Monday, May 23, 2011

Favorite Plants


This is one of my favorite bushes in our yard. I have no idea what it is, but we've had it for a couple of years and every spring it drops these beautiful, dainty red flowers.

Today was my day to parent help in the Kindergarten classroom. I love doing this. Love love love doing this. Kids this age are so interesting and funny and inquisitive. However. (Let me just put in here, that there is no way to say what I'm about to without coming off as snarky and judgmental so if you're sensitive to that just stop reading here. Ok? OK.)

There is a group of boys in the class who are struggling academically. In kindergarten, at this point in the year, that means they are having a hard time writing letters or very simple sentences. Or they are having a hard time following simple (1 task) instructions. When I parent help, I usually work with this table of kids so they can get some extra attention. Since it was Monday today, they were writing in their journals about what they did over the weekend. Now, I know some of these boys have ADHD issues and I have no idea about their home life. But if it were me, and we were at the end if kindergarten and my child still couldn't write their letters properly I would be all over that. As I sat down to help them write their sentences every single one of them told me that their weekend activity was some sort of video game. "I played DS" "I played Lego StarWars" "I played my Nintendo". As I walked around to the other kids there was much more of "I went to my Grandma's" or "I played with a friend".  Now, I know that is not what they did ALL weekend, it's just what stood out to them. AND I have nothing against video games. Miss E and Mr. T both play games on the computer and the DS. It seems to me though, that it's not helping these boys at all.

*New Spain posts up! See posts dated May 3-May 11

2 comments:

  1. so sad. I suppose every class has a few with homes where parents cannot/will not/whatever... I came from a home with both parents, a grandma and 3 older teenage siblings, but none could've or would've helped my twin and I and that's just the way it was, and stayed until the day we graduated, sigh...I'm sure thankful my grandchildren come from a home that values education, and moreso, love!

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  2. I guess I'm more surprised because of the school we go to - the community around it - and that I've met several of these parents. They are all educated, nice folks.

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