ESL students in elementary schools
Posted By: MKJ on 2008-04-02
In Reply to: Schools' hands are tied in many states.... - sm
They probably bought the store from a cousin.
I grew up in public schools where about 1/3 of my fellow students in elementary school were SE asian refugee children and some spanish speaking children and some who spoke other things. My teachers did not know what to do with classes of 33 students (5 over limit) where they had students speaking Laotian, Cambodian, Vietnamese, Spanish, and who knows what else, and little to no English. These kids spent an hour a day in ESL but they never caught up (maybe by senior year in high school, some of them) . There is another method where they spend their first year in intensive ESL study before going into the regular classroom. Since kids learn languages better the younger they are, this makes a lot more sense. I know that I and other students were slowed down by this problem in the classroom (as well as the fact that the school could not keep up with the numbers and our classes were overcrowded).
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you have to realize too that a private schools also get those who are kicked out of public schools t
have a friend who is a teacher at private school who passed along this info so don't flame me,LOL.
p.s. this is an elementary school n/m
x
Elementary school awards...
Is it just me or do the elementary schools go a tad overboard with the award giving? I just attended the awards "ceremony" at my son's school (2nd grade) and they gave out awards in about 15 different categories...ranging from perfect attendance to no tardies, to mastering addition/subtraction facts! And over half the grade got the "citizenship" award...now in my day, only 1 student from each grade got that award. Kinda makes an award that is truly earned seem insignificant. I don't know, maybe it's just me...
I used to substitue in my children's elementary school
I used all kinds of terms of endearment with the younger ones. By 4th and 5th grade I had nicknames for a lot of them. They all seemed to like it. I was told by many that I was their fav. sub!
Oh, I agree. Did no one learn about plurals in elementary school??
nm
For so many of the students they spend more
time with the teacher than they do with their parents. These teachers are preparing these kids to be the future of our country someday. Look at the money that atheletes make for playing a game. It is ridiculous.
Dress code for students?
Our school system is looking at implementing a strict dress code for all students...khaki pants and solid colored collard shirts (basically a polo shirt) but no brand-names are allowed. My children hate the idea..ages 14 and 16. Any opinion on this?
My SIL is professor at university, where students SM
can post their thoughts about professors and some female professors have been called the "b-word". I don't think they were really terribly broken up by it.
I think it was over-reaction of school.
My daughter is also a teacher in middle school. I may run this by her.
I agree, they should receive more respect from students
and parents alike. I just don't believe they are underpaid for the actual hours they put in.
Federal laws require that students be educated....sm
on their level however it gets frustrating for parents when their child isn't "normal" and they have to fight with schools to get their child educated. It's crazy that your nephew was passed from school to school without being able to read. As a foster parent I had a prior foster child that came to me in the 5th grade but could really only read at a 1st grade level and was very behind in all subjects.... yet her report cards from her prior schools all gave her A's and B's and commented on what a wonderful student she was. I busted my butt working with the caseworkers to get her the extra assistance she needed to get caught up and teaching her how to work around her learning disabilities, which were diagnosed while she was with me. Did the school want to cooperate? No.... but all it took was one letter from an education attorney to get them to realize that we were going to force them to educate this child instead of passing her own without helping her and then they started working with us. Crazy thing is that the federal laws require it, provide the money for it but the schools don't want to deal with the paperwork or having to do it... and they prefer just changing grades for kids and passing them on instead of helping them. This sends these kids on the dead-end street because they eventually graduate without any skills and oftentimes it goes downhill from there.
When I was growing up we had 1 teacher to maybe 10 or 15 students, and the teachers had time to work with the kids individually as they needed it. Now the schools want to cram as many kids into a classroom as they can, don't give teachers any help and on top of that expect the teachers to spend money on supplies, yet my property taxes keep going up to pay for the schools and I'm in a growing area with new houses being slapped up faster than you can say your name.
It's wrong that the schools don't give a crap when a child isn't "normal" and they want to pass them on without helping them, and they expect the parents to bail them out. Sure as a parent I'm willing to do my part but I'm not going to spend time doing all of the education of a child regardless of whether they're biological or foster, especially if the school isn't trying to educate them during the day.
Students Denied Hot Lunch Until Money Paid
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. — Forget pizza, hamburgers and macaroni and cheese.
Dozens of students at Steamboat Springs schools are getting peanuts, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches — or nothing — for lunch this week after the district cut off those with unpaid balances on their school lunch accounts.
Nutritional Services director Max Huppert says students owing $6 or more were not allowed to use the district's automated payment system to buy hot lunches when they returned to school Monday. The move affected about 25 elementary students and an unknown number of middle school students.
The affected elementary school students were given snack food instead, but the others received nothing.
Huppert says about half of the nearly $10,000 owed to the district has since been paid.
Holiday Gift/Craft Ideas for Elem. Students
Hi. I need ideas for kids to make gifts (minimal painting, minimal glueing) as they have to be ready to wrap. What was your favorite keepsate gift from your child so far?
TIA
The students at the Golden Lab Academy eagerly awaited their first fieldtrip.
nm
Okay, Utah passed a law permitting college students to now carry guns. sm
I am very for this and think it's a great idea. Now let's see how many colleges in Utah have shoot outs like those in the other states. I bet shooters will think twice about going in and blowing a place up knowing that there are probably many people carrying concealed weapons. I would feel much safer in a Utah college than anywhere else.
Went to the schools to eat
Several times. Nothing like we had when we were kids. There was No quality to their meals. I was not pleased.
Same at our schools
The kids can have them in school, but they have to be turned off and kept in their lockers. They found that the students were actually using the cell phones to cheat on tests. My daughter is probably one of the only teens that doesn't have a cell phone. If she goes out and absolutely needs one then she borrows either mine or her father's. We never had cell phones. I think most of us turned out okay.
Schools
Wondering if you can help me with this.
Due to many problems within the school district I have decided to start a special parents group to address the situations that were not handled properly, teacher/student relationships, and on.
What questions/and concerns would you ask of your school if you were not satisfied with them,;
Thanks for your time.
private schools
No, it's not fair that you should have to pay for a private school, but that might just be what is best for your daughter. We decided 16 years ago that our 3 children would not go to public schools. We have spent a fortune over the years, but I do not regret it for an instant.
but he did not go to Korean schools
the other poster may be correct about what they teach in Korea, but that was not the cause of this person going ballistic. and it should not be made to seem like it was.
The schools have enough to take care of
besides crap like this. Kids, source, name calling SO? You are grown, supposed to know better, do not stoop to their level by retaliation, nothing gained as hubs would say.
It is not only in schools. It can be anywhere. On the news here
in SC last night, a little boy 3 or 4 years of age has it and is at MUSC in Charleston but doing good. He was not in day care anywhere. He stayed at home all the time.
Our schools do the same thing
Having kids from 7 up to 19 in our district, I've had this happen a few times. But the difference is, our school district sends home on the very first day of school, a form that tells you if there is an emergency and kids have to be dismissed early, what you want to happen. I elect for my kids to get on the bus and if no one is home, they will be sent to Latchkey. When they take the bus, the bus driver will not let them off until an adult appears. She will sit there and honk for a few minutes and then go. Working with headphones on makes that difficult too, but I normally get someone calling telling me they heard about the school, etc. as a warning. They don't have time to call parents and I understand that. Not to mention, if the power is out at our schools, the phones go out as well.
Now we have had practice evacuations in case of fire, bomb threats, etc at the lower age and the teacher has to get them to our local fire dept, which is a very short walk away. They wait there until the buses can get there and take them home. They had to do this one time and it was a mess. Of course parents heard about the bomb threats (blanket threat over the whole district so everyone was evacuated), so they showed up to get their kids or sent friends, but they would not release kids to no one but parents. No grandparents, nothing. Reason being, if a true emergency like 9/11 happened, would they honestly have time to get those emergency forms? No one knew that they were not going to release the kids to parents only. Now that they've experienced it and people wrote letters complaining etc, it is now documented on the same form as mentioned above about parents only picking up their kids during a situation like this.
I know its hard, but I would at least write a letter explaining your situation, but be compassionate to what they are experiencing as well and come up with a compromise. They shouldn't have released your kids to your brother without any emergency forms for sure. I'm in a very small district where everybody knows everyone and they still would not release kids that day. They knew they were liable.
What's happening to Schools
Everytime I pick up a newspaper, watch the news or read stuff off the internet I hear about schools being in lockdown. Why is this happening? It wasn't heard of way back when. Don't the schools today lock their doors any when school is in session and use a buzzer to let people in and out? This is really scary. Schools today need to put more security in place. I can't imagine being a student, parent or school official and having to deal with this.
None of my high schools because sm
I don't have a clue where any of them are, haven't gone to a reunion, although this year is 30 years and I STILL won't go!
My life took a very different track from many of them. I was and am the Earth Mother, vegetarian, animal lover, big family gal and they were money-oriented yuppie types. NOTHING in common.
I recently connected with a friend from elementary school. We were not really friends then, but we are now. The other 2 friends I had from elementary school also went on different paths. One married and had a career, and her real full time job was managing the doofus she married AND the kids they had. The other never married, never had children and has been a bartender for 25 years at a couple of bars her brothers own. Again, nothing in common.
My most enduring and treasured friendship is an MT friend I met online in 2001. We have talked nearly daily since, but have never met in person. We will be spending a week together in June, the plans for which dropped into our laps unexpectedly. We had decided we might never meet face to face and that was okay. She is no less dear. We have used a webcam in recent months and connected that way, which was a gas.
My battle with public schools
I will try not to get to long-winded here, but I wanted to let you know my experience with public schools. My youngest of 3 boys has extreme expressive language delay. His first word was at 4.5 and was Mama. No autism, no physical reasons. In every other aspect, he was normal.
After he was no longer eligible for state intervention after 3 years of age, we paid for private speech therapy but that was killing us and our insurance did not cover it. So we decided to enroll him in the preschool 4 year old program the following year.
It was a nightmare two weeks experience. The principal of the school would not let parents walk their kids to class. I was expected to bring my 4 year old nonverbal scared child to the front door and some teacher would escort him. In that two weeks, we had many meetings trying to resolve the problems. In addition, my son began to act out in extreme ways, peeing, screaming, hitting, kicking. It was not normal for him at all.
Finally, that Friday of the second week, it all came to an head for me. My son was screaming and hiding under the steering wheel that morning. I was crying. It had been a nightmare dealing with an insane school bureaucracy to get help, my husband being no help and saying we just needed to give it more time, and my little formerly sweet son acting out so savagely.
I decided that was it. He was only 4 for goodness sake. I went in to remove him from school. I was met in the office (the only place parents could go in the building - I swear this is true!) by the principal and told that I was to leave my child there, leave, or she would call the police!
This woman was something else. She refused to listen to any of my concerns, and refused at all to let me go into the classroom! I literally begged in tears in her office to **allow** me to go to my son's class to help so I could see what was going on. Parents were not allowed to help out in school unless on special days, like field day.
A shouting match ensued - and I mean my mama bear came roaring out. My son was there with me, clinging to my leg for all he was worth, listening to the principal and I scream at each other. Because the principal literally screamed at me back. It was without a doubt one of the worst experiences in my life. Teachers came running to see what was going on...my son's teacher was there trying to calm me down. I left that building with my son and have never been back.
My husband came racing home from work, I was so hysterical when I called, fearing they would take our child away from us. There were phone calls the next couple days from the school superintendent - Oh, we're so sorry. She's a new principal. She will be talked to about this. Come back, etc.
By that time, I was in battle fatigue and scared to death of my child being taken away. Fast forward now 5 years...He is talking up a storm, reading, very good in math, and is back to his sweet and gentle self. We chose homeschooling. We didn't want to really but couldn't afford private schools.
We got swept up in a great co-op that has become our pseudo-school. He takes classes there and has made very good friends. The kids were all very accepting of him from the first and did not tease at all about his speech. Last year, at graduation ceremonies, he read a booklet so clear and perfectly pronounced. One of the mom's put her arm around me because she knew what a long journey it has been for him.
So, that's my story. Sorry so long. For my other two sons, my eldest is in high school public school. My middle son couldn't stand being in school with his younger brother having so much fun in co-op and we homeschool him too.
I worked in the schools with them for years.
Try raising them for their entire lives. These kids have LOTS of other problems, just ADHD as an example because there are so many kids on this stuff. They are on LOTS of medications which do cause a lot of GI upset. You're grandchildren are lucky if they didn't get stuck on these drugs...unfortunately, the kids I'm talking about aren't so lucky.. they are court mandated to be put on these drugs without a thought of what it is doing to them.
You obviously assume I don't know what I'm talking about...being sick to your stomach has nothing to do with being disrespectful. I've seen disrespectful up close.
I think it's a great idea and that all schools should do it.
Just my opinion...but we all see the way some of these kids dress today, especially the girls.
Lunchables are better than what most schools serve.
today our elementary school served cinnamon rolls and chili *!*!gross*!*!* and the option was PBJ sandwiches.
I say Lunchables rule. I am sure if mom is worried about keeping them cold she is concientious(sp?) enough to make sure they eat a good breakfast and an excellent dinner. Welcome to 2007
I will climb off my soapbox now and finish eating my lunchable :)
Not all schools have a waiting list - sm
where I am the local teaching hospital does not use them at all. So fresh crop each time. I have been thinking about it too. I am 42. I need to do 3 classes first to qualify for the program. It is full-time though 5 straight semesters and I would be done, though would probably go for the more advanced degree once I had the basic one, have to get that one first though. Money is also an issue, guess I would have to hope for a full scholarship as I have no money to go to school, and of course childcare during the summer would be the other issue. Just wish the program was not "accellerated" so I didn't have to do school in the summer. A job is basically guaranteed when done too, though I am sure you don't get to offered 9-5!
I went to 2 different high schools and when it came to driving....sm
the 1st high school a lot of the parents gave their kids brand new cars for their 16th birthday and paid for everything. A lot of those kids would wreck their cars and didn't care because they had no true repercussions.
The 2nd high school I went to after we moved was in a more economically depressed area. The kids that did have cars, generally had older used cars, had to work part-time to pay for the expenses of it and rarely got into accidents.
I drove a family car and while I was a senior in high school I took a full load of high school classes, 12 hours of college classes, worked 15 hours a week to pay for gas, insurance, upkeep, and was in marching/concert band, and made straight A's because I was determined to do all of this.
Our high schools here all have a no cell
phone policy. First time, the parent comes to pick it up. After that the school keeps it until the end of the year. No reason for them to have cell phones turned on during classes is the way I see it. Before and after school is fine, but not during. My daughter's middle school also has no cell phone policy. Even if they are in their lockers and ring, they are taken away.
One school in a neighboring county was confiscating them and giving them away. The parents there filed a law suit and they now keep them, but the student loses it until the end of the year.
That is what stinks about private schools - sm
my kids used to attend private school, one reason I pulled them out was this one girl who bullied everyone, she was allowed to hurt kids, over and over again because the school wanted the tuition money and the father donated thousands of dollars in money, time, and construction labor to the school, and they were constantly "giving" things just so their daughter would not get kicked out. After trying to stangle someone the parents were finally told they had to get the girl some help and now she is on medication, but it took 4 years before the school did anything. The girl is still there, friendless basically, all the kids in her class cannot stand her, and she is just a pain in general. It is very sad in a way, if the parents had gotten her help a lot sooner she probably would not have allienated all the kids in her class (20 or so).
cutting funding for schools....sm
My sunday paper today had an article about possible cuts for funding to schools. I cannot believe how friggin ignorant the government is!!! (well, actually yes I can) But it angers me to no end!! They need to start thinking about cutting funding WITHIN the government! But schools???? come on now! Of all the possible things they could cut and they come up with children's education??? Don't they realize that these kids are the people who are going to be taking care of them one day, whether it be their doctor or lawyer, the president, lawmakers, or Transcriptionist or whatever. They are OUR future in one way or another whether they're serving us food or wiping our butts! We need them to be as educated as they possibly can be. Besides, we need them to get a good education so they'll be able to get us out of this economical hell hole the government has got us into right now! This has just been ticking me off for a long time but today seeing it in print really got to me. Oh, and they're always cutting funding for mental health, too. Um...hello????....I think maybe they're the ones who need the mental health care if they don't see what's wrong with THAT picture, either. Children and mental health. I just don't get it. Anyone else agree with me?
Our schools do that and I called to complain
I have 3 kids in elementary school. When they come home and tell me they owe money, I immediately send a check the next day. However, several times, my youngest who is in kindergarten would forget to tell me. I never got a note from the school. One day, I got a phone call from the district office saying that if his balance wasn't brought current immediately, he would receive PB&J. I was very indignant as I had never been notified. Their response was -- you should know how much your child has in his account from whether or not he packs his lunch. That's all well and good in a perfect world, but sometimes my kids eat breakfast without telling me and sometimes they buy extras (milk, bottled water, etc). I can't keep up and the school district hasn't upgraded the computer system to allow us access to our kids' accounts.
I have no problem with these rules, but the parents should be given ample notification before applying the PB&J rule.
There is no more home ec in schools anymore,
x
Our schools are required to perform
visual and hearing tests at certain ages. Really don't understand why you are so upset. These tests catch problems some parents are not aware of. They are not invasive, so don't see the problem.
Our high schools require it also, they want
to know who is coming in, I think mainly because if there is any trouble from someone from another school, it can be handled by that school.
Swine flu closes schools
NEW YORK – The sons of a critically ill New York City school official diagnosed with swine flu say their father has been on a breathing tube and is barely able to talk to his family.
Adam Wiener (WEE'-ner) is disputing media reports that his father, Mitchell, had been suffering from pre-existing medical conditions before he contracted the virus. He says the only condition his father had before was gout.
He says his father is now suffering from kidney failure and a lung infection after being hospitalized with swine flu since early Wednesday.
The 23-year-old Adam Wiener has been keeping a vigil at the hospital with his mother and younger twin brothers.
Eighteen-year-old son Jordan says his dad was awake briefly and asked him about an earlier baseball injury.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
NEW YORK (AP) — Maintenance workers are scrubbing down three public schools in New York City that were closed because of a swine flu outbreak.
The city's Education Department spokeswoman Margie Feinberg says desks, tables, floors, doors and door handles are being disinfected.
The city announced Thursday that it was closing the schools in Queens after hundreds of children went home sick with flu symptoms.
An assistant principal at one of the schools is in critical condition on a ventilator.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg says the three schools — with more than 4,000 students altogether — will be closed for at least a week.
Georgia schools also socially pass....sm
I had a prior foster child that came to me in the 5th grade that tested to be on the 1st grade reading level and 2nd grade math level. Her prior schools for the past 2 years that she was in foster care before moving to me had report cards for her with A's and B's all over the place. The school here refused to hold her back because she was held back on the 1st grade due to poor attendance while living with her birth parents, even though emotionally she was 8 in a 12-year-old body.
Fortunately for this child while she was living with me we figured out her educational deficits and that she had learning disabilities. We moved her to a specialized group home that has worked with her extensively and she's now in 8th grade and back in mainstream classes. She's making C's and earning them - not having them given to her. I shudder to think what would have happened to her if she hadn't come to my home to figure out she had more problems than the system realized and helped her get the help she needed - she probably would have ended up as a statistic. She still is emotionally behind her peers but hopefully one day will catch up on that aspect. Oh yes, she also went to summer school here and that was 2 weeks - what a joke. All they did was play games half the day outside and did just a little work on reading and math.
Some Georgia schools have dress codes...sm
and they work with school uniform vendors to provide them really cheaply, around $7-8 for each shirt and each pair of pants or shirt.
My daughter goes to a school with a dress code and it's nice not having the "what is OK to wear to school" discussions in the morning. It also eliminates kids who come from poor families feeling inferior to other kids over their clothes.
Schools and the CRCT test inquiry...sm
Out of curiosity here.... in the area you live in, do your schools basically become just a babysitting facility after the CRCTs are administered until the last day of school? I've been through CRCT testing with my children now for 5 years and the minute they finish those tests, from that day on until the last day of school they're watching movies, spending more play time, etc. at school & very little actual school work. It's like the schools are busy teaching the CRCT criteria and once the testing is completed they don't do diddly squat for the last month of school.
What about in your area?
Try to be close to schools and to things for kids to do, even once she's
s
Wyoming schools started around the 20th
my daughter's don't start preschool until after Labor day.
She has 2 wonderful kids whom she home schools
They are ages 13 (boy) and 10 (girl). My sister died at age 27 of cancer and left a husband and 8 yo boy. My sister was also 6 months pregnant when they found the cancer and she lost the little girl after going to MD Anderson and all the treatment, and my sister only lived 6 months.
There is such a concern here because of my having kidney cancer and given 6 months to live, but I have been in remission for 4 years now.
My sister had breast cancer, in remission for 5 years.
I am open to any help anyone has, be it good or bad. Thanks.
Schools' hands are tied in many states....
My daughter teaches third grade. This year, she had a child from Yemen, an Arabic country. His dad, who barely speaks English, bought a convenience store and ran that. His mother speaks NO English. His older brother of two years understands a little more English and can speak it better though. But my daughter's student can't even read the instructions, read English, take a test, nothing. WHat is more frustrating, she is still expected to teach him like the other children (they have no special teachers for ESL students), even though she can't communicate with him. His father is very considerate if he is absent and writes her a note (very badly written at that) but that's all. Now get this....he can't understand anything in class, my daughter is expected to just give him F's or whatever and just keep going, BUT when standardized testing is going on, she is REQUIRED to count his grade in her overall classroom score, which brings the overall score DOWN. Now how dumb is that? This was going on all year but she went in last week, no child, no explanation. She gets a call from the office asking to look in his desk to check for any books he may have left. Come to find out, she was told he and his family had been put on the next plane OUT of the country and back to where they came from. We believe they were here illegally BUT how did they get here, buy a store, and go about their business? Our government allowed their being here....they should be required to explain why that family was here in the first place and why they suddenly disappeared. Our government is so busy trying to cater to everyone, they are screwing the rest of us.
well, I think it's more charter or Montessori type schools than private.
/
Oldham County had the best schools in the area and is just outside of Louisville (sm)
Been a few years since we lived there, they were dry counties, but if you wanted wine or a beer in you frig, pick it up on the way out of Louisville on your way home.
Beautiful countryside, good schools and low crime rate.
wrong...he spent 4 years in korean schools
Schools have people across the county monitoring weather sm
to assess delays and closings. If there was legitimate fog, the school would be aware of it.
If it wasn't excused, it likely was A) not significant enough to cause any major delay or B) nonexistent.
Think, people.
Unfortunately, the schools stick their nose in many things that should be the parents job (sm)
my children have had teachers give one-sided views of politics, whether they should be democrats or republicants, who their parents should be voting for, etc. For some reason, some teachers don't know where fact ends and their opinion begins. We don't pay them to teach their opinion.
at my kids' schools they give out envelopes when their accounts get low...
If they don't give me the envelope, then it's their fault. However, they have never gone without a hot meal at school - they just can't get any extras if their account is in the hole - which is an incentive for them to remember to give me the envelope.
It does bother me that I have two kids and two accounts. If one is in the hole, the other most likely isn't. I don't know why they can't offset each other. My checks are made out to the same thing no matter which school.
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