Category Archives for School

#5of365 – Gridlock

After having the kids at home for 6 days (2 snow days, 1 teacher professional development day, the weekend, and MLK Day), I woke up this morning channeling my mother – “COME HELL OR HIGH WATER, you’re going to school today!”  I haven’t thought of that phrase for years but I could hear my mother’s voice saying it.  Today’s snowstorm was already in full swing when I woke up, but I think the superintendent was channeling my mother too, and we didn’t have a snow day.  Instead, I waited by the phone for the preschool “early dismissal” call, and sat in gridlock in the elementary school driveway.  People wonder why I work in the middle of the night.  Now you know.

(PS. My mother is alive and well…I was channeling her from Florida, not from the grave.)

Back to Blocks

Last Friday was orientation day at preschool for Norah.  She’s returning to the same class, but now she’s one of the “big kids.”  She’s really looking forward to her new role of helping the little kids, but I just hope she doesn’t take it too far and get a paintbrush in the eye.

Adios Kindergarten!

Adlani and 100+ of his pals graduated from kindergarten yesterday, and he’s moving on to first grade.  He’s extremely excited to have Sra. Stubbs-Dame for next year, mostly because she has a pet gecko named Brenda who lives in the classroom (no offense, Sra. S-D).  We’re excited too because I think Sra. Stubbs-Dame will be a perfect mix of fun and structure for Adlani.

We’re going to be working on his reading over the summer…I actually noticed some improvement when we read today vs. the last time I did the reading groups in his classroom a few weeks ago.  He loves books, he just wants someone else to read them to him.  The Spanish books we have at home aren’t as good for beginning readers as the ones from school, but we got some from Norah’s teacher Maria today that are perfect.

Adlani’s really going to miss his kindergarten teacher, Sra. Gray.  In his card to her he told me to write, “I wish you could be a first grade teacher or I could stay in kindergarten.”  He told me to write in his English teacher’s card, “I love you because every time you say my picture is beautiful.”  AAWWW.  🙂

Above:  The kids were cracking up because the wrong music came out of the CD player.

Above:  The presentation for the retirement of Aliya’s kindergarten teacher was really sad.  🙁

Above:  Adlani’s teacher gave me this one.  So cute!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgjDNXWZ2sM&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0]

Canon Rebel T1i

When I was getting ready to go to Costa Rica I realized that I HAD to upgrade my camera.  I hesitated because it was right after Christmas and I didn’t feel like I should spend the $$, but I got a great deal on Amazon.com, and my friend Rob did the research and told me what to buy so I just took the path of least resistance and went for it.

I’m so glad I did.  I LOVE this camera – seriously.  L-O-V-E.  Aliya did her project for the research fair on bees, and when we were at Old Sturbridge Village last weekend she saw a bee on some flowers and asked me to take some photos for her project.  The photos came out so great!  There were some challenges with the papier-mâché and clay beehive but after the structural collapse I had the brilliant idea of re-inflating a balloon inside until it dried (I had to pop the first one before putting it in the oven to speed the drying process).  It’s looking sort of like a brown clay balloon, but Aliya put it all into perspective when she said, “Don’t worry about it Mom.  We’re in second grade.  They don’t expect that much.”

Anyway, here’s one of the bee photos (click on it for higher resolution).  Isn’t it cool??  And if you think it’s easy to take a photo of a bee, give it a go.

School Reorg

I walked in the door at almost midnight tonight, 5 hours after I left for the school committee meeting.  I’m pretty sure Ben thought I went out to get smashed with my friends, but nope…I was sitting in the freezing cold King Building and I’ve got the sore ass to prove it.  If that’s not enough proof, Lana kept texting me to tell me that she could see me on public access TV, asking me whether I was wearing a bra, and offering me money to fart or pretend to puke.

The good news is that the Two-Way Program isn’t moving or changing.  We are staying in our current building.  And surprise, surprise, our English Language Learner (ELL) programs seem to have been moved to the back burner now that people have less incentive to attack the reorg plan.  The school that everyone was up in arms about has been taken out of the pairings, so there’s not a whole lot left for people to complain about.  After discussing ELL on Facebook for the entire week last week, and constantly saying how expensive the Two-Way Program is (it’s not), ELL was barely mentioned at the meeting tonight.

Last week was rough but I feel like we’ve successfully defended our terrific program, and hopefully I’ll never have to see a comment like this again:

“Lori, I think you should get the facts about the 2 way program before you assume it is being used as a punching bag. For the English speaking kids it’s a great program but How long do you think your children should ride on the backs of all the latino kids in this community. A program is suppose to work for everyone not just the white middle class.  I understand after 6 months your child was speaking spanish and you were so excited but were the latino kids in your child’s class speaking English in 6 months. If your biggest issue is a bus ride you should be thrilled..what happens to these spanish speaking kids after your child moves on fluent in spanish? do you even care? You should because if it wasn’t for them your child wouldn’t have this program.”

I was extremely hurt by that completely false accusation from someone who doesn’t know anything about me or our school.  After some tears, a vow to swear off Facebook for good, and a couple of phone calls and emails from friends, I posted this response:

“Ouch. If you actually knew me, you’d know that I do care very much, and I would never want my children to benefit at the expense of anyone else. During our 3 years in the Two-Way, I have asked the teachers and principal many questions about how the native Spanish speakers learn, and their answers have assured me that the current model is benefiting all of the kids, not just mine. Luckily, the people who DO know me (many of whom are the Latino families that everyone keeps talking about) know how much I care. Frankly, I think it’s insulting to the Latino families to say that they’re allowing us to ride on their backs or benefit at their expense, or to assume that we are going to use them and then leave them behind.  My point about the location was that we are not exempt from the re-org. Not that I expect to be allowed to make a point here.”

I really hope we can move on now.  Anyone want to buy a t-shirt?  🙂

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