Fine, sure, okay, whatever.
School started last Tuesday. It was pouring rain, so there was no "first day of school" photo. Also, since I am a slacker mom, I don't think I've taken a "first day of school" picture since kindergarten, which was actually THE first day of school. For the record, she was wearing a purple/turquoise sundress dress from Target ($4, on sale, can't beat that with a stick) with a pale aqua sweater and similarly colored leggings. And silver sandals. The girl has some style.
On Thursday, at breakfast, that is, after two days of school, she anxiously confessed that she was worried about "international" tests in April. Oy. I'm a little irritated that the school, or the teacher, is already winding these kids up about mandated standardized tests. Not fair. Wrong.
We are, and this really has nothing to do with school, knee-deep in D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths. I am enjoying reading it to her as much as she is in having it read to her - "please, Mama, just another bit". I'm liking the Greek myth refresher I'm getting; she's captivated by the myriad interleaving stories. The other night, I went in to shoo her into bed - I had to clear something off of her bed so she could climb in, and so dropped a pile of something on the chair, on which all the Groovy Girls were sitting, in a row. "No, Mama, that's the council of goddesses." Okay, then.
The pernicious book log is back. I am working up to a conversation with the teacher, after "back to school" night next week. It's one thing to sign her homework book and certify that she read for at least 30 minutes. But the nitpicking log too? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.
And so begins third grade. In ten years, we'll be packing her off to college.
12 September 2011
Tales of the First Week of Third Grade
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13 comments:
Hahaha. You crack me up. Maybe I'm just mellow because I have yet to see a reading log.
Our book log is back too. *sigh*
Let us know what happens when you talk to the teacher.
I thought of you when I saw my second grader's first math worksheet. She's supposed to write the similarities & differences between pennies and nickels. Duuuude. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.
So sorry that your girl is already worked up about the standardized tests. UGH. And the book log... another UGH. I am thrilled that my son's second grade teacher is reasonable and doesn't ask us to do one.
But Whiskey Tango Foxtrot -- that's awesome.
My son loves that book, which I owned as a kid too!
I bought it for him after we started reading the Percy Jackson books.
Very grateful that we don't have a book log, just 30 minutes per day of required reading. And Zeke loves D'Aulaire, too. I'm told the Norse Myths one is great, too -- I've been meaning to get it for him.
Our fifth-grade booklog is a JOKE. They have to answer a question a day with at least three sentences, and the whole thing is busy-work that does not actually help kids develop the supposed core standards the questions imply they support, and if my daughters who ADORE reading and writing are already sick of the damn logs after two weeks, then you know that they are an abject failure.
So the lesson for the year is going to be something like, "how to do the totally pointless and coma-inducing busy work as quickly and painlessly as possible." Which the homeschoolers would point out is maybe the purpose of public education anyway. ARGH.
We read Percy Jackson by the end of the third grade. We've jumped the gun on many book series so you maybe have to discount for that, but boy oh boy do I know my Greek myths now. And the kids loved comparing Riordan's versions of the gods with D'Aulaires.
The second grade book log came home tonight. It is very different than last year's. She has to read a book to someone and record it. Plus say whether or not she liked it. That's it. I'm not a fan of book logs but it'll be easy to incorporate into the evening homework routine, I hope.
THe fifth grade one starts on Thursday. Not sure what that'll entail. I'm still signing half a million things every single night.
Oh my. I can just see her! And? The Memories? They're burning what's left of my brain cells. Please don't get me started about the tests. And, also? I cannot find those logs. You may remember where my kiddos are....just a hint: my UVA third year has awful things to say about my sentence structure. Rightly so, it would seem.
You DO know she doesn't have to take the tests, right? Sometimes it's a nice week to take a vacation.
We read that Greek myths book--but there is some grisly stuff in it that would crop up later in bizarre ways.
I remember hearing her play and all the characters in her game were 'Zeus' and 'Athena...'
She asked us once 'does God know about Zeus'?
Ours are the simple sort of logs, just the title and signature for KayTar, for BubTar last year they also asked for page numbers. I haven't seen a reading log from him this year, though. Hmm...
My grand daughter is getting nailed by the universal test thing too - her mother was informed they are not doing 'extras' this year as they will concentrate on the areas being tested. Snarl!
However, when the kidlet took a newly hatched monarch butterfly in to school, the whole class got to go and watch it fly. Kudos to the teacher.
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