Is This Appropriate for My Kindergartener?

Dear Mariel,
My 5 year old was given this assignment in kindergarten during the first week of school. As you can see from the size of my fingernails, the boxes are very small. My daughter's teacher says on his website that he isn't concerned as to whether or not students complete the grid or make letter strokes correctly; he just wants them to hold a pencil the right way. My daughter is upset she didn't finish. What's your take on this?
-Reader

Dear Reader,
I think this task is inappropriate on so many levels. First, a child should learn to write letters perfectly, one at a time. The emphasis should be quality over quantity. Also, I agree that the size is too small, and kindergarteners are typically given lined paper with dashes. I disagree with the idea of giving a child a task that they are not expected to finish. A child should be given tasks which he or she can complete successfully. I see that your child reversed the letter "s" several times and that the teacher didn't correct this. Where was the teacher? Children should not be given work that just keeps them busy.
-Mariel

TGIT

There is no school tomorrow, and I am so thankful for the day off.

I have some interesting characters in my class this year.

One of my 4th graders appears to have a severe reading disability. I'll call this student K. On the first day of school, K could not complete an All About Me page because K did not know what anything was after "Name." K could not read "My Pets." K sees the letter m as "nn," and therefore can't read the word "am" because K sees "ann." K sees the letter h as an "n" and as a result, K reads "had" as "nad." K sees bs as ds, ds as bs, and ts as Js. K came from a different school district, and I don't understand how K made it to 4th grade without anyone noticing this. On top of this, K appears to have ADHD. K is frequently out of K's seat and off task, and has difficulty standing in line without swinging arms and spinning around. 

Another student, C, has pretended to fall asleep in class twice. After I "woke" C the first time, C asked if C had time traveled. No, I answered dryly. C has scored high on quizzes and a reading diagnostic, and while good at retelling a story, can't answer under-the-surface questions. C has also cut C's hair during a lesson in which we weren't using scissors. C appears bored, so I gave C a book of logic puzzles and a dry erase board to use. C frequently doesn't hear me, and I don't know if C is really not hearing me, or just pretending not to. Loud me has a hunch that time-traveling C is doing the latter.

And there are 25 others...

Breakfast in the Classroom in a Student's Lap

Today one of my students spilled her entire bowl of milky Cheerios in her lap. She got another breakfast from the cafeteria, her mother brought her a clean pair of shorts, and there was no mess on the classroom floor because her shorts soaked up all of the milk.

If you know anyone who is thinking of going into teaching, send them this. This is how your average day will start.

Drawing With Children: A Lion

No, this is not a landscape. This is my example lion from the art lesson I taught my 4th graders today (from Mona Brookes' Drawing With Children). I wanted my students to turn their paper landscape, not portrait, so I had to explain the difference. One of the fun aspects of this lesson is that students get to personalize their lion with different patterns and, as you can see, I demonstrated a some possibilities. I look forward to sharing some of their finished lions in the near future.

You Don't Need A Schoolroom To Do School

Add this to the list of reasons we're homeschooling...

"Lawsuits drive policy, and policy drives change." This was a quote from my principal during today's staff meeting, the changes being in education. To simplify, "Lawsuits drive education."

I wish I had fur

"Mom, why do bunnies have fur?"
To keep them warm.
"I wish I had warm fur."
What color?
"Green."