Am I wrong about this?
 

My dd is in 1st grade. She has had a little trouble with her math assignments...and I honestly believe a lot of it has to do with her teacher. The reason I say this, is because when she has math homework, she doesn't have any trouble doing it at home. She seems to understand it and rarely needs my help with it.

Well, the teacher wrote on her report card 2 weeks ago that she is not completing her math work. So I sent the teacher an email asking her to explain this to me a little better. She said that Trinity often doesn't finish her math work at school..and that she thinks she is having difficulty understanding it.

Let me also add that Trinity has never had problems in school...she has always done well academically. Well, anyway...my problem today is that when I looked in her backpack today, there was a math workbook in there with a note that said "Trinity is not completing her math work at school. I looked in her book today and she should be on page xxx. Please have her catch up at home and send this back when she is completed."

well....my problem is that there are roughly 20 pages of work that is not completed. We are in the final 6 weeks of school and the teacher is JUST NOW looking to see if she is finishing her work in her book???? I think that is a bit lax, if you ask me. sending a 6 year old home with over 20 pages of make up work...work that should have been completed in the classroom...I just don't understand it. I am not a teacher and maybe the teachers are just too busy during the days to see if the kids are finishing their work, but I think that she has let this go on too far. IMO she should have noticed this a long time ago and tried to correct it earlier in the year...instead of now...with only 6 weeks of school left.

am I wrong??? I mean...if she had noticed this earlier in the year...I could have been aware and been working with Trinity to correct this.

I'm just irritated. I have not liked her teacher since the day I met her before school started this year...and this just adds to my frustrations with her. Maybe I just got spoiled with her teacher last year because she was really on top of things!

anyway...just needed to vent...and wondering if I am out of line here....

Im sorry, I know we all get tore up over of children. Let me say I work in education and these kids all get VERY tired at the end of the year. Honestly, the teacher should have been sending it home on the day that it was not completed, not letting it build up to 20 pgs:eek: WTH. I really dont have any suggestions for you, but I did at least want to let you know that we all become very burnt out at the end of the year. We are just now having our srping break this week and it was soooooo needed for children and teachers. Even though the teacher is probly tired also, it so excuse to send that many pgs home to a first grader, I would be very upset about that part.

I am with you on this one. They have our kids for 8 hours and cant seem to get it done. My kids are 18 and 15 and I have been going through this for years. Just wait till she comes home with home work that takes her 4 hours a night to get done. My DD gets home at 4 and has homework in almost every class. Tonight it is 6 pages of math, Some science thing, a history report, an english paper, and she has a spanish test tomorrow. To me this is just crazy. Her dad has to reteach her math to her every night, apparently the teacher doesnt know how to teach very well. I would like to know what in the world they do with them all day. I understand they are all ready for summer but I have been doing this for years.

I would be upset too Mandee. If it was her homework that was not done, then I would understand, but IMO classwork is the teachers problem, at that age anyway.


Sheilagh

I'm a teacher, and when I give homework I go over it the next class first thing. If I scrap my plans and we play a game (or something else fun), then we do it the next class; but it always gets checked. I don't know how she could be behind so many pages and the teacher not catch this. That's crazy. :confused:

What do we "do" with them all day? You go teach a classroom for 10 years and see how you can handle discipline and bad attitudes that parents don't take care of at home. It's a two way street honey, so don't blame it on the teachers.

I agree that the teacher should have noticed this before she got behind by 20 pages! The same thing happened with my son, so I bought a daily planner from the school. My son wrote down the assignments and checked them off as he finished them. Then, the teacher would look at it everyday and sign that the work was completed. This way, the work was getting done on time and, if not, we knew about it right away.

Good luck!

My Daughter is in the 1st grade too and that seem like alot of make up work to me. Is it her time management? I know my daughter has time management problems and we are trying to work wth her on that

I wasnt blaming anyone. I just dont get how we have to do so much homework when they have them in class and they dont learn a dang thing. I do understand that there are kids with bad attitudes but I dont understand why they give them 6 pages of homework. To me that is just crazy. All we do M-F from 4:00 till 10:00 is homework. We even had a teacher get mad for the food on her homework. We have to eat and do homework at the same time or we dont get it done. Why do they have to give them homework in every class everyday?? I had a teacher tell me one time in my daughters 3 grade class that she will only learn when she wants to learn. My DD had never had any problems and ony had them in her class. I was like she is only 8 she has no choice but to learn. We moved her from her class and she went back to making All A's. Some times it is the teacher.

Well I'm not one to give a lot of homework; but I do know that if I have something assigned in class, and the students are too busy messing around, they will have to finish for homework what they couldn't finish in class. Oh, and if you think the teachers at your child's school are terrible, why not switch schools or teachers?

Also, if you think there is a lot of homework in high school, wait until they get to college! :eek:

I hear what you are saying. And like I said in my OP, I am not a teacher so I do not know how things go in the classroom...but just as you said...if they are messing around and do not finish something in class, they bring it home to work on. MY problem here is that her teacher has not EVER sent her work home with her that she doesn't finish. instead...she waits until the last 6 weeks of school and sends home 20+ pages of work for her to do. like I said, if she had been sending this stuff home daily, I would have known there was a problem and could have been working on correcting the problem with my daughter. That is where my personal frustrations lie....it is rather irritating.

I have wondered if I should change her teacher...but then I realized that in the 12+ years she will be in school, she will have teachers that we do not like....it's just all part of it. So I didn't want to yank her from this teacher, but I have no problem letting the teacher know when I am not happy about something.

I definitely think that you should have a discussion with the teacher because I do agree that's a lot to send home with a 6 year old. I hope you don't mind me saying so but you should also definitely talk to your daughter. It's good for her to understand her responsibilities. Getting good grades and doing well at school was a requirement for me growing up. Even if I had the teacher from hell my parents always made me take the responsibility of doing well in school. I think maybe you should ask your dd why she's not doing her work in class and what it is she is doing during that class work time. Sometimes I used to do better at home than in the classroom because I had anxiety at school with the teacher breathing down our necks. But somehow I got through it. The teacher should have at least called or emailed or something at like assignment 2 to say "hey Trinity is behind on the last two days work can you please work with her on this". Sorry you have to deal with this, probably the last thing you need :rolleyes:

you are absolutely right...and trust me, I have talked to my daughter numerous times about this since we got her report card a couple of weeks ago. I have been on her like stink on $#!^ about how important it is to pay attention, focus, and not goof off. and about how important it is to do good in school, and that means finishing her work before she does ANYTHING else. I have to say, I was a bit upset that the teacher didn't mention this to me BEFORE her report card was sent home so I could work with her on it...but as soon as it was brought to my attention via the report card, I was sure to put something in place to help my daughter to "know better". And I think that her having to sit for a very long time tonight and do nothing but catch up work made it hit home for her as well.

I just hate that it got to this point...I really think something should have been said to me a long time ago. I am a very pro-active parent...or I try to be...and if something is brought to my attention, I have always been very good about working on it and trying to correct the things with my daughter.

I absolutely agree with you :D

That seems like an impossible task for a 6 year old.
My son is in first grade and I'm pretty sure they finish things together in class. If my 3rd grader doesn't finish his class room work he has to stay in for recess to complete it.

I feel for you! I have 2 dd's with learning disablities (1w/ADD and 1 w/ dyslexia) and homework is a big issue in our house! It take us hours without adding anything extra. Some afternoon I truely want to run away!

If it was me, I would go into the school first thing tomorrow and talk with the teacher. Make sure you take your DD it is important for her to understand that her behavior is part of the problem and she needs to be part of the solution! Go in with a very friendly attitude! Tell her you had no idea that your DD was behind by 20 pages. Then ask what could be done to fix the situation. If the teacher doesn't offer any suggestion on what can be done. Maybe, you can suggest that your DD finish a certain amount every night for a week.

I have to deal with my 4 children's schools ALL of the time for very different reason. I have had good experiences and some not so good. But, I always go in with a smile on my face and a overly friendly attitude!! I always make it clear that we are a team, working together.

I would have a meeting with the principal and the teacher and discuss a happy medium on how much work your daughter does at home. The teacher let this go way to long and now wants to throw it at you to fix.:mad: My daughter is in college and my son is out of college. In my experiance if you go to the teacher she will just give you a hard time ( you can try...) But when you bring in the principal they have a big attitude change real fast. I would be willing to bet they come to a reasonable amount of work for your daughter to complete at home.;)

Oh geez. (sigh) Don't go to the principal first. Talk to the teacher. Then if you don't get the desired response, contact the principal or guidance counselor.

PS. I talk to my parents the SAME way whether they went to me or the principal first.

OH, how I have been in your shoes, for the last 11 years... my daughter has ADD and cannot tolerate meds so we FIGHT, hard.... we had the teacher from #&#$#%! one year and did end up having to go to the principal but it worked and all went well the rest of the year.
I DO understand what teachers have to go through, being married to one....

I have found that staying in CONSTANT contact with her teachers always helps me, and it helps her in the long run. I email teachers very often, and now they will shoot me an email if they see something going wrong....

I dont think you are making too much of this, this is your BABY! I agree with the others and would go to the teacher first.... thay may clear it all up for you!
Good Luck!

Wow. I'm doing my student teaching this fall... and I totally disagree with taking their recess away. They need that time to get all that energy out they have from sitting all the time...

I agree with this. I can tell you first hand that there is a HUGE difference in the energy level and behavior of the kids when they don't have recess. I think it is crucial. especially the days they don't have p.e.

I agree.

Sadly, I believe that teachers get such little respect. There are so many objectives, standards, and testing that teachers must have children complete. It's not optional. It's not up to the teachers.

But back to the OP, I would also be upset that the problem wasn't caught earlier. Hopefully you can work with the teacher and address the issue.

I am so sorry you and your dd are going through this.

However, I don't really see the point in blaming anyone for the problem. I would suggest that you focus on a solution instead. I would have a conference with the teacher first. If you feel too angry to do that on your own, set it up with the counselor. I would keep the principal out of it for now.

1. From now on, find out what page she should be on each night and make sure those pages were done that day. Ask the teacher to email you if there is an issue that day or that week even. (Even once a week would help.) If you don't hear from the teacher by the end of a week, take the initiative and email her.

2. Set up a realistic schedule to get her caught up. Maybe three or four pages a night?

3. Find out why your dd isn't getting it finished. Is there a type of problem she doesn't understand?

I hope you can all work it out amicably for your daughter's sake.

Judy, I understand what you are saying.and I do think the teacher needs to be talked to about it (by me...not the principal) and I would like to understand why it took so long for her to recognize this and bring it to my attention. Apparently she is not grading the papers daily...or even weekly for that matter...or she would have seen that she was not finishing her work in class.

I answered your questions above :D

:clapsmile

sheesh! Im sorry you are having such a hard time with this teacher!!! I know MOST teachers correct the papers in class with the students or on thier own... now it just strikes me as odd that she would let it go that LONG!!!what is up with her?? you are NOT WRONG AT ALL!!!! you are a GREAT MOM!!!! keep up the good work! :thumbup::thumbup:

With your children so young you have a lot of this kind of stuff in your future. I have worked for the school system for the last 4 years as well as having a 12 and 14 year old and have seen it ALL!!!! Good teachers and the bad teachers....I really believe that if you are to survive their schooling the next 20 years you have to handle the situations. I ALWAYS hold my kids accountable for any issues unless they can prove to me that situation is under their control.....and then I let them handle certain things themselves and if no resolve then I get involved....it teachers them accountablitly for their actions (which I think most kids dont get these days). I started this from kindergarten on.... granted somethings are beyond their control and do need parent back up....

as for your daughter I think you did a great job by having her getting caught up in one night cause obvioulsy she didn't do the work when she needed to and by showing her how hard it is to get caught was a valuable lesson. But I do think that since this was not a homework issue and an inside school issue that you need to talk to the teacher....the teacher was slacking on her responsibilites by not seeing this work was not getting done....please don't ever go to the principal unless issues with the teacher are unresolvable....it causes great problems down the road.....(a valuable lesson "I" have learned) Good luck with everything....

I understand your frustration, believe me. I have no solution - just reading it made me so happy to have all that stuff behind me. Good luck with everything and I hope you work it all out.

:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

That is awesome that she got it done! I would have been upset also though. There is no excuse for her teacher not to be checking (and grading) classwork.