Today was a half day, which is always exciting. It means two hours during the day to get.things.done. I'm never as productive as I want to be, but it's always a nice break to just be able to do things on my own time. Morning reading, for once, was fine and relatively uneventful. First grade was a little wild, but we're going on a field trip tomorrow, so that was to be expected. I was still in a bad mood about Camp Wing (which I really need to get over), but the day was going well. Then I went to Course Coaching.
MO was at Camp Wing and CJ-L leaves early on Wednesdays, so it was just going to JA and JR. JA comes in and gets right to work. She only had one assignment, so I think she just wanted to finish and get out of there. JR comes in two minutes late, which should be two demerits, but I just let it go because we had a rough day yesterday and I didn't want to start off on a bad note. When she comes in, she asks if she can go do revisions with Ms. Buccarro (another teacher). I said no because she is supposed to be in my Course Coaching room with me. Plus, it was only her and JA, so I would be able to help her a lot. She was not pleased, but said she had to go return the hall pass to Ms. Buccarro, which I let her do. She left and JA continues to work. Time passes and JR doesn't return. At this point, I knew she wasn't coming back and that she was with Ms. Buccarro. I couldn't leave to go get her because JA was with me and I couldn't leave her there. When JA finished her work, we went to Ms. Buccarro's office to find JR. I think JA was excited to see someone else get in trouble because it's usually her who is misbehaving. I probably should have told her to leave, but whatever.
When I got to Ms. Buccarro's room, I saw JR sitting there playing with her ipod. When I asked JR what she was doing, she just shrugged. Ms. Buccarro and two other teachers were there and had caught on. I said, "JR, I told you that you had to stay with me. Why didn't you come back?" At this point, Ms. Buccarro turns to JR and says,"JR, why did you lie to me? I asked you if Ms. Russo gave you permission to stay and you said yes." JR just doesn't answer and is getting upset. I then told her that I had to sign her in because she skipped course coaching and lied about it. One of the other teachers in the room piped up and says, "You know, JR, I think that you should go to Course Coaching and MS. Russo can sign you in later. Obviously you don't want to be in Course Coaching, so I think as your punishment, you should have to go instead of signing in." I agreed and JR and I headed back to my room. When we sat down to finish homework, I saw tears coming down her face. I knew it wasn't going to be super productive, but I ended up correcting her Social Studies essay. I tried to talk to her about what happened and why she did it, but I knew it was a lost cause and just let her go.
When I went to the book to sign her in, more bad news came. I was only going to give her one sign in for the whole ordeal, but when I went to the book, I found out one was not enough. If you skip class, you get two sign ins. Course Coaching is considered class since it's required, so she got two for skipping. She also got another one for lying to Ms. Buccarro, so in total, she got three. I didn't find this out until after she left, so I have to tell her tomorrow, which is not going to be conducive to a great Course Coaching.
I would expect this from JA in a heart beat. This is exactly what she does when she wants to do something that people aren't letting her do. I would have signed her in, been frustrated, and moved on. With JR, though, it's different. She's a great kid who never acts out. We have a great relationship and have never really had any issues. It's really upsetting when a good kid like JR does something so out of character. It makes me think that something else is going on that she doesn't want to talk about. She is such a quiet and closed up person that IF something was going on, we would never know. It breaks my heart and I hope that she can move on tomorrow. I'm going to find her tomorrow morning hopefully and tell her about the sign ins, but hopefully before I do that, I can ask her what happened.
Anyways, first grade is off to the zoo tomorrow! It's going to be great!
Check out this video that City Year just released. I cried the first time I saw it....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgQGd5EJJSw&list=UU9OtSnfmy-Vp8kwbUQZx9cQ&index=0&feature=plcp
Oh and here are the last of the first grade student profiles. I'm going to do my Course Coaching kids next week because they're a motley crew for sure!
Ivory- Ivory is one of those girls who looks super cute and sweet at first and then turns out to be one of the sneakiest kids in the class. She is super smart and a great reader and writer. She likes school and is never an extreme behavior problem. About halfway through the year, though, we realized that Ivory is pretty sneaky. She will wait for you to deliver a personal direction to her before she does anything, such as start cleaning up come to the carpet. She will bat her eyes and look at you like she is super cute, when all along she knows that she isn't doing something right. Ivory is another one that has just gotten overlooked, so hopefully in the future, people will hold her accountable for her sneakiness and nip that bad habit in the bud because she is a smart girl with a lot of potential.
Katherine- Katherine is the epitome of an inner city child. When I asked her how many siblings she had, she replied "that's complicated" because she didn't know. Her dad has kids with three different women, all of which he is still dating at one point or another. Katherine is below grade level in everything, even though she is a hard worker and wants to learn. She can be winy, but I think it's just because she doesn't get a lot of attention at home. I hope that once Katherine isn't so dependent on her parents, she'll be able to catch up and be more independent with her school work because she's a smart girl who just needs a stable home to support her.
Krysta- When I think of Krysta, I think of bossy. She is definitely the bossiest of all of the first graders and has a hard time fitting in with the girls because of this. She wants to be in the popular crowd so bad, so she shows off which makes the other girls not like her. It is hard not to get frustrated with her sometimes because she's so bossy and shows off a lot, but I know it's only in attempts to fit in. She is another smart one and always well behaved. She is going to do well in school academically, but might have a hard time fitting in if she doesn't change.
Zeke- Zeke is the new kid in the class and such a sweetheart. He is an all around great kid who is super sweet and super funny. He likes to play jokes on people, which I could see getting him in trouble later in life, but is generally a great kid. He might be the most sensitive person in the class though and cried one day when we were reading Madeline. Apparently, he didn't like when Madeline got her appendix out. Other than the sensitivity issue, Zeke has been a great addition to class.
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