What a great teacher!

I am definitely beginning to appreciate what a great teacher Mrs. K is. I really think she is extraordinary.

Yesterday I was in her classroom to volunteer and it happened to be during a math unit test. It also happened to be Will's birthday which he was VERY excited about! Mrs. K came to me after the test was over and told me that she doesn't think this is going to be one of his best tests. She felt he was lacking focus because of all the excitement revolving around his birthday. (I was there, also, to hand out treats) She told me that she made him take it back two times after he tried to turn it in to recheck his work. Apparently he finished it pretty quickly.

She told me, though, that she is amazed at the way he approaches some of the math problems. She has told me this before. But, with fractions, he did it in a way (don't ask me to explain) that nobody else did. In fact she wasn't teaching it this way, either, but she said it was actually the safest way to do it. So all week she has been teaching it her way and then saying, "Or you can do it Will's Way". How great is that?

So, anyway, back to the test. When I picked Will up yesterday she had not had a chance to grade them yet. She offered to get it for me to look at, but I decided not to. It was his birthday after all and I didn't want to go into the rest of the afternoon and evening knowing he had failed his test.

Well this morning I got an email from Mrs. K. She said he got an 81%! Now in my book that is a B. Unfortunately, for him it is a C. But... that is MUCH better than the F we were both worried about. She also told me in the email that he had corrected one of the 2 pt. problems that he had had wrong the first time he turned it in. So, she was glad to see that he actually did check his work and fix something and not just look at it and say he did.

I am so thankful she sent me that email. I am thankful that she cares so much and knows I was anxious to see how he did. She does such a great job teaching these kids and also figuring out what certain kids need to succeed, like Will. It is hard for me to put into words, but that is the gist of it.

I would be thrilled to find out Mrs. K is going to loop up to 4th grade next year. I am sure that won't be the case, but if it would I would be the first one on board to sign Will up to be in her class again!

If only...

Well, Will brought home is graded math unit test from last week. You know, the one where he skipped two pages? Yeah that one.

He got a 91%, which is a B+ in this crazy grading system. He only missed one small part of a problem. He had another point knocked off because of skipping the pages. He could have had an A, had he paid better attention.

I showed him that and he understood. Now, don't get me wrong, I am so happy that he got a B+. I mean it shows that he knows what he is doing, he understands the concepts and when he concentrates he can do well. I don't mean to sound like I am not happy with that.

However, when he didn't get an A all because he somehow missed two entire pages of a test, I get a little frustrated. Rightly so, I think! I just don't want him to feel like he can't make me happy. Which I don't think I am making him feel that way, but I just want to conciously be aware that I could come off that way to him if I am not careful.

So he has moved on to fractions in math now. He does not have a lot of confidence in his ability to do them. He says he does not understand them. He breezed through most of his homework the other night and seemed to get it. We shall see.

He has been preparing for a presentation on Friday. He had to choose a biography, read it, answer questions, create a costume and then practice a presentation on what he learned. He chose Daniel Boone. We get to go see it on Friday, I can't wait! He has been practicing at home and at school. I'll post pictures!

I don't get it

Really, I just don't get it.

Will was home for three days with the flu. A total of 5 days down if you include the weekend. So, as I mentioned in my last post he misses his math unit test on Friday.

Mrs. Ketchum had sent extra review work for him, thank goodness. So, even though I made my poor sick child do that on Thursday night, I also made him do it again on Tuesday night. I knew he was going back to school and would be taking that unit test.

He was as prepared as he was going to be.

I picked Will up from school and asked him how his unit test went. He told me he stayed in at lunch to do it and he thought he did "good".

We get home after picking up Ben and I check my email. I had an email from Mrs. Ketchum:

Hi Jenny,
I was really anxious to check Will's Math test after school... he did well so far, but skipped 2 pages! He took the test during recess since he had to stay in anyway and he finished it quickly so I kept telling him to double check EVERYTHING and reread questions and answers. He said he did, but I don't know how he could've missed two pages then? He did do well on the harder multi-step problems in the test, so he was careful with the questions he did. I just wanted to fill you in. I'll probably give him a chance tomorrow to finish the test and take off a point for skipping.
~Lori

WHAT?????

How can he miss two entire pages? I don't understand. I don't get it.

I asked him about it and he was shocked. He said he thought he did them all. Clearly he did not. I asked him if he thought he deserved a chance to do those two pages he skipped (because I am not so sure he does). I told him that Mrs. Ketchum seemed to be willing to let him do them, though he would miss a point for having skipped them. I told him that if this was 4th grade he would just get an F and not a second chance.

Ugh!!!!!

I am so frustrated. I can't tell if he cares or not. He seemed genuinely surprised, he seems to want to finish the test, but he didn't seem to affected by my statement about the F. I also went as far as to tell him that if he did this too many times in 4th grade he would get an F in his classes and if he gets too many F's he doesn't get to go on to 5th grade.

I don't know if that was mean or warranted or whatever, but I am so frustrated. How do you not see 2 pages on a test?