ??? To stretch him ???????????

Personally although I do believe in the reading books coming home etc from school I really think that at 6 kids should be kids and not pushed too far ahead educationally as I feel that there will come a point when either the level which he reaches or he becomes a hormonal teenager that this early stretching might cause some kind of backfire with an underachievement kind of thing or behaviourial problems due to boredom.

Maybe Father T's will be a good move for him and you as per our discussion about this - seems as though it has started off quite well but keep an eye on it .

Will chat in the week about the girlie tour of Lethbridge this coming weekend - out all weekend at the Lethbridge Indoor Soccer Tournament.

Gay
x
To clarify.....
Master Miggins could have been given gifted kid status, but after speaking with a friend of mine who is an educational psychologist, we chose to steer away from labelling due to the somewhat questionable effects.

As those with gifted children know, sometimes, a move up through grades is not always the best answer either, due to the issues around socialization and development.....and this came from a professional opinion after meeting with my son. I am hoping that the differentiated learning route sorts things out!

But I wll be keeping an eye, and am just grateful for the brills support system I have!!

Ill be so up for that drink and chill out!

Thanks gay and mini!!
Mrs Miggins xxx
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Old Feb 17th 2008, 6:14 am
  #35  
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Default Re: Well I went see the teacher and it got a little ugly!!!!!

When he was aged 6 I was thinking my elder boy would never "get" reading.

By age 8 he had discovered Harry Potter and since then we've never been able to get his nose out of a book!! He simply devours them. I'm so pleased cos I am the same..... I'll read just about anything ...... though this forum has become a little ridiculous in places!

By the way, I've read all the Harry Potter books at least three times... once to myself, and once out loud to each boy, complete with silly voices!

I can remember the five of us sitting around my mum's knee at bedtime to be read to. It's a memory I treasure! ....and she did an excellent "Winnie the Pooh, but her Eeyore ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eeyore ) was priceless!
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Old Feb 17th 2008, 6:27 am
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Default Re: Well I went see the teacher and it got a little ugly!!!!!

My 7 year old daughter has only just clicked at the reading thing. Now she knows she can she does read as much as possible. Although it seems her main reason was to read the instructions on her ps 2 games.

I will never forget me Dad reading me those Ladybird books every night. The Three Billy Goats Gruff didnt used to help me fall asleep after me Dad did the scariest troll voice ever. Or Rumpelstillskin or Hansel and Gretel.

Flippin scary stuff looking back now. He used to love reading my daughter Rapunzel wich I still have, and the wich in that is well freaky too.


Good luck Master Miggins with your new school, ive heard you also get an extra 30 mins lie in in the mornings lol lucky little man.

x mrs minihaha
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Old Feb 17th 2008, 9:57 am
  #37  
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Default Re: Well I went see the teacher and it got a little ugly!!!!!

Originally Posted by minihaha
My 7 year old daughter has only just clicked at the reading thing. Now she knows she can she does read as much as possible. Although it seems her main reason was to read the instructions on her ps 2 games.

I will never forget me Dad reading me those Ladybird books every night. The Three Billy Goats Gruff didnt used to help me fall asleep after me Dad did the scariest troll voice ever. Or Rumpelstillskin or Hansel and Gretel.

Flippin scary stuff looking back now. He used to love reading my daughter Rapunzel wich I still have, and the wich in that is well freaky too.


Good luck Master Miggins with your new school, ive heard you also get an extra 30 mins lie in in the mornings lol lucky little man.

x mrs minihaha
7 YEARS OLD?!! That's ridiculous...

I was reading by the time I was 3! By the time I got to school at 5 I could probably read better than some of the more questionable teachers!!

Sheesh!
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Old Feb 17th 2008, 10:36 am
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Default Re: Well I went see the teacher and it got a little ugly!!!!!

Thats given me a good read this morning, i am so glad you have sorted the school out, i would write a letter to the school board regarding the situation, then if it happens again, they will have a record of it and maybe enough on this teacher to get rid of her.

We are having problems with eldest at her school now and makes me soooo mad that they are taking it very lightly, i to will be meeting the head when we return to school and i know it will be a letter to the governer to sort the matter out AGAIN
Sounds like your son is the same age as mine, hes 6 in afew weeks and changes his book 3 or 4 times a week,. his reading is very good for his age and sometimes can give my 9 (neally 10) yr old a run for her words.
If i was to leave him on 1 book aweek he would be bored, so i totally unstand where you are coming from, these kids have been at school in the uk and already read, some at a higher rate, but socially if i was to put him with older kids he would lack on his social skills with them.

We have decided to look at the standard school as well as the catholic schools on our recci, i think for us this will be hard as we have one kid that is way above on reading and maths and another that really needs help in school, o and a whirl wind that is not old enough for school.
Will give you a call nearer the time mrs M to find out which schools you have used etc, not been on for a while due to certain stuff, but so looking forward to meeting you all on our recci

Gill
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Old Feb 17th 2008, 1:16 pm
  #39  
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Default Re: Well I went see the teacher and it got a little ugly!!!!!

Originally Posted by Mrs Miggins
Other than that I don't think there is much else to do, as the principal is totally dippy, I mean he picked up a phone mid converstion when I was trying to explain the issue, kept not showing up for scheduled meetings, and his staff are not even telling him when serious incidents happened. So what more is there to say on that subject really???

Anyway, thanks for the pointers, and tell your OH I think she's a really brilliant person to do what she does and do it well, it makes such a huge difference to people's lives

All the best
Mrs M xx

I know it is Canada, not the US, but Canadian Hubby is out at the moment so can't ask him, but isn't there a board of education that governs all the schools in that district? If there is, then that is where ou take your documented complaint.

Unfortunately, unions can protect the undesirables as well as the desired teachers and if there is tenure, it is even harder.
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Old Feb 17th 2008, 1:35 pm
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Default Re: Well I went see the teacher and it got a little ugly!!!!!

Originally Posted by Andthen
7 YEARS OLD?!! That's ridiculous...

I was reading by the time I was 3!
4 in my case. And by the age of six I did that in three different languages as well as write in them.

Because of the above I suspect it never clicked that I am also dyslexic. It was expected that I just knew but no one figured out that spelling and written grammar was and to a degree still is, a major issue for me. I also write faster than I think and therefore sometimes miss words in my text. As they are there in my head I don't see they are missing when I read through it. Often not spotted until someone else reads my writings and asks me what the heck I'm on about.

I've gotten better over the years. Especially after talking to someone who works with dyslexic children and adults who confirmed my suspicion when I was in my 30's.

So to anyone with a gifted child: Keep tabs! All my teachers said I was gifted and unusually intelligent. (Fact is, being told you are multitalented and hearing it all the time is not a good thing so if you are doing that to your child - STOP!) I was told I didn't need to do homework, just read the dang book in class. The result was me going lazy and doing neither and grades suffered. I'm by no means stupid or uneducated but I kept hearing I was so blooming intelligent and clever that I didn't think I needed it. DUH! Not very smart.

They were right though, I am a quick learner. Something that is very useful.

So if you have a gifted child don't ever make the child think life is easy as it has an adverse effect. I'm not the only one. I've see highly intelligent kids today going lazy just for the same reasons I did.

I also have this theory that ADD and ADHD kids are scaringly intelligent but are in schools with lazy teachers so instead of being activated and challenged, they act out. At least the ADD and ADHD kids I know are so smart they have me drop my jaw.

Slightly off the topic, all of the above but still.

Mrs Miggins, you're doing the right thing. Just keep tabs.

:-)

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Old Feb 17th 2008, 1:40 pm
  #41  
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Default Re: Well I went see the teacher and it got a little ugly!!!!!

I know I could read when I was just 5, as I could read before I started school. I remember reading my brothers comics, cornflake packets, anything that had words on it or in it. Annoyingly though I can't remember which books I used to read. The classroom library (age 8 had booked for us to choose from and I never would read Winnie the Pooh as I thought it sounded rude

I was a very prudish child Now I am going to have to ask my mum which books I did read as this is going to bug me.

I found reading easy, but the men and boys in my family didn't. Is this typical or just my lot? Plus when I read I can't remember much detail afterwards, but the men do. Must be my grasshopper mind, still it means that I can reread books and its almost all new to me. Like a goldfish in a bowl, every circumference is a new experience
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Old Feb 17th 2008, 1:45 pm
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Default Re: Well I went see the teacher and it got a little ugly!!!!!

Originally Posted by YYZlover
4 in my case. And by the age of six I did that in three different languages as well as write in them.

Because of the above I suspect it never clicked that I am also dyslexic. It was expected that I just knew but no one figured out that spelling and written grammar was and to a degree still is, a major issue for me. I also write faster than I think and therefore sometimes miss words in my text. As they are there in my head I don't see they are missing when I read through it. Often not spotted until someone else reads my writings and asks me what the heck I'm on about.
:-)
On the subject of dyslexia. Him indoors is slightly dyslexic but these days he reads more than he has ever done. We attribute that to watching TV subtitles on, perhaps seeing the words pretty much as they are spoken helps train the brain. I've also read that reading subtitles, listening and watching the programme exercises both sides of the brain at once, and maybe somehow this rewires the brain??

I dunno, just some musings from a mad woman, with probable ADD,
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Old Feb 17th 2008, 3:28 pm
  #43  
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Default Re: Well I went see the teacher and it got a little ugly!!!!!

Originally Posted by daft batty
On the subject of dyslexia. Him indoors is slightly dyslexic but these days he reads more than he has ever done. We attribute that to watching TV subtitles on, perhaps seeing the words pretty much as they are spoken helps train the brain. I've also read that reading subtitles, listening and watching the programme exercises both sides of the brain at once, and maybe somehow this rewires the brain??

I dunno, just some musings from a mad woman, with probable ADD,
I had a long email from my younger brother yesterday .... very unusual for him! We knew that he suffered from Dyslexia when he was at school, but back then, though it was recognised (which was good) there were no strategies available to help.

The email yesterday was long, fluent and had no spelling errors or grammatical mistakes. He had "written" it with his new dictation software!

In it, he describes how he recently failed an important course, because part of the final exam was to read a 50 page report (he's in the Fire service and doing very well btw) and write recommendations based on that report within a fixed exam time. He says his "dyslexia kicked in big time" and he totally flunked it and ended up walking out of the assessment. Not good.

But the good thing that came out of it was that he had to explain what the problem was (as it was totally unexpected behaviour for him).
The upshot is that he now has permission to write all reports using this software, which has been provided by the service, and has been given "an orange screen" which he says makes all the words stand still and space themselves nicely in the right order on a previously white page, so that he can read easily and with no strain.

I was amazed as he had never before expressed that that was the problem. I suppose he thought that what he was previously seeing was how they normally behaved!! Poor guy! No wonder he never reads a book for enjoyment .... it's too much like hard work! Now perhaps he will be able to!! (aged 44!).
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Old Feb 17th 2008, 7:09 pm
  #44  
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Default Re: Well I went see the teacher and it got a little ugly!!!!!

I know this is a grandmother's view of things but I wouldnt be too terribly concerned about a child not doing cursive writing at 6 or 7. Also, I have heard that boys are better naturally at physical things and girls are better at reading etc. So long as they can eventually do cursive writing - does it really matter if they can't do it until they are 8?

So long as they enjoy reading at some point in their childhood, I personally wouldn't be terribly worried if a child couldn't read at 5. I could read early, but don't forget that I was a child when there was no TV and no Internet etc. so we all learned to read because there was nothing else to do.

My granddaughter was not terribly interested in reading when she was younger - say 5, 6, 7 -- but she liked it when I read books to her. At her Grade 8 grad last June she was presented with the Most Improved Student Award. In the speech, her teacher talked about how a few years prior she had not wanted to even open a book!

For the past few years she has absolutely loved reading. That will probably stay with her her whole life and when she is 20 - who will care whether she was a good reader at 5 or a good reader at 10??
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Old Feb 17th 2008, 8:03 pm
  #45  
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Default Re: Well I went see the teacher and it got a little ugly!!!!!

from someone who was bullied mercilessly and who's parents went to school several times (and teachers who did bugger all squared if that) ..thank you.

Moving your master miggins, while hard, is probably the best thing for him. Hopefully he'll come out of it with some faith in the schooling system and a lot of faith in you.

Deb
Who still has faith in parents, but would never send a child to a school.
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